Hello,

I'm creating a custom Windows service. I know that an application (windows forms app) can pass information to the service through a service controller's ExecuteCommand method (to the OnCustomCommand event), but can the service pass information to the application?

Brian

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Brian

I reading the documentation, it seems unlikely that a service can directly pass information to an application.

However, a service can broadcast messages like any other running process, and that might be a way to send information to an application.

Additionally, ugly as it is, a service should be able to write to the disk, and you can instruct your application to monitor a specific location on the disk for the arrival of a file. (Ugly, I know.)

There might be a way to implement cross-process marshalling, but the way to do that does not immediately "leap off the page."

Perhaps you could override ExecuteCommand() with Public Sub ExecuteCommand([u]B</u>y[u]Ref</u> command As Integer), and then modify command in the processes that ensued, but I am skeptical that that would work.

I am not confident of my answer here, I’m only sharing what my perspective is on the possibility. This assertion in Visual Studio .NET help is what makes me doubt that [u]direct</u> interaction (even as [u]in</u>direct as your particular approach is) with a user (ie, another application) will be possible: 1. A window station is a secure object that contains a clipboard, a set of global atoms, and a group of desktop objects.

This is the extent of creating your own service that I found: <link>http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vbcon/html/vbconintroductiontontserviceapplications.asp</link>. So I'll look at alternative solutions (planning on using a "common ground" XML file).

Thanks,

Brian