Delphi Windows Service does not run, immediately goes from Create to Destroy - windows

Question

I write a basic Delphi MS-Windows service.
I install it with the /install directove. This works.
In the Windows Services list it exists.
I START it from there. Windows says it started successfully. It shows as running.
But nothing is executed, except the OnCreate and OnDestroy.
It is in fact NOT running, while Windows claims it IS running.
I tried Delpi 10.2 and the latest 10.4.
What is going wrong here? It is the most basic Service possible.
The Log output looks like this:
Create
AfterInstall
Destroy
Create
Destroy
Create
Destroy
program BartServiceTwo;
uses
Vcl.SvcMgr,
Unit1 in 'Unit1.pas' {BartService: TService};
{$R *.RES}
begin
// Windows 2003 Server requires StartServiceCtrlDispatcher to be
// called before CoRegisterClassObject, which can be called indirectly
// by Application.Initialize. TServiceApplication.DelayInitialize allows
// Application.Initialize to be called from TService.Main (after
// StartServiceCtrlDispatcher has been called).
//
// Delayed initialization of the Application object may affect
// events which then occur prior to initialization, such as
// TService.OnCreate. It is only recommended if the ServiceApplication
// registers a class object with OLE and is intended for use with
// Windows 2003 Server.
//
// Application.DelayInitialize := True;
//
if not Application.DelayInitialize or Application.Installing then
Application.Initialize;
Application.CreateForm(TBartService, BartService);
Application.Run;
end.
unit Unit1;
interface
uses
Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Classes, Vcl.SvcMgr;
type
TBartService = class(TService)
procedure ServiceExecute(Sender: TService);
procedure ServiceCreate(Sender: TObject);
procedure ServiceDestroy(Sender: TObject);
procedure ServiceStart(Sender: TService; var Started: Boolean);
procedure ServiceStop(Sender: TService; var Stopped: Boolean);
procedure ServiceAfterInstall(Sender: TService);
private
{ Private declarations }
public
function GetServiceController: TServiceController; override;
procedure Log(Line:string);
{ Public declarations }
end;
var
BartService: TBartService;
LogFile: text;
Logfilename: string;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
procedure TBartService.Log(Line:string);
begin
if Logfilename = '' then
begin
Logfilename := 'Log.txt';
Assignfile(LogFile,Logfilename);
end;
try
if FileExists(Logfilename)
then append(LogFile)
else rewrite(LogFile);
writeln(LogFile,line);
Closefile(LogFile);
except
on E:Exception do;
end;
end;
procedure ServiceController(CtrlCode: DWord); stdcall;
begin
BartService.Controller(CtrlCode);
end;
function TBartService.GetServiceController: TServiceController;
begin
Result := ServiceController;
end;
procedure TBartService.ServiceAfterInstall(Sender: TService);
begin
Log('AfterInstall');
end;
procedure TBartService.ServiceCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
Log('Create');
messagebeep(0);
end;
procedure TBartService.ServiceDestroy(Sender: TObject);
begin
Log('Destroy');
end;
procedure TBartService.ServiceExecute(Sender: TService);
begin
Log('ServiceExecute Start. Terminated='+Terminated.ToString(true));
while not Terminated do
begin
try
ServiceThread.ProcessRequests(false);
Log('ServiceExecute');
// messagebeep(0);
sleep(1000);
except
on E:Exception do
begin
Log('ERROR: ServiceExecute: Final: '+E.Message);
end;
end;
end;
Log('ServiceExecute Out of loop.');
end;
procedure TBartService.ServiceStart(Sender: TService; var Started: Boolean);
begin
Log('ServiceStart');
end;
procedure TBartService.ServiceStop(Sender: TService; var Stopped: Boolean);
begin
Log('ServiceStop');
end;
end.

Answer 1

I assume that during your debugging you have copy and pasted code into the unit from another project but you have not 'hooked up' the events properly. Bring up the project in Delphi and open the service module. Click on the Events tab in the Object Inspector and my guess is that they are all blank. (View the source of the .dfm and there is likely no OnExecute, OnStop, OnStop, etc events defined)
For example - double click the OnExecute event and I assume the IDE will automatically create a new OnExecute event rather than navigating to your OnExecute event in the unit.
Simply rehook up your events and it will most likely work as expected.

Answer 2

Solved. After using the 'LogMessage() system, I found that the service is in fact running.
But what happened, is that the destination folder of my simple Log file was transfered from the local executable directory to C:\Windows\System32\ and there was all the rest of the Log data... I never expected that :(
Thanks for all help, Bart