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It is an application that runs in the background of a Windows operating system.Windows Services are mostly used for those tasks that are performed on a scheduled basis, continuously running processes, and background tasks that do not require any user interaction.Developers can deploy server-like functionality that runs independently and smoothly in the background and provides important services to the system.
a. Download Microsoft Visual Studio. It is a popular integrated development environment provided by Microsoft that has a set of tools, libraries, and required dependencies that are specifically designed for .Net development.
b. Choose “create a new project” option in Visual Studio and select your preferred language, like C#, F#, or Visual Basics, in which you write code for your window service.
c. Select the template in which you want to create your project, like – Window service (.Net Framework).
d. The .Net version in which you want to create your project. And always select the even number .net version for your project, like.Net - .Net core 2.0, .Net 6.0 because they give you long term support for your project, and the odd number .net version does not give you long term support. They are part of innovation and experiments, but they have one good thing that is they can adopt new features and technologies.
e. Add your project name and location, and choose the better framework as we discuss in step 4. This step is necessary to configure your project.
f. After configuring your project, add some required dependencies, like connecting with the database-system. Data. SQLite, System. Data. SQLite. Core, logger-log4Net, auto mapper, etc. These dependencies get through “Managed NuGet packages”.
g. Must mention the service handling process, like – start service, stop service.
h. Add log event code to track the service status.
Add the required utility of your project or service in App.config and choose the format you want to store information in, like JSON, XML, and environment variables. Do not forget to add the kernel libraries for operating system access.
Project option in Visual Studio, where you get your project name and change the properties like whether the solution configuration is in release mode or debug mode, add warning levels from 0 to 4, whatever is required for your service, and choose the generated serialize assembly (on, off, or auto) for your xml properties.
Release mode – it is used for running the application in production or release environments. It has no debugging solution added and is used for performance and efficiency.
Debug mode – it is used during the development of applications. Whenever any developer starts an application in debug mode, that application has added debugging information and symbols to debug the code and enable advanced debugging capabilities.
Configure logging with your Windows service to track the error and get information on important events. for logging use different packages like – log4net, serilog etc. In my opinion, log4net is a good option to add to your application. It provides flexibility, the best configuration option even in XML files.
Prefer the installation and uninstallation service using executable files only; for that, you can compile your release file through NSIS or a bash script. For Auto Update or running any other exe file through your service, prefer the “processStartInfo” class.
Implementing a mechanism to monitor health of your .Net Windows Service can be periodic health check or hourly; for this, you can configure it with monitoring tools and customize your alert or notification system. A health check is the most important part of your application.
Use multiple threading and concurrency to minimize global variables or shared state access. In parallelism, consideration can improve performance.
Handle the service recovery and failure scenarios by using service controller class or managementEventWatcher class.
Integrate service with an external system like database or web service, for example – get data from one database like SQL server and send that data to a web server by using different APIs.
Configure the service with a performance counter to check the CPU usage and run the service accordingly.
New technologies are evolving, like .net 6.0 and new frameworks where you can integrate your service with entity framework and ASP.Net.
Windows Service provides a powerful mechanism for developing long running background tasks on Windows operating systems. Services can be used in large scale applications like -data processing, server-side tasks, scheduled tasks, and many more.Developing services requires knowledge of .Net framework, most important knowledge about the system.serviceprocess namespace, which provides essential classes and components for creating and managing Windows services.
I have utmost confidence that Prilient Technologies excels in developing Windows service solutions. Our offerings are designed to run seamlessly and efficiently,ensuring the effective management and secure storage of your valuable data. Our solutions empower you to easily analyze the data, providing valuable inputs to drive your business forward. I am happy about the opportunities these developments present, particularly in .Net Windows Service solutions that facilitate the transition to online data storage and analysis.
