Question

i have a simple c# application that needs to run as service. how do i make it run as a service instead of just as an executable?

Answer 1

Visual C# 2010 Recipies has an example in it which will show you exactly how to do this, which I’ve tried using VS 2008 and .NET 3.5.

It amounts to this:

1. Create a new “Windows Service” application in Visual Studio
2. Port your application’s source into the service’s execution model, AKA your Main function becomes part of an event handler triggered by a timer object or something along those lines

3. Add a Service Installer class to your Windows Service project – it’ll look something like this code snippet below:

   [RunInstaller(true)]
   public partial class PollingServiceInstaller : Installer
   {
       public PollingServiceInstaller()
       {
           //Instantiate and configure a ServiceProcessInstaller
           ServiceProcessInstaller PollingService = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
           PollingService.Account = ServiceAccount.LocalSystem;
   
           //Instantiate and configure a ServiceInstaller
           ServiceInstaller PollingInstaller = new ServiceInstaller();
           PollingInstaller.DisplayName = "SMMD Polling Service Beta";
           PollingInstaller.ServiceName = "SMMD Polling Service Beta";
           PollingInstaller.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Automatic;
   
           //Add both the service process installer and the service installer to the
           //Installers collection, which is inherited from the Installer base class.
           Installers.Add(PollingInstaller);
           Installers.Add(PollingService);
       }
   }
   

Finally you’ll use a command line utility to actually install the service – you can read about how that works here:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/csharpgeneral/thread/d8f300e3-6c09-424f-829e-c5fda34c1bc7

Let me know if you have any questions.