AWS SDK Version 3 for .NET
API Reference

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Changes the visibility timeout of a specified message in a queue to a new value. The default visibility timeout for a message is 30 seconds. The minimum is 0 seconds. The maximum is 12 hours. For more information, see Visibility Timeout in the Amazon SQS Developer Guide.

For example, if the default timeout for a queue is 60 seconds, 15 seconds have elapsed since you received the message, and you send a ChangeMessageVisibility call with VisibilityTimeout set to 10 seconds, the 10 seconds begin to count from the time that you make the ChangeMessageVisibility call. Thus, any attempt to change the visibility timeout or to delete that message 10 seconds after you initially change the visibility timeout (a total of 25 seconds) might result in an error.

An Amazon SQS message has three basic states:

  1. Sent to a queue by a producer.

  2. Received from the queue by a consumer.

  3. Deleted from the queue.

A message is considered to be stored after it is sent to a queue by a producer, but not yet received from the queue by a consumer (that is, between states 1 and 2). There is no limit to the number of stored messages. A message is considered to be in flight after it is received from a queue by a consumer, but not yet deleted from the queue (that is, between states 2 and 3). There is a limit to the number of in flight messages.

Limits that apply to in flight messages are unrelated to the unlimited number of stored messages.

For most standard queues (depending on queue traffic and message backlog), there can be a maximum of approximately 120,000 in flight messages (received from a queue by a consumer, but not yet deleted from the queue). If you reach this limit, Amazon SQS returns the OverLimit error message. To avoid reaching the limit, you should delete messages from the queue after they're processed. You can also increase the number of queues you use to process your messages. To request a limit increase, file a support request.

For FIFO queues, there can be a maximum of 20,000 in flight messages (received from a queue by a consumer, but not yet deleted from the queue). If you reach this limit, Amazon SQS returns no error messages.

If you attempt to set the VisibilityTimeout to a value greater than the maximum time left, Amazon SQS returns an error. Amazon SQS doesn't automatically recalculate and increase the timeout to the maximum remaining time.

Unlike with a queue, when you change the visibility timeout for a specific message the timeout value is applied immediately but isn't saved in memory for that message. If you don't delete a message after it is received, the visibility timeout for the message reverts to the original timeout value (not to the value you set using the ChangeMessageVisibility action) the next time the message is received.

Note:

For .NET Core this operation is only available in asynchronous form. Please refer to ChangeMessageVisibilityAsync.

Namespace: Amazon.SQS
Assembly: AWSSDK.SQS.dll
Version: 3.x.y.z

Syntax

C#
public virtual ChangeMessageVisibilityResponse ChangeMessageVisibility(
         ChangeMessageVisibilityRequest request
)

Parameters

request
Type: Amazon.SQS.Model.ChangeMessageVisibilityRequest

Container for the necessary parameters to execute the ChangeMessageVisibility service method.

Return Value


The response from the ChangeMessageVisibility service method, as returned by SQS.

Exceptions

ExceptionCondition
InvalidAddressException The accountId is invalid.
InvalidSecurityException When the request to a queue is not HTTPS and SigV4.
MessageNotInflightException The specified message isn't in flight.
QueueDoesNotExistException The specified queue doesn't exist.
ReceiptHandleIsInvalidException The specified receipt handle isn't valid.
RequestThrottledException The request was denied due to request throttling. The rate of requests per second exceeds the Amazon Web Services KMS request quota for an account and Region. A burst or sustained high rate of requests to change the state of the same KMS key. This condition is often known as a "hot key." Requests for operations on KMS keys in a Amazon Web Services CloudHSM key store might be throttled at a lower-than-expected rate when the Amazon Web Services CloudHSM cluster associated with the Amazon Web Services CloudHSM key store is processing numerous commands, including those unrelated to the Amazon Web Services CloudHSM key store.
UnsupportedOperationException Error code 400. Unsupported operation.

Examples

This example shows how to change message visibility.

Change message visibility example

var client = new AmazonSQSClient();

var url = "https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/80398EXAMPLE/MyTestQueue";

// Receive messages.
var rcvRequest = new ReceiveMessageRequest
{
  AttributeNames = new List<string>() { "All" },
  QueueUrl = url
};

var rcvResponse = client.ReceiveMessage(rcvRequest);

// Change visibility timeout for each message.
if (rcvResponse.Messages.Count > 0)
{
  foreach (var message in rcvResponse.Messages)
  {
    var visRequest = new ChangeMessageVisibilityRequest
    {
      QueueUrl = url,
      ReceiptHandle = message.ReceiptHandle,
      VisibilityTimeout = (int)TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10).TotalSeconds
    };

    client.ChangeMessageVisibility(visRequest);
  }
}
else
{
  Console.WriteLine("No messages to change visibility for.");
}
      

Version Information

.NET Framework:
Supported in: 4.5, 4.0, 3.5

See Also