Does .NET 4.5's async feature work with MySql and other databases too?

Question

I understand that .NET 4.5 comes with a bunch of features to make asynchronous database operations easier to implement. MSDN says that if the connection string is not set to

Answer 1

As Panagiotis Kanavos mentioned DbDataReader provides ReadAsync method signatures, however not all drivers support this. Some, like the MySql 6.9.5 driver, implement them synchronously.

To answer your more general question, if a (No)SQL driver does NOT inherently support *Async methods that are awaitable, but it does have "APM" IAsyncResult based methods (e.g. BeginRead.. EndRead...), then you can wrap those up using Task.Factory.FromAsync. Here is an example for MySql:-

public static class MySqlCommandExtension
{
    public static Task MyExecuteReaderAsync(this MySqlCommand source, CommandBehavior behavior = CommandBehavior.Default)
    {
        return Task.Factory.FromAsync(source.BeginExecuteReader(behavior), source.EndExecuteReader);
    }
}

This pattern is descibed in more detail on MSDN.