Windows Service - Problem starting IE

Hi everyone,

I've created a windows service with a timer which opens a IE browser window targeted at a specific page/script. It works if I run the executable itself, however when I install it as a service using InstallUtil and then manually start the service it does not work.

Any thoughts, suggestions or fixes would be really helpful.

Code from the service.vb file is below.

Thanks!

Code:

---

    Protected Overrides Sub OnStart(ByVal args() As String)
        ' Add code here to start your service. This method should set things
        ' in motion so your service can do its work.
        Timer1.Enabled = True
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub OnStop()
        ' Add code here to perform any tear-down necessary to stop your service.
        Timer1.Enabled = False
    End Sub

    'Set variables for use in the Tracker
    Public Explorer As SHDocVw.InternetExplorer

    Private Sub Timer1_Elapsed(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs) Handles Timer1.Elapsed
        Explorer = New SHDocVw.InternetExplorer
        Explorer.Visible = True
        Explorer.Navigate("http://www.microsoft.com")
    End Sub

---

you really dont need to use " SHDocVw.InternetExplorer " to open a new internet explorer window. take a look at the " System.Diagnostics.Process " , eg:

VB Code:

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("IEXPLORE.EXE", "http://www.microsoft.com")
[COLOR=green]'/// this will open a new instance of internet explorer and navigate to [url]http://www.microsoft.com[/url][/COLOR]

Thanks for the response. I'll give it a shot now.

Alright, I've got the service working and opening IE as a process thanks to your advice. I can see it in the task manager process list. However it's not doing the processing at the website that I'm calling.

The idea behind this script is the regular calling of a PHP web page that does some processing on a database. I'm 100% sure that the web script works because I can open the service as a normal EXE and it opens a browser window, goes to the correct page and performs the processing.

So I'm now wondering if web page execution is only done when a browser window is open.

Revised code is below.

Code:

---

    Protected Overrides Sub OnStart(ByVal args() As String)
        Timer1.Enabled = True
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Sub OnStop()
        Timer1.Enabled = False
    End Sub

    Private Sub Timer1_Elapsed(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs) Handles Timer1.Elapsed
        System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("IEXPLORE.EXE", "http://spike/development/iproject_1_0_8/automation/ichecker.php")
    End Sub

---