Windows Service Project Template

Default C# project template with additional frequently used features.

Features

• Run your program in both console or service mode
• Self installer/uninstaller using command line args /install and /uninstall (shorten /i and /u)
• Formo for easy reading App.settings properties
• NLog for logging
• Exceptionless for automatic logging of unhandled exceptions

Quick Start to develop your own windows service

First rename WindowsServiceTemplate.csproj of your project, namespaces using Refactor tool, and AssemblyInfo.cs properties.

TestService.cs is an example polling service that run in a separate thread. It just sends "ping" to stdout for each second. Rename and modify it to suit your needs.

In the Service.cs you can handle service events like Start, Stop and Shutdown.

In the Installer.cs you can handle Before and After installation events.

In the AppSettings.cs you can define own properties that should conform to properties in App.config of section appSettings.

Define Logger variable in each class where you need logging. It's needed to keep correct caller class name in each log line:

private static readonly Logger Logger = LogManager.GetCurrentClassLogger();

Then use Logger.Debug(), Logger.Info(), Logger.Error(), etc.

Notes

Administrator privileges are required to install/uninstall a service. UAC execution level of the application is defined in app.manifest. Switch comment block there if you need to disable required administrator rights.

<!--<requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false" />-->
<requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" />

By default a service will be installed under account LocalSystem. You can change it in Installer.cs (serviceProcessInstaller1.Account property from a designer or in code).

Before install/uninstall you can change DisplayName, ServiceName and Description in Installer.cs.

The ServiceName cannot be null or have zero length. Its maximum size is 256 characters. It also cannot contain forward or backward slashes, '/' or '', or characters from the ASCII character set with value less than decimal value 32.

Sign in on http://exceptionless.io (one project for free) to obtain API KEY and put it in App.config. It will allow you to log automatically all unhandled exceptions, and save a lot of time if your service was crashed at production. Your API KEY can be stored in code. It's also possible to self hosting Exceptionless server.