Debugging and windows services

[kylek]

Hey everybody, this is driving me nuts.

I'm trying to write a windows service that just starts a timer and then does its magic evertime the timer ticks. I had everything written, but then I ran into a bunch of problems trying to get it installed. So I reduced it down to a very simple service that just writes info to an event log.

The problem is when I try to start the service, it starts and stops right away, and never gets into the OnStart method (I put a message box in the OnStart and it never appears). I can't for the life of me figure out how to debug a process that isn't running. Is it possible to attach the debugger to a stoped service and have the debugger enter it when the service is attempted to be started?

Or does anybody know of some stupid thing I'm missing in my program thats causing this error when I try to start the service:

The <service name> on the local computer started and then stoped. Som services stop automatically if they have no work to do, for example the performance logs and alert service.

My OnStart has work to do, so I dont know why it just quits. Below is the code for my service:

Imports System.ServiceProcess
 
Public Class SnapshotService
    Inherits System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase
 
#Region " Component Designer generated code "
 
    Public Sub New()
        MyBase.New()
 
        ' This call is required by the Component Designer.
        InitializeComponent()
 
        ' Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
 
    End Sub
 
    'UserService overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
    Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
        If disposing Then
            If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
                components.Dispose()
            End If
        End If
        MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
    End Sub
 
    ' The main entry point for the process
    <MTAThread()> _
    Shared Sub Main()
        Dim ServicesToRun() As System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase
 
        ' More than one NT Service may run within the same process. To add
        ' another service to this process, change the following line to
        ' create a second service object. For example,
        '
        '   ServicesToRun = New System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase () {New Service1, New MySecondUserService}
        '
        ServicesToRun = New System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase() {New SnapshotService()}
 
        System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun)
    End Sub
 
    'Required by the Component Designer
    Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer
 
    ' NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Component Designer
    ' It can be modified using the Component Designer.  
    ' Do not modify it using the code editor.
    Friend WithEvents LocalEventLog As System.Diagnostics.EventLog
    Public WithEvents LocalTimer As System.Timers.Timer
    <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()
        Me.LocalTimer = New System.Timers.Timer()
        Me.LocalEventLog = New System.Diagnostics.EventLog()
        CType(Me.LocalTimer, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize).BeginInit()
        CType(Me.LocalEventLog, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize).BeginInit()
        '
        'LocalTimer
        '
        Me.LocalTimer.Interval = 100000000000
        '
        'SnapshotService
        '
        Me.ServiceName = "Snapshot Service"
        CType(Me.LocalTimer, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize).EndInit()
        CType(Me.LocalEventLog, System.ComponentModel.ISupportInitialize).EndInit()
 
    End Sub
 
#End Region
 
    Public Verbose As Boolean
    Private DataFile As String
    Private DataSchema As String
 
    Protected Overrides Sub OnStart(ByVal args() As String)
        Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Entered OnStart")
        ' Add code here to start your service. This method should set things
        ' in motion so your service can do its work.
 
        ' Create the event log if it doesn't exist, and set the local
        ' event log to point to it
        If Not EventLog.SourceExists("Snapshot") Then
            EventLog.CreateEventSource("Snapshot", "Snapshot Log")
        End If
        LocalEventLog.Source = "Snapshot Service"
        LocalEventLog.Log = "Snapshot"
 
        LocalEventLog.WriteEntry("The Snapshot service is starting")
 
        ' Get the bits from the registry so we know where to start looking
        DataFile = GetSetting("Snapshot", "", "DataFile", Nothing)
        DataFile = GetSetting("Snapshot", "", "DataSchema", Nothing)
 
        ' Check that all the required bits and pieces are about
        If DataFile = Nothing Then _
            Message_Die("There is no service data. You must create a DataFile before Snapshot can run.")
        If Not (System.IO.File.Exists(DataFile)) Then _
            Message_Die("'" & DataFile & "' does not exist, you must create the file before snapshot can run.")
 
        If DataSchema = Nothing Then Message_Die("There is no service data. You must create a DataSchema before Snapshot can run.")
        If Not (System.IO.File.Exists(DataSchema)) Then _  
            Message_Die("'" & DataSchema & "' does not exist, you must create the file before snapshot can run.")
 
        ' Set the timer to fire on the next hour
        Dim TimeTillHour As Integer = (60 - Minute(Now())) * 60000
        LocalTimer.Interval = TimeTillHour
        LocalTimer.Enabled = True
 
        LocalEventLog.WriteEntry("The Snapshot service started successfully")
        Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Exiting OnStart")
    End Sub
 
    Protected Overrides Sub OnStop()
        Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Entered OnStop")
        ' Add code here to perform any tear-down necessary to stop your service.
        LocalEventLog.WriteEntry("The Snapshot service was stoped")
        Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Exiting OnStop")
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub Message_Die(ByVal Message As String)
        LocalEventLog.WriteEntry(Message, EventLogEntryType.Error)
        Me.Dispose()
    End Sub
End Class