[resolved] service with timer - timer event not firing

[jpritchard]

hi,

Ii wonder if anybody has any good experience when designing a service using c#.

I need to perform some tasks on a server. its to regualry do some checking and other work and I dont really want a long running console app or it to be running in a user context, hence thought that writing it as a windows service was the way to go...

I started checking out .net services with some testcode..

I have done this many times before in std vb using the svrany tool from the NT-RK and have had little problem inthe past...

at the moment I have got the following code before

i'm installing it using the installutil.exe utility ("installutil <myservicenname>") and starting the service with "net start <myservicenname>".

the service installs and starts ok - it logs a message in a file at start and stop time.

what isn't happening is, I cannot seem to make the timer event fire and run my code! - i have copied my timer functionality to a standard .net form app and it works ok.

I wonder if my design is wrong or am i missing some concept somewhere? etc.... at the begining the timer is loaded in the InitializeComponent() section and started in the OnStart() section.

cannot understand why I done get a new file in my file evey secord (I havent got the file open in notepad or something silly like that)

heres my code - any thoughts greatly appreciated

cheers, AJP

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
 
namespace WindowsService1
{
    public class Service1 : System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase
    {
        private System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer1;
        private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components;
 
        public Service1()
        {
            // This call is required by the Windows.Forms Component Designer.
            InitializeComponent();
 
            // TODO: Add any initialization after the InitComponent call
        }
 
        // The main entry point for the process
        static void Main()
        {
            System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
    
            // More than one user 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 Service1() };
 
            System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
        }
 
        /// <summary> 
        /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify 
        /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
        /// </summary>
        private void InitializeComponent()
        {
            this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
            this.timer1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer(); 
            this.timer1.Tick += new EventHandler(Timer_Ticker);
            this.ServiceName = "kgds_status_process";
        }
 
        /// <summary>
        /// Clean up any resources being used.
        /// </summary>
        protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )
        {
            if( disposing )
            {
                if (components != null) 
                {
                    components.Dispose();
                }
            }
            base.Dispose( disposing );
        }
 
        /// <summary>
        /// Set things in motion so your service can do its work.
        /// </summary>
        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            this.timer1.Interval = 1000;
            this.timer1.Start();
 
            FileStream fs = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\status_process_log.txt" , FileMode.OpenOrCreate,    FileAccess.Write); 
            StreamWriter m_streamWriter = new StreamWriter(fs); 
            m_streamWriter.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.End); 
            m_streamWriter.WriteLine("kgds_status_process: service started"); 
            m_streamWriter.Flush();
            m_streamWriter.Close();
        }
 
        /// <summary>
        /// Stop this service.
        /// </summary>
        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            FileStream fs = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\status_process_log.txt" , FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write); 
            StreamWriter m_streamWriter = new StreamWriter(fs); 
            m_streamWriter.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.End); 
            m_streamWriter.WriteLine("kgds_status_process: service stopped"); 
            m_streamWriter.Flush();
            m_streamWriter.Close(); 
 
            this.timer1.Stop();
 
        }
 
        private void Timer_Ticker (object sender, System.EventArgs e) 
        {
            FileStream fs = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\status_process_log.txt" , FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write); 
            StreamWriter m_streamWriter = new StreamWriter(fs); 
            m_streamWriter.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.End); 
            m_streamWriter.WriteLine("tick - " + DateTime.Now.ToString()); 
            m_streamWriter.Flush();
            m_streamWriter.Close(); 
        }
 
    }
}

[jmcilhinney]

The System.Windows.Forms.Timer class is intended for Windows Forms apps. Use the System.Timers.Timer class in a Service. I'm not 100% sure it will fix your issue but it is more correct. It is used in essentially the same way but it has an Elapsed event instead of Tick. Also, make sure you set the AutoReset property, which the WinForms version doesn't have, to True if you want the Elapsed event to be raised more than once.

[jpritchard]

hi jmcilhinney,

your a star! thanks, got it working....

actually I did read that the normally used timers was meant for forms

anyhow - took on your comments and redid my code with the system.timers timer and got it sorted (I did previously did try this timer no luck (no event) - i think your comment about autoreset did the trick (i did know about this property) )

thankyou for pointing me in the right direction, much appreciated
cheers AJP

working code below:-

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.IO;
//using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Timers;
 
namespace WindowsService1
{
    public class Service1 : System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase
    {
        private System.Timers.Timer proc_timer;
        private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components;
 
        public Service1()
        {
            // This call is required by the Windows.Forms Component Designer.
            InitializeComponent();
 
            // TODO: Add any initialization after the InitComponent call
        }
 
        // The main entry point for the process
        static void Main()
        {
            System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
    
            // More than one user 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 Service1() };
 
            System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
        }
 
        /// <summary> 
        /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify 
        /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
        /// </summary>
        private void InitializeComponent()
        {
            this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
//          this.timer1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer(); 
//          this.timer1.Tick += new EventHandler(Timer_Ticker);
            this.proc_timer = new System.Timers.Timer(); 
            this.proc_timer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(proc_Timer_Ticker);
            this.ServiceName = "gds_status_process";
        }
 
        protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )
        {
            if( disposing )
            {
                if (components != null) 
                {
                    components.Dispose();
                }
            }
            base.Dispose( disposing );
        }
 
        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            this.proc_timer.Interval = 1000;
            this.proc_timer.AutoReset = true; 
            this.proc_timer.Start();
 
            FileStream fs = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\gds_status_process_log.txt" , FileMode.OpenOrCreate,    FileAccess.Write); 
            StreamWriter m_streamWriter = new StreamWriter(fs); 
            m_streamWriter.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.End); 
            m_streamWriter.WriteLine("gds_status_process: service started"); 
            m_streamWriter.Flush();
            m_streamWriter.Close();
        }
 
        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            FileStream fs = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\gds_status_process_log.txt" , FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write); 
            StreamWriter m_streamWriter = new StreamWriter(fs); 
            m_streamWriter.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.End); 
            m_streamWriter.WriteLine("gds_status_process: service stopped"); 
            m_streamWriter.Flush();
            m_streamWriter.Close(); 
 
            this.proc_timer.Stop();
 
        }
 
        private void proc_Timer_Ticker (object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e) 
        {
            FileStream fs = new FileStream(@"c:\temp\gds_status_process_log.txt" , FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write); 
            StreamWriter m_streamWriter = new StreamWriter(fs); 
            m_streamWriter.BaseStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.End); 
            m_streamWriter.WriteLine("tick - " + DateTime.Now.ToString()); 
            m_streamWriter.Flush();
            m_streamWriter.Close(); 
        }
    }
}