Await in catch block

Question

I have the following code:

WebClient wc = new WebClient(); string result; try {   result = await wc.DownloadStringTaskAsync( new Uri( "http://badurl" ) ); } catch {   result = await wc.DownloadStringTaskAsync( new Uri( "http://fallbackurl" ) ); } 

Basically I want to download from a URL and when it fails with an exception I want to download from another URL. Both time async of course. However the code does not compile, because of

error CS1985: Cannot await in the body of a catch clause

OK, it's forbidden for whatever reason but what's the correct code pattern here?

EDIT:

The good news is that C# 6.0 will likely allow await calls both in catch and finally blocks.

Answer 1

Update: C# 6.0 supports await in catch

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Old Answer: You can rewrite that code to move the await from the catch block using a flag:

WebClient wc = new WebClient(); string result = null; bool downloadSucceeded; try {   result = await wc.DownloadStringTaskAsync( new Uri( "http://badurl" ) );   downloadSucceeded = true; } catch {   downloadSucceeded = false; }  if (!downloadSucceeded)   result = await wc.DownloadStringTaskAsync( new Uri( "http://fallbackurl" ) ); 

Answer 2

Awaiting in a catch block is now possible as of the End User Preview of Roslyn as shown here (Listed under Await in catch/finally) and will be included in C# 6.

The example listed is

try … catch { await … } finally { await … } 

Update: Added newer link, and that it will be in C# 6