ServiceMain

A ServiceMain function is the entry point for a service.

The LPSERVICE_MAIN_FUNCTION type defines a pointer to this callback function. ServiceMain is a placeholder for an application-defined function name.

VOID WINAPI ServiceMain(
  DWORD dwArgc,     // number of arguments
  LPTSTR *lpszArgv  // array of arguments
);

Parameters

dwArgc

[in] Specifies the number of arguments in the lpszArgv array.

lpszArgv

[in] Pointer to an array of pointers to null-terminated argument strings. The first argument in the array is the name of the service, and subsequent arguments are any strings passed to the service by the process that called the StartService function to start the service.

Return Values

This function does not return a value.

Remarks

A service program can start one or more services. A service process has a SERVICE_TABLE_ENTRY structure for each service that it can start. The structure specifies the service name and a pointer to the ServiceMain function for that service.

When the service control manager receives a request to start a service, it starts the service process (if it is not already running). The main thread of the service process calls the StartServiceCtrlDispatcher function with a pointer to an array of SERVICE_TABLE_ENTRY structures. Then the service control manager sends a start request to the service control dispatcher for this service process. The service control dispatcher creates a new thread to execute the ServiceMain function of the service being started.

The ServiceMain function should immediately call the RegisterServiceCtrlHandler function to specify a Handler function to handle control requests. Next, it should call the SetServiceStatus function to send status information to the service control manager. After these calls, the function completes the initialization tasks of the service, and waits for the service to terminate.

A ServiceMain function does not return until its services are ready to terminate.

Requirements

  Windows NT/2000: Requires Windows NT 3.1 or later.
  Header: Declared in Winsvc.h; include Windows.h.

See Also

Services Overview, Service Functions, Handler, RegisterServiceCtrlHandler, SetServiceStatus, SERVICE_TABLE_ENTRY, StartServiceCtrlDispatcher