Returning Task<bool> that involves a pending Task

Question

I never went beyond returning Task.FromResult(computedValue) in my asynchronous programming.
I was wondering if it is possible to return a Task even when computedValue is yet to be determined from another pending Task as illustrated below.

THE EASY ONE:

public Task<bool> IsFileNameExists(string fileName)  
{  
    bool isFileExists = CheckIfFileNameExists(fileName);  
  
    return Task.FromResult(isFileExits );  
}  

THE NOT EASY:

public Task<bool> IsFileNameExists(string fileName)  
{  
    var objectResult = Database.Table<DataEntriesModel>().Where(x => x.FileName == fileName).FirstOrDefault(); // this is returning Task  
  
    // What I want to return is CompletedTask result is not null.  
    // I cannot use the following because objectResult is a pending, and pending Task is not null even if completed task is null  
    // and objectResult != null will always be true.  
  
    return Task.FromResult(objectResult != null);  
}  

Yes, I can make the method async Task<bool> and return an awaited result.
I just wondered if Task<bool> can still be returned when the <bool> evaluation is dependent on a pending Task.
Can this be done and how?

Answer 1

Check if this works:

public Task<bool> IsFileNameExists(string fileName)  
{  
   return Task.Run( () => Database.Table<DataEntriesModel>().Where(x => x.FileName == fileName).FirstOrDefault() != null);  
}  

Answer 2

You can do the waiting in the caller if you really want to but I don't know that I'd recommend that approach. But honestly your method isn't doing anything that needs additional work so there shouldn't be any awaiting needed at all.

   public async Task<bool> IsFileNameExists(string fileName)  
   {  
        var objectResult = await Database.Table<DataEntriesModel>().Where(x => x.FileName == fileName).FirstOrDefault(); // this is returning Task  
             
        return objectResult != null;  
   }  

But if you wanted to do this in the caller then you'd do something like this.

   bool result = Database.Table<...>.Where().FirstOrDefault()  
                              .ContinueWith(x => x != null);  

But the problem I'm having is that neither Where nor FirstOrDefault are async. Therefore I don't see where in this line of code you are actually using async logic. If Table<> where to return an async object then the Where call would be invalid. Hence your first line of code is actually just synchronous.