How can I call an async method in Main?

Larry picture Larry · Oct 21, 2012 · Viewed 61.5k times · Source
public class test
{
    public async Task Go()
    {
        await PrintAnswerToLife();
        Console.WriteLine("done");
    }

    public async Task PrintAnswerToLife()
    {
        int answer = await GetAnswerToLife();
        Console.WriteLine(answer);
    }

    public async Task<int> GetAnswerToLife()
    {
        await Task.Delay(5000);
        int answer = 21 * 2;
        return answer;
    }
}

if I want to call Go in main() method, how can I do that? I am trying out c# new features, I know i can hook the async method to a event and by triggering that event, async method can be called.

But what if I want to call it directly in main method? How can i do that?

I did something like

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        test t = new test();
        t.Go().GetAwaiter().OnCompleted(() =>
        {
            Console.WriteLine("finished");
        });
        Console.ReadKey();
    }


}

But seems it's a dead lock and nothing is printed on the screen.

Answer

Tim S. picture Tim S. · Oct 22, 2012

Your Main method can be simplified. For C# 7.1 and newer:

static async Task Main(string[] args)
{
    test t = new test();
    await t.Go();
    Console.WriteLine("finished");
    Console.ReadKey();
}

For earlier versions of C#:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    test t = new test();
    t.Go().Wait();
    Console.WriteLine("finished");
    Console.ReadKey();
}

This is part of the beauty of the async keyword (and related functionality): the use and confusing nature of callbacks is greatly reduced or eliminated.