can not await async lambda

Question

Consider this,

Task task = new Task (async () =>{ await TaskEx.Delay(1000); }); task.Start(); task.Wait();

The call task.Wait() does not wait for the task completion and the next line is executed immediately, but if I wrap the async lambda expression into a method call, the code works as expected.

private static async Task AwaitableMethod() { await TaskEx.Delay(1000); }

then (updated according comment from svick)

await AwaitableMethod();

In the AwaitableMethod you are actually returning and calling Wait on the task returned from the .Delay() method (I'm assuming it returns a Task). In the async lambda you are calling Wait on the Task task. But still, I have no explanation. — Mario S
– Mario S, Commented Oct 24, 2012 at 9:43
You should be very careful about mixing await with Wait(). In many cases, that can lead to deadlocks. — svick
– svick, Commented Oct 24, 2012 at 17:06
@svick found a great example about mixing await with Wait() — kennyzx
– kennyzx, Commented Oct 25, 2012 at 1:32

Joe Daley · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-24 10:05:25Z

100

In your lambda example, when you call task.Wait(), you are waiting on the new Task that you constructed, not the delay Task that it returns. To get your desired delay, you would need to also wait on the resulting Task:

Task<Task> task = new Task<Task>(async () => { await Task.Delay(1000); }); task.Start(); task.Wait(); task.Result.Wait();

You could avoid constructing a new Task, and just have one Task to deal with instead of two:

Func<Task> task = async () => { await TaskEx.Delay(1000); }; task().Wait();

edited Oct 24, 2012 at 10:05

answered Oct 24, 2012 at 10:00

Joe Daley

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6 Comments

Andrew Over a year ago

I highly recommend reading Potential pitfalls to avoid when passing around async lambdas and Task.Run vs Task.Factory.StartNew.

Nelson Rothermel Over a year ago

If the first await is after lots of processing you may still want the double tasks. Instead of task.Result.Wait() you can also do task.Unwrap().Wait() (or Unwrap<T>() for non-void methods). The new Task.Run methods automatically unwrap so you only wait on the expected task.

drowa Over a year ago

As a beginner, I have the impression they could have done a better job with the async keyword; it is very confusing.

drowa Over a year ago

Is it possible to start the container task without starting the nested task?

VoteCoffee Over a year ago

The potential pitfalls link is broken and is now devblogs.microsoft.com/pfxteam/…

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Lawrence Wagerfield · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-24 15:24:53Z

You need to use TaskEx.RunEx.

It natively supports running async methods on the TaskPool by awaiting the inner task internally. Otherwise you'll run into the issue you're facing, where only the outer task is awaited, which obviously completes immediately, leaving either a task which still needs awaiting, or in your case (and even worse) a void lambda which cannot be awaited.

Alternatively, you can await the task twice, providing you construct your outer task correctly (which currently you are not).

Current code (fixed):

Task task = new Task<Task>(async () =>{ await TaskEx.Delay(1000); }); task.Start(); var innerTask = await task; await innerTask;

Using TaskEx.RunEx:

Task task = TaskEx.RunEx(async () =>{ // Framework awaits your lambda internally. await TaskEx.Delay(1000); }); await task;

Nice explanation, but the code TaskEx.Run does not work, still has the same problem.
Argh, sorry! I'm using .NET 4.5... I meant to write TaskEx.RunEx. Compare its signature to TaskEx.Run - you'll see why it's specifically for running async methods.

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