Is Window / Dialog neede for a UI thread

[vipin_nvk]

Hi Can I write a windows service and create a UI thread in it which should be able to identify / receive windows messages and process them? Is a window / dialog needed for a UI thread so that it can handle windows messages? Thanx

[Code o mat]

Well, window messages can only be sent to a window so you will actually need one to receive window messages. But you can run a message queue in a thread that has no windows in it and handle process/thread messages (which aren't directed towards any particular window).

> The problem with computers is that they do what you tell them to do and not what you want them to do. <

[Peter Weyzen]

You can associate a hidden window with a service.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter Weyzen Staff Engineer [SoonR Inc -- PC Power delivered to your phone](http://www.soonr.com)

[vipin_nvk]

Hi Is it possible to associate a hidden window with a service, moreover it is generally advised not to write interactive services (which have windows) and not use MFC support for windows services. So, how do I proceed? Thanx

[Peter Weyzen]

true... interactive services are become less viable in the newer versions of windows. So, to have some sort of UI that controls your service, you'll could write a 2nd program which interacts with the service and serves as it's UI. You can use FindWindow to get the window to post messages to. There are other ways to communicate with a service that doesn't involve a window -- named pipes, tcp, mailslots, stuff like that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter Weyzen Staff Engineer [SoonR Inc -- PC Power delivered to your phone](http://www.soonr.com)