Notes

The BIS Service Engine starts the service timer when this function returns. The program is then given ServiceTimeout seconds to process the request and perform one of these actions:

Call B_WriteResponse
Call B_SetServiceTimeout. In particular, a value of 0 resets the timer and starts another ServiceTimeout interval.
Terminate the program.

If the service program processes for more than the ServiceTimeout interval without performing one of the above functions, the BIS Service Engine assumes the service program is lost and begins termination processing (as if a StopService tag had been rendered).

If specifying the optional TimeoutInSeconds parameter and a request does not arrive within the specified amount of time, the function returns a BIS-Warn-RequestTimeExpired status code. The program can then perform some processing and either exit or reissue the B_ReadRequest.

Specifying a timeout value

of 0 causes this function to return immediately unless a request is waiting. The routine use of a timeout value of 0 to poll for requests is strongly discouraged as it may significantly impact server performance.

If TimeoutInSeconds is not specified, this function does not return until one of the other termination events occur (that is, the default timeout is infinite).