I would like to create a setup for my windows service.
The dlls of my windows service are placed in /Lib/ folder.
I added an installer class to the service.
And added a custom action on the setup project.
The problem is that when I try to install the service - it fails with the error:
Error 1001. Unable to get installer types in ...
This error happens because the dlls are not in the same directory as the service .exe.
I am using probing in the service config and install util doesn't recognize that probing..
I wanted to find a work around for that problem and tryed in many ways to create
the service using service controller(sc.exe). Trying to run it as a custom action using cmd.exe.
Etc..
This should be a common problem..did anybody find a proper solution for that?
I've had the same problem, and none of the options suggested in this post or MSDN helped. I figured another solution:
By using Reflector on InstallUtil.exe, I discovered that InstallUtil is merely a thin wrapper for calling System.Configuration.Install.ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(args) inside a try/catch block (it also sets the current thread's UI culture and displays the copyright). ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper itself resides in the System.Configuration.Install.dll assembly, accessible to everyone.
Thus, I simply modified the Program.Main method of my service to allow installation. See the quick-and-dirty code below:
static class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
if (args != null && args.Any(arg => arg == "/i" || arg == "/u"))
{
// Install or Uninstall the service (mimic InstallUtil.exe)
System.Configuration.Install.ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(args);
}
else
{
// Run the service
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[]
{
new MyService()
};
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
}
}
}
You can do the same, or create your own version of InstallUtil.
You should bind to the AppDomain.AssemblyResolve event and do your custom loading in the event handler.
A sample can be found in the first answer to this SO question.
in your config you can add probing path - it's a hint to the runtime where to look for an assembly
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/823z9h8w%28v=vs.80%29.aspx
Related
I've used a simple windows service to make a method work in specific time and it works fine. Following that I've already tried:
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
this.WriteToFile("Simple Service started {0}");
this.ScheduleService();
}
protected override void OnStop()
{
this.WriteToFile("Simple Service stopped {0}");
this.Schedular.Dispose();
}
private Timer Schedular;
public void ScheduleService()
{
try
{
Schedular = new Timer(new TimerCallback(SchedularCallback));
string mode = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Mode"].ToUpper();
this.WriteToFile("Simple Service Mode: " + mode + " {0}");
//Rest of the code here
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
WriteToFile("Simple Service Error on: {0} " + ex.Message + ex.StackTrace);
//Stop the Windows Service.
using (System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController serviceController = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController("SimpleService"))
{
serviceController.Stop();
}
}
}
This is done in a simple windows application. So what I am trying to do is to call a web service (A specific method to operate in a specific time) in a windows service. The application I am building is web-based and am little bit confused how would I integrate the windows service into it? Do I need any alternatives or any suggestions would be appreciated.
Note: What I would like to know is it required to create another project for windows service in the web application or any other way to implement?
To call a web service from a Windows Service application, you would first generate a DLL from that web service, then instantiate its namespace. Assuming you have the code for that web service and/or know its namespace, you can perform these commands to do this:
Perform these lines on a command line:
cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.1A\bin\NETFX 4.5.1 Tools
wsdl /l:CS /protocol:SOAP %svc%?WSDL
where %svc% is the URL for your web service, i.e. http://localhost:777/MyWebService.asmx
If the code is in VB instead of C#, change /l:CS to /l:VB.
This will output a proxy class file that can be converted to a DLL.
Move the MyWebService.cs file from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.1A\bin\NETFX 4.5.1 Tools to the C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\ directory.
Run these two commands on the command line:
cd C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
csc /t:library %name%.cs /reference:System.Web.Services.dll /optimize
where %name% is the name of the class (without the .cs, since the command will append this). In our case, we'd use MyWebService. (Change .cs to .vb for a VB class.)
Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 via Windows Explorer. You should see a DLL created in that folder with the name of the class (MyWebService.dll). Copy this file to the bin folder of your Service project. You will need to set the bin folder to be included in your project, and right-click the folder to Add > Existing Item. Select the DLL. Once imported, select the DLL and change its properties to:
Build Action: Content
Copy to Output Directory: Copy if newer (or Copy always, as you prefer)
Right-click References > Add References. Navigate to the DLL in the bin folder for your web service.
Right-click References > Add Service References. Assuming your web service is running, take its full URL (i.e. http://localhost:777/MyWebService.asmx) and put that on the Address line. In the Namespace textbox, give it something more meaningful than ServiceReference1, but it should not be the same as MyWebService (the name/namespace of the ASMX file). Perhaps MWS.
Instantiate your web service in your Windows Service:
MWS.MyWebServiceSoapClient webService = new MWS.MyWebServiceSoapClient();
webService.Open();
string someDataYouWant = webService.SomeMethodToGetData();
webService.Close();
Or you can probably do:
MyWebService webService = new MyWebService();
string someDataYouWant = webService.SomeMethodToGetData();
webService.Dispose();
In answer to your query on my comment;
Another approach is to use an IIS Auto-Start website contaning your Windows Service logic. The IIS Auto-start is supierior to using a Windows Service as it contains all the IIS application hosting logic including auto-restart, and aggressive resource management. A poorly written Windows Service can take down a Server but it takes a lot for an ASP.net IIS hosted application to take down its host (its almost impossible).
Your Auto-Start website need not be visibile to the outside world - it just needs to have an internal timer that keeps it alive when it starts up. Note that the web application might be started and stopped by IIS for various reasons; but the outcome is that it will be running whenever your other web service application is running. The internal timer can wait for a specific time to execute the logic you need to call your second web service.
The key thing to remember is that a Windows Service is designed to be an application that is hosted by Windows and is continually running. An IIS application is designed to be run by Windows but runs only when called. The IIS Auto-Start website concept allows you to provide a "continually running" website but hosted by the robust IIS application hosting components, instead of it running directly as an OS process.
Generally people dont do this because either they dont know about it, or want to avoid needing the IIS infrastructure to run "Windows Service" type applications, but in your case you have already paid the cost of using IIS to host your second web service, so you may as well make full use of IIS (and avoid the second technology stack and deployment headaches of Windows Service deployment).
So I suggest using an IIS Auto Start in preference to a Windows Service in your situation because;
You only need to use on tech stack in your solution, which was what your OP was asking about
IIS carries out active resource management on all its applications, terminating, restarting as neccessary if they become non-functional. Windows Services do not have that capability.
Your IIS based service code is XCOPY deployable with no administrator access credentials on the target machine.
Your IIS service is hot upgradeable without needing OS level administrator rights - IIS handles the stopping and restarting on upgrade without you needing to do anything.
I want to debug a Windows service but it pops an error message saying
Cannot start service from the command
line or a debugger. A windows service
must be installed using
installutil.exe and then started with
the Server explorer, windows services
Administrative tools or the NET start
command.
I don't really have any idea about this error.....
Before a Windows Service can run, it has to be "installed" first using installutil. EG:
C:\installutil -i c:\path\to\project\debug\service.exe
Then you can open up the list of Services to start it. EG:
Right click 'My Computer'
Click on 'Manage'
Open up 'Services and Applications'
Click on 'Services'
Find your service in the list and right-click on it
Click on 'Start'
Once it has started, you can go into Visual Studio, click on 'Debug', then click on 'Attach to Process'.
Another technique is to add this line to your OnStart() method in the service:
System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch();
When you do that, it'll prompt you to pick an instance of Visual Studio to debug the service in.
You can alter the assembly's startup mode based on whether you're in DEBUG mode (usually inside Visual Studio but not necessarily) or RELEASE mode (when it runs as a service in production):
Change this:
static class Program
{
static void Main()
{
ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[]
{
new MyService()
};
ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
}
}
to that:
static class Program
{
static void Main()
{
#if(!DEBUG)
ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[]
{
new MyService()
};
ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
#else
MyService myServ = new MyService();
myServ.Process();
// here Process is my Service function
// that will run when my service onstart is call
// you need to call your own method or function name here instead of Process();
#endif
}
}
The technique is taken from this article and the credit is for the article's author, Tejas Vaishnav. I copied the code fragments here because SO favors full answers rather than links that might disappear some time.
To prevent this error occurring and allow the service to run outside of the usual service controller you can check the Environment.UserInteractive flag. If it is set you can run the service with output to the console instead of letting it run to the ServiceBase code that returns that error.
Add this to the start of Program.Main(), before the code that uses ServiceBase to run the service:
if (Environment.UserInteractive)
{
var service = new WindowsService();
service.TestInConsole(args);
return;
}
As the OnStart and OnStop methods are protected in your service you need to add another method to that class which you can run from Main() and calls those methods for you, such as:
public void TestInConsole(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Service starting...");
this.OnStart(args);
Console.WriteLine($"Service started. Press any key to stop.");
Console.ReadKey();
Console.WriteLine($"Service stopping...");
this.OnStop();
Console.WriteLine($"Service stopped. Closing in 5 seconds.");
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);
}
Finally, make sure the output is a console application in the project's properties.
You can now run the service executable like any other and it will start as a console. If you start it from Visual Studio the debugger will attach automatically. If you register it and start it as a service it will run properly as a service without any changes.
The only difference I've found is that when running as a console application the code does not write to the event log, you might want to output anything you would normally log there to the console as well.
This service debugging technique is one of those explained on learn.microsoft.com
There is a nuget package made to solve this problem: install-package WindowsService.Gui
What does the package do?
It helps by creating a Play/Stop/Pause UI when running with a debugger attached, but also allows the windows service to be installed and run by the Windows Services environment as well. All this with one line of code! What is Service Helper Being someone who writes Windows Services a lot, it can be frustrating to deal with the headaches involved in debugging services. Often it involves tricks, hacks, and partial workarounds to test all of your code. There is no "just hit F5" experience for Windows Services developers.
Service Helper solves this by triggering a UI to be shown if a debugger is attached that simulates (as closely as possible) the Windows Services Environment.
The github project is here: https://github.com/wolfen351/windows-service-gui
How to use?
The easiest way to get Windows Service Helper in your project is to use the NuGet package ServiceProcess.Helpers on the NuGet official feed.
Simply make a few changes to the typical code in the "Program.cs" for your application:
using System.ServiceProcess;
using ServiceProcess.Helpers; //HERE
namespace DemoService
{
static class Program
{
static void Main()
{
ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[]
{
new Service1()
};
//ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
ServicesToRun.LoadServices(); //AND HERE
}
}
}
Disclosure: I'm the maintainer of this project
Note: The UI is optional
Another reason can be that the solution configuration is in Release mode in place of Debug mode
Please check if you are in "DEBUG" or "RELEASE" mode. I got this error when I was trying to debug the service in "RELEASE" mode. When I changed that to "DEBUG", everything worked fine.
This is after you have correctly installed the service as suggested by other people above.
I have a Windows service which I can install on my local machine using installutil no problem.
Now, this service has to be installed on a server. I copy all files to the server and run the same command, set the service to log on as a local user account and when the service starts I get an error saying "logon failed" - okay so perhaps the user account is the issue.
So I change the service log on as to local system account. I start the service and I am told "The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion".
So I googled and tried various solutions but to no avail. So I got to thinking maybe it was something in the OnStart method which broke (even though I have logging calls which never logged). So I removed all code from the OnStart event and still the service would not start, I got the "timely fashion" error.
So where am I at? I believe it could be due to the references I have defined in the project. To test this I created a new Windows service template from VS2012 with no references (other than the default ones) and I can start the service. No issues.
So my question is what could be causing this? In my project the references point to locations which do not exist on the server, however the directory where the service resides has all the referenced DLLs.
Edit:
Program.cs
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace RetrieveAndProcessSecurityLogs
{
static class Program
{
static void Main()
{
ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[]
{
new LogService()
};
ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
}
}
}
LogService.cs
public partial class LogService : ServiceBase
{
public LogService()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.ServiceName = "Retrieve and Process Security Logs";
this.CanPauseAndContinue = true;
this.CanStop = true;
}
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
//...
}
protected override void OnStop()
{
//...
}
Edit: The installed .NET version on the server is v4.0, however in the app config file for the project there is this line:
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5" />
Could the 4.5 part be the issue?
Edit2: Bottom line: if I reference a DLL, I get the timely fashion error. If I have no extra DLL reference defined the service starts.
Sorry for the story.
Andrew
For future reference to anyone who encounters this issue, the issue was one of the references was built against .NET FW 4.5 and on the server where the service was being installed had .NET FW 4. My machine had 4.5.
I had created a Lib Project with a class inherits ServiceBase but when I run the solution i'm not getting the EXE file?
public class Scheduler : ServiceBase
{
static void Main()
{
ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] {new Scheduler()};
Run(ServicesToRun);
}
}
First, make sure that your project type is Windows Application, which is recommended for windows services.
What you did is not enough in order to install and start your service. You cannot yet install your service. You have to provide an installer class which can then be used by InstallUtil to register your service.
You can see an example of this in the ServiceProcessInstaller class documentation.
After that, build your service again and install it by running in a command window the following:
"%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe" "YourServiceExeName.exe"
You will then be able to see your service in the services snap-in.
Why not creating a project of type Windows Service ? and the installation part is already mentioned by the coon, but you need all the service exe path, not juste the service name.
Good luck
I am using visual studio 2010, my application has a multiu layer architect,
MainUI, WCFService, BLL and DAL
My MainUI communicated to WCF and WCF further communicates to BLL and DAL, whenever i need to debug BLL and DAL, i first need to attach WCF as a process in Visual studio(everytime). How could i can save myself from this hassle.
How could i set up visual studio in a way that i automatically attach to the service automatically and i could debug my application easily.
Thanks
Configure your solution for multi project start up. I do this for a similar application. VS launches the WCF and client automatically and I can set break points in either.
The start-up order is the order in which you select the projects.
Right mouse click on your solution and select 'choose startup projects'. Then select multiple startup projects and select the projects.
Sample howto start a process and attach it to Visual Studio 2010 with EnvDTE(Version is relevant).
//c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies\EnvDTE.dll
using Process = EnvDTE.Process;
System.Diagnostics.Process p = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + #"\YourProcess.exe";
//Start the process
p.Start();
//Wait for process init
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
bool attached = false;
//did not find a better solution for this(since it's not super reliable)
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
if (attached)
{
break;
}
try
{
EnvDTE.DTE dte2 = (EnvDTE.DTE)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("VisualStudio.DTE.10.0");
EnvDTE.Debugger debugger = dte2.Debugger;
foreach (Process program in debugger.LocalProcesses)
{
if (program.Name.Contains("YouProcess.exe"))
{
program.Attach();
attached = true;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//handle execption...
}
}
Try using System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break() in the code. If a debugger is not attached, then running that code will ask to attach a debugger and you can choose the existing instance.
Have you tried System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch() in your service you would like the debugger to attach to?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.debugger.launch.aspx
In the properties page for the wcf service project, select the Web tab.
Select 'Start External Program' for the start action, and choose MainUI.exe.
Set the working directory as the folder that MainUI.exe is in (probably a bin folder).
Set a break point and press f5 to start debugging.
If I understand correctly, Macro may be answer:
in Vs:
Tools->Macros->record TemporarilyMacro (Ctrl+shift+r)
Attach VS to process as usual (ctrl+alt+p)
Stop recording macro (ctrl+shift+r)
Go to View->Other Windows->Macro Explorer (CTRL+F8)
find your Temporarily Macro (somewhere in MyMacros->RecordingModule) and rename it
Now, go to Tools->Options->Keyboard and find your macro (in "Show Command containing write name of you macro)
in "Press Shortcut keys" bind it to some key shortcut (i have my macro in CTRL+SHIFT+K ;))
Push OK
Be Happy
Have you tried using the WCFSvcHost.EXE that comes with Visual Studio to launch the BLL and DAL service? There is a help file with it. The help file states it best, "Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Service Host (wcfSvcHost.exe) allows you to launch the Visual Studio debugger (F5) to automatically host and test a service you have implemented. You can then test the service using WCF Test Client (wcfTestClient.exe), or your own client, to find and fix any potential errors." The default installation is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE. You can configure it to use your MainUI app as the client. The help file WcfSvcHost.chm in the same directory has a section for using a custom client under the Scenarios for using ECF Service Host. If you rather here is the link to help on MS web site: Using WCF Service Host (wcfSvcHost.exe).
If this is for a self-hosted WCF windows service, you need to make your WCF service host configurable to either run in console or as a windows service. When you have run in console turned on, you can start debugging from visual studio.
Create an app setting called "RunInConsole." In your service host startup method, have the following code:
public class MyWindowsService : ServiceBase
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
// if configuration says to run in the console, run the service in a console app. otherwise, use windows
// service to host application
if (ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["RunInConsole"] == "true")
{
using (ServiceHost host = new ServiceHost(typeof(MyService)))
{
host.Open();
Console.WriteLine("Press <Enter> to terminate the Host application.");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
else
ServiceBase.Run(new MyWindowsService ());
}
}
On all environments you deploy to, you'd always have this config setting set to false or else the service will fail to start, but when debugging locally you'd set it to true.
Here is a detained article that explains how to do this...You can customize this macro.
http://sivablogz.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/running-an-application-and-attaching-to-the-process-with-a-macro-in-visual-studio/
Personally I prefer to use Debugger.Launch() as suggested here
in this thread, because it doesn't need for references to the DTE (that's IDE-specific and must be explicitly referenced into the project to be used)