Woof.Service quick usage guide

To create self-installing Windows Service using Woof.Service

• Start new .NET Framework Console Application.

• Edit Application/Assembly Information, fill every fied, make sure Title and Product fields are not the same.

• The Title field will be used as service display name, the Product as the service strong name, Company as Windows log name.

• Get Woof.Service

  Install-Package Woof.Service -Version 2.0.0

• Create new ServiceInstaller.cs file in main directory with following content:

  using Woof.ServiceEx;
  public sealed class ServiceInstaller : ServiceInstallerEx { }
  public sealed class ServiceProcessInstaller : ServiceProcessInstallerEx { }

• Create Messages directory.

• Create empty Service.resx file.

• Create main service class Service.cs extending ServiceBaseEx:

  using System;
  using System.IO;
  using System.Linq;
  using System.Threading;
  using System.Threading.Tasks;
  using Woof.ServiceEx;
  
  namespace ServiceTest {
  
      class Service : ServiceBaseEx {
  
          public new static Service Instance => ServiceBaseEx.Instance as Service;
  
          public Service() : base(Messages.Service.ResourceManager) { }
  
          protected override void OnStart(string[] args) {
              base.OnStart(args);
              // here goes the code to perform on service start...
          }
  
          protected override void OnStop() {
              base.OnStop();
              // here goes the clean up on service stop...
          }
  
      }
  
  }

• Edit Program.cs file like this:

  using Woof.ServiceEx;
  
  namespace ServiceTest {
  
      class Program {
  
          static int Main(string[] args) => new ServiceConsole<Service>(args).ReturnValue;
  
      }
  
  }

• Compile...

• Test with -t switch, install with -i switch, uninstall with -u switch. More help with -h switch.

• Refer to Woof.ServiceEx.ServiceBaseEx.Signal() and Woof.ServiceEx.ServiceBaseEx.WriteEvent() XML documentation to write to the service log correctly.

• Use Messages\Service.resx resource file to define standard localized event messages like:

  Name	Value	Comment
  I1001	My dummy info event message
  W2001	My dummy warning event message
  E3001	My dummy error event message

• Use ResXManager extension to localize the messages.

• The event names must consist of severity character being one of 'I', 'W', or 'E' and numeric event identifier.

• The message values can contain {0}...{n} parameter placeholders in this exact format.

• The pre-configured event messages are available via Signal() method.

• For all other events use WriteEvent() method with 0 as event identifier.

• WARNING: Consider CurrentDirectory is set to C:\Windows\System32 when refering to any files.

• To refer to a file in service exe directory use following:

  var path = Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, fileName);

• Note the service started as LocalSystem user cannot use GUI, however user interaction is possible using inter-process communication available in Woof.Core package, Woof.SystemEx namespace. WPF or WinForms application can interact with the service.

Q&A

• Is there a easier or simpler way of doing this?
• Nope. Not for now but stay tuned, maybe a sample package / project template will be released soon.

• How safe and stable are those libraries?
• Tested for years on real production server environments.

• .NET Core...?
• Nope. Windows OS (desktop / server) is required.

Disclaimer

Installing a Windows Service on a server is a serious thing. Be warned you can do some serious damage to the system using this code. Get a testing environment (like your local PC) to test the service properly before deploying to production. CodeDog Ltd is not responsible for any damage caused using this library. You are.