Is the "Async" suffix required in the name of an async ASP.NET MVC 4 action?

Question

Given the following ASP.NET MVC 4 controller action:

public async Task<ActionResult> FooAsync()
{
    using (var httpClient = new HttpClient())
    {
        var responseMessage = await httpClient.GetAsync("http://stackoverflow.com");
        string response = await responseMessage.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();

        return Content(response);
    }
}

Do I need to put the "Async" suffix in FooAsync for the action to be run asynchronously?

Answer 1

Although it's not a requirement, I like to follow convention and see the "...Async" suffix on my asynchronous methods, so I tend to use the ActionName attribute to decorate the controller actions with the non-async name, this way you can have your cake and eat it too :)

[ActionName("Index")]
public async Task<ActionResult> IndexAsync()
{
    return View();
}

I find this works just fine.

Answer 2

No, this is not a requirement.

By convention, you append "Async" to the names of methods that have an Async or async modifier.

You can ignore the convention where an event, base class, or interface contract suggests a different name. For example, you shouldn’t rename common event handlers, such as Button1_Click.

source: MSDN: Asynchronous Programming with Async and Await C# -> Naming Convetions