How to make my program a background process

I wrote a program in C# .NET, that needs to be run in the background. I mean it should have any user interface. Neither a GUI nor a CLI. It is not also a windows service(because it must run only after user has logged in).

It should just run in background. example of such programs are AdobeUpdater.exe , GoogleUpdater.exe 开发者_运维问答etc.

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Another option would be to create a Windows Application and set these two properties:

        this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized;
        this.ShowInTaskbar = false;

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You can create a Console application, and then change it's properties in the project settings to a Windows application (rather than console). Or you can create a Windows Forms application that ddoesn't actually create any forms.

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I often use the following solution for this case: create an application context and use that in the WinForm's project instead of a form.

1. Create an applicationcontext class

   public class MyApplicationContext : ApplicationContext
   {
           public MyApplicationContext()
           {
           }
   
           void Exit(object sender, EventArgs e)
           {
                   Application.Exit();
           }
   }
   

2. In Program.cs -> replace original Application.Run() call

   static void Main()
   {
       Application.EnableVisualStyles();
       Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
   
       Form1 frm = new Form1(); //remove if not needed 
       Application.Run(new MyApplicationContext());
   }
   

3. Because you don't show the form anymore, you need to provide other ways to close the application. I.e. use system tray and then call:

   Application.Exit();
   

Note: Using the above (without ever showing the form), you will never get the usual form events like load, closing, closed.

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Use Task Scheduler to run it on a schedule (which can be based on when user logs in). Or add it to the registry to run on startup.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

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You might reconsider using a Windows service and having it monitor for logon/logoff events using the System.Management.ManagementEventWatcher class. This gives an example of a logoff event watcher: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/netfxbcl/thread/0c1bded8-0cce-4260-bd28-4b4ffce0d27d.