Is it OK to have virtual async method on base class?

Question

Short answer

• A virtual method may be marked as async
• An abstract method cannot be marked as async

The reason for this is async is not actually part of the method signature. It simply tells the compiler how to handle the compilation of the method body itself (and does not apply to overriding methods). Since an abstract method does not have a method body, it does not make sense to apply the async modifier.

Long answer

Rather than your current signature in the base class, I would recommend the following if the base class provides a default implementation of the method but does not need to do any work.

protected virtual Task LoadDataAsync() {
  return Task.FromResult(default(object));
}

The key changes from your implementation are the following:

1. Change the return value from void to Task (remember async is not actually part of the return type). Unlike returning void, when a Task is returned calling code has the ability to do any of the following:
   • Wait for the operation to complete
   • Check the status of the task (completed, canceled, faulted)
2. Avoid using the async modifier, since the method does not need to await anything. Instead, simply return an already-completed Task instance. Methods which override this method will still be able to use the async modifier if they need it.

Yes, it's fine, but you should use async Task instead of async void. I have an MSDN article that explains why.