Windows Service Simple Sample

Some years ago I was C/C++ developer and I wrote several windows services.
I know that writing of service programs is quite difficult for beginners.

In this post I'm publishing simple working example.
This service only beeps with one second's interval after starts.

service.c

#include <windows.h>

HANDLE  hServerStopEvent = NULL;
VOID ServiceBody();
VOID WINAPI ServiceMain(DWORD dwArgc, LPTSTR *lpszArgv);
VOID WINAPI ServiceControlHandler(DWORD dwCtrlCode);
BOOL ReportStatusToSCMgr(DWORD dwCurrentState, DWORD dwWin32ExitCode, DWORD dwWaitHint);


SERVICE_STATUS          ssStatus;
SERVICE_STATUS_HANDLE   sshStatusHandle;

void _cdecl main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    SERVICE_TABLE_ENTRY dispatchTable[] = 
        {{"", (LPSERVICE_MAIN_FUNCTION)ServiceMain }, { NULL, NULL }};
    StartServiceCtrlDispatcher(dispatchTable);
}

void WINAPI ServiceMain(DWORD dwArgc, LPTSTR *lpszArgv)
{
    sshStatusHandle = RegisterServiceCtrlHandler( "", ServiceControlHandler);

    if (!sshStatusHandle)
        goto cleanup;

    ssStatus.dwServiceType = SERVICE_WIN32_OWN_PROCESS;
    ssStatus.dwServiceSpecificExitCode = 0;

    if (!ReportStatusToSCMgr(SERVICE_START_PENDING, NO_ERROR, 3000))
        goto cleanup;

    ServiceBody();

cleanup:
    if (sshStatusHandle)
        (VOID)ReportStatusToSCMgr(SERVICE_STOPPED, NO_ERROR, 0);
    return;
}

VOID WINAPI ServiceControlHandler(DWORD dwCtrlCode)
{
    if(dwCtrlCode==SERVICE_CONTROL_STOP)
    {
        ReportStatusToSCMgr(SERVICE_STOP_PENDING, NO_ERROR, 0);
        if ( hServerStopEvent )
            SetEvent(hServerStopEvent);
    }
    ReportStatusToSCMgr(ssStatus.dwCurrentState, NO_ERROR, 0);
}

BOOL ReportStatusToSCMgr(DWORD dwCurrentState, DWORD dwWin32ExitCode, DWORD dwWaitHint)
{
    if (dwCurrentState == SERVICE_START_PENDING)
        ssStatus.dwControlsAccepted = 0;
    else
        ssStatus.dwControlsAccepted = SERVICE_ACCEPT_STOP;

    ssStatus.dwCurrentState = dwCurrentState;
    ssStatus.dwWin32ExitCode = dwWin32ExitCode;
    ssStatus.dwWaitHint = dwWaitHint;

    if ( ( dwCurrentState == SERVICE_RUNNING ) 
        || ( dwCurrentState == SERVICE_STOPPED ) )
        ssStatus.dwCheckPoint = 0;
    else
        ssStatus.dwCheckPoint++;

    return SetServiceStatus( sshStatusHandle, &ssStatus);
}


//This sample only beeps.
VOID ServiceBody ()
{   
    hServerStopEvent = CreateEvent(NULL, TRUE, FALSE, NULL);
    if (!hServerStopEvent)
        goto cleanup;

    if (!ReportStatusToSCMgr(SERVICE_RUNNING, NO_ERROR, 0))
        goto cleanup;

    do 
    {
        MessageBeep(-1);
    } while (WaitForSingleObject(hServerStopEvent, 1000 )== WAIT_TIMEOUT);

cleanup:
    if (hServerStopEvent)
        CloseHandle(hServerStopEvent);
}

Script for compiling with Visual C++ 6.0:

make_vc6.bat
@call "D:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Bin\vcvars32.bat"
@cl /nologo service.c user32.lib advapi32.lib
@del service.obj

If you use Visual C++ Express, you need additional Platform SDK from Microsoft.

Install (register) service via command:

service_create.bat
sc create "XQX Service" binPath= %CD%\service.exe

Start service via command:

service_start.bat
net start "XQX Service"

Stop service via command:

service_stop.bat
net stop "XQX Service"

Uninstall (remove) service via command:

service_delete.bat
sc delete "XQX Service"