Fons Sonnemans

Fons Sonnemans

@fonssonnemans.bsky.social

Trainer, speaker, developer, mentor | Microsoft MVP | C#, XAML (UWP, WPF, WinUI3), ASP.NET, Blazor, SQL | husband & father | ballroom dancing | badminton

404 Followers 309 Following 113 Posts Joined Nov 2024
17 hours ago
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I like Copilot CLI but the billing model stresses me out a little. Because there's no hourly or daily limit, I worry that I might run out of requests before the end of the month, and use them very conservatively. Then I end the month with a lot of unused quota.

So I built a tool.

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6 days ago
Screenshot of Visual Studio 2026 in which an auto property is refactored into a field property.

I really like the C# 14 field-properties. @visualstudio.com has a refactoring to convert auto-properties into the new field-properties. Very cool.

#csharp #csharp14 #VisualStudio2026

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1 week ago
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 7.0 Preview: Finally, Azure.Identity is Optional! 🎉 The most upvoted feature request in SqlClient history is here.

Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 7.0 Preview 4: Finally, Azure.Identity is Optional! 🎉

#dotnet #sqlserver

erikej.github.io/sqlclient/do...

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1 week ago
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ClipPing got a major update!

The tool displays a visual notification whenever the content of the clipboard changes, for all of you who are tired of ctrl+c not working.

I added configurable overlays, and some QoL improvements (like automatically starting the tool with Windows).

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1 week ago

I just saw the gear with the text. Ignore my question.

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1 week ago

Super cool. Congratulations. What is the patent for?

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2 weeks ago
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Built a small app to read all my #MicrosoftStore reviews in one place. #PartnerCenter only shows them per app, which doesn’t scale when you have many.

How do you keep track of your reviews?

#AppDev #WinUI #UWP #XAML

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3 weeks ago
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After my initial sketch I created the code and a Class Diagram using #VisualStudio. The sketch was quite close. Ready to create the UI.

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3 weeks ago
UML class diagram of my next game.

Call me old school. I still sketch my app/game designs on paper before I start coding.

#gamedev #uml

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1 month ago
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Can you go to bed with specs and wake up to a Windows app? The Ralph Loop is the dream of AI software. Write the specs, go to bed, and wake up with a working app. So how does it work with Windows app development?

Can you go to bed with specs and wake up to a Windows app?

The Ralph Loop is the dream of AI software. Write the specs, go to bed, and wake up with a working app. So how does it work with Windows app development?

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1 month ago
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My 2D Mahjong game has 41 ratings in the US and a 4.9 score, yet it hasn’t moved up in the Microsoft Store rankings for weeks. Meanwhile, games with zero ratings sit above it — and many others haven’t been reviewed in years.

This ranking system makes no sense.

#MicrosoftStore #indiegames

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1 month ago
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People give a lot of advice to junior developers.

Do you know the worst advice I got back when I was still a junior?

It's not what you think:

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1 month ago
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My 2D Mahjong game has 41 ratings in the US and a 4.9 score, yet it hasn’t moved up in the Microsoft Store rankings for weeks. Meanwhile, games with zero ratings sit above it — and many others haven’t been reviewed in years.

This ranking system makes no sense.

#MicrosoftStore #indiegames

5 2 0 0
1 month ago
Podman Podman as a drop in replacement for Docker Desktop

Blogged: Podman as a drop in replacement for Docker Desktop.

wilbertvandolleweerd.com/blog/podman/

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1 month ago
YouTube
Stop using ConfigureAwait(false) incorrectly! YouTube video by Dissecting The Code

Another video on Dissecting the Code YouTube channel: "ConfigureAwait best practices".

I feel we have a cargo cult on using ConfigureAwait without thinking too much.

youtu.be/bUHQeY-DlBc?...

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1 month ago
Spot art.
Photo of presenter(s)
text reads: 
High-Performance Terrain Simulations in .NET

High‑performance terrain in .NET isn’t magic — it’s data‑oriented design, SIMD, and clever parallelism.
This #dotNETConf session shows how to build terrain systems that stay fast even when the world gets huge.
▶️ Watch: buff.ly/TXGoBSN

3 1 0 0
1 month ago
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Creating and consuming metrics with System.Diagnostics.Metrics APIs In this post I provide an introduction to the System.Diagnostics.Metrics API, and show how to create a custom metric and read it with dotnet-coutners

Blogged: Creating and consuming metrics with System.Diagnostics.Metrics APIs

andrewlock.net/creating-and...

In this post I provide an introduction to the System.Diagnostics.Metrics API, show how to create a custom metric, and show how to read it with dotnet-counters

#dotnet

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1 month ago
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Writing a .NET Garbage Collector in C#  - Part 6: Mark and Sweep Using NativeAOT to write a .NET GC in C#. In the sixth part, we start implementing the mark phase of the garbage collection.

After a long wait, I've finally published the sixth part in my "Writing a .NET Garbage Collector in C#" series. Today, we start implementing mark and sweep.

minidump.net/writing-a-ne...

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1 month ago
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WinDev Helper - Visual Studio Marketplace Extension for Visual Studio Code - Build beautiful, performant WinUI apps with VS Code. Debug, build, package, and deploy Windows apps powered by the Windows App SDK.

WinDev Helper - A WinUI Extension for VS Code

buff.ly/TSMlojg

Still working out the kinks - Submit issues and feature requests here: buff.ly/FDzXpv9

#windowsdev #winui #windowsappsdk #vscode #dotnet

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1 month ago
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Just launched my new game Number Match – Pairs & Sum of 10 on the Microsoft Store!
A relaxing but brain‑boosting puzzle you can play anytime. Addictive, clean, and surprisingly challenging.

Free download 👇
apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NPGC...

#gamedev #MicrosoftStore #Windows

11 4 1 0
2 months ago
Screenshot of the Microsoft Store app which doesn't show the Min/Max/Close buttons.

My Surface tablet is acting weird: many apps don’t show the Min/Max/Close buttons. Some apps (Office, Edge, Notepad, Photos, Snipping Tool) are fine, but others like Settings, Store, Calculator, and Clock have none. Anyone know what might be causing this?

#Windows11

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1 month ago
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Just launched my new game Number Match – Pairs & Sum of 10 on the Microsoft Store!
A relaxing but brain‑boosting puzzle you can play anytime. Addictive, clean, and surprisingly challenging.

Free download 👇
apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NPGC...

#gamedev #MicrosoftStore #Windows

11 4 1 0
1 month ago
Number of downloads per app/game page 1 of 2 Number of downloads per app/game page 2 of 2

Feeling grateful today — my apps have now passed 6 million downloads on the Microsoft Store. Some titles are still going strong, others lived their full life back in the Windows Phone era, but the journey continues to inspire me to build new things.

#gamedev #windows #MicrosoftStore #uwp #xaml

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1 month ago
Number of downloads per app/game page 1 of 2 Number of downloads per app/game page 2 of 2

Feeling grateful today — my apps have now passed 6 million downloads on the Microsoft Store. Some titles are still going strong, others lived their full life back in the Windows Phone era, but the journey continues to inspire me to build new things.

#gamedev #windows #MicrosoftStore #uwp #xaml

7 2 0 0
1 month ago
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The Windows File Explorer replacement, File Pilot, is awesome In this post I describe my experience with the Windows File Explorer replacement, File Pilot. It's blazingly fast, feature rich, and has hotkeys everywhere

Blogged: The Windows File Explorer replacement, File Pilot, is awesome

andrewlock.net/windows-expl...

In this post I describe my experience with the Windows File Explorer replacement, File Pilot. It's blazingly fast, feature rich, and has hotkeys everywhere

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2 months ago
Screenshot of the Microsoft Store app which doesn't show the Min/Max/Close buttons.

My Surface tablet is acting weird: many apps don’t show the Min/Max/Close buttons. Some apps (Office, Edge, Notepad, Photos, Snipping Tool) are fine, but others like Settings, Store, Calculator, and Clock have none. Anyone know what might be causing this?

#Windows11

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2 months ago
Preview
XAML Studio is now Open Sourced - #ifdef Windows XAML Studio is now open sourced! It's a WinUI developer tool for rapid prototyping with XAML before integrating in a Visual Studio project.

🦙📢 It's been an amazing celebration of #XAMLStudio v2 these last couple of weeks. 🎊 And so #WindowsDev to culminate it all, I'd like to announce that the project is now open-sourced! A seed project in the @dotnetfdn 🎉 Read all about this journey here: devblogs.microsoft.com/ifdef-window...

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2 months ago

Congratulations, that's a nice adventure. I'm convinced you will do well. I will miss you as an MVP.

But cloud, not Windows 😁

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2 months ago
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I have added some new animations for Shuffle in my 2D Mahjong game. The game is doing well. Almost 200 daily players with an average of 32 minutes per player.
#gamedev #uwp #xaml #csharp #dotnet

Download: apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NG9X...

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2 months ago

Congratulations. Well deserved!

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