Windows service - how to make name configurable

Question

I have written a windows service in C#. The requirement at the beginning was that I should be running only one instance of that service, but that has changed and now I need multiple instances. This is why I need to change the service name according to the configuration file.

What would be the best way to make it register with the correct name ? Should I write another tool to do it? Can I just read the name from App.config file and set it in the service and installer classes accordingly ?

PS> I do not really understand how that thing with names work - one should set names in service and installer classes, but then when installing with installutil.exe or even powershell new-service the name also should be specified. Does that have to be the same? Or one overrides another?

Answer 1

You can simply read it from the app.config and set it in the installer classes.
Normally, a class that inherits from Installer is automatically created. It contains a member of type System.ServiceProcess.ServiceInstaller, most likely named serviceProcessInstaller1. This has a property ServiceName you can set. Additionally, you need to set the ServiceName property of the ServiceBase derived class to the same value.
In a default implementation, these are set to constant values in the respective InitializeComponent methods, but there is no reason to stick with this. It can be done dynamically without problems.

Answer 2

I though I'd add my 2 cents since I ran into this. I have a file called "ProjectInstaller.cs" with designer and resources under it. Opening it up in design shows MyServiceInstaller and MyProjectInstaller as items on the design surface. I was able to change the names in the ProjectInstaller() constructor, and manually loaded the config file from the module directory:

public ProjectInstaller()
{
    InitializeComponent();

    var config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(this.GetType().Assembly.Location);

    if (config.AppSettings.Settings["ServiceName"] != null)
    {
        this.MyServiceInstaller.ServiceName = config.AppSettings.Settings["ServiceName"].Value;
    }
    if (config.AppSettings.Settings["DisplayName"] != null)
    {
        this.MyServiceInstaller.DisplayName = config.AppSettings.Settings["DisplayName"].Value;
    }
}