How to pass parameters in windows service from Installer to Main function in Program.cs?

Question

I have successfully passed parameters from Installutil to my serviceinstaller but i cannt seem to pass these parameters to the Main(string[ args] function. Here is how i am trying to do this ....if there is any better wayto do what i am doing please let me know

    protected override void OnAfterInstall(IDictionary savedState)
    {
        base.OnAfterInstall(savedState);
        string[] args = new string[2];
        args[0] = Context.Parameters["username"];
        args[0] = Context.Parameters["password"];
        new ServiceController(this.dataLoaderServiceInstaller.ServiceName).Start(args);
    }

and this is my Program.cs

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // create a writer and open the file
        TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(@"c:\\bw\\date.txt");

        // write a line of text to the file
        tw.WriteLine(args.Length);

        // close the stream
        tw.Close();
        ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
        ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] 
    { 
      new DataloaderService() 
    };
        ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
    }

the length of arugments that i am trying to write is always zero. One more question will these parameters still exist after the computer/server restarts for maintenance? Thanks in advance. :)

Solution

Parameters you send using ServiceController.Start() method are available to you as parameters to the OnStart() method. If I'm not mistaken (It's been a while since I needed to do this).

The OnStart method's signature is:

OnStart(string[] args)

However, if you need the parameters to be sent to the service each time the service is started (automatically) on boot, then you should look at the MSDN documentation on this. Specifically

Process initialization arguments for the service in the OnStart method, not in the Main method. The arguments in the args parameter array can be set manually in the properties window for the service in the Services console. The arguments entered in the console are not saved; they are passed to the service on a one-time basis when the service is started from the control panel. Arguments that must be present when the service is automatically started can be placed in the ImagePath string value for the service's registry key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\). You can obtain the arguments from the registry using the GetCommandLineArgs method, for example: string[] imagePathArgs = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.serviceprocess.servicebase.onstart.aspx