C# – This async method lacks ‘await’ operators and will run synchronously

Here's a workaround I found that works for all cases (including suspended dispatchers). It's not my code and I'm still working to fully understand it, but it does work.

It can be called using:

customerList = AsyncHelpers.RunSync<List<Customer>>(() => GetCustomers());

Code is from here

public static class AsyncHelpers
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Execute's an async Task<T> method which has a void return value synchronously
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="task">Task<T> method to execute</param>
    public static void RunSync(Func<Task> task)
    {
        var oldContext = SynchronizationContext.Current;
        var synch = new ExclusiveSynchronizationContext();
        SynchronizationContext.SetSynchronizationContext(synch);
        synch.Post(async _ =>
        {
            try
            {
                await task();
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                synch.InnerException = e;
                throw;
            }
            finally
            {
                synch.EndMessageLoop();
            }
        }, null);
        synch.BeginMessageLoop();

        SynchronizationContext.SetSynchronizationContext(oldContext);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Execute's an async Task<T> method which has a T return type synchronously
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T">Return Type</typeparam>
    /// <param name="task">Task<T> method to execute</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static T RunSync<T>(Func<Task<T>> task)
    {
        var oldContext = SynchronizationContext.Current;
        var synch = new ExclusiveSynchronizationContext();
        SynchronizationContext.SetSynchronizationContext(synch);
        T ret = default(T);
        synch.Post(async _ =>
        {
            try
            {
                ret = await task();
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                synch.InnerException = e;
                throw;
            }
            finally
            {
                synch.EndMessageLoop();
            }
        }, null);
        synch.BeginMessageLoop();
        SynchronizationContext.SetSynchronizationContext(oldContext);
        return ret;
    }

    private class ExclusiveSynchronizationContext : SynchronizationContext
    {
        private bool done;
        public Exception InnerException { get; set; }
        readonly AutoResetEvent workItemsWaiting = new AutoResetEvent(false);
        readonly Queue<Tuple<SendOrPostCallback, object>> items =
            new Queue<Tuple<SendOrPostCallback, object>>();

        public override void Send(SendOrPostCallback d, object state)
        {
            throw new NotSupportedException("We cannot send to our same thread");
        }

        public override void Post(SendOrPostCallback d, object state)
        {
            lock (items)
            {
                items.Enqueue(Tuple.Create(d, state));
            }
            workItemsWaiting.Set();
        }

        public void EndMessageLoop()
        {
            Post(_ => done = true, null);
        }

        public void BeginMessageLoop()
        {
            while (!done)
            {
                Tuple<SendOrPostCallback, object> task = null;
                lock (items)
                {
                    if (items.Count > 0)
                    {
                        task = items.Dequeue();
                    }
                }
                if (task != null)
                {
                    task.Item1(task.Item2);
                    if (InnerException != null) // the method threw an exeption
                    {
                        throw new AggregateException("AsyncHelpers.Run method threw an exception.", InnerException);
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    workItemsWaiting.WaitOne();
                }
            }
        }

        public override SynchronizationContext CreateCopy()
        {
            return this;
        }
    }
}

I've got an interface with some async functions.

Methods returning Task, I believe. async is an implementation detail, so it can't be applied to interface methods.

Some of the classes that implements the interface does not have anything to await, and some might just throw.

In these cases, you can take advantage of the fact that async is an implementation detail.

If you have nothing to await, then you can just return Task.FromResult:

public Task<int> Success() // note: no "async"
{
  ... // non-awaiting code
  int result = ...;
  return Task.FromResult(result);
}

In the case of throwing NotImplementedException, the procedure is a bit more wordy:

public Task<int> Fail() // note: no "async"
{
  var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<int>();
  tcs.SetException(new NotImplementedException());
  return tcs.Task;
}

If you have a lot of methods throwing NotImplementedException (which itself may indicate that some design-level refactoring would be good), then you could wrap up the wordiness into a helper class:

public static class TaskConstants<TResult>
{
  static TaskConstants()
  {
    var tcs = new TaskCompletionSource<TResult>();
    tcs.SetException(new NotImplementedException());
    NotImplemented = tcs.Task;
  }

  public static Task<TResult> NotImplemented { get; private set; }
}

public Task<int> Fail() // note: no "async"
{
  return TaskConstants<int>.NotImplemented;
}

The helper class also reduces garbage that the GC would otherwise have to collect, since each method with the same return type can share its Task and NotImplementedException objects.

I have several other "task constant" type examples in my AsyncEx library.