Creating a Windows Service in .NET

Debug the Windows Service

As with all other aspects, debugging a Windows Service is different than a normal application. More steps are required to debug a Windows Service. The service cannot be debugged by simply executing it in the development environment as you can with a normal application. The service must first be installed and started, which we covered in the previous section. Once it is started you attach Visual Studio to the running process in order to step through and debug the code. Remember, each change you make to the Windows Service will require you to uninstall and reinstall the service.

Attach to a Running Windows Service

Here are the directions for attaching to a Windows Service in order to debug the application. These instructions assume that you have already installed the Windows Service and it is currently running.

1. Load the project into Visual Studio
2. Click on the Debug menu
3. Click on the Processes menu item
4. Make sure the Show system processes is selected
5. Locate your process in the Available Processes list based on the name of your executable and click on it
6. Click the Attach button
7. Click OK
8. Click Close
9. Set a break point in the timer1_Elapsed method and wait for it to execute

Summary

You should now have a rough idea of what windows services are, how to create, install, and debug them. There is additional functionality with Windows Services that you can explore. This functionality includes the capability to pause (OnPause) and resume (OnContinue). The ability to pause and resume are not enabled by default and are setup through the Windows Service properties.

Future Columns

The next column is yet to be determined. If you have something in particular that you would like to see explained here you could reach me at mstrawmyer@crowechizek.com

Mark Strawmyer, MCSD, MCSE (NT4/W2K), MCDBA is a Senior Architect of .NET applications for large and mid-size organizations. Mark is a technology leader with Crowe Chizek in Indianapolis, Indiana. He specializes in architecture, design and development of Microsoft-based solutions. You can reach Mark at mstrawmyer@crowechizek.com.

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