Build WinForms Quickstart for .NET 4.8 Windows 11 by biozal · Pull Request #251 · getditto/quickstart

Aaron LaBeau (biozal) · 2026-03-20T18:34:51Z

This PR provides a Quickstart for Windows 11 and .NET version 4.8. This version targets a pre-release version of the Ditto SDK and was requested by Brian Plattenburg (@bplattenburg).

This shares as much code as possible with the modern version of Windows Form Quickstart example. Very important notes:

This only compiles on Windows with Visual Studio (tested on Visual Studio 2019/2026). It probably works in Rider but was not tested with it.
This requires the following nuget package: 4.14.4-experimental-net-framework-support.1
- It will not work with any other version than this.
It will never build on any other platform than Windows 11 or Windows Server because it requires .NET 4.8 specifically and that is limited to Windows platforms.

No tests are provided for the app currently.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a new Windows Forms quickstart targeting .NET Framework 4.8 (Windows 11 / VS) using an experimental Ditto SDK build, largely mirroring the existing modern WinForms sample.

Changes:

Introduces a new dotnet-winforms-net48/ WinForms app (UI + Ditto CRUD/observe wrapper) targeting net48.
Adds net48-specific build assets (solution/project, packages.config, native DLL copy rule).
Adds local .env-based configuration loading and quickstart documentation.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 18 out of 22 changed files in this pull request and generated 13 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
dotnet-winforms-net48/packages.config	Pins Ditto experimental net48-support packages and supporting dependencies.
dotnet-winforms-net48/ToDoTask.cs	Task document model for the `tasks` collection (Newtonsoft.Json attributes).
dotnet-winforms-net48/TasksPeerService.cs	Singleton service wrapper around `TasksPeer` for app-wide access.
dotnet-winforms-net48/TasksPeer.cs	Ditto SDK wrapper implementing CRUD + subscription + observation for tasks.
dotnet-winforms-net48/Taskapp.WinForms.Net48.sln	New VS solution for the net48 WinForms quickstart.
dotnet-winforms-net48/Taskapp.WinForms.Net48.csproj	Net48 WinForms project file with explicit assembly refs and native DLL copy.
dotnet-winforms-net48/README.md	Net48-specific prerequisites and run instructions.
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/Settings.settings	Default settings file for WinForms project scaffolding.
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/Settings.Designer.cs	Auto-generated Settings designer.
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/Resources.resx	Project resources container.
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs	Auto-generated Resources designer.
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs	Assembly metadata for net48 build.
dotnet-winforms-net48/Program.cs	WinForms entry point with async initialization via a loading dialog.
dotnet-winforms-net48/MainForm.resx	Resources for the main WinForms UI.
dotnet-winforms-net48/MainForm.cs	Main UI logic: list rendering + add/edit/delete + done toggling.
dotnet-winforms-net48/MainForm.Designer.cs	Main form designer-generated layout.
dotnet-winforms-net48/LoadingForm.cs	Modal loading form that awaits Ditto initialization.
dotnet-winforms-net48/LoadingForm.Designer.cs	Loading form designer-generated layout.
dotnet-winforms-net48/InputDialog.cs	Simple modal input dialog for editing task titles.
dotnet-winforms-net48/AppConfiguration.cs	`.env` loader and required config validation.
dotnet-winforms-net48/App.config	Declares .NET Framework 4.8 runtime.
dotnet-winforms-net48/.env.sample	Sample environment file template for required Ditto settings.

Files not reviewed (4)

dotnet-winforms-net48/LoadingForm.Designer.cs: Language not supported
dotnet-winforms-net48/MainForm.Designer.cs: Language not supported
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs: Language not supported
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/Settings.Designer.cs: Language not supported

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dotnet-winforms-net48/MainForm.cs

dotnet-winforms-net48/InputDialog.cs

dotnet-winforms-net48/TasksPeerService.cs

dotnet-winforms-net48/README.md

dotnet-winforms-net48/Taskapp.WinForms.Net48.sln

dotnet-winforms-net48/TasksPeer.cs

dotnet-winforms-net48/MainForm.cs

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 18 out of 22 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Files not reviewed (4)

dotnet-winforms-net48/LoadingForm.Designer.cs: Language not supported
dotnet-winforms-net48/MainForm.Designer.cs: Language not supported
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs: Language not supported
dotnet-winforms-net48/Properties/Settings.Designer.cs: Language not supported

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Copilot · 2026-03-20T18:58:16Z

dotnet-winforms-net48/README.md

+- Microsoft Windows 11, this uses .NET 4.8 for Windows only
+- Visual Studio 2019 or higher (tested on Visual Studio 2019/2026)
+- x64 version of Windows (does NOT support 32-bit Windows)
+- Does not support ARM64 (however can run on Windows on Windows with x64 emulation if supported by OS/hardware).  ARM64 is not officially supported by Ditto for use with the .NET 4.8 framework.  


Typo/duplication: "can run on Windows on Windows" reads like an accidental repeat and is hard to parse. Consider rephrasing to a single "Windows" and clarifying the emulation requirement.

Suggested change

- Does not support ARM64 (however can run on Windows on Windows with x64 emulation if supported by OS/hardware). ARM64 is not officially supported by Ditto for use with the .NET 4.8 framework.

- Does not support ARM64 (however, it can run on Windows on ARM using x64 emulation if supported by the OS/hardware). ARM64 is not officially supported by Ditto for use with the .NET 4.8 framework.

Copilot · 2026-03-20T18:58:17Z

dotnet-winforms-net48/TasksPeer.cs

+            var peer = new TasksPeer(appId, playgroundToken, authUrl, websocketUrl);
+            peer.Authenticate();
+            peer.RegisterSubscription();
+            await peer.InsertInitialTasks();
+            peer.StartSync();
+
+            return peer;
+        }
+
+        private void Authenticate()
+        {
+            _ditto.Auth.ExpirationHandler = async (ditto, secondsRemaining) =>
+            {
+                // Authenticate when token is expiring
+                try
+                {
+                    await ditto.Auth.LoginAsync(
+                        // Your development token, replace with your actual token
+                        PlaygroundToken,
+                        // Use DittoAuthenticationProvider.Development for playground, or your actual provider
+                        DittoAuthenticationProvider.Development
+                    );
+                    Console.WriteLine("Authentication successful");
+                }
+                catch (Exception error)
+                {
+                    Console.WriteLine($"Authentication failed: {error}");
+                }
+            };


Authenticate() only sets ExpirationHandler but never performs an initial login. As a result, the peer may start sync and register subscriptions without ever authenticating (the expiration handler may not run until after a successful login). Consider calling LoginAsync during Create (and keeping ExpirationHandler for refresh) so initialization deterministically authenticates before RegisterSubscription() / StartSync().

check-in for PR. Tested on Windows 11

1d38209

Aaron LaBeau (biozal) requested a review from Brian Plattenburg (bplattenburg) March 20, 2026 18:34

Aaron LaBeau (biozal) self-assigned this Mar 20, 2026

Aaron LaBeau (biozal) requested a review from a team as a code owner March 20, 2026 18:34

Aaron LaBeau (biozal) requested review from Copilot and Hamilton Chapman (hamchapman) March 20, 2026 18:34

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Aaron LaBeau (biozal) March 20, 2026 18:35 View session

Brian Plattenburg (bplattenburg) requested a review from Bulzan Sergiu (busec0) March 20, 2026 18:36

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

Aaron LaBeau (biozal) and others added 8 commits March 20, 2026 13:43

update Assembly information

32a43e5

Update dotnet-winforms-net48/Taskapp.WinForms.Net48.sln

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Update dotnet-winforms-net48/MainForm.cs

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Update dotnet-winforms-net48/README.md

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Update dotnet-winforms-net48/README.md

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Update dotnet-winforms-net48/TasksPeerService.cs

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Update dotnet-winforms-net48/InputDialog.cs

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updated to fix PR comments from co-pilot

c0948e3

Aaron LaBeau (biozal) requested a review from Copilot March 20, 2026 18:53

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Aaron LaBeau (biozal) March 20, 2026 18:54 View session

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Build WinForms Quickstart for .NET 4.8 Windows 11#251

Build WinForms Quickstart for .NET 4.8 Windows 11#251
Aaron LaBeau (biozal) wants to merge 9 commits intomainfrom
da-144-winforms-dotnet-48

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	- Does not support ARM64 (however can run on Windows on Windows with x64 emulation if supported by OS/hardware). ARM64 is not officially supported by Ditto for use with the .NET 4.8 framework.
	- Does not support ARM64 (however, it can run on Windows on ARM using x64 emulation if supported by the OS/hardware). ARM64 is not officially supported by Ditto for use with the .NET 4.8 framework.

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Aaron LaBeau (biozal) commented Mar 20, 2026

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Pull request overview

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