Do you want to use await but don’t want to wait until you can target .NET Framework 4.5? The waiting is over and awaiting is about to begin.
Today, we are proud to announce an update to the Async Targeting Pack we had previously released. The previous targeting pack allowed you to use await when targeting .NET Framework 4.0 and Silverlight 5. Our updated targeting pack allows you to use await in Visual Studio 2012 when targeting any of the following platforms (or higher versions):
- .NET Framework 4.0 (with KB2468871)
- Silverlight 4
- Windows Phone 7.5
- and portable class libraries targeting those platforms
So effectively we added support for Windows Phone 7.5, Silverlight 4, and portable class libraries.
Hang on – isn’t this simply a language feature anyways?
Yes and no. It’s very tempting to think of the new async/await keywords in C# and Visual Basic as pure language features. And to an extent this is true: the compiler has to do some heavy lifting to turn your code into something that can await operations.
With this mindset developers expect to be able to use await as soon as they use Visual Studio 2012 – independent from the .NET platform they are targeting. However, if you consider how most language features are implemented, it becomes quickly clear that this is not a given. Many language constructs require the .NET platform to expose certain APIs in order to support them. For example, extension methods require the ExtensionAttribute and foreach depends on IEnumerable. In the case of await, both languages require Task and some plumbing that make them awaitable.
What do I need for await?
In order to use await you need two components:
- Visual Studio 2012
- Some specific .NET APIs
In case you are targeting any of our newer platforms (i.e. .NET 4.5 or .NET for Window Store apps) the second point is a no-op – those platforms already have the required APIs. When you target any of the platforms that shipped before Visual Studio 2012, that is .NET Framework 4.0, Silverlight 4, and Windows Phone 7.5, you need to add a NuGet package that provides those APIs.
Note: If you are a phone developer, you are probably aware of the fact that Visual Studio 2012 doesn’t allow you to build phone apps yet – stay tuned. See this post for details.
Before consuming the packages, make sure you've got the NuGet 2.1 or newer installed.
To add a reference to our NuGet Package, right click the project, select “Manage Package References” and search for Microsoft.Bcl.Async. Make sure you selected the “Online” tab on the left hand side and the top left drop down says “Include Prerelease”.
Of course, you can also install the package via the Package Manager Console by running the following command:
install-package Microsoft.Bcl.Async –pre
Please note this package is marked as prerelease software – that is, there are some rough edges to be expected. We’ve published the known issues here. As usual, we’d like to know when are having trouble using it. Simply use the comment section under this blog post.
Happy awaiting!