Note The project template automatically adds a component class called Service1 that inherits from System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase .

In the next section, you will add a custom event log to your Windows service. Event logs are not associated in any way with Windows services. Here the EventLog component is used as an example of the type of components you could add to a Windows service. For more information on custom event logs, see Creating and Removing Custom Event Logs .

To add custom event log functionality to your service

1. In the Solution Explorer. right-click Service1.vb or Service1.cs and select View Designer .
2. From the Components tab of the Toolbox, drag an EventLog component to the designer.
3. In the Solution Explorer. right-click Service1.vb or Service1.cs and select View Code .
4. Edit the constructor to define a custom event log. To access the constructor in Visual Basic, expand the Component Designer generated code region.

To define what happens when the service starts

• In the Code Editor, locate the OnStart method that was automatically overridden when you created the project, and write code to determine what occurs when the service begins running:

You can also override the OnPause.

OnContinue. and OnShutdown methods to define further processing for your component.

To define other actions for the service

• For the method you want to handle, override the appropriate method and define what you want to occur.

The following code shows what it looks like if you override the OnContinue method:

Some custom actions need to occur when installing a Windows service, which can be done by the Installer class. Visual Studio can create these installers specifically for a Windows service and add them to your project.

To create the installers for your service

1. Return to Design view for Service1.
2. Click the background of the designer to select the service itself, rather than any of its contents.
3. In the Properties window, click the Add Installer link in the gray area beneath the list of properties.

By default, a component class containing two installers is added to your project. The component is named ProjectInstaller. and the installers it contains are the installer for your service and the installer for the service’s associated process.

Security Note The LocalService account acts as a non-privileged user on the local computer, and presents anonymous credentials to any remote server. Use the other accounts with caution, as they run with higher privileges and increase your risk of attacks from malicious code.

To build your service project

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click your project and select Properties from the shortcut menu. The project’s Property Pages dialog box appears.
2. In the left pane, select the General tab in the Common Properties folder.
3. From the Startup object list, choose MyNewService (for a Visual Basic project), or MyNewService.MyNewService (for a Visual C# project). Click OK .
4. Press CTRL+SHIFT+B to build the project.

Now that the project is built, it can be deployed. A setup project will install the compiled project files and run the installers needed to run the Windows service. To create a complete setup project you will need to add the project output, MyNewService.exe. to the setup project and then add a custom action to have MyNewService.exe installed. For more information on setup projects, see Setup Projects. For more information on custom actions, see Walkthrough: Creating a Custom Action .

To create a setup project for your service

1. On the File menu, point to Add Project. and then choose New Project .
2. In the Project Types pane, select the Setup and Deployment Projects folder.
3. In the Templates pane, select Setup Project. Name the project MyServiceSetup.

A setup project is added to the solution.

Next you will add the output from the Windows Service project, MyNewService.exe. to the setup.

To add MyNewService.exe to the setup project

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click MyServiceSetup. point to Add. then choose Project Output.

The Add Project Output Group dialog box appears.

A project item for the primary output of MyNewService is added to the setup project. Now add a custom action to install the MyNewService.exe file.

To add a custom action to the setup project

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the setup project, point to View. then choose Custom Actions.

The Custom Actions editor appears.

The Select Item in Project dialog box appears.

The primary output is added to all four nodes of the custom actions — Install. Commit. Rollback. and Uninstall.

Note In Windows NT version 4.0, you can open this dialog box from Control Panel.

You should now see MyNewService listed in the Services section of the window.