hi,

I have the following windows service file:

Imports System.ServiceProcess
Imports System.IO


Public Class fswService
Dim fsw As FileSystemWatcher
Dim lf As StreamWriter

Protected Overrides Sub OnStart(ByVal args As String())
    ' Add code here to start your service. This method should set things
    ' in motion so your service can do its work.
    lf = New StreamWriter(Application.StartupPath & "\fsw_lg.log")
    fsw = New FileSystemWatcher()

    fsw.Path = args(0)
    fsw.IncludeSubdirectories = True
    fsw.Filter = ".txt"
    fsw.EnableRaisingEvents = True

    AddHandler fsw.Created, New FileSystemEventHandler(AddressOf file_created)
    AddHandler fsw.Changed, New FileSystemEventHandler(AddressOf file_changed)
    AddHandler fsw.Deleted, New FileSystemEventHandler(AddressOf file_deleted)
End Sub

Public Sub file_created(ByVal obj As Object, ByVal e As FileSystemEventArgs)
    lf.WriteLine(Now.ToShortDateString & "-" & Now.ToShortTimeString & "-" & e.FullPath & "-created")
End Sub

Public Sub file_changed(ByVal obj As Object, ByVal e As FileSystemEventArgs)
    lf.WriteLine(Now.ToShortDateString & "-" & Now.ToShortTimeString & "-" & e.FullPath & "-changed")
End Sub

Public Sub file_deleted(ByVal obj As Object, ByVal e As FileSystemEventArgs)
    lf.WriteLine(Now.ToShortDateString & "-" & Now.ToShortTimeString & "-" & e.FullPath & "-deleted")
End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub OnStop()
    lf.Close() 
End Sub
End Class

i have the ServiceName set to fswService (same as class name). When I added an installer I also set the ServiceName for the ServiceInstaller1 as fswService.

I want to start this service at runtime based on the user setting the path of the folder to be watched. To achieve this I have the following:

Dim fsw_controller As New ServiceProcess.ServiceController
fsw_controller.Start(fswService)

2 problems: first, intellisense error saying: 'fswService' is a type and cannot be used as an expression. second, I can not figure out a way to pass on to the service the path of the folder to watch (which is stored at My.Settings.userPath).

I really thought this is how you start a service. Am I missing something?

Your help is, as always, appreciated. Thanks