Async/Await in IDataListSource

[Nikkelmann]

Ran into a problem today where I had an async data source that I wanted to hook up to contentment with the IDataListSource, but the interface does not allow async method calls.

Would it be possible to implement this or is this a restraint by Umbraco (v10)?

[leekelleher]

@Nikkelmann Honestly, I (currently) have no idea. I probably need some education on how it could be implemented using async. 😬😅

[Matthew-Wise]

If I found some time which branch would be the best to use for a POC and/or PR?

Most code wouldnt need async/await I think mainly it would be adding Task as the returns

[leekelleher]

@Matthew-Wise Thank you for the offer, but I doubt it's worth the effort.

The reason being is that the IDataListSource.GetItems method is called from with the ConfigurationEditor.ToValueEditor method, which isn't async itself... so even if we wanted to add async support to Data List, it'd be faking it anyway. 😕
https://github.com/leekelleher/umbraco-contentment/blob/4.4.4/src/Umbraco.Community.Contentment/DataEditors/DataList/DataListConfigurationEditor.cs#L114

The WIP branch for the upcoming Data Picker (PR #297) is different in that the items are populated in a separate fetch request from the client/backoffice, so can be done as async. To make the Data List editor do the same would require a total rewrite of all the list-editors, (which I'm not prepared to do at this point, with the v14 new backoffice rewrite looming).

[Matthew-Wise]

I think its possible with just an interface change to allow people who need to call the datalist in there own code by changing the interface at least for 10+

IEnumerable GetItems(Dictionary<string, object> config); => GetItemsAsync(config).GetAwaiter().GetResult();

Task<IEnumerable> GetItemsAsync(Dictionary<string, object> config) => Task.FromResult(GetItems(config));

GetAwaiter().GetResults() is never ideal. So would be good to push people to implement both methods. If they want to use Async.

[leekelleher]

Sure, that could be done... but the async version wouldn't be truly async, as the caller is Umbraco's ConfigurationEditor.ToValueEditor method - which isn't async, (as far as I'm aware).

I wouldn't want to mislead folk in thinking that Data List was async, when it'd be faking it.

[leekelleher]

My current thought is that Data List for v14 should be a ground-up rewrite (as opposed to a directly code migration/port), where it could make use of advancements in the platforms, (given that Data List was originally designed for Umbraco 8/.NET Framework).