Windows Service Applications

Using Microsoft Visual Studio or the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK, you can easily create services by creating an application that is installed as a service. This type of application is called a Windows Service. With framework features, you can create services, install them, and start, stop, and otherwise control their behavior.

Note

The Windows Service template and associated functionality is not available in the Standard Edition of Visual Studio.

Warning

The Windows Service template for C++ is not included in Visual Studio 2010. To create a Windows Service, you can either create a service in managed code in Visual C# or Visual Basic, which could interoperate with existing C++ code if required, or you can create a Windows Service in native C++ by using the ATL Project Wizard.

In This Section

• Introduction to Windows Service Applications
  Provides an overview of Windows Service applications, the lifetime of a service, and how service applications differ from other common project types.

• Walkthrough: Creating a Windows Service Application in the Component Designer
  Provides an example of creating a service in Visual Basic and Visual C#.

• Service Application Programming Architecture
  Explains the language elements used in service programming.

• How to: Create Windows Services
  Describes the process of creating and configuring Windows services using the Windows Service project template.

Related Sections

• ServiceBase
  Describes the major features of the ServiceBase class, which is used to create services.

• ServiceProcessInstaller
  Describes the features of the ServiceProcessInstaller class, which is used along with the ServiceInstaller class to install and uninstall your services.

• ServiceInstaller
  Describes the features of the ServiceInstaller class, which is used along with the ServiceProcessInstaller class to install and uninstall your service.

• Default Project Templates in Visual Studio
  Describes the projects types used in this chapter and how to choose between them.

• Deploying Applications and Components
  Lists the major pages about deployment and the information they contain.