windows service not starting automatically

[ayush patel]

Hi,

I have tried several ways to make this work but only found work arounds. so I am posting this as a last trial.

I have a windows service which has to kick start and generate a file and email it to our clients every monday and friday.

the service does this only when i stop it and start it. but it has to do this without someone starting it. i know we use a timer for this. i did too. but i dont know whats the issue. the timer is supposed to start everyday and check if its a monday or friday which it is not doing.

below is my code

namespace export
{
    public partial class ExportService1 : ServiceBase
    {
 
        Timer _timer = new Timer();
        ServiceController controller = new ServiceController();
 
        public ExportService1()
        {
            _timer = new Timer(89000000);
            InitializeComponent();
        }
 
        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
 
            _timer.Start();
            newfunction(null);
        }
        protected override void OnContinue()
        {
            _timer.Start();
        }
        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            _timer.Start();
 
        }
        protected override void OnShutdown()
        {
 
            base.OnShutdown();
            _timer.Stop();
 
        }
        public void newfunction(object obj)
        {
 
            Form fr = new Form();
            fr.Export();
 
//HERE IT IS TAKEN TO ANOTHER CLASS WHERE IT CHECKS IF TODAY IS MONDAY OR FRIDAY AND REST OF THE WORK IS DONE.//
 
 
        }
 
 
    }
}
 
 

Thanks
Ayush

[MrMancunian]

Is there a question involved in your post? Or do you think we're mindreaders? "Hmmmm...I just see clouds...Oh, well..."

Steven

[ayush patel]

Yes there is a question involved in the post. the service is not running manually. I have to start it every time it has to generate that file.

[Plater]

Have you tried putting log entries into the program (just as a test) at every function and such, to see if its ending up in a bad state?
(i.e. closed, or the timer is stopped or whatever)

[ayush patel]

Thanks for the reply .no i did not put any log entries. how do I do that.

[Plater]

Umm, create a function that logs to a file, and then call that function from other sections of your code.

Such as:
MyLoggingFunction("Startup");

MyLoggingFunction("Checking time");

MyLoggingFunction("Timer stopping");

MyLoggingFunction("service stopping");

[tlhintoq]

Hi,

I have tried several ways to make this work but only found work arounds. so I am posting this as a last trial.

I have a windows service which has to kick start and generate a file and email it to our clients every monday and friday.

the service does this only when i stop it and start it. but it has to do this without someone starting it. i know we use a timer for this. i did too. but i dont know whats the issue. the timer is supposed to start everyday and check if its a monday or friday which it is not doing.

below is my code

namespace export
{
    public partial class ExportService1 : ServiceBase
    {
 
        Timer _timer = new Timer();
        ServiceController controller = new ServiceController();
 
        public ExportService1()
        {
            _timer = new Timer(89000000);
            InitializeComponent();
        }
 
        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
 
            _timer.Start();
            newfunction(null);
        }
        protected override void OnContinue()
        {
            _timer.Start();
        }
        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            _timer.Start();
 
        }
        protected override void OnShutdown()
        {
 
            base.OnShutdown();
            _timer.Stop();
 
        }
        public void newfunction(object obj)
        {
 
            Form fr = new Form();
            fr.Export();
 
//HERE IT IS TAKEN TO ANOTHER CLASS WHERE IT CHECKS IF TODAY IS MONDAY OR FRIDAY AND REST OF THE WORK IS DONE.//
 
 
        }
 
 
    }
}
 
 

Thanks
Ayush

So when you stop and you start, the program works.
It doesn't work automatically each time the timer ticks off.
Then the timer isn't working as you think it should, in one respect or another.

I notice you say "The timer starts every day." It really shouldn't. The timer should be running all the time. It doesn't 'start' every day; it 'Tick's every time the interval setting in milliseconds is reached. Saying that it 'starts' every day implies that it stops every day as well. If the timer stops, then something has to cause it to start again. Maybe this is the problem without going any further. Maybe your called method stops the timer and nothing starts it up again.

But, assuming that's not the case... Where else could it be performing differently than expected?

To start with, the interval for 24 hours should be 86,400,000 milliseconds.
You have 89000000 which is...
/1000ms = 890000 seconds
/60 = 1483.333 minutes
/60 = 24.722222 hours or nearly 3/4 of an hour longer than a day.

So if you are expecting your program to execute at the same time every day; it won't. Its going to creep by .7222 hours each time the timer ticks off 24.722 hours. After 4 ticks it will be off nearly 3 hours (2.888888). By the end of the 7 day week it will be off more than 5 hours. So maybe it would carry out as expected, if it were giving the extra time to reach its countdown. I presume when it doesn't work AT 24 hours you say to yourself [b]"What the frack!"[/B] and kill it, then start it manually and it works fine.

There is no code shown for the method called when the timer actually ticks.
Should look something like...

private void _timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// This happens every 24.722222 hours
}

When you create the timer, you also don't seem to be assigning a method to the Tick event that is raised when those 89000000ms elapse.

Should look something like...

_timer.Tick += new System.EventHandler(this._timer_Tick);

So maybe its not performing as expected, because you don't have a method telling it to perform, or you don't call that method when the timer elapses?


Regards,
tlhIn'toQ

[Plater]

What kind of Timer object is that?
You should be using Sytem.Threading.Timer for a service application.

[ayush patel]

i created a log file and checked and its writing to the file only once when the service has started. the timer has to kick off after every 1 min and write to the log file which its not doing. my code is the same that i posted before but I have just called the log function after start stop etc events

[ayush patel]

thanks tlhintoq for your reply I will try to implement what you said.
I am using System.Timers; doesn't this work with windows services?

[Curtis Rutland]

So did you even read tlhIn'toQ's post?

[ayush patel]

I did and I am working according to that.

[Plater]

I am using System.Timers; doesn't this work with windows services?

I am pretty sure System.Timers.Timer still relies on a windows message to control itself, which I don't think services get (might be wrong)

The System.Threading.Timer is the most complex of the 3 main Timer objects, and can be tricky to understand at first, but the MSDN should still have a good example on how to use it.

[ayush patel]

got it. I will look in to the exaomple and try to change it. I will let you know if it worked.

[ayush patel]

Is there a question involved in your post? Or do you think we're mindreaders? "Hmmmm...I just see clouds...Oh, well..."

Steven

MrMancunian it is absolutly fine if you dont reply if at all you dont understand the question.I wont mind.Please don't be rude. remeber that there are 1000's of other sites available and thousands of other people ready to help you are not the only one out there.

[MrMancunian]

MrMancunian it is absolutly fine if you dont reply if at all you dont understand the question.I wont mind.Please don't be rude. remeber that there are 1000's of other sites available and thousands of other people ready to help you are not the only one out there.

I wasn't being rude, I was pointing out that there was no question in your first post.

the service is not running manually. I have to start it every time it has to generate that file.

Even in your second post, there was no question. A question, my friend, is a sentence that end with a questionmark.

How are we supposed to know what you want when you don't tell us? (Now thát is a question!)

Steven

[Plater]

I wasn't being rude, I was pointing out that there was no question in your first post.

Both of you knock it off, it isn't helpful.
The original post did not straight forwardly say "I am having trouble with this, this is what i did, how can i correct it?"
But it is possible to determine what the question was from the title and the post content.
A servuice is supposed to be running and every day at a certain time perform the action, however it is not doing that. The only time it "works" is if you do a start/stop.
Which, based on the timer sample code, would suggest that the timer tick() event is not getting fired correctly.

Now then, as an afterthought, are you remember to uninstall and re-install your service when you make changes? It's a pretty common thing to forget. (Like it took me a few hours to realize I needed to do that the first time I tried to make a service)

Edit:
I built a test service with a System.Threading.Timer object with a 5second interval. Every 5 seconds it would make a log entry. I had no troubles with it not firing.