Windows Service using C# in Visual Studio 2013

Here, I will walk through step by step process for creating and deploying Windows Service using Visual Studio 2013 in C#.

Before we go in details, just to understand on a high level, a Windows Service is a computer program that runs in the background with out End User interference. It can be started automatically when the system boots.


Mainly we use Windows Service to run Scheduled Jobs, like sending Daily Report emails to Managers , Newsletters to the team.

In this demo, I created Windows Service in C# using Visual studio 2013 and scheduled it for every minute.

Step 1: Open Visual Studio and Create a New ‘Windows Service’ Project available in Visual C#, Windows Category.

Step 2:  In the Project solution, we will be able to see multiple files, one of them is Service1.cs. Rename it as per the functionality we are going to implement.

Step 3: Go to Code View screen by clicking on 'click here to switch to code view'.

Here we would see 3 methods auto populated. The first one is on Initiation of the service.
OnStart method is executed when we start the Service, this could be automated or manual event.
OnStop method is executed when the service is stopped, could be manual by end user or when syste m shuts down or some automated process.
Step 4: Here we have to add the timer to schedule the functionality or job which we want to execute at regular interval. Below is the sample code

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.ServiceProcess;

namespace TimesheetTaskCreation
{
    public partial class TaskCreation : ServiceBase
    {
        public TaskCreation()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            WriteLog("Service Started.");

            // Set up a timer to trigger every minute.
            System.Timers.Timer timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
            timer.Interval = 60000 * 1; //1 min
            timer.Elapsed += new System.Timers.ElapsedEventHandler(this.OnTimer);
            timer.Start();

        }

        public void OnTimer(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs args)
        {
            // TODO: Insert monitoring activities here.
            WriteLog("Performing Service Action.");

            //Perform the actions here
        }

        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            WriteLog("Service Stopped.");
        }

        private void WriteLog(string text)
        {
            StreamWriter sw = null;
            try
            {
                sw = new StreamWriter(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "LogFile.txt", true);
                sw.WriteLine(DateTime.Now.ToString() + ":" + text);
                sw.Flush();
                sw.Close();
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {

            }
        }
    }
}

"WriteLog" is a function used to update Log file maintained in the installation folder location.
"OnTimer" is the event handler fired upon reaching configured duration
And, the timer is setup in OnStart method, so when the service is started, Timer will be started and the job is scheduled.

Step 5: Now, we need to add an installer to the service. To do this, right click on the Service.cs file and click on 'Add Installer'

A new file Projectinstaller.cs is added and it has 2 controls, 'SerivceInstaller' and 'ServiceProcessInstaller'
Step 6: Go to Properties of ServiceInstaller and provide Service name and description. Also, Change start type to Manual.

Step 7: Now, go to properties of SercieProcessInstaller and set Account to LocalService. The service will be running on this account. Based on your job's access requirements, use the Account.

Step 8: With these steps, the Windows service is ready and we need to Deploy / Install it. To do this, Build the solution and in the Bin folder, we will have an EXE file as in below image

Step 9: Now, open Visual Studio Command Prompt and go to the file location where we have the exe file as in above step. And to install, the command we use is 'InstallUtil.exe <exe file>'



Step 10: After we execute above command, we get successfully installed message on command prompt and then open the System services to view installed service. To open, run 'Services.msc' in System Run .

Upon clicking on Start, the service will be started the job is scheduled. We can see the logs in the Log file created in same folder.
To uninstall the Service, the command we use is 'InstallUtil.exe /u <exe file>'. To execute this command, go to the same folder where we have the exe file.

Happy Coding! :-)

Custom Event Handler in Sharepoint 2013 using Visual Studio

Here, I will walk through step by step process for creating an Event Handler using Visual Studio.

There are lots of Event Sources like Document Library, List, Surveys, Tasks, Workflows etc. provided by Sharepoint . Similarly multiple Events available for each event source like Upon Uploading, modification, Check in, Check Out etc.

Based on your Required use the required Event Source and Event.

In this demo, I used Visual Studio 2013 and created an Event Handler on Document Library to update Title property when a Document is Uploaded.

Step 1: Create ‘Documents’ Document Library in any Site.
Step 2: Open Visual Studio and Create a New ‘Sharepoint 2013 Empty Project’

Step 3: Then a wizard is Popped up to select the Site for Debugging and Trust Level of Solution. Provide the Site / Site Collection where the ‘Documents’ Library created in Step 1 and Select ‘Deploy as a Farm Solution’

Step 4: Now, click on Add New Item to the Project and select ‘Event Receiver’, provide the Name for Event receiver.

Note: Make sure this Event Receiver Name is Unique across other Event Receivers deployed in the Site Collection.

Step 5: Then a Wizard is popped up to select the Event Receivers and Events for which we need to handle.

Here I have chosen Library and also Selected Item Added and Updated Events.

Now the solution will have a Feature and Event Receiver and the Solution Explorer will appear as in below image

Step 6: In Step 5, where we selected event source, we actually selected a template i.e. in this example when we selected Document Library, it applies for all document libraries in the site collection where we enabled this feature.

But, I do need for one Specific Library only. To do this, we need to customize the Elelments.xml of the Event receiver. The Code in Event Receiver Appear as in below image.

The highlighted part in above image depicts that we are applying this event for List Template”101” which is document library.

So, comment it and provide the List Url for which we want to apply. It appears as in below image.

Step 7: Open the ‘SampleEvent.cs’ and we will have 2 methods already added, one for ItemAdded and other for ItemUpdated. Similarly, for every Event type we check, corresponding methods are created.

Write your custom code in the Methods. In above sample I updated Document title.

Step 8: Now Deploy the Solution and Activate the Feature in the Site Collection where Documents library created. With these steps, the Event handler is created and attached to the Documents Library. To test it, Add a document and upon upload, Edit properties page is opened with Title Auto filled.

Happy Coding! :-)