 | Tcl Dev Kit User Guide |  |
Service Manager
Windows Services are applications that run in the background on Windows
systems. These applications have no user interface, as they are designed to
run with no user intervention. Sometimes a service has an administrative tool
for configuration and interaction; however, the service itself runs
independently.
Services are usually automatically loaded whenever the system boots.
They run outside of the context of the user (if any) who is currently logged
in on the system. Therefore, the service's privileges are separate from the
user login, and are tied to the service itself, not the user who launches the
service.
The TclApp component of the Tcl Dev
Kit is used to create Tcl applications that will be deployed as services. The
Service Manager is used to install the service onto the current
system, or to remove a Tcl service that was previously installed. The
Tcl Dev Kit includes a base kit (Tcl/bin/base-tclsvc*) for
creating portable services. These must be installed according to the instructions
in the section Installing a Service
on a System Without the TDK.
To run the Tcl Dev Kit Service Manager, select Tcl Dev Kit Tcl Service
Manager from the Tcl Dev Kit program group on the Windows Start menu.
Alternatively, launch the Service Manager from the command line. On Windows
systems, enter tclsvc.exe.
To install a new service, select File | New Tcl Service
from the menu, or click the New Service button. The following
dialog will be displayed.
- Tcl Script: Enter the name of the script, or click
the Browse button to find the script in the filesystem.
- Tcl Starpack: Applications built (using
TclApp) with the
base-tclsvc* prefix file can be installed on machines other than those
they were built on. Enter the name of the starpack generated with this
prefix file, or click the Browse button to find the
application in the filesystem.
- Service Display Name: The value in this field will be
displayed in the Service Name field of the Tcl Dev Kit
Service Manager, and in the Name field of the Windows
Services dialog (Control Panel | Administrative Tools |
Services).
- Service Description: The value in this field will be
displayed in the Description field of the Tcl Dev Kit
Service Manager, and in the Description field of the Windows
Services dialog.
To remove a service, in the main Service Manager display, select the service
in the list and click the Remove button.
It is not necessary to use the Tcl Dev Kit Service Manager to install
services (although the Service Manager provides greater control over the
installed service, such as the ability to stop or start it). Services built
with TclApp using the base-tclsvc*
prefix file can be installed on machines other than those they were built on,
including systems where the Tcl Dev Kit is not installed.
On systems where the Tcl Dev Kit Service Manager is not installed, use
the following syntax to install a service:
service.exe ServiceName -install
service.exe is the application built with TclApp.
ServiceName corresponds to the Service Display
Name in the Service Manager, and will determine the name displayed
in the Windows Service Manager. The -install switch installs
service.exe as a service. To remove a service, substitute the
-remove switch; to test a service, substitute the
-debug switch. Use the Windows Service Manager (Control
Panel | Administrative Tools | Services) to perform other
administrative tasks.
 Top
Services can be started, stopped or paused using either the Tcl Dev Kit
Service Manager, or using the Windows Services tool (generally accessible
via the Administrative Tools menu option in the Control Panel).
The interface for the Tcl Dev Kit Service Manager is shown below.
Use the Start, Stop and
Pause buttons to change the current status of the service.
To change the font size displayed in the Service Manager, press
Ctrl-plus to increase the font size or Ctrl-minus to
decrease the displayed font size. If using Windows with a mouse wheel, you can
alternatively press the Ctrl key and then rotate the mouse wheel to
increase or decrease the font size displayed in the Service Manager.
Refreshing the Service Status
Because services can be started and stopped using the Windows Service dialog,
the Tcl Dev Kit Service Manager includes a refresh function for refreshing the
display of the service status. To refresh the display, select
File | Refresh from the menu, or click the
Refresh button.
Top
|
