Question

I have successfully passed parameters from Installutil to my serviceinstaller but i cannt seem to pass these parameters to the Main(string[ args] function.
Here is how i am trying to do this ….if there is any better wayto do what i am doing please let me know

    protected override void OnAfterInstall(IDictionary savedState)
    {
        base.OnAfterInstall(savedState);
        string[] args = new string[2];
        args[0] = Context.Parameters["username"];
        args[0] = Context.Parameters["password"];
        new ServiceController(this.dataLoaderServiceInstaller.ServiceName).Start(args);
    }

and this is my Program.cs

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // create a writer and open the file
        TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(@"c:\\bw\\date.txt");

        // write a line of text to the file
        tw.WriteLine(args.Length);

        // close the stream
        tw.Close();
        ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
        ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] 
    { 
      new DataloaderService() 
    };
        ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
    }

the length of arugments that i am trying to write is always zero.
One more question will these parameters still exist after the computer/server restarts for maintenance?
Thanks in advance. 🙂

Answer 1

Parameters you send using ServiceController.Start() method are available to you as parameters to the OnStart() method. If I’m not mistaken (It’s been a while since I needed to do this).

The OnStart method’s signature is:

OnStart(string[] args)

However, if you need the parameters to be sent to the service each time the service is started (automatically) on boot, then you should look at the MSDN documentation on this. Specifically

Process initialization arguments for
the service in the OnStart method, not
in the Main method. The arguments in
the args parameter array can be set
manually in the properties window for
the service in the Services console.
The arguments entered in the console
are not saved; they are passed to the
service on a one-time basis when the
service is started from the control
panel. Arguments that must be present
when the service is automatically
started can be placed in the ImagePath
string value for the service’s
registry key
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\). You can obtain the arguments
from the registry using the
GetCommandLineArgs method, for
example: string[] imagePathArgs =
Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.serviceprocess.servicebase.onstart.aspx