Calling a Windows Forms App from a Windows Service

[fdmaxey]

I have created a small windows application in VB.Net that produces a
series of charts and write them automatically to a Power Point document,
based on command line arguments. I can call this application from
another app with no problems.

I needed to trigger it from another process that runs continually as a
Windows service. The service calls the Windows app, using
ProcessStartInfo with no problem, but the main form dialog does not
appear on the screen. The chart software I’m using requires that the
form appear on the screen. As a result, the charts show up as a thin
line in the Power Point document.

I set the ProcessStartInfo.WindowStyle to Normal. The Windows app also
sets its own WindowsState to normal upon being called. This doesn’t
help, though.

Is there any way to force the Windows app to show on the screen when
started from a separate Windows service?

Frank Maxey

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