How to await an async private method invoked using reflection in WinRT?

jokeefe picture jokeefe · Feb 5, 2013 · Viewed 22.7k times · Source

I'm writing unit tests for a WinRT app, and I am able to invoke non-async private methods using this:

TheObjectClass theObject = new TheObjectClass();
Type objType = typeof(TheObjectClass);
objType.GetTypeInfo()
       .GetDeclaredMethod("ThePrivateMethod")
       .Invoke(theObject, null);

However, if the private method in question is async, the code will continue execution without waiting for it to finish.

How do I add await functionality to this?

Answer

Jon Skeet picture Jon Skeet · Feb 5, 2013

Well you need to use the value returned by the method. Do you know the type? For example, if it's always a Task, you could use:

await (Task) objType.GetTypeInfo()
                    .GetDeclaredMethod("ThePrivateMethod")
                    .Invoke(theObject, null);

If you don't know the return type but know it will be awaitable, you could use dynamic typing:

await (dynamic) objType.GetTypeInfo()
                       .GetDeclaredMethod("ThePrivateMethod")
                       .Invoke(theObject, null);

I would try to avoid having to call a private method by reflection in your unit tests in the first place though. Can you test it indirectly via the public (or internal) API? That's generally preferable.