ServiceDebugger

Service Debugger is a helper utility that allows debugging Windows Services

If you've created a service in Visual Studio.NET, the program.cs contains the following line:

ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);

After installing the service helper, change this line like so:

 ServiceBase[] servicesToRun = { new Service1() };
 
ServiceDebugger.Helper.Run(ServicesToRun);

// or

using ServiceDebugger;
...
ServicesToRun.Run();

Now if you run your project with a debugger attached, you will be able to run the service from a window that pops up, else the service will run as is would without having the service helper installed.

App.Config AppSettings

ServiceDebugger.AutoStart=true
Starts all services immediately

ServiceDebugger.RunEvenIfNotAttached=true
Start's even if there is no debugger attached to the process.

ServiceDebugger.StartMinimized=true
Window will start minimized (click on the notify icon to restore window)

Example

<configuration>
	<appSettings>
		<add key="ServiceDebugger.AutoStart" value="true"/>
		<add key="ServiceDebugger.RunEvenIfNotAttached" value="true"/>
		<add key="ServiceDebugger.StartMinimized" value="true"/>
	</appSettings>
</configuration>