Delphi Windows Services command line arguments

Question

I have a Deplhi based Windows Service that, on installation, parses some command line arguments. I want those arguments to be added to the services command line (ImagePath value on the registry) so that the service is always started with them.

How can I accomplish this?

I want the regedit look like this:
at registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\MyService

• ImagePath = C:\Path\to\my\service.exe -some -arguments

Thanks

Update: The installation is done with >MyService.exe /install -some -arguments. Those arguments are the ones I want to persist in the command line.

Update: I found a solution by writing directly to the registry (see here), but I'd still like a more elegant solution, like using some TService property or something of that sort. Thanks!

Answer 1

Ok, after some research, I gave up on an elegant approach, and took the straight-forward path of writing directly to the registry.

To make things simple, I did this: I store the arguments I wanted to pass in variables on my TService. Then, I set the AfterInstall event to write directly into the registry (using a TRegistry object) the exact command line I wanted.

uses Registry;
procedure MyService.AfterInstall(Sender: TObject) ;
var
  reg:TRegistry;
begin
  reg := TRegistry.Create;
  try
    reg.RootKey := 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE';
    if reg.OpenKey('SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MyService', True) then
    begin
      reg.WriteExtendString ('ImagePath', ParamStr(0) + ' -some -arguments') ;
      reg.CloseKey;
    end;
  finally
    reg.Free;
  end;
end;

Not the elegant solution I was looking for, but it does the job.

Thanks for the other answers through!

Answer 2

Service arguments can be passed in the lpBinaryPathName argument to the CreateService function. In Delphi's TService, this is called inside TServiceApplication.RegisterServices.InstallService, which you cannot override (easily).

Therefore, I suspect the easiest way to do this is going to be to handle the TService.AfterInstall event and update the registry yourself via ChangeServiceConfig.