Async CTP–Fixing the Installation Problem

I wasn’t aware that the Async CTP worked with Windows Phone 7 until I read this good introduction by Kevin Ashley.It’s not just the await and async –keywords which got me excited, it’s the thought of using TPL with WP7.

Unfortunately getting the CTP 3 to install wasn’t an easy task. First time everything seemed to go alright, except I couldn’t find the samples or DLLs from anywhere. Turns out this is a common problem and it is caused by the Silverlight 5 and some Visual Studio Hotfixes. 

Here are the steps I had to take in order to get the Async CTP installed:

1. Removed Silverlight 5 SDK through Programs and Features
2. Removed the following updates through Programs and Features / Installed Updates:
1. KB2615527
2. KB2635973
3. KB2549864

All of these can be reinstalled after Async CTP has been installed.

After going through the steps described above, Async with WP7 is a go:

        private async void ButtonClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            Debug.WriteLine(await GetWebpage());
        }

        private async Task<string> GetWebpage()
        {
            return await new WebClient().DownloadStringTaskAsync(new Uri("http://www.bing.com"));
        }