How to Create Windows Service C#

[abbiepierpoint]

In this tutorial we are going to learn how to create windows service. One of the powerful feature of .NET environment is it is facilitate to create windows services. Windows services are executable applications that run in background. They are controlled by Service Control Manager. According to Microsoft windows service is very much close to unix concept of cron job.
Usually starts when windows starts that’s mean windows service usually start with operating system boot up and run until operating system shut down.

Creating a service

1. using
   
   System
   
   ;
   
2. using
   
   System.ServiceProcess
   
   ;
   
3. System.Configuration
   
   .
   
   Install
   
   .
   
   Installer
   
   ;
   
4. 
   
5. 
   
6. public
   
   class
   
   MyService:
   
   ServiceBase
   
7. {
   
8. public
   
   MyService(
   
   )
   
9. {
   
10. this
    
    .
    
    ServiceName
    
    =
    
    "MyService"
    
    ;
    
11. this
    
    .
    
    CanStop
    
    =
    
    true
    
    ;
    
12. this
    
    .
    
    CanPauseAndContinue
    
    =
    
    false
    
    ;
    
13. this
    
    .
    
    AutoLog
    
    =
    
    true
    
    ;
    
14. }
    
15. 
    
16. protected
    
    override
    
    void
    
    OnStart(
    
    string
    
    [
    
    ]
    
    args)
    
17. {
    
18. // do startup stuff
    
19. }
    
20. 
    
21. protected
    
    override
    
    void
    
    OnStop(
    
    )
    
22. {
    
23. // do shutdown stuff
    
24. }
    
25. 
    
26. public
    
    static
    
    void
    
    Main(
    
    )
    
27. {
    
28. System.ServiceProcess
    
    .
    
    ServiceBase
    
    .
    
    Run
    
    (
    
    new
    
    CronService(
    
    )
    
    )
    
    ;
    
29. }
    
30. }
    

At the top we have to reference two .net library base class. Actually what each class do is
Service base class provide following methods
1. OnStart:
This method is called by Service Control Manager when your service is started.

2. OnStop:
This method is called by Service control manager when your service is stopped.

3. OnPause:
This method is called when your service is paused.

4. OnContinue:
This method is called when your service resumes after being paused.

5. OnShutdown:
This method is called when the system is shutting down.

Installer class.
This class provides custom installation functionality to application. In theory windows service application cannot be started and stop like usual application so we need to configure service control manager by adding set of installers.

Here is sample installer code

1. using
   
   System.ComponentModel
   
   ;
   
2. using
   
   System.Configuration.Install
   
   ;
   
3. 
   
4. [
   
   RunInstaller(
   
   true
   
   )
   
   ]
   
5. public
   
   class
   
   MyServiceInstaller :
   
   Installer
   
6. {
   
7. private
   
   ServiceProcessInstaller processInstaller;
   
8. private
   
   ServiceInstaller serviceInstaller;
   
9. 
   
10. public
    
    CronInstaller(
    
    )
    
11. {
    
12. processInstaller =
    
    new
    
    ServiceProcessInstaller(
    
    )
    
    ;
    
13. serviceInstaller =
    
    new
    
    ServiceInstaller(
    
    )
    
    ;
    
14. 
    
15. processInstaller.
    
    Account
    
    =
    
    ServiceAccount.
    
    LocalSystem
    
    ;
    
16. serviceInstaller.
    
    StartType
    
    =
    
    ServiceStartMode.
    
    Manual
    
    ;
    
17. serviceInstaller.
    
    ServiceName
    
    =
    
    "MyService"
    
    ;
    
18. 
    
19. Installers.
    
    Add
    
    (
    
    serviceInstaller)
    
    ;
    
20. Installers.
    
    Add
    
    (
    
    processInstaller)
    
    ;
    
21. }
    
22. }
    

How to implement.
Following code shows sample implementation OS onStart method

1. protected
   
   override
   
   void
   
   OnStart(
   
   string
   
   [
   
   ]
   
   args)
   
2. {
   
3. //hur24serviceRef();
   
4. 
   
5. _timer.
   
   AutoReset
   
   =
   
   true
   
   ;
   
6. _timer.
   
   Interval
   
   =
   
   1800000
   
   ;
   
   // // 30 min
   
7. //_timer.Interval = 86400000; // // 24hour
   
8. //_timer.Interval = 3600000; // 1hour seconds
   
9. _timer.
   
   Elapsed
   
   +=
   
   rtndoc;
   
10. _timer.
    
    Start
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
11. }
    
12. 
    
13. private
    
    void
    
    rtndoc(
    
    object
    
    sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
    
14. {
    
15. string
    
    filepath =
    
    @"C:\FilepathTest\sample.txt"
    
    ;
    
16. string
    
    time =
    
    DateTime.
    
    Now
    
    .
    
    ToString
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
17. System.IO
    
    .
    
    StreamWriter
    
    wri =
    
    new
    
    System.IO
    
    .
    
    StreamWriter
    
    (
    
    filepath, true
    
    )
    
    ;
    
18. wri.
    
    WriteLine
    
    (
    
    "\n
    
    "
    
    +
    
    time+
    
    "-dISTRIBUTOR"
    
    )
    
    ;
    
19. wri.
    
    Close
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
20. 
    
21. #region pricelist Process
    
22. 
    
23. DistributorService.
    
    Distributor24
    
    .
    
    ServiceSoapClient
    
    priceli =
    
    new
    
    Distributor24.
    
    ServiceSoapClient
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
24. priceli.
    
    InsertDistributorToKandy
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
25. 
    
26. #endregion
    
27. 
    
28. }
    
29. 
    
30. protected
    
    override
    
    void
    
    OnStop(
    
    )
    
31. {
    
32. _timer.
    
    Stop
    
    (
    
    )
    
    ;
    
33. }
    

Finally put all these code into file called myService.cs and build it usual way.

How to installed
Following small code shows how to run installed id using CMD

1. InstallUtil /
   
   LogToConsole=
   
   true
   
   MyService.
   
   exe
   

How to start and stop

1. net start MyService and net stop MyService.
   

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