C# – Can constructors be async

async-awaitcconstructor

I have a project where I'm trying to populate some data in a constructor:

public class ViewModel
{
    public ObservableCollection<TData> Data { get; set; }

    async public ViewModel()
    {
        Data = await GetDataTask();
    }

    public Task<ObservableCollection<TData>> GetDataTask()
    {
        Task<ObservableCollection<TData>> task;

        //Create a task which represents getting the data
        return task;
    }
}

Unfortunately, I'm getting an error:

The modifier async is not valid for this item

Of course, if I wrap in a standard method and call that from the constructor:

public async void Foo()
{
    Data = await GetDataTask();
}

it works fine. Likewise, if I use the old inside-out way

GetData().ContinueWith(t => Data = t.Result);

That works too. I was just wondering why we can't call await from within a constructor directly. There are probably lots of (even obvious) edge cases and reasons against it, I just can't think of any. I've also search around for an explanation, but can't seem to find any.

Best Answer

Since it is not possible to make an async constructor, I use a static async method that returns a class instance created by a private constructor. This is not elegant but it works ok.

public class ViewModel       
{       
    public ObservableCollection<TData> Data { get; set; }       

    //static async method that behave like a constructor       
    async public static Task<ViewModel> BuildViewModelAsync()  
    {       
        ObservableCollection<TData> tmpData = await GetDataTask();  
        return new ViewModel(tmpData);
    }       

    // private constructor called by the async method
    private ViewModel(ObservableCollection<TData> Data)
    {
        this.Data = Data;   
    }
}
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