I have an application that is a Windows Service application. It currently reads an XML file for it's configuration and the code works off those settings.
I have created a separate project that is a Windows Forms application (typical windows app). This app is a GUI interface into the configuration settings (changed from XML to database, but that is relatively unimportant).
What I need to do is:
Integrate the 2 projects
Add a system tray icon to pop up the form
I'm unsure exactly how to proceed on this and wanted to get some advice before messing things up.
You can't integrate these two things (entirely). A service is designed to run without a GUI of any kind (there is a work around to allow desktop interaction but this is messy and clunky and will cause you more problems than it solves)
It sounds like you just need to use the code from the service in the forms application. This should be a simple copy and paste operation.
To show an icon in the system tray is pretty easy:
Create a program to run from the system tray
how to put an .net application in system tray when minimized?
Related
I want to develop an application with VB.NET 4.7.2 Framework, using WinForms. The application must run like a service, that is, ran at Windows startup (after boot, before login). It's intended to run only on a local enviroment, and play some sound files while the local user hasn't logon yet.
My first aproach to this problem was developing a WinForm app that accepted command line args, so when it was executed without args, the GUI appeared to let the user customize some of the features of the program, and when it was executed with args, then no GUI is shown and music is played.
However, the method for detecting when login/logouts and other NT Session Events happened was by hooking a script onto the Windows Scheduler, which ended up being a bad idea, because half of the times, the program would lock up (as the Windows Scheduler would try to execute multiple times) or didn't even execute the program (because it didn't even fire up correctly the login event).
Now, I've considered remaking my code into two programs, a service that runs the code, and a GUI app that sets up the settings for the service program. My idea is to embed an executable inside the main GUI app executable, so it automatically extracts it to a folder in order to run the service program.
However, I can imagine this isn't a pretty clean solution; more so if it triggers by error an antivirus.
I would appreciate some kind of help to get this working on a much clean and safe way.
Note: The main goal of this question is to preserve the all-in-one executable format, if possible. If not, either design a way to run a WinForm app like a system service (run at Windows startup, before login), or two individual programs, one as a service and the other as the GUI program.
I am trying to build application which is show form when a user clicks on it but not when the windows started up like many applications that run in the background without showing gui on desktop for example, how application can recognize when a user clicks on application and when windows startup do that?
I tried notifyicon and other things but did not help so any reference to the tutorial or help is welcome.
How did I hear I need to build a service application or application with the installation, is that correct?
I have made a small text based game using VB.NET in a Windows Forms application but it seems that people are a bit hesitent when it comes to downloading exe files. What would an easy way to have it work as a web application without having to rewrite the entire code?
There isn't an "easy" way to turn it into a web application. You can take all of your logic and put it into libraries (Class Library), but you'll need to write new front-end code for both the desktop and web.
If you are wanting the web to accept user input and such without constant reloading, you'll also need to make a web service to talk to using jQuery or the like.
For what it's worth, if anyone is hesitant to download an EXE, then they don't need it. I used to publish installations for VB6 applications on my website years ago, and I had downloads and referrals from all over the place, including educational institutions.
Also, if you are direct linking to an EXE, consider packaging it up in a ZIP along with a readme file.
I have built an application that connects to the exchange server and does some scanning tasks on the incoming mail.
Application has a form where i can start and stop scanning,give in an interval, do some other configuration, and a notificationicon in the taskbar to show hide,end and so on..
The problem is that I would like the application to start as a service, because now a user has to log in first on the server before it starts working.
I tried some tools like RunAsService, i had a service, but obviously it didn't run the application.
Of course i understeand now that when the application will run as a service, scanning will be the only thing that will happen, no forms and no notification icons.
However i do not know where to start, should i extract the scanning logic from my configuration as a separate application? What application type should it become then ?
You have two easy options.
First one just create a new Windows Service Project from your New Project button in the Visual Studio, and then just program your app.
Second one, just create a service from the service management window in your computer and add the executable file of your program. It will start running as a service (with visible windows and everything as you coded it).
You should follow this link and schedule your vb.net windows program as windows task
In Your code, at the end ,when everything gets executed you should write Me.Close() to hide your form.
I have a program that is written in VB.NET. It is currently interactive in that the user will click on some buttons on the form and click "GO" and it will do it's stuff.
I would like to set this up via a service on a Windows PC and instead of having user inputs via clicks have all the information in a config file.
It is my understanding that I can set this up as a service with some "parameters" on the call line, etc. and get other information from the config file.
Can someone advise me on how to do this?
Thanks
As far as I'm aware the software must have a ServiceInstaller class to install the service and a Service class that inherits from ServiceBase.
This would enable Windows to install, stop and start the service via the command line and services menu respectively.
Here's a simple example
You will need to make some small changes to convert your program to a Windows Service.
First, you will want to remove the user interface entirely - services shouldn't have a user interface.
You'd then build in the service plumbing required. Visual Studio includes a design experience specifically for creating Windows Services. For details on this, see the Creating a Windows Service Application in the Component Designer.