CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#windows-servicesconsole-application
Atul Patel
Atul Patel

Reputation: 163

Windows Services for Console application in C#.net

I have made one console application for email notification in c#. Can i convert this console application in to window service?

Thanks.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 933

Answers (3)

Cody Gray
Cody Gray

Reputation: 244981

Contrary to some of the suggestions made by other answers, you probably can't do what you want using a Windows Service. It can't display the "notification" you expect because services can't display any kind of user interface.

The appropriate solution is to create a regular application that runs in the background without showing any windows. You can't do this with a console application (well, you can, but let's not overcomplicate things) because each time you run it, the console window will be displayed. But if you create a standard Windows application (either a Windows Forms or WPF application) then just don't create a window, everything will work out just fine.

You'll probably want to create and place an icon into the taskbar's notification area, which will handle displaying the notification upon the arrival of email. If you're creating a WinForms application, this can be done easily by using the NotifyIcon component.

Something like (warning, written without the aid of a compiler!):

static class Program
{
   [STAThread]
   static void Main()
   {
      // Standard infrastructure code
      Application.EnableVisualStyles();
      Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);

      // Create a context menu and add item(s) to it
      ContextMenu mnu = new ContextMenu();
      MenuItem mnuExit = new MenuItem("E&xit");
      mnu.MenuItems.Add(mnuExit);
      mnuExit.Click += mnuExit_Click);

      // Create the NotifyIcon
      NotifyIcon ni = new NotifyIcon();
      ni.Icon = new Icon(GetType(), "icon.ico");
      ni.Text = "Email Notifier";
      ni.ContextMenu = mnu;
      ni.Visible = true;

      // Run the application
      Application.Run();

      // Before exiting, remove the NotifyIcon from the taskbar
      ni.Visible = false;
   }

   private static void mnuExit_Click(object Sender, EventArgs e)
   {
      Application.Exit();
   }
}

Upvotes: 1

CrazyDart
CrazyDart

Reputation: 3801

When I go about this, I write the application in a class that does not consider its self a console application. By that I mean I dont write to the Console. I use log4net to write everything to... just log to Info. Use the console app to call the application class and in the app.config you can have an appender for console logging... so you get the console output. In the windows service this will just write to a file or not at all for the Info level logging. Its important to note the differences between a console app and a service... a service is not interactive and you can not input anything, so you app must consider this. For the windows service use the same class, but use the windows service project to start it.

ApplicationLogic: Has all the logic to run the application. Can take the arguments to make the app run the way it needs to, but does not interact with the console (can, but it would be bad design). Writes everything to logging (log4net maybe).

ConsoleApp: Is a wrapper around ApplicationLogic that can prompt the user for what ever it needs, can prompt for input and send it to ApplicationLogic. Has a log4net console appender if you need to see the output from ApplicationLogic.

WindowsService: Is a wrapper around ApplicationLogic. Has predetermined logic to keep it looping and running the Application logic. Logs to a file, no console output.

Upvotes: 0

John Ruiz
John Ruiz

Reputation: 2391

In visual studio, create a "Windows Service" project instead of a "Console Application". Look in the code that gets generated for you. There will be an OnStart() and OnStop() method. Those are the methods that will be called when your service is started and stopped. Put your code in those methods and you will have a Windows Service.

Upvotes: 2

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