How to detect when client has closed stream when writing to Response.Body in asp.net core - asp.net-core

Question

I'm trying to write an infinite length response body and detect when a client disconnects so I can stop writing. I'm used to getting socket exceptions or similar when a client closes the connection but that doesn't seem to be happening when writing directly to Response.Body. I can close the client applications and the server side just keeps on writing. I've included the relevant code below. It's entirely possible there is a better way to do it but this came to mind. Basically I have a live video feed which should go on forever. I'm writing to ResponseBody as chunked content (No content length, flushing after each video frame). The video frames are received via an event callback from elsewhere in the program so I'm subscribing to the events in the controller method and then forcing it to stay open with the await Task.Delay loop so the Response stream isn't closed. The callback for H264PacketReceived is formatting the data as a streaming mp4 file and writing it to the Response Stream. This all seems to work fine, I can play the live stream with ffmpeg or chrome, but when I close the client application I don't get an exception or anything. It just keeps writing to the stream without any errors.
public class LiveController : ControllerBase
{
[HttpGet]
[Route("/live/{cameraId}/{stream}.mp4")]
public async Task GetLiveMP4(Guid cameraId, int stream)
{
try
{
Response.StatusCode = 200;
Response.ContentType = "video/mp4";
Response.Headers.Add("Cache-Control", "no-store");
Response.Headers.Add("Connection", "close");
ms = Response.Body;
lock (TCPVideoReceiver.CameraStreams)
{
TCPVideoReceiver.CameraStreams.TryGetValue(cameraId, out cameraStream);
}
if (this.PacketStream == null)
{
throw new KeyNotFoundException($"Stream {cameraId}_{stream} not found");
}
else
{
connected = true;
this.PacketStream.H264PacketReceived += DefaultStream_H264PacketReceived;
this.PacketStream.StreamClosed += PacketStream_StreamClosed;
}
while(connected)
{
await Task.Delay(1000);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
}
finally
{
connected = false;
this.PacketStream.H264PacketReceived -= DefaultStream_H264PacketReceived;
this.PacketStream.StreamClosed -= PacketStream_StreamClosed;
}
}
private bool connected = false;
private PacketStream PacketStream;
private Mp4File mp4File;
private Stream ms;
private async void PacketStream_StreamClosed(PacketStream source)
{
await Task.Run(() =>
{
try
{
Console.WriteLine($"Closing live stream");
connected = false;
ms.Close();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
}
});
}
private async void DefaultStream_H264PacketReceived(PacketStream source, H264Packet packet)
{
try
{
if (mp4File == null && packet.IsIFrame)
{
mp4File = new Mp4File(null, packet.sps, packet.pps);
var _p = mp4File.WriteHeader(0);
await ms.WriteAsync(mp4File.buffer, 0, _p);
}
if (mp4File != null)
{
var _p = mp4File.WriteFrame(packet, 0);
var start = mp4File._moofScratchIndex - _p;
if (_p > 0)
{
await ms.WriteAsync(mp4File._moofScratch, start, _p);
await ms.FlushAsync();
}
}
return;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
connected = false;
Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
}
}

Answer 1

Answering my own question.
When the client disconnects mvc core sets the cancellation token HttpContext.RequestAborted
By monitoring and/or using that cancellation token you can detect a disconnect and clean everything up.
That said, the entire design can be improved by creating a custom stream which encapsulates the event handling (producer/consumer). Then the controller action can be reduced to.
return File(new MyCustomStream(cameraId, stream), "video/mp4");
The File Method already monitors the cancellation token and everything works as you'd expect.