Click here to Skip to main content
15,881,588 members
Articles / Programming Languages / C#

Self installing .NET service using the Win32 API

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.73/5 (21 votes)
28 Oct 2005CPOL5 min read 176.4K   1.6K   90  
Sometimes the service classes provided by Visual Studio don't give you the control you need, so why not build your own? And while you're at it, why not make it self-installing? The base class provided gives you full control of the Win32 Services API from a convenient base class and attribute.
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;

//
// General Information about an assembly is controlled through the following 
// set of attributes. Change these attribute values to modify the information
// associated with an assembly.
//
[assembly: AssemblyTitle("HoytSoft Example Service")]
[assembly: AssemblyDescription("Example for creating windows services through the Windows API")]
[assembly: AssemblyConfiguration("")]
[assembly: AssemblyCompany("HoytSoft")]
[assembly: AssemblyProduct("")]
[assembly: AssemblyCopyright("")]
[assembly: AssemblyTrademark("")]
[assembly: AssemblyCulture("")]		

//
// Version information for an assembly consists of the following four values:
//
//      Major Version
//      Minor Version 
//      Build Number
//      Revision
//
// You can specify all the values or you can default the Revision and Build Numbers 
// by using the '*' as shown below:

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.0")]

//
// In order to sign your assembly you must specify a key to use. Refer to the 
// Microsoft .NET Framework documentation for more information on assembly signing.
//
// Use the attributes below to control which key is used for signing. 
//
// Notes: 
//   (*) If no key is specified, the assembly is not signed.
//   (*) KeyName refers to a key that has been installed in the Crypto Service
//       Provider (CSP) on your machine. KeyFile refers to a file which contains
//       a key.
//   (*) If the KeyFile and the KeyName values are both specified, the 
//       following processing occurs:
//       (1) If the KeyName can be found in the CSP, that key is used.
//       (2) If the KeyName does not exist and the KeyFile does exist, the key 
//           in the KeyFile is installed into the CSP and used.
//   (*) In order to create a KeyFile, you can use the sn.exe (Strong Name) utility.
//       When specifying the KeyFile, the location of the KeyFile should be
//       relative to the project output directory which is
//       %Project Directory%\obj\<configuration>. For example, if your KeyFile is
//       located in the project directory, you would specify the AssemblyKeyFile 
//       attribute as [assembly: AssemblyKeyFile("..\\..\\mykey.snk")]
//   (*) Delay Signing is an advanced option - see the Microsoft .NET Framework
//       documentation for more information on this.
//
[assembly: AssemblyDelaySign(false)]
[assembly: AssemblyKeyFile("")]
[assembly: AssemblyKeyName("")]

By viewing downloads associated with this article you agree to the Terms of Service and the article's licence.

If a file you wish to view isn't highlighted, and is a text file (not binary), please let us know and we'll add colourisation support for it.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories
United States United States
I'm a recent graduate of Brigham Young University in Provo, UT and now working for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL). I've been programming since I was 14 and did the amazing Hoyt family website with an animated gif of a spinning globe. I've come a long way since then and now actually use pictures of people.

I've been interested in website development and Windows programming since and I haven't stopped except for two years spent in El Salvador as a religious representative for my church.

I've done lots of work with C#/C/C++/Java/Python/JavaScript/Scheme/T-SQL/PL-SQL/Visual Basic/etc., web services, windows apps, services, and web apps. It's been a lot of fun!

Comments and Discussions