retrieve service name at run-time

Question

I have a service application and I want to retrieve it's display name during run-time. I tried using base.ServiceName, but I'm not getting the expected name. I think I should be referring to display name instead, but the servicebase class doesn't have a property for displayname.

Thanks.

Jan Montano · Answer

Many thanks for the reply Alan. I've been very busy with life lately. It was my fault why the base.ServiceName is not returning the expected result. As for the registry initialization for the service parameters I did an override of Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver) and performed the registry initialization within the method. Thanks again.

Alan · Answer

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this Jan but I still don't have a solution. I think you'll only be able to access the ServiceController class from the ServiceBase class at runtime if the two have been compiled into a single assembly. As I understand it the service console only shows the service display name whereas the service is listed in the registry (under HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services) using its key name though the display name is also shown under this. Frankly I don't understand why the base.ServiceName property is only showing part of the service key name but if it is then this makes life difficult in obtaining the display name from the registry programatically. Perhaps it will work if you just use a single word for the key name? For what it's worth I did come up with a way of getting the display name via API calls though again you have to have the correct key name to start with: using System; using System.Text; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; class Program { [DllImport(advapi32.dll)] static extern bool CloseServiceHandle(IntPtr hSCObject); [DllImport(advapi32.dll EntryPoint=OpenSCManagerW ExactSpelling=true CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)] static extern IntPtr OpenSCManager(string machineName string databaseName uint dwAccess); [DllImport(advapi32.dll EntryPoint=GetServiceDisplayNameW ExactSpelling=true CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)] static extern bool GetServiceDisplayName(IntPtr hSCManager string lpServiceName StringBuilder lpDisplayName ref uint lpcchBuffer); const uint SC_MANAGER_CONNECT = 1; static void Main() { uint lpcchBuffer = 255; IntPtr hSCManager = OpenSCManager(null null SC_MANAGER_CONNECT); StringBuilder lpDisplayName = new StringBuilder(256); string lpServiceName = W32Time; GetServiceDisplayName(hSCManager lpServiceName lpDisplayName ref lpcchBuffer); string displayName = lpDisplayName.ToString(); CloseServiceHandle(hSCManager); Console.WriteLine(displayName); // Windows Time Console.ReadLine(); } } As you'll see I just tested this on the Windows system service W32Time as I don't have a Service template on my machine to create my own test service. I wondered if there might be a way to get the service key name from the base.ServiceHandle property but I couldn't see any obvious way of doing this :(

Jan Montano · Answer

Many thanks for the help and link Alan. Accessing the registry value for the display name seems to be the best approach to take. But I was wondering if I could actually access the serviceinstaller class from a ServiceBase derived class during run-time? My app has self installation functionality wherein I used a serviceinstaller to install itself. Now on the OnStart() method is it possible to access the display name from serviceinstaller? Could we load the current running service into a serviceinstaller? then retrieve it's display name? I may be wrong but this is what comes to my mind if the display name is only accessible from the serviceinstaller. Please do enlighten me. hehehe. =) *edit But wait!!! From the service console my service's name and display name is AppName - ServerName DBName However when I call base.ServiceName it only gives me AppName why? And if this base.ServiceName only gives me an AppName I won't be able to access the registry key properly. I might be doing something wrong.

Alan · Answer

Hi Jan The DisplayName property is actually in the ServiceInstaller rather than the ServiceBase class: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.serviceprocess.serviceinstaller.displayname.aspx