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Asked: 2026-05-11T04:08:21+00:00

Update: We are still using XP at work and I got my solution working,

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Update: We are still using XP at work and I got my solution working, but now knowing that Vista and beyond have the isolated session I am going to implement a WCF IPC…

I have a windows service that needs to notify the user of an event of some type occurring. I decided that something similar to email notification messages would make sense. It also makes sense to do such a simple UI using WPF. This would allow me to learn some basics.

I run a thread:

Thread thread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(RunUserNotificationOnIndependantThread)); thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA); thread.Start();

Then I set up the object and call the method that calls DoubleAnimation.BeginAnimation

private void RunUserNotificationOnIndependantThread()     {         UserNotificationWithImage test = new UserNotificationWithImage();          test.Title = _title;         test.Url = _url;         test.Message = _message;          test.LoadUserNotification();     }      public void LoadUserNotification()     {         Rect workAreaRectangle = System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea;         Left = workAreaRectangle.Right - Width - BorderThickness.Right;         Top = workAreaRectangle.Bottom - Height - BorderThickness.Bottom;          _fadeInAnimation.Completed += new EventHandler(_fadeInAnimation_Completed);          // Start the fade in animation         BeginAnimation(UserNotificationBase.OpacityProperty, _fadeInAnimation);     }

The debugger reaches BeginAnimation(…) and no window appears. Is this even possible or what am I doing wrong in attempting this???

The UserNotification code is based on a blog by Nicke Andersson: WPF Desktop Alert blog

Thanks for any help!!

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1 Answer

  1. On XP a service that interact with the desktop has two serious problems to overcome – what to do when no users are logged in and what to do when several user are logged in (fast user switching and terminal services are the two most common ways to log in more then one user).

    On Vista, for security reasons, services run on their own isolated desktop so any UI you show will go on that special desktop that no user can ever access.

    You should write a small Gui program that runs on the user’s desktop and communicate with the service using some type of IPC (Remoting, Soap, Rest, named pipes, files, whatever you like).

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