How do you add a windows service to an existing application installer?

Question

Hi,

We've created a windows service to detect the insertion of a particular usb device.

That service is then supposed to launch an application we have written.

We initially made a setup project for our application and a separate one for the windows service.

Now, we are trying to get the service and the application installed in the same setup project.

We tried putting the output of our service into the setup project but without any luck.

We have the a projectinstaller class in the service, so why can't we simply add the project output of the Windows service (including the installer class) to our application's setup project?

Answer 1

There is MSDN article explains it, Create the installers for your service. Microsoft support also have an article, How to create a setup project for a Windows Service application in Visual C#

My primary language is Delphi. In Delphi, when a program is created as Service Application, installing the program as a Windows Service can be done by running my_service_app_name.exe /INSTALL. I guess, the execution mechanism should be roughly same with service applications created by other compilers.

Thus, adding a windows service to an existing application installer can be done by just running the service application as mentioned, but you should refer to the documentation in case you are not using Delphi.