The CONNECTED method on the Server handle will return TRUE if the Server handle has a valid connection to an AppServer. When the AppServer Internet Adapter (AIA) was introduced many years ago, the CONNECTED method was modified due to using HTTP.
HTTP is a connectionless protocol that does not require a valid socket to be opened at all times. The CONNECTED method was modified so that if it was using AIA, it would return TRUE if there was a valid logical connection (in other words the connection had been successfully made at one time). This functionality continued with the introduction of PASOE, which only supports using HTTP.
Customers that have migrated to PASOE from Classic AppServer will see the behavior change with their existing applications. Although the CONNECTED method will return TRUE if there is a logical connection, the ABL Session on the server may have timed out, causing the remote request to fail.