How do you combine MVVM with async? -- Well, really, there's not much to it. Just the same as always. Here's an example Silverlight MVVM project. It first shipped with the Async CTP, and I've updated it to use VS2012 and Microsoft.Bcl.Async. Download AsyncMVVM-Silverlight-VB.zip [2mb, requires...

Talk: The New Async Design Patterns Async involves some new concepts. They're not difficult; just unfamiliar. Over the past year I've been watching how people use it. This talk distils out the three top async patterns and anti-patterns. Async void is for top-level event-handlers only, and event...

Talk: Async Part 2 - for architects, under the hood This talk tackles some more advanced async topics. Async idioms - the "TAP" Task Asynchronous Pattern, when and when not to expose async APIs, the unexpected trouble with Task.Yield Integrating async into existing code - call sync from async...

[This post is part of a series How to await a storyboard, and other things ] The normal behavior of the "await" operator on a task is to suspend execution of the method; then, when the task operand has finished, to resume execution on the same SynchronizationContext and with the same ExecutionContext...

[This post is part of a series How to await a storyboard, and other things ] I want to invoke an external executable, and await until it’s finished, and get back its output. (In my case, the external executable is called “ tidy.exe ” – an excellent open-source utility for...

I’m a big fan of supporting cancellation on async methods. I was recently wondering how to do this for HttpClient.GetStringAsync(). This post has some answers. Async Function TestAsync(uri As Uri , Optional cancel As CancellationToken = Nothing ) As Task ( Of String ) Dim client As...

[This post is part of a series How to await a storyboard, and other things ] Sometimes we want to await until a button has been clicked. Once place where this is useful is, for instance, when displaying the message “Click button to continue”. Await button1.WhenClicked() Why...

[This post is part of a series How to await a storyboard, and other things ] In my app, I want to await a drag operation. Here’s how I’d like to await it: Private Async Sub rectangle1_PointerPressed(sender As Object , e As PointerRoutedEventArgs ) Handles rectangle1.PointerPressed...

[This post is part of a series How to await a storyboard, and other things ] Let’s look at making MediaElement awaitable. This is the kind of idiom I’d like to use: Try Await mediaElement1.OpenAsync( New Uri ( "ms-appx:///Assets/boooo.mp3" )) Await mediaElement1.PlayAsync(...

This post is part of a series about an important new design pattern, awaiting events ... I also made a Channel9 video introduction " Async Over Events ". In this blog series: How to await a storyboard, and other things How to await a MediaElement How to await a drag operation How to await...

Sometimes people ask the question “How can I serialize a Task?” If you try, it throws a SerializationException: Dim t = TestAsync() Using stream As New MemoryStream Dim formatter As New Formatters.Binary. BinaryFormatter formatter.Serialize(stream, t) ' SerializationException...

We all know that async methods return Task or Task(Of T): Async Function GetNameAsync() As Task ( Of String ) Await Task .Delay(10) Return "ernest" End Function Sometimes, advanced users ask for the ability to return different types out of an async method. That’s disallowed: it gives the...

[UPDATE: The async targeting pack has been renamed " Microsoft.Bcl.Async ". It now supports async for portable libraries] We’ve just released an " Async Targeting Pack ” [update: replaced by Microsoft.Bcl.Async ] via NuGet. It lets you use the async feature of VS11 for applications...

Talk: Async Part 1 - the message-loop, and the Task type After giving lots of training and talks over the past two years, this is my most recent take on how to explain Async. The message-loop is fundamental. You can't understand async unless you understand the message-loop. Once you understand...

Talk: What's new in VB11 This talk details some of what's new in VB11. (Just some: there were too many improvements to cover them all in just one talk). Win8 support VBCore (=> new platform support for VB on Phone, XNA, MicroFramework, Kinect, Surface...) Async CallerMemberInfo Iterators View Call...

The AsyncCTP is getting a bit long in the tooth. This post is to explain how, why, and what to do. Common symptoms: AsyncCTP fails to install -- i.e. it doesn't create the "Async CTP" folder inside "My Documents", and VS doesn't recognize the async keywords. Installing VS11 causes AsyncCTP...

The third version of the Async CTP was released on 31st October 2011. The reason for releasing v3 is to address installation issues -- a recent Windows Update had conflicted with the Async CTP v2 and stopped it working, or prevented its installation in the first place. The v3 release also contains...

Talk: How to write an [Async] connected app for Windows Phone 7.1 This talk is all about writing a connected app for the Windows Phone. The talk covered: (1) Azure/WP7 toolkit for the server-side of the phone app. Most good phone apps will need some kind of server-side component, be it for live tile...

Talk: The [Async] Future of VB and C# I gave a C#-specific version of this talk at DevConnections in Las Vegas, USA on 2011.11.01 This talk is mainly about Async and goes into considerable technical depth. It also covers the new CallerInfo feature, and includes a Roslyn demo. Download...

This blog article has been moved and enhanced: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/lucian/archive/2011/05/20/talk-how-to-write-an-async-connected-app-for-windows-phone-7.aspx

Async CTP Refresh - mitigations when using the CTP The preceding four blog posts have outlined the known and unknown bug areas in the CTP. Now it's time to set out some concrete mitigation strategies. Use F# instead F# already shipped in VS2010 with Async support. It is tried, tested, high...

Async CTP Refresh - what bugs remain in it? Q. How many bugs remain in the Async CTP Refresh? A. That's hard to know. Our QA efforts have been dedicated to testing our async codebase that will be part of the next Visual Studio. We've spent far less time testing the CTP. There might be bugs in...

Async CTP Refresh - Compiler Bug fixes The big news about the Async CTP Refresh is that it enabled development on SP1 and for Windows Phone 7, and came with a new EULA. But there were also a few bug fixes... We heard about some of these bugs from community feedback. Thank you. Such feedback is...

Async CTP Refresh - Design Changes The big news about the Async CTP Refresh is that it enabled development on SP1 and for Windows Phone 7, and came with a new EULA. But there were also a few design changes... Async is like the zombie virus I've come to believe that async will be like the...

Async CTP Refresh - its state and direction We really appreciate everyone who has installed the Async CTP. It has given us tremendous feedback. We appreciate all the discussion and bug reports that have come from users. We made the CTP uninstallable to encourage people to test it. But this is...