c# - What's the difference between InvokeAsync and BeginInvoke for WPF Dispatcher

Question

I noticed in .NET 4.5 that the WPF Dispatcher had gotten a new set of methods to execute stuff on the Dispatcher's thread called InvokeAsync. Before, .NET 4.5 we had Invoke and BeginInvoke which handled this syncronously and asynchronously respectively.

Besides the naming and the slightly different overloads available, are there any major differences between the BeginInvoke and the InvokeAsync methods?

Oh, and I already checked, both can be awaited:

private async Task RunStuffOnUiThread(Action action)
{
    // both of these works fine
    await dispatcher.BeginInvoke(action);
    await dispatcher.InvokeAsync(action);
}

Answer 1

The exception handling is different.

You may want to check the following:

private async void OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    Dispatcher.UnhandledException += OnUnhandledException;
    try
    {
        await Dispatcher.BeginInvoke((Action)(Throw));
    }
    catch
    {
        // The exception is not handled here but in the unhandled exception handler.
        MessageBox.Show("Catched BeginInvoke.");
    }

    try
    {
       await Dispatcher.InvokeAsync((Action)Throw);
    }
    catch
    {
        MessageBox.Show("Catched InvokeAsync.");
    }
}

private void OnUnhandledException(object sender, DispatcherUnhandledExceptionEventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Catched UnhandledException");
}

private void Throw()
{
    throw new Exception();
}