Java Application (With GUI) as a service

Question

We have a a Java app that takes a few registers off a database and sends them back and forth to a web service, nothing too complicated. This java app has a GUI that informs the user about what's going on with the operations it performs, as well as providing means for configuring certain aspects of its execution and giving the user the opportunity to deal with errors that may happen.

The thing is, this application needs to run all the time, even if the user isn't logged on. I tried setting a windows task to make it run when the computer starts, but if that happens the program runs on the background and the interface never comes up.

We could break the interface away from the main project and make them run separately, so the service runs on the background quietly and the user is free to open and close the interface to their heart's content, but unfortunately we suffer from coupling problems in our project which makes that road a little more arduous than it should be.

So the question is: Is there a way to set a service up so that it runs even when the user isn't logged in, but once he does, the interface also comes up?

Our only target platform is, for now, Windows.

Answer 1

to your question : "Is there a way to set a service up so that it runs even when the user isn't logged in, but once he does, the interface also comes up?" the response is Yes and called JavaExe. look its examples in JavaExe.zip, in particular example8 or 23