C# Windows Service - Started and then Stopped Automatically

Question

I am creating this windows service by following the instructions at MSDN Walkthrough: Creating a Windows Service and after successful installation, I go to Services.msc to Start the Windows service and before it finishes starting up I get the following message:

The EIWindowsService service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs.

I know the Windows Service starts ok because there is an entry to the log file stating that the service started. I did some research before posting on here and the answer from Some Services Stop Automatically states that the problem could either be that the OnStart method is throwing an error, or that the OnStart is not kicking off a thread. So I modified my code so that the only thing within the OnStart is the starting of two timers and the log entry therefore needing no exception handling. I also added a thread to "jump" to another method.

I tried the windows service again and I know that it "moved" to the new method that the thread pointed to because I had a log entry in there that threw aFormatException error due to some conversion I was doing. I commented out the conversion and the windows service still just began to start up and then stopped automatically.

Further research indicated to me that I might need a loop to keep the processing within the method, so I took information from C - Windows Service the service on and set up an infinite while loop. I also found that there might be Garbage Collection going on and established a KeepAlive statement for the timers as suggested in Examples section of MSDN Timer Class. Still the same issues.

At this point I feel I've exhaused all the research I can do so it would be appropriate to post my question here. All my code is below and I will note that before I performed any change I uninstalled the Windows Service, removed the Setup Project, and deleted the installers from the C# code. I then made changes and started back over with the instructions in the Walkthrough starting at the point where it instructs how to setup the installers. I did this each time because I found that if I made changes and did not uninstall the Windows Service, remove the Setup Project, and delete the installers, then my changes would not take effect on the currently installed windows service.

Any assistance you can give would be most appreciated. I will be here for another 15min and then I will check this first thing tomorrow.

SERVICE1.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.Text;
using System.Timers;

namespace EIWindowsService
{
    public partial class Service1 : ServiceBase
    {
        Logs.ErrorLog logFile = new Logs.ErrorLog();
        private System.Threading.Thread onStartThread;

        public Service1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();            
        }

        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            try
            {
                iTimer.Start();
                iTimer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(iTimer_Elapsed);
                pTimer.Start();
                pTimer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(pTimer_Elapsed);                
                onStartThread = new System.Threading.Thread(TimerValue);
                onStartThread.Start();
                logFile.SendToLog("EIWindows Service started on " + GetDate());
            }
            catch (ArgumentOutOfRangeException ex)
            {
                logFile.SendToLog("ArgumentOutOfRangeException", "EIWindowsService\\Service1.cs", "OnStart()", ex);
            } //end of ArgumentOutOfRangeException CATCH statement
        }

        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            iTimer.Stop();
            pTimer.Stop();
            logFile.SendToLog("EIWindowsService\\Service1.cs", "OnStop()", "EIWindows Service stopped on " + GetDate());

        }

        private void TimerValue()
        {
            try
            {
                   /*commented out because it was throwing an exception error*/
                   //double iTimerValue = Convert.ToDouble(iTimer.ToString());
                   //double pTimerValue = Convert.ToDouble(pTimer.ToString());
                while (1 > 0)
                {
                       //if (iTimerValue % 1800000 == 0)  //if the timer hits the 30min mark
                       //{
                       //    logFile.SendToLog("Current iTimer Value = " + iTimerValue.ToString());
                       //}
                       //if (pTimerValue % 1800000 == 0)  //if the timer hits the 30min mark
                       //{
                       //    logFile.SendToLog("Current pTimer Value = " + pTimerValue.ToString());
                       //}
                    GC.KeepAlive(iTimer);
                    GC.KeepAlive(pTimer);
                }
                   //TimerValue();
            }
            catch (OverflowException ex)
            {
                logFile.SendToLog("OverflowException", "EIWindowsService\\Service1.cs", "TimerValue()", ex);
            } //end of OverflowException CATCH statement
            catch (ArgumentException ex)
            {
                logFile.SendToLog("ArgumentException", "EIWindowsService\\Service1.cs", "TimerValue()", ex);
            } //end of ArgumentException CATCH statement
            catch (FormatException ex)
            {
                logFile.SendToLog("FormatException", "EIWindowsService\\Service1.cs", "TimerValue()", ex);
            } //end of FormatException CATCH statement
        }

        private string GetDate()
        {
            string current = "No Date Recorded";
            try
            {
                current = DateTime.Now.ToString("F");
            }
            catch (FormatException ex)
            {
                logFile.SendToLog("FormatException", "EIWindowsService\\Service1.cs", "GetDate()", ex);
            } //end of FormatException CATCH statement

            return current;
        } //end of method GetDate

        private void iTimer_Elapsed(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                iTimer.Stop();
                ImportI();
                iTimer.Start();
            }
            catch (ArgumentOutOfRangeException ex)
            {
                logFile.SendToLog("ArgumentOutOfRangeException", "EIWindowsService\\Service1.cs", "iTimer_Elapsed()", ex);
            } //end of ArgumentOutOfRangeException CATCH statement
        } //end of method iTimer_Elapsed

        private void pTimer_Elapsed(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                pTimer.Stop();
                ImportP();
                pTimer.Start();
            }
            catch (ArgumentOutOfRangeException ex)
            {
                logFile.SendToLog("ArgumentOutOfRangeException", "EIWindowsService\\Service1.cs", "pTimer_Elapsed()", ex);
            } //end of ArgumentOutOfRangeException CATCH statement
        } //end of method pTimer_Elapsed

        private void ImportI()
        {
            //does some action but commented out because it never gets here and is not relavant to this question.
        } //end of method ImportI

        private void ImportP()
        {
            //does some action but commented out because it never gets here and is not relavant to this question.
        } //end of method ImportP
    }
}

SERVICE1.DESIGNER.CS (the relavant stuff)

private void InitializeComponent()
        {
            this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
            this.pTimer = new System.Timers.Timer(10800000);  //3hrs
            this.iTimer = new System.Timers.Timer(3600000);  //1hr
            // 
            // pTimer
            // 
            this.pTimer.Enabled = true;
            // 
            // iTimer
            // 
            this.iTimer.Enabled = true;
            // 
            // Service1
            // 
            this.ServiceName = "EIWindowsService";

        }

        #endregion

        private System.Timers.Timer pTimer;
        private System.Timers.Timer iTimer;

Answer 1

You don't need to create a separate thread or worry about the garbage collector. The framework handles all that for you. Just create the timers and they will be called. Here's an example.

public partial class Service1 : ServiceBase
{
    private Timer timer;

    public Service1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
    {
        timer = new Timer(1000);
        timer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(timer_Elapsed);
        timer.Start();
    }

    void timer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
    {
        using (StreamWriter writer = File.AppendText(@"C:\Users\alfonso\Desktop\log.txt"))
        {
            writer.WriteLine(string.Format("{0} : {1}", DateTime.Now, "Logging from the service"));
        }
    }

    protected override void OnStop()
    {
    }
}