Catch an exception thrown by an async void method
It's somewhat weird to read but yes, the exception will bubble up to the calling code - but only if you await or Wait() the call to Foo.
public async Task Foo()
{
var x = await DoSomethingAsync();
}
public async void DoFoo()
{
try
{
await Foo();
}
catch (ProtocolException ex)
{
// The exception will be caught because you've awaited
// the call in an async method.
}
}
//or//
public void DoFoo()
{
try
{
Foo().Wait();
}
catch (ProtocolException ex)
{
/* The exception will be caught because you've
waited for the completion of the call. */
}
}
As Stephen Cleary wrote in Async/Await - Best Practices in Asynchronous Programming:
Async void methods have different error-handling semantics. When an exception is thrown out of an async Task or async Task method, that exception is captured and placed on the Task object. With async void methods, there is no Task object, so any exceptions thrown out of an async void method will be raised directly on the SynchronizationContext that was active when the async void method started.
Note that using Wait() may cause your application to block, if .NET decides to execute your method synchronously.
This explanation http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/2010/11/01/csharp5-async-exceptions is pretty good - it discusses the steps the compiler takes to achieve this magic.
The reason the exception is not caught is because the Foo() method has a void return type and so when await is called, it simply returns. As DoFoo() is not awaiting the completion of Foo, the exception handler cannot be used.
This opens up a simpler solution if you can change the method signatures - alter Foo() so that it returns type Task and then DoFoo() can await Foo(), as in this code:
public async Task Foo() {
var x = await DoSomethingThatThrows();
}
public async void DoFoo() {
try {
await Foo();
} catch (ProtocolException ex) {
// This will catch exceptions from DoSomethingThatThrows
}
}
Your code doesn't do what you might think it does. Async methods return immediately after the method begins waiting for the async result. It's insightful to use tracing in order to investigate how the code is actually behaving.
The code below does the following:
- Create 4 tasks
- Each task will asynchronously increment a number and return the incremented number
- When the async result has arrived it is traced.
static TypeHashes _type = new TypeHashes(typeof(Program));
private void Run()
{
TracerConfig.Reset("debugoutput");
using (Tracer t = new Tracer(_type, "Run"))
{
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
DoSomeThingAsync(i);
}
}
Application.Run(); // Start window message pump to prevent termination
}
private async void DoSomeThingAsync(int i)
{
using (Tracer t = new Tracer(_type, "DoSomeThingAsync"))
{
t.Info("Hi in DoSomething {0}",i);
try
{
int result = await Calculate(i);
t.Info("Got async result: {0}", result);
}
catch (ArgumentException ex)
{
t.Error("Got argument exception: {0}", ex);
}
}
}
Task<int> Calculate(int i)
{
var t = new Task<int>(() =>
{
using (Tracer t2 = new Tracer(_type, "Calculate"))
{
if( i % 2 == 0 )
throw new ArgumentException(String.Format("Even argument {0}", i));
return i++;
}
});
t.Start();
return t;
}
When you observe the traces
22:25:12.649 02172/02820 { AsyncTest.Program.Run
22:25:12.656 02172/02820 { AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync
22:25:12.657 02172/02820 Information AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Hi in DoSomething 0
22:25:12.658 02172/05220 { AsyncTest.Program.Calculate
22:25:12.659 02172/02820 { AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync
22:25:12.659 02172/02820 Information AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Hi in DoSomething 1
22:25:12.660 02172/02756 { AsyncTest.Program.Calculate
22:25:12.662 02172/02820 { AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync
22:25:12.662 02172/02820 Information AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Hi in DoSomething 2
22:25:12.662 02172/02820 { AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync
22:25:12.662 02172/02820 Information AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Hi in DoSomething 3
22:25:12.664 02172/02756 } AsyncTest.Program.Calculate Duration 4ms
22:25:12.666 02172/02820 } AsyncTest.Program.Run Duration 17ms ---- Run has completed. The async methods are now scheduled on different threads.
22:25:12.667 02172/02756 Information AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Got async result: 1
22:25:12.667 02172/02756 } AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Duration 8ms
22:25:12.667 02172/02756 { AsyncTest.Program.Calculate
22:25:12.665 02172/05220 Exception AsyncTest.Program.Calculate Exception thrown: System.ArgumentException: Even argument 0
at AsyncTest.Program.c__DisplayClassf.Calculateb__e() in C:\Source\AsyncTest\AsyncTest\Program.cs:line 124
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1.InvokeFuture(Object futureAsObj)
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.InnerInvoke()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()
22:25:12.668 02172/02756 Exception AsyncTest.Program.Calculate Exception thrown: System.ArgumentException: Even argument 2
at AsyncTest.Program.c__DisplayClassf.Calculateb__e() in C:\Source\AsyncTest\AsyncTest\Program.cs:line 124
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1.InvokeFuture(Object futureAsObj)
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.InnerInvoke()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()
22:25:12.724 02172/05220 } AsyncTest.Program.Calculate Duration 66ms
22:25:12.724 02172/02756 } AsyncTest.Program.Calculate Duration 57ms
22:25:12.725 02172/05220 Error AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Got argument exception: System.ArgumentException: Even argument 0
Server stack trace:
at AsyncTest.Program.c__DisplayClassf.Calculateb__e() in C:\Source\AsyncTest\AsyncTest\Program.cs:line 124
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1.InvokeFuture(Object futureAsObj)
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.InnerInvoke()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()
Exception rethrown at [0]:
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.EndAwait()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.EndAwait()
at AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsyncd__8.MoveNext() in C:\Source\AsyncTest\AsyncTest\Program.cs:line 106
22:25:12.725 02172/02756 Error AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Got argument exception: System.ArgumentException: Even argument 2
Server stack trace:
at AsyncTest.Program.c__DisplayClassf.Calculateb__e() in C:\Source\AsyncTest\AsyncTest\Program.cs:line 124
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1.InvokeFuture(Object futureAsObj)
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.InnerInvoke()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()
Exception rethrown at [0]:
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.EndAwait()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.EndAwait()
at AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsyncd__8.MoveNext() in C:\Source\AsyncTest\AsyncTest\Program.cs:line 0
22:25:12.726 02172/05220 } AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Duration 70ms
22:25:12.726 02172/02756 } AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Duration 64ms
22:25:12.726 02172/05220 { AsyncTest.Program.Calculate
22:25:12.726 02172/05220 } AsyncTest.Program.Calculate Duration 0ms
22:25:12.726 02172/05220 Information AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Got async result: 3
22:25:12.726 02172/05220 } AsyncTest.Program.DoSomeThingAsync Duration 64ms
You will notice that the Run method completes on thread 2820 while only one child thread has finished (2756). If you put a try/catch around your await method you can "catch" the exception in the usual way although your code is executed on another thread when the calculation task has finished and your contiuation is executed.
The calculation method traces the thrown exception automatically because I did use the ApiChange.Api.dll from the ApiChange tool. Tracing and Reflector helps a lot to understand what is going on. To get rid of threading you can create your own versions of GetAwaiter BeginAwait and EndAwait and wrap not a task but e.g. a Lazy and trace inside your own extension methods. Then you will get much better understanding what the compiler and what the TPL does.
Now you see that there is no way to get in a try/catch your exception back since there is no stack frame left for any exception to propagate from. Your code might be doing something totally different after you did initiate the async operations. It might call Thread.Sleep or even terminate. As long as there is one foreground thread left your application will happily continue to execute asynchronous tasks.
You can handle the exception inside the async method after your asynchronous operation did finish and call back into the UI thread. The recommended way to do this is with TaskScheduler.FromSynchronizationContext. That does only work if you have an UI thread and it is not very busy with other things.