I need to create a set of rules in Microsoft Outlook via C#.
I have found a lot of documentation online, but unfortunately it is not working for me.
I create the rule using the function below:
{
Outlook.Application OutlookApplication = Marshal.GetActiveObject("Outlook.Application") as Outlook.Application;
Outlook.MAPIFolder OutlookInbox = (Outlook.MAPIFolder)OutlookApplication.Application.ActiveExplorer().Session.GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox);
Outlook.Rules rules = null;
try
{
rules = OutlookApplication.Session.DefaultStore.GetRules(); //Gets list of outlook rules
}
catch
{
Debug.WriteLine("Could not obtain rules collection.");
return;
}
string ruleName = "TestRule";
Outlook.Rule rule = rules.Create(ruleName, Outlook.OlRuleType.olRuleReceive); //Creates new rule in collection
rule.Name = ruleName;
//From condition
rule.Conditions.From.Recipients.Add("allixhd#gmail.com");
rule.Conditions.From.Enabled = true;
//Subject condition
rule.Conditions.Subject.Text = new string[] { "#test" };
rule.Conditions.Subject.Enabled = true;
//Move action
Outlook.MAPIFolder ruleFolder = OutlookInbox.Folders["TestFolder"]; //Gets the folder with name TestFolder
rule.Actions.MoveToFolder.Folder = ruleFolder;
rule.Actions.MoveToFolder.Enabled = true;
rule.Enabled = true;
//Save rules
try
{
rules.Save(true);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
The problem I face is that the rule is created successfully in my Outlook instance. I am able to open the Rule window in Outlook and I can see my rule. When I open the rule, all the settings appear correct. However when I run the rule it does not work.
If I manually create an identical rule in Outlook it does work.
I have also found the following:
- Create the rule in Outlook via my C# function
- Open the rule window in Outlook
- Tick and untick a checkbox and save
- The rule runs correctly.
- Note: If I only change the name, rather than unticking and reticking a checkbox, this does not work.
- I tried to replicate this with a hack in the code forcing this behaviour, and the rule did not work.
I wonder if there is some setting I am missing that is applied when you use the rule interface in Outlook?
Any advice would be very welcome.
Thanks
I'd suggest starting from releasing all underlying com objects in the code. Use System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject to release an Outlook object when you have finished using it. Then set a variable to Nothing in Visual Basic (null in C#) to release the reference to the object.
To release all COM objects you need to break the chain of calls and declare the each property and method call on a separate line of code.
OutlookApplication.Application.ActiveExplorer().Session.GetDefaultFolder
There is no need to call the Application property of the Application class. You have already got an instance of the Application class.
Also there is no need to call the ActiveExplorer method of the Application class. You can use the Session property or the GetNamespace method of the Application class. Review the code and release all underlying COM objects.
rules.Save(true);
Do you get any exceptions when calling the Save method?
Anyway, I'd suggest creating a rule manually and then exploring its properties to create the same rule programmatically.
I have solved this question.
The domain of the From email address was in a hierarchy in outlook and so not being recognized correctly. I have included all the email addresses for the user and now the rule works.
Related
I have an Outlook 2007 plugin developed that on the Application.ItemSend event makes a small change to each hyperlink in the email. This is accomplished by getting the Inspector.WordEditor property of the active inspector and looking through the Hyperlinks property.
Unfortunately since the introduction of Office 2013, this method does not work with the inline response feature meaning quick replies are ignored.
I am making modifications to this plugin to try and make this work but I am encountering some strange behaviour.
When running locally, both with and without the debugger, I can use reflection to get the ActiveInlineResponseWordEditor property of Application.ActiveExplorer() and make the same changes and all looks good.
When I package this solution and install it on a test machine, the code still executes are expected (I can see this from some logging I am doing), the changes I make are not actually persisted in the sent email – only for inline responses, all the other functionality works correctly.
I get access to a document using the following snippet:
Word.Document doc = null;
var explorer = Application.ActiveExplorer();
var wrapper = InspectorWrapper.GetWrapperFor(mailItem.GetInspector, logger);
try
{
doc = (Word.Document)explorer.GetType().GetProperty("ActiveInlineResponseWordEditor").GetValue(explorer, null);
}
catch (TargetInvocationException) { /*Silently fail */ }
if (doc == null)
{
if (wrapper is MailItemWrapper)
{
doc = wrapper.Inspector.WordEditor as Word.Document;
logger.Log("Have inspector document.");
}
}
else
{
logger.Log("Have in-line document.");
}
And I use this document to modify all links which is done using this snippet:
foreach (Word.Hyperlink link in doc.Hyperlinks)
{
var uriBuilder = new UriBuilder(link.Address);
var query = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(uriBuilder.Query);
query.Set("id", 1);
uriBuilder.Query = query.ToString();
var newLink = uriBuilder.ToString();
logger.Log(string.Format("{0} to {1}", link.Address, newLink));
link.Address = newLink;
}
I have tried to just access the MailItem.GetInspector property alone, but the same symptoms exit. I have also tried calling mailItem.Save() after completing the changes, again the symptoms exist.
My hunch is that I am not getting a valid reference to the Word editor and thus the changes are not persisted but does anyone else have any ideas?
Please have a look at this link, this might be of some help to your question:
http://www.add-in-express.com/creating-addins-blog/2012/10/19/customize-outlook2013-inline-response/
Important section is:
How to get an inline response item in Outlook 2013
Here they mention pasting from the link:
"Please remember, if you develop an add-in which supports earlier Outlook versions as well using version neutral interops, you need to use the late binding technology to access the ActiveInlineResponse property."
code looks like:
explorer = OutlookApp.ActiveExplorer();
// response = explorer.ActiveInlineResponse;
response = explorer.GetType().InvokeMember("ActiveInlineResponse",
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.GetProperty |
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance |
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Public,
null, explorer, null) as Outlook.MailItem;
My understanding is for using the property "ActiveInlineResponseWordEditor" is that you need to use the late binding, since you have the addin compatible with earlier versions - 2007, 2010. Please try if this modification works for you and you are able to get a doc object, which works similar to earlier versions of Outlook.
You should try the following code:
doc = explorer.GetType().InvokeMember("ActiveInlineResponseWordEditor",
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.GetProperty |
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Instance |
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.Public,
null, explorer, null) as Word.Document;
Try to read the HTMLBody of the outgoing message, load it into an IHTMLDocument object, modify the links, then reset the HTMLBody property.
Before asking my question I would like to describe briefly background of my problem: I'm developing ms word COM addin on C# and I need to handle user's text selections. Now I'm able to catch selection event - it's look like
Microsoft.Interop.Word._Application app;
app = (Word._Application )Application; // Application object comes on addin's connection
app.Application.WindowSelectionChange+=
new Word.ApplicationEvents4_WindowSelectionChangeEventHandler(selChange);
///
void selChange(Word.Selection selection){
MessageBox.Show(selection.Text); // this is my problem, Text property is not available
}
// property Text doesn't exist,but documentation tells that it exists. I suspect, that this property is not available for ms word 2007 - in the documentation only 2003,2010 versions are mentioned. But how I can do something like selection.getSelectedText()? I tryed to play with selection.Rows, selection.Rows[0],selection.Words,selection.Words[0] - no success.
According to the documentation, the Selection.Text property should be available for Word 2007 as well. I made a small sample implementation of your case to test it, and I cannot make it fail on Word 2010 and 2013 at least:
var wordApplication = new Application() { Visible = true };
wordApplication.Documents.Add();
wordApplication.WindowSelectionChange += delegate(Selection mySelection) { Console.WriteLine(mySelection.Text); };
So, I suggest you check that you have included the right namespaces and that the Selection interface you are using are actually the one from the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word namespace.
Can I make C# start Outlook in the code?
In VB6 we use object 'Outlook.Application' and write:'
Set oOutlook = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
Set oNameSpace = oOutlook.GetNamespace("MAPI")
Set oInbox = oNameSpace.Folders(1)
'Set oInbox = oInbox.Folders("Inbox")
oInbox.Display
'oOutlook.Quit 'Close All Outlook copies
Copy/Paste from link: http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73886
System.Diagnostics.Process will only start a process.
To do additional actions such choosing folders, you need to use Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO). And here is it's reference. For example:
var outlook = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.ApplicationClass();
outlook.Quit();
If you just want to start the outlook; using System.Diagnostics.Process would be the easiest way. :)
You could use its ProgID to get the type and the activator
Type objectType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("Outlook.Application");
object outlook = Activator.CreateInstance(objectType);
But using this in C# you will lose all type information (i.e. no IntelliSense) and you need to call some ugly method to invoke the operations with LateBinding (google for Type.Invoke)
Other option is add a reference to Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.ApplicationClass, so you have compile time type information and create an instance for Outlook in the usual way
using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook;
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.ApplicationClass outlook
= new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.ApplicationClass();
Or you could use my Late Binding Helper library and use it like this
Invoker outlook = BindingFactory.CreateAutomationBinding("Outlook.Application");
outlook.Method("Quit").Invoke();
No Intellisense with this one, but at least the library will save you from the ugly calls to Type.Invoke and give you a fluent interface instead.
This works (you might have to change the path to what it is on the machine on which the app will run):
public static void StartOutlookIfNotRunning()
{
string OutlookFilepath = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE";
if (Process.GetProcessesByName("OUTLOOK").Count() > 0) return;
Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(OutlookFilepath);
process.Start();
}
The use case is simple. At a certain point of time, I need to be able to show the user his familiar compose email dialog (Outlook or other) with
fields like from, to, Subject already filled up with certain application determined values.
The email would also have an attachment along with it.
The mail should not be sent unless the user explicitly okays it.
I did this once back in the ol' VB6 days.. can't figure out how now.. I just remember that it was quite easy.
Managed app, C#, .net 3.0+
Update#1: Yeah seems like mailto removed support for attachments (as a security risk?). I tried
You need to include ShellExecute signature as described here. All I got from this was a 5 SE_ERR_ACCESSDENIED and a 2 just for some variety
string sMailToLink = #"mailto:some.address#gmail.com?subject=Hey&body= yeah yeah yeah";
IntPtr result = ShellExecute(IntPtr.Zero, "open", sMailToLink, "", "", ShowCommands.SW_SHOWNORMAL);
Debug.Assert(result.ToInt32() > 32, "Shell Execute failed with return code " + result.ToInt32());
The same MailtoLink works perfectly with Process.Start... but as long as thou shalt not mention attachments.
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(sMailToLink);
The other options are using the Outlook Object model to do this.. but I've been told that this requires you to add assembly references based to the exact version of Outlook installed. Also this would blow up if the user doesn't prefer MS for email.
The next option are Mapi and something called Mapi33.. Status still IN PROGRESS. Ears still open to suggestions.
You can create a process object and have it call "mailto:user#example.com?subject=My+New+Subject". This will cause the system to act on the mailto with its default handler, however, while you can set subjects and such this wont handle adding an attachment. I'll freely admit im not entirely sure how you'd go about forcing an attachment without writing some mail plugin.
The process code is:
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("mailto:user#example.com?subject=My+New+Subject");
It's probably not the most efficient or elegant way, but shelling a "mailto:" link will do what you want, I think.
EDIT: Sorry, left out a very important "not".
Since mailto does not support attachments, and since MAPI is not supported within managed code, your best bet is to write (or have someone write) a small non-managed program to call MAPI functions that you can call with command-line arguments. Pity that .NET does not have a cleaner alternative.
See also : MAPI and managed code experiences?
Could it be that you used the mailto: protocol?
Almost all of what you highlight can be done, but I am quite sure, that you cant do attachments.
Microsoft MailTo Documentation
Starting process with mailto: arguments is the simplest approach. Yet, it does not allow anything more or less complex.
Slightly different approach involves creating email template and then feeding it to the Process.Start:
var client = new SmtpClient();
var folder = new RandomTempFolder();
client.DeliveryMethod =
SmtpDeliveryMethod.SpecifiedPickupDirectory;
client.PickupDirectoryLocation = folder.FullName;
var message = new MailMessage("to#no.net",
"from#no.net", "Subject","Hi and bye");
// add attachments here, if needed
// need this to open email in Edit mode in OE
message.Headers.Add("X-Unsent", "1");
client.Send(message);
var files = folder.GetFiles();
Process.Start(files[0].FullName);
Scenarios for the default email handler:
Outlook express opens
Windows: Outlook - does not handle by default, Outlook Express is called instead
Windows: The Bat! - message is opened for viewing, hit Shift-F6 and Enter to send
I've also tested with Mono and it worked more or less.
Additional details are available in this post: Information integration - simplest approach for templated emails
PS: in the end I went for slightly more complex scenario:
Defined interface IEmailIntegraton
Code above went into the DefaultEmailIntegration
Added implementations for OutlookEmailIntegration (automation) and theBat! email integration (using their template format).
Allowed users of the SmartClient to select their scenario from the drop-down (alternatively this could've been implemented as "Check the system for the default email handler and decide automatically")
You're making the assumption that they will have an email client installed, of course.
The option I've taken in the past (in a corporate environment where everyone has at least one version of Outlook installed) was to use the Outlook interop - you only need to reference the earliest version you need to support.
You could look at P/Invoking MAPISendDocuments (which I'd try and avoid, personally), or the other option would be to create your own "compose" form and use the objects from the System.Net.Mail namespace.
you can use a trick if you intend to use Outlook[this code is based on outlook 2010[v14.0.0.]]
Create Outlook MailItem
and transmit file (ie download)
if user opens the file (.msg) the compose message dialog opens automatically
here is the code ...
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application outapp = new Application();
try
{
_NameSpace np = outapp.GetNamespace("MAPI");
MailItem oMsg = (MailItem)outapp.CreateItem(OlItemType.olMailItem);
oMsg.To = "a#b.com";
oMsg.Subject = "Subject";
//add detail
oMsg.SaveAs("C:\\Doc.msg", OlSaveAsType.olMSGUnicode);//your path
oMsg.Close(OlInspectorClose.olSave);
}
catch (System.Exception e)
{
status = false;
}
finally
{
outapp.Quit();
}
then transmit the file you created say "Doc.msg"
string filename ="Doc.msg";//file name created previously
path = "C:\\" + filename; //full path ;
Response.ContentType="application/outlook";
Response.AppendHeader("Content-Disposition", "filename=\"" + filename + "\"");
FileInfo fl = new FileInfo(path);
Response.AddHeader("Content-Length", fl.Length.ToString());
Response.TransmitFile(path,0,fl.Length);
Response.End();
I am having difficulty reliably creating / removing event sources during the installation of my .Net Windows Service.
Here is the code from my ProjectInstaller class:
// Create Process Installer
ServiceProcessInstaller spi = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
spi.Account = ServiceAccount.LocalSystem;
// Create Service
ServiceInstaller si = new ServiceInstaller();
si.ServiceName = Facade.GetServiceName();
si.Description = "Processes ...";
si.DisplayName = "Auto Checkout";
si.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Automatic;
// Remove Event Source if already there
if (EventLog.SourceExists("AutoCheckout"))
EventLog.DeleteEventSource("AutoCheckout");
// Create Event Source and Event Log
EventLogInstaller log = new EventLogInstaller();
log.Source = "AutoCheckout";
log.Log = "AutoCheckoutLog";
Installers.AddRange(new Installer[] { spi, si, log });
The facade methods referenced just return the strings for the name of the log, service, etc.
This code works most of the time, but recently after installing I started getting my log entries showing up in the Application Log instead of the custom log. And the following errors are in the log as well:
The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( AutoCheckout ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details.
For some reason it either isn't properly removing the source during the uninstall or it isn't creating it during the install.
Any help with best practices here is appreciated.
Thanks!
In addition, here is a sample of how I am writing exceptions to the log:
// Write to Log
EventLog.WriteEntry(Facade.GetEventLogSource(), errorDetails, EventLogEntryType.Error, 99);
Regarding stephbu's answer: The recommended path is an installer script and installutil, or a Windows Setup routine.
I am using a Setup Project, which performs the installation of the service and sets up the log. Whether I use the installutil.exe or the windows setup project I believe they both call the same ProjectInstaller class I show above.
I see how the state of my test machine could be causing the error if the log isn't truly removed until rebooting. I will experiment more to see if that solves the issue.
Edit:
I'm interested in a sure fire way to register the source and the log name during the installation of the service. So if the service had previously been installed, it would remove the source, or reuse the source during subsequent installations.
I haven't yet had an opportunity to learn WiX to try that route.
The ServiceInstaller class automatically creates an EventLogInstaller and puts it inside its own Installers collection.
Try this code:
ServiceProcessInstaller serviceProcessInstaller = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
serviceProcessInstaller.Password = null;
serviceProcessInstaller.Username = null;
serviceProcessInstaller.Account = ServiceAccount.LocalSystem;
// serviceInstaller
ServiceInstaller serviceInstaller = new ServiceInstaller();
serviceInstaller.ServiceName = "MyService";
serviceInstaller.DisplayName = "My Service";
serviceInstaller.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Automatic;
serviceInstaller.Description = "My Service Description";
// kill the default event log installer
serviceInstaller.Installers.Clear();
// Create Event Source and Event Log
EventLogInstaller logInstaller = new EventLogInstaller();
logInstaller.Source = "MyService"; // use same as ServiceName
logInstaller.Log = "MyLog";
// Add all installers
this.Installers.AddRange(new Installer[] {
serviceProcessInstaller, serviceInstaller, logInstaller
});
Couple of things here
Creating Event Logs and Sources on the fly is pretty frowned upon. primarily because of the rights required to perform the action - you don't really want to bless your applications with that power.
Moreover if you delete an event log or source the entry is only truely deleted when the server reboots, so you can get into wierd states if you delete and recreate entries without bouncing the box. There are also a bunch of unwritten rules about naming conflicts due to the way the metadata is stored in the registry.
The recommended path is an installer script and installutil, or a Windows Setup routine.
The best recommendation would be to not use the Setup Project in Visual Studio. It has very severe limitations.
I had very good results with WiX
I have to agree with stephbu about the "weird states" that the event log gets into, I've run into that before. If I were to guess, some of your difficulties lie there.
However, the best way that I know of to do event logging in the application is actually with a TraceListener. You can configure them via the service's app.config:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.eventlogtracelistener.aspx
There is a section near the middle of that page that describes how to use the EventLog property to specify the EventLog you wish to write to.
Hope that helps.
I also followed helb's suggestion, except that I basically used the standard designer generated classes (the default objects "ServiceProcessInstaller1" and "ServiceInstaller1"). I decided to post this since it is a slightly simpler version; and also because I am working in VB and people sometimes like to see the VB-way.
As tartheode said, you should not modify the designer-generated ProjectInstaller class in the ProjectInstaller.Designer.vb file, but you can modify the code in the ProjectInstaller.vb file. After creating a normal ProjectInstaller (using the standard 'Add Installer' mechanism), the only change I made was in the New() of the ProjectInstaller class. After the normal "InitializeComponent()" call, I inserted this code:
' remove the default event log installer
Me.ServiceInstaller1.Installers.Clear()
' Create an EventLogInstaller, and set the Event Source and Event Log
Dim logInstaller As New EventLogInstaller
logInstaller.Source = "MyServiceName"
logInstaller.Log = "MyCustomEventLogName"
' Add the event log installer
Me.ServiceInstaller1.Installers.Add(logInstaller)
This worked as expected, in that the installer did not create the Event Source in the Application log, but rather created in the new custom log file.
However, I had screwed around enough that I had a bit of a mess on one server. The problem with the custom logs is that if the event source name exists associated to the wrong log file (e.g. the 'Application' log instead of your new custom log), then the source name must first be deleted; then the machine rebooted; then the source can be created with association to the correct log. The Microsoft Help clearly states (in the EventLogInstaller class description):
The Install method throws an exception
if the Source property matches a
source name that is registered for a
different event log on the computer.
Therefore, I also have this function in my service, which is called when the service starts:
Private Function EventLogSourceNameExists() As Boolean
'ensures that the EventSource name exists, and that it is associated to the correct Log
Dim EventLog_SourceName As String = Utility.RetrieveAppSetting("EventLog_SourceName")
Dim EventLog_LogName As String = Utility.RetrieveAppSetting("EventLog_LogName")
Dim SourceExists As Boolean = EventLog.SourceExists(EventLog_SourceName)
If Not SourceExists Then
' Create the source, if it does not already exist.
' An event log source should not be created and immediately used.
' There is a latency time to enable the source, it should be created
' prior to executing the application that uses the source.
'So pass back a False to cause the service to terminate. User will have
'to re-start the application to make it work. This ought to happen only once on the
'machine on which the service is newly installed
EventLog.CreateEventSource(EventLog_SourceName, EventLog_LogName) 'create as a source for the SMRT event log
Else
'make sure the source is associated with the log file that we want
Dim el As New EventLog
el.Source = EventLog_SourceName
If el.Log <> EventLog_LogName Then
el.WriteEntry(String.Format("About to delete this source '{0}' from this log '{1}'. You may have to kill the service using Task Manageer. Then please reboot the computer; then restart the service two times more to ensure that this event source is created in the log {2}.", _
EventLog_SourceName, el.Log, EventLog_LogName))
EventLog.DeleteEventSource(EventLog_SourceName)
SourceExists = False 'force a close of service
End If
End If
Return SourceExists
End Function
If the function returns False, the service startup code simply stops the service. This function pretty much ensures that you will eventually get the correct Event Source name associated to the correct Event Log file. You may have to reboot the machine once; and you may have to try starting the service more than once.
I am having the same problems. In my case it seems that Windows installer is adding the event source which is of the same name as my service automatically and this seems to cause problems. Are you using the same name for the windows service and for the log source? Try changing it so that your event log source is called differently then the name of the service.
I just posted a solution to this over on MSDN forums which was to that I managed to get around this using a standard setup MSI project. What I did was to add code to the PreInstall and Committed events which meant I could keep everything else exactly as it was:
SortedList<string, string> eventSources = new SortedList<string, string>();
private void serviceProcessInstaller_BeforeInstall(object sender, InstallEventArgs e)
{
RemoveServiceEventLogs();
}
private void RemoveServiceEventLogs()
{
foreach (Installer installer in this.Installers)
if (installer is ServiceInstaller)
{
ServiceInstaller serviceInstaller = installer as ServiceInstaller;
if (EventLog.SourceExists(serviceInstaller.ServiceName))
{
eventSources.Add(serviceInstaller.ServiceName, EventLog.LogNameFromSourceName(serviceInstaller.ServiceName, Environment.MachineName));
EventLog.DeleteEventSource(serviceInstaller.ServiceName);
}
}
}
private void serviceProcessInstaller_Committed(object sender, InstallEventArgs e)
{
RemoveServiceEventLogs();
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> eventSource in eventSources)
{
if (EventLog.SourceExists(eventSource.Key))
EventLog.DeleteEventSource(eventSource.Key);
EventLog.CreateEventSource(eventSource.Key, eventSource.Value);
}
}
The code could be modified a bit further to only remove the event sources that didn't already exist or create them (though the logname would need to be stored somewhere against the installer) but since my application code actually creates the event sources as it runs then there's no point for me. If there are already events then there should already be an event source. To ensure that they are created, you can just automatically start the service.
I experienced some similar weird behaviour because I tried to register an event source with the same name as the service I was starting.
I notice that you also have the DisplayName set to the same name as your event Source.
On starting the service up, we found that Windows logged a "Service started successfully" entry in the Application log, with source as the DisplayName. This seemed to have the effect of registering Application Name with the application log.
In my event logger class I later tried to register Application Name as the source with a different event log, but when it came to adding new event log entries they always got added to the Application log.
I also got the "The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source" message several times.
As a work around I simply registered the message source with a slightly different name to the DisplayName, and it's worked ever since. It would be worth trying this if you haven't already.
The problem comes from installutil which by default registers an event source with your services name in the "Application" EventLog. I'm still looking for a way to stop it doing this crap. It would be really nice if one could influence the behaviour of installutil :(
Following helb's suggestion resolved the problem for me. Killing the default event log installer, at the point indicated in his example, prevented the installer from automatically registering my Windows Service under the Application Event log.
Far too much time was lost attempting to resolve this frustrating quirk. Thanks a million!
FWIW, I could not modify the code within my designer-generated ProjectInstaller class without causing VS to carp about the mods. I scrapped the designer-generated code and manually entered the class.
Adding an empty registry key to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application\MY_CUSTOM_SOURCE_NAME_HERE seems to work fine.
An easy way to change the default behavior (that is, that the project installer creates an event log source with the name of your service in the application log) is to easily modify the constructor of the project installer as following:
[RunInstaller( true )]
public partial class ProjectInstaller : System.Configuration.Install.Installer
{
public ProjectInstaller()
{
InitializeComponent();
//Skip through all ServiceInstallers.
foreach( ServiceInstaller ThisInstaller in Installers.OfType<ServiceInstaller>() )
{
//Find the first default EventLogInstaller.
EventLogInstaller ThisLogInstaller = ThisInstaller.Installers.OfType<EventLogInstaller>().FirstOrDefault();
if( ThisLogInstaller == null )
continue;
//Modify the used log from "Application" to the same name as the source name. This creates a source in the "Applications and Services log" which separates your service logs from the default application log.
ThisLogInstaller.Log = ThisLogInstaller.Source;
}
}
}