WinRT ViewModel DataBind to async method - data-binding

Question

I am deserializing a list of objects from an XML file, and would like to bind to the actual content of those objects in my View, passing over a ViewModel. The problem is that file operations are async and this bubbles all the way up to the ViewModel, where Property getters cannot be marked as such...
Problem
I deserialize all XML files in a folder to Profile objects and store them in a List<Profile>. This method (has to be) marked async.
public static async Task<List<Profile>> GetAllProfiles()
{
DataContractSerializer ser = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(Profile));
StorageFolder folder = await ApplicationData.Current.RoamingFolder.CreateFolderAsync("Profiles", CreationCollisionOption.OpenIfExists);
List<Profile> profiles = new List<Profile>();
foreach (var f in await folder.GetFilesAsync())
{
var fs = await f.OpenStreamForReadAsync();
profiles.Add((Profile)ser.ReadObject(fs));
fs.Dispose();
}
return profiles;
}
Ideal solution 1
The binding property in my ViewModel would then ideally call that static method like this
public async Task<ObservableCollection<string>> Lists
{
get
{
return new ObservableCollection<string>(GetAllProfiles().Select(p => p.Name));
}
}
BUT Properties cannot be marked async
Ideal solution 2
public ObservableCollection<string> Lists
{
get
{
return new ObservableCollection<string>((GetAllProfiles().Result).Select(p => p.Name));
}
}
BUT this never executes (it blocks in the await folder.GetFilesAsync() call for some reason)
Current solution
Calls an async Initialize() method that loads the result of the GetProfiles() function in a variable, and then makes a NotifyPropertyChanged("Lists") call:
public ViewModel()
{
Initialize();
}
public async void Initialize()
{
_profiles = await Profile.GetAllProfiles();
NotifyPropertyChanged("Lists");
}
private List<Profile> _profiles;
public ObservableCollection<string> Lists
{
get
{
if (_profiles != null)
return new ObservableCollection<string>(_profiles.Select(p => p.Name));
else
return null;
}
}
Question
Is there a better way?
Is there a pattern/method that I haven't yet discovered?
Edit
The root of the problem appears when doing non-UI code, and you cannot rely on the NotifyPropertyChanged to do some thread-synchronization stuff. -- The method Initialize has to be awaited and ctors cannot be async, so essentialy this is pattern is useless.
public MyClass()
{
Initialize();
}
public async void Initialize()
{
_profiles = await Profile.GetAllProfiles();
}
private ObservableCollection<Profile> _profiles;
public ObservableCollection<string> Lists
{
get
{
return _profiles; // this will always be null
}
}

Answer 1

Properties can't be async so this solution will not work as you mentioned. Task.Result waits for the task to complete, but this is blocking your UI thread where the I/O operation's async callback returns, so you are deadlocking your application, since the callback is never called. Your solution really is the best way. It could be improved though.
You should make the _profiles field an ObservableCollection, so you would not need to convert the List to the OC every time the list is accessed.
Since you are performing an I/O operation that can take arbitrary amount of time - you should enable some sort of a progress indicator while it is in progress.
In some cases you might want the Lists property to be lazier and only call the Init method the first time it is accessed.