nsdown / serviceonset

Run command line program as a windows service. Is it cool?

ServiceOnset - A light and FREE service wrapper

ServiceOnset is an utility to help you to run one or more programs as a windows service. Is it cool? The most typical usage is for Node.js, COW, regular jobs and so on. ServiceOnset is a wrapper program implemented as a windows service. So it enables some of foreground applications started before login.

Prerequisites

Windows operation with Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0

Installation

• Clone and build the solution with VisualStudio or download the binary package directly.

log4net.config
log4net.dll
ServiceOnset.exe
ServiceOnset.exe.json

• Start a command line with Administrator privilege.
• Navigate to the directory of the binary package.
• Run C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe ServiceOnset.exe to install the service.
• Optional. If you got an error like below (Issue #3), please right-click ServiceOnset.exe file and click Unblock button in the program's property window.

Exception occurred while initializing the installation:
System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly '...\ServiceOnset.exe' or one of its dependencies. Operation is not supported. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131515).

• Change the config of ServiceOnset as you want. Refer to ServiceOnset.exe.json
• Optional. Change the config of log4net if you want assign a dedicated logger for a service. Refer to log4net Config

<log4net>
  <root>
    <appender-ref ref="Default" />
  </root>
  <appender name="Default" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
    <file value="logs/log" />
    <appendToFile value="true" />
    <rollingStyle value="Date" />
    <datePattern value="yyyyMMdd&quot;.log&quot;" />
    <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
      <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%property{NDC}] - %message%newline" />
    </layout>
  </appender>
</log4net>

• Open windows services manager and start ServiceOnset service. Or directly execute net start ServiceOnset.
• Enjoy ~~

Uninstallation

1. Stop the service net stop ServiceOnset if it is running.
2. Start a command line with Administrator privilege.
3. Navigate to the directory of the binary package.
4. Run C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe /u ServiceOnset.exe to remove the service.
5. Clean up the directory.

ServiceOnset.exe.json

Sample

{
	"enableLog": true,
	"services": [
		{
			"name": "PingBaidu",
			"command": "ping",
			"arguments": "www.baidu.com",
			"workingDirectory": "",
			"runMode": "interval",
			"intervalInSeconds": 10,
			"useShellExecute": false,
			"allowWindow": false,
			"enableLog": true
		},
		{
			"name": "mywinTesting",
			"command": "mywin"
		}
	]
}

References

Property	Value type	Required	Default	Description
enableLog	bool		false	Determinate if generate logs by log4net
services	array	Yes	(empty)	Program definitions hosted by ServiceOnset
name	string	Yes		Program identifier, must be same to the corresponding logger name
command	string	Yes		Command (with full path or not). eg.: ping
arguments	string		""	Command arguments. eg.: www.baidu.com
workingDirectory	string		Command path, or ServiceOnset path	Working directory. eg.: D:\\ServiceOnset\\
runMode	enum		"daemon"	"daemon": Auto-restart the program if it exited "launch": Launch the program once and let it be "interval": Restart the program termly by force kill the running process
intervalInSeconds	int		30	Detecting interval in seconds for current run mode
useShellExecute	bool		false	Start a process by UseShellExecute. Will omit the standard output of a console when the value is true
allowWindow	bool		false	If true, will not restrict the wrapped program showing an UI; otherwise, will try to do that by setting "CreateNoWindow=true" or "WindowStyle=Hidden"

Case sample for COW

1. Make sure cow.exe or cow-hide.exe or cow-taskbar.exe with rc.txt can work.
2. Extract ServiceOnset binary package to COW directory. And config like this:

{
	"enableLog": true,
	"services": [
		{
			"name": "COW",
			"command": "cow.exe"
		}
	]
}

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