创建一个ASP.NET MVC构建过程，该过程可以构建，安装和启动Windows服务

Question

My file structure is like

MyMVCProject
  MyWindowsService
    bin
    obj
    .
    .
  MyMVCProject
    App_Data
    App_Start
    bin
    .
    .
  packages
  MyMVCProject.sln

and MyWindowsService depends on MyMVCProject because I want that when my MVC application starts running it has a background process that interfaces my repositories and data contexts defined in the MVP project.

I made MyWindowsService install itself when it builds because I put

cd C:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v4.0.30319 installutil.exe "$(SolutionDir)\\MyWindowsService\\bin\\$(ConfigurationName)\\MyWindowsService.exe"

in the post-build command line for that project. It seems to work when I build that project by itself because I get output like

1>  
1>  Beginning the Install phase of the installation.
1>  See the contents of the log file for the C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.exe assembly's progress.
1>  The file is located at C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.InstallLog.
1>  Installing assembly 'C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.exe'.
1>  Affected parameters are:
1>     logtoconsole = 
1>     logfile = C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.InstallLog
1>     assemblypath = C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.exe
1>  No public installers with the RunInstallerAttribute.Yes attribute could be found in the C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.exe assembly.
1>  
1>  The Install phase completed successfully, and the Commit phase is beginning.
1>  See the contents of the log file for the C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.exe assembly's progress.
1>  The file is located at C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.InstallLog.
1>  Committing assembly 'C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.exe'.
1>  Affected parameters are:
1>     logtoconsole = 
1>     logfile = C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.InstallLog
1>     assemblypath = C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.exe
1>  No public installers with the RunInstallerAttribute.Yes attribute could be found in the C:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyMVCProject\MyWindowsService\bin\Debug\MyWindowsService.exe assembly.
1>  Remove InstallState file because there are no installers.
1>  
1>  The Commit phase completed successfully.
1>  

I'm then trying to start the service in the App_Start of my MVC project like

        string serviceExecutablePath = Path.GetFullPath(
            Path.Combine(
                AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory,
                @"..\MyWindowsService",
                "bin",
                isDebugMode ? "Debug" : "Release",
                "MyWindowsService.exe"
            )
        );
        Process.Start(serviceExecutablePath);

so that if I build-and-run or build-and-debug the entire solution then the steps should be like

(1) Compile MVC project (2) Compile Windows Service project (because it depends on (1)) (3) Start MVC app, which in starts starts the service built in (2)

However, when I do so I'm getting the error

Any idea what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it?

Answer 1

It seems that your service isn't installed on the server. The best way to do this if the service is not installed is to create a command line executable (bat file) and install and start it from there.

Then executing that file can be done like this:

Process serverSideProcess = new Process();
serverSideProcess.StartInfo.FileName = @"C:\pathToTheExe";
serverSideProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = "arg1 arg2 ..."; 
serverSideProcess.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
serverSideProcess.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
serverSideProcess.Start();

Of course you can do the installation and running from your app but remember it is a web app and usually it is not a best practice to run such things as it requires admin privilege.