hey guys,

With VB.NET, making windows services seems to be extremely easy! However, I'm in need of more than the basic windows service.... I really need to make a gui for my windows service, but i'm not sure what the proper way to do this is....


let me first explain my program. It is basically a tcp/ip server (for a business messaging program i've made). I started making the server program in a normal windows application project, and then i recently decided i should change it into a windows service.

So, in my program, i currently have a nice form that handles the gui. This form displays information on the status of the application (number of connected users, uptime, server notifications, etc). and it also controls options on the server in realtime (like IP Connection Masking, maximum connections, etc.).


This leads me to how to make the GUI... what is the proper way? Should i make a whole different application apart from the service? (doing this only seems to allow the application to start/stop/pause windows services, not actually interact with them in any more detail)...


My guess is i need to add a windows form to the windows service project. If i do this, how do i implement the form? i really don't know how to do this... any help is appreciated... i haven't been able to find any good reading on this problem specifically..

thanks guys!