Note: this advanced option screen is reachable by selecting the
"Executable" step and choosing
"Service options" from the
[Advanced options]
popup menu or by clicking directly on the index.
In this step of the exe4j wizard, you define
further options for Windows service executables. All options on this
screen will only be enabled if the selected executable type
in the executable step is "Service".
-
Windows services are installed by passing /install to the
generated service executable. The default start mode of the service can be determined
in this step:
- start on demand
In start on demand mode, your service must be manually started
by the user in the Windows service manager. Use this option, if you're not sure
if your users will actually want to run your application as a service, but you
want to give them an easy way to do so. This installation mode can be forced if the
user passes /install-demand to the generated executable instead of
/install.
- auto start
In auto start mode, your service is always started when Windows is booted. This
installation mode can be forced if the user passes /install-auto
to the generated executable instead of /install.
Windows services are always uninstalled by passing /uninstall to the
generated service executable. All command line switches also work with a prefixed
dash
instead of a slash (like -uninstall) or two prefixed dashes
(like --uninstall).
To start or stop the service, the /start and /stop
options are available. In addition, a /status argument
shows if the service is already running. The exit code of the status command is 0
when the service is running,
3 when it is not running and 1 when the state cannot be determined (for example when
it is not installed).
As a second parameter after the /install parameter, you can optionally pass
a service name. In that way you can
-
install a service with a different service name than the default name.
-
Use the same service executable to start multiple services with different
names. To distinguish several running service instances at runtime, you can query
the
system property exe4j.launchName for the service name. Note that
you also have to pass the same service name as the second parameter if you use the
/uninstall, /start and /stop parameters.
In some situations, you might want to install the service as a non-interactive service
meaning that the service
will not have any possibility to access the GUI subsystem. In order to do that, add
non-interactive
after the /install parameter. A custom service name can still be specified after the
non-interactive parameter.
-
For debugging purposes, you may want to run the executable on the command line without
starting it as a service.
This can be done with the /run parameter. In that case, all output will be printed on the
console. If you want to keep the redirection settings, use the /run-redirect parameter instead.
-
If your service depends on another service, say a database, you can enter the
service name of the other service in the dependencies text field.
You do not have to enter core OS services such as filesystem or network,
these services will always be initialized before your service is launched.
If you have dependencies on multiple services, you can enter a list of these service
names separated by commas.