Re: Newbee :: Question about windows service

From:
VC <vcinquini@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.mfc
Date:
Sat, 17 May 2008 07:44:24 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID:
<c08b5acf-bf65-4a54-a59e-8d631a28fa45@m45g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>
Joseph,

I apreciate very much all of your comments. I came to the conclusion
that I have a lot to learn.

But I'd like to remember you that (since I'm a newbee), I used MS VC
IDE wizard to buld this initial windows service skeleton. Parts I've
changed or added are marked with ' //******* ', remember?

So I'm very surprised that Microsoft wizards make stupid things like
m_bService == FALSE...

Thanks very much and scuse me my poor English.

On 16 maio, 13:17, Joseph M. Newcomer <newco...@flounder.com> wrote:

See below...

On Fri, 16 May 2008 06:21:49 -0700 (PDT), VC <vcinqu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, i'm new on C++ and I'm trying to write a simple windows service
for learning purposes. I created it on MS VC 6 (i'm sorry, this is the
official version of the company I work for) using the wizard. I'm
pasting only the code I've changed indicating them with *****.

The question is: when I run the service from inside the VS IDE, the
file writes normally. But when I go to a DOS window, register the
service and start it (using NET START command or Control Panel
Services applet), the file is not created. I though it was a question
of credentials and I configured the service to start using the
administrator account. But I've got no success. Could someone help.
I'm pretty sure that I'm doing something stupid, but I can't see what.

(if some one give me some advice about thread calling, I'd appreciate
very much)

in StdAfx

static DWORD WINAPI MyThreadWrapper(void *classPtr); //**********

// data members
public:
int iCounter; //**********
ofstream myfile; //**********

DWORD WINAPI MyThread(); //*******

on srv1.cpp

inline void CServiceModule::Start()
{
   SERVICE_TABLE_ENTRY st[] =
   {
       { m_szServiceName, _ServiceMain },
       { NULL, NULL }
   };
   if (m_bService && !::StartServiceCtrlDispatcher(st))
   {
       m_bService = FALSE;
   }
   if (m_bService == FALSE)


***
Never, ever, under any circumstances imaginable, EVER, write an expression that includes
==FALSE or ==TRUE as part of the expression. This is a programming error. If you want to
test if it is a not-service, you would write
        if(!m_bService)
It is a common failure mode among beginners to think that a boolean must be tested against
some other literal value, but you are ignoring the fact that AS A BOOLEAN it already HAS a
true or false value, and comparing this value to another boolean literal value is stupid.
And it fools you into thinking that ==FALSE is the same as !=TRUE, or that the complement
of ==FALSE is ==TRUE, and neither of these are valid assumptions.
****

       {
               this->iCounter = 0; // *********
               this->myfile.open("c:\\temp\\example.txt", ios::out |
ios::ate); //
**********


****
I see no path that opens the file if you are running as a service! Putting this open here
is poor style; the Run() method should handle this, then it would be common code whether
you are a service or not.
****> Run();

       }

}

inline void CServiceModule::Handler(DWORD dwOpcode)
{
   switch (dwOpcode)
   {
   case SERVICE_CONTROL_STOP:
       SetServiceStatus(SERVICE_STOP_PENDING);
       PostThreadMessage(dwThreadID, WM_QUIT, 0, 0);


****
What possible value does this have, given your thread has no message pump?
****> this->myfile.close(); //*********

       break;
   case SERVICE_CONTROL_PAUSE:
       break;
   case SERVICE_CONTROL_CONTINUE:
       break;
   case SERVICE_CONTROL_INTERROGATE:
       break;
   case SERVICE_CONTROL_SHUTDOWN:
       break;
   default:
       LogEvent(_T("Bad service request"));
   }


***
You do not call any function here to notify the service control manager what your status
is. In particular, SERVICE_CONTROL_INTERROGATE should tell what state the service is in.
Call your SetServiceStatus() function. I note that your SetServiceStatus function does
not report errors, or provide for checkpoints. This is a serious defect.
****

}

void CServiceModule::Run()
{

// some code here
   if (m_bService)
       SetServiceStatus(SERVICE_RUNNING);

       DWORD dwID; //********
       HANDLE hThread; //**********

       this->bEndThreads = false; //************

       hThread = ::CreateThread(0, 0, MyThreadWrapper, (void*)this,
0,
&dwID); //**********


***
You should *not* use CreateThread here. You are using the C runtime (that's how << is
implemented) so you should use, at the very least, _beginthreadex. If you are using any
MFC, you will need to use AfxBeginThread.
                        joe

   MSG msg;
// some other code here


****
Whatever it is doing, it is almost certainly wrong. You would not put a message pump
here; typically you woud do a WFSO on an Event object, and your shutdown would call
::SetEvent to set the event to signaled. A message pump makes no sense.

}

// these two functions are new

DWORD WINAPI CServiceModule::MyThread()
{
       while(!this->bEndThreads)
       {
               this->iCounter++;

               myfile << "Executing thread (";
               myfile << this->iCounter;
               myfile << " times)\n";

               Sleep(1000);
       }
       return 0;

}

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

DWORD WINAPI MyThreadWrapper(void *classPtr)
{
CServiceModule *CsrvMod = (CServiceModule *)classPtr;
return CsrvMod->MyThread();

}

Thanks in advance


Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: newco...@flounder.com
Web:http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips:http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm

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