Debugging a .Net Framework Windows Service and ASP.NET 2.0 version switcher

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I don't usually "parrot" other people's contributions, but in this case the solution is so elegant and simple, I'll make an exception.

Lee Humphries has a short article on codeproject.com here about this.

Essentially it boils down to telling your service to kick off and run in Debug mode - just not "as a service":

// The main entry point for the process
static void Main()
{
#if (!DEBUG)
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] { new Service1() };
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
#else
// debug code: allows the process to run as a non-service
// will kick off the service start point, but never kill it
// shut down the debugger to exit
Service1 service = new Service1();
service.();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(System.Threading.Timeout.Infinite);
#endif
}

Man, it doesn't get any simpler than that! Nice work, Lee!

On an unrelated note, Denis Bauer's ASP.NET version switcher works great with ASP.NET 2.0. This is essentially a GUI wrapper over ASPNET_REGIIS.EXE and will make your life much easier. Shows a tree of all your IIS virtual directories including the version highlighted by color in the tree, and allows you to change the version of ASP.NET runtime that the app will run under. Especially useful for Windows Server 2003 x64 edition where I still haven't figured out how to get the ASP.NET tab to show up in IIS as a snapin. Get yours here.

The only thing you need to do now, Denis (if you are listening) is add the option to add the -wow64 switch at the very end, for users running 64-bit Windows.
Peter has been active on the C# and other MS newsgroups, has had samples at gotdotnet.com (now codegallery.com) that have been downloaded over 56,000 times, and has written numerous articles for eggheadcafe.com, for which he is a co-founder, and MSDNAA sites. He has also been a technical reviewer on books from Prentice Hall, Manning and other publishers. Peter was a Microsoft MVP for 10 years. Peter was born and raised in New York City, and after a stint as a jazz musician playing contrabass with the Robert Hunt Trio, migrated to sunny Florida, where he was hired as a rookie Financial Consultant at Merrill Lynch in Orlando, specializing in Corporate Services. It was at Merrill that Peter realized computers and technology were his forte. He spent his last few years at Merrill developing real – time computerized trading and and stock charting program using advanced technical analysis indicators, some of which are his own inventions. In 1997, he moved on to architect and serve as lead developer on a number of innovative web-based and middleware solutions for the healthcare and financial services industry.

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