Using Windows Service

• Download demo project - 33 Kb

Windows Services

.Net simplifies the handling of Windows Services with the inclusion of  System.ServiceProcess namespace. This namespace contains all that is required to handle a Windows Services, namely:

I have prepared a small application which simulates the functionality that the Windows Service Control Manager which you can invoke by clicking on :

Control Panel   -------> Administrative Tools  ---------->  Services

Below is a Screen Shot of the Application.

To retrieve the List of Services, System.ServicesProcess.ProcessController class is used. This Class have a static method "GetServices" and "GetDevices".

These functions are used to populate listview at form_load event. Below is given the code snippet.

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private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

servctrl = ServiceController.GetServices() ;

int cnt;

for(cnt=0;cnt<=servctrl.GetUpperBound(0)-1;cnt++)

{ listView1.Items.Add(servctrl[cnt].DisplayName.Trim());}

servctrl= ServiceController.GetDevices();

for(cnt=0;cnt<=servctrl.GetUpperBound(0)-1;cnt++)

{listView1.Items.Add(servctrl[cnt].DisplayName.Trim());}

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Add the following line as the declaration section of the winform:

        private System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController[] servctrl;

In the code servctrl object is used to store the details of the Windows Services that have been retrieved by the "GetServices" and "GetDevices" functions.

When any of the Listed services are clicked the following code is executed:

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private void listView1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{

if (listView1.SelectedItems.Count>0)

{

bool abc= timer1.Enabled==false ? timer1.Enabled= true:timer1.Enabled= true ;

txtservnm.Text= listView1.SelectedItems[0].Text.Trim();

selservctrl = new ServiceController(txtservnm.Text);

if (selservctrl.CanStop==true)

{btnStop.Enabled=true;}

else

{btnStop.Enabled=false;}

if (selservctrl.Status.ToString ()=="Running")

{btnStart.Enabled=false;}

else

{btnStart.Enabled=true;}

lblstatus.Text= "Status of " + selservctrl.DisplayName + ": " + selservctrl.Status.ToString();

}

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The above code is used to get the Service on which the operations are to be performed.

selservctrl = new ServiceController(txtservnm.Text);

This line gets the Service which is to be handled then on the Click of START button

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private void btnStart_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

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the Service is Started by using the "selservctrl" object

Similarly when the Stop Button is clicked

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private void btnStop_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

The Service is Stopped, again by using the same object ["selservctrl"]

But as soon as the Service is Started or Stopped the Service goes in  "StartPending or StopPending" Status.

Hence to Update the Status of the Service a timer Control has been taken which only updates the status of the Service.

private void timer1_Tick(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

selservctrl.Refresh();

lblstatus.Text= "Status of " + selservctrl.DisplayName + ": " + selservctrl.Status.ToString();

if (selservctrl.Status.ToString ()=="Running")

{btnStart.Enabled=false;}

else

{btnStart.Enabled=true;}

            if (selservctrl.Status.ToString ()=="Stopped")

            {btnStop.Enabled=false;}

            else

            {btnStop.Enabled=true;}

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