Returning a HttpWebResponse ASP.Net MVC

I'm using a .Net MVC application as a simplified web service.

I've got an async method that I call:

public void RunQueue()
    {
        QueueDelegate queue = new QueueDelegate(Queue);
        AsyncCallback completedCallback = new AsyncCallback(QueueCompleteCallback);

        lock (_sync)
        {
            if (!queueIsRunning)
            {
                AsyncOperation async = AsyncOperationManager.CreateOperation(null);
                queue.BeginInvoke(QueueCompleteCallback, async);
                queueIsRunning = true;
            }
        }
    }

and the hope is that when I call it, it starts the queue and then lets the user continue on with their day (they'll get an email when the queue's done).

As it stands right now, everything works fine except that instead of letting the user continue on, the webpage calling the "web service" just hangs and the request eventually times out.

How do I build an HttpWebResponse and send it back to the other server so that the user can continue on?

I've tried having it return things other than "void" but that doesn't do much.

Here's the Controller that's calling it.

public ActionResult StartQueue()
    {
        HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://localhost:2394/Home/RunQueue/");
        HttpWebResponse response;
        string r = "";
        try
        {
            response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
            Stream stream = response.GetResponseStream();

            StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream);
            r = reader.ReadToEnd();
        }
        catch (WebException ex)  // A WebException is not fatal. Record the status code.
        {
            response = (HttpWebResponse)ex.Respon开发者_JS百科se;
            if (response != null) // timeout
            {
                r = response.StatusCode.ToString();
            }
        }
        ViewData["message"] = r;
        return View();
    }

What is the QueueDelegate class? My guess would be that the request is waiting for the other thread to complete (maybe something like Thread.Join()?). I don't think sending a response is the solution you want - I'd suggest either finding a way to spawn a thread that is disconnected from the current request so that it ends naturally, or move the logic out completely into something like a Windows Service.

Hosting your long-running processes in the web context will be complicated at best :(