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How to Debug or Test your Windows Service Without Installing it...

5.00/5 (4 votes)
25 Oct 2011CPOL 17.3K  
I am writing a service at present and have written a few over the years. What I do now is put all the code in a separate DLL from the start off. My service methods Onstart, OnStop call into the DLL which starts a thread to do the work.For debugging, I have a separate test harness console app...

I am writing a service at present and have written a few over the years. What I do now is put all the code in a separate DLL from the start off. My service methods Onstart, OnStop call into the DLL which starts a thread to do the work.


For debugging, I have a separate test harness console app that calls into the same startup/stop function the service would. I make this console app my debug instance in the environment and away I go.


Not saying this is a better way than yours, just a different way.


Thanks.

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