Summary

Question

What is the difference between a .NET Service and an NT Service? Does InstallShield support these technologies?

Answer

It is necessary to first clarify this new Microsoft terminology in order to better understand these concepts. A .NET Service can refer to either a Windows Service or a Web Service.

Windows Service

What used to be called an NT Service is now called a Windows Service. Any Windows Service can be installed and controlled using MSI's ServiceInstall and ServiceControl tables (which can be accessed via the Direct Editor view).

The .NET languages, such as Visual Basic .NET or C# .NET, can be used to write this type of Windows service. Thus, it is possible to install it using the ServiceInstall and ServiceControl tables.

However, services that Visual Basic or C# produce contain an Installer class that performs the same functionality that would be accomplished by the ServiceInstall and ServiceControl tables. To call this Installer class from a setup, set the .NET Installer Class property to True in the Components view. This is an easier approach as opposed to manually populating the ServiceInstall and ServiceControl tables. However, this easier approach does not support updates; therefore, populating the ServiceInstall and ServiceControl tables is the better method, if the installation needs to support product upgrades.

Web Service

InstallShield also supports Web Services. This is a new technology that was introduced with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and requires the use of IIS (Internet Information Server). This technology is supported, although not through the MSI service tables as discussed earlier.