Get the practical reference to developing Windows services with Visual Basic 2008. Addressing the leading trend of software as a service, this guide illustrates how developers with intermediate Visual Basic skills can design and implement Web services. It addresses a critical gap in the developer literature today, showing that services can be developed with Visual Basic 2008—and are not restricted to XML-based applications or Microsoft Visual C#®. Software as a service is changing the dynamic between rich and thin clients. As device types multiply, users expect “always-on” connectivity to link them to the robust Web and corporate applications they use on the desktop. Services, which offload data storage and processing tasks to a server, run efficiently on Web platforms on any device. Services do not need to be a complex coding task—and this is the ideal resource for creating modern, service-oriented applications. It covers integration of services with other Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft BizTalk® Server, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), and Microsoft SQL Server™. Plus, you’ll get extensive code snippets and sample applications.

1. Defining Windows Services

   1. Chapter 1 Writing Your First Service in Visual Basic 2008

      1. Generating the Project
      2. Understanding the Wizard Code
      3. Writing Our First Code
      4. Making the Service Installable
      5. Building, Installing, and Deploying
      6. Summary

   2. Chapter 2 Expanding Your Service with Threads

      1. Cleaning Up the Service from the Previous Chapter
      2. Understanding Threads
      3. The New Code
      4. Install and Test Your Service
      5. What Is Thread Cleanup?
      6. Extending <OnPause> and <OnContinue>
      7. Summary

   3. Chapter 3 Services and Security

      1. Security Privileges and Services
      2. Summary

2. Creating Interactive Windows Services

   1. Chapter 4 Services and Polling

      1. Polling the File System
      2. Adding a Module File
      3. Adding New Polling Code
      4. Updating the Service Events
      5. Writing a New Thread Method
      6. Monitoring with Multiple Threads
      7. Extending the Threading Model
      8. Adding a FileWorker Class
      9. Implementing the Worker Class
      10. Creating the FileWorkerOptions Class
      11. Updating <Tutorials.ThreadFunc>
      12. Using Configuration Files
      13. Updating <Tutorials.ThreadFunc>
      14. Summary

   2. Chapter 5 Processing and Notification

      1. SMTP Notifications
      2. File Processing
      3. Advanced Processing
      4. Implementing a Solution
      5. Summary

   3. Chapter 6 User Input, Desktop Interaction, and Feedback

      1. Understanding Service Feedback
      2. Configuring a Service to Interact with the Desktop
      3. Summary

   4. Chapter 7 Data Logging: Processing and Storing Data in SQL Server 2005

      1. Configuring Microsoft SQL Server
      2. Understanding a LINQSQL Class
      3. Using LINQ To SQL
      4. Updating the FileWorker Class
      5. Data Tracking Validation
      6. Implementing the Record Failure Code
      7. Data Migration from One Data Store to Another Data Store
      8. Reporting Processing Failures
      9. Optimizing the LINQSQL Class
      10. Summary

3. Services That Support IT and the Business

   1. Chapter 8 Monitoring and Reporting with WMI

      1. Using WMI with Services
      2. Using the WMI Class
      3. Extending the WMI Implementation
      4. WMI System Monitoring
      5. Service Notification
      6. Summary

   2. Chapter 9 Talking to the Internet

      1. Reading and Parsing ASP Pages
      2. Adding a Dynamic Status ASPX Page
      3. FTP and Your Service
      4. Using FTP in the Service
      5. Uploading Data Using FTP
      6. Summary

   3. Chapter 10 Services That Listen

      1. Listening with TCP/IP
      2. Service Validation
      3. Allowing Multiple Connections
      4. Summary

   4. Chapter 11 Advanced Security Considerations and Communications

      1. What Does Securing the Service Mean?
      2. Services as Clients
      3. Summary

4. Advanced Windows Services Topics

   1. Chapter 12 Scheduling, Configuring, Administering, and Setting Up Windows Services

      1. What Does Scheduling Mean?
      2. Administration of Services
      3. Installing Services
      4. Summary

   2. Chapter 13 Debugging and Troubleshooting Windows Services

      1. Debugging Services
      2. Troubleshooting and Monitoring Services
      3. Performance Monitor
      4. Examples of Debugging and Monitoring Your Service
      5. Summary

   3. Chapter 14 Adding Performance Counters

      1. Types of Performance Counters
      2. Adding Counters to Your Service
      3. Implementing Our Counters in Code
      4. Summary

5. Appendices

   1. Appendix Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS)

      1. Installing Microsoft IIS

   2. Appendix Microsoft File Transfer Protocol Service

      1. Installing Microsoft FTP Service

   3. Appendix Microsoft SMTP Service

      1. Installing SMTP Services on Windows XP

1. Appendix About the Author