BASTA COMPUTING SOFTWARE PRODUCT INFORMATION


TITLE

AppToService v2.4a (formerly ServiceIt)
Copyright (C) 1996-2001 Basta Computing, Inc.
All rights reserved.

License Types Available:
- Shareware with a 30 day evaluation period.
- OEM/Bundling license (visit our web site for more information).

Distribution: Limited. See the license agreement for details.


DESCRIPTION

AppToService is a Windows NT/2000 Unicode console application 
that lets you run regular applications and servers as Windows 
services. This allows you to have some of the benefits of a Windows 
service, such as the ability to run an application even when no user 
is logged on the computer, the ability to run an application under 
a specified user account, the ability to allow an application to 
survive logoff/logon sequences, hence saving the overhead of 
re-starting it for each new user, and so on. For instance, you can 
run a dialer application as a service to automatically connect a 
computer to the Internet following unattended reboots.


UPGRADE WARNING FOR LICENSED USERS

Starting version 2.4, AppToService requires a password in order to 
continue working past an evaluation period of 30 days. Customers 
who are licensed to use older versions of AppToService can request 
their password by sending an e-mail message to support@basta.com 
with the subject "AppToService Password Request", and including 
their full name as well as the postal and e-mail addresses used 
when purchasing their licenses.


RELEASE NOTES FOR ServiceIt USERS

The product name was changed in v2.0 from ServiceIt to AppToService.
AppToService does not interfere with ServiceIt. If you want to 
migrate services created with ServiceIt to AppToService, remove them 
using ServiceIt then re-install them using AppToService.


HOW DOES IT WORK?

AppToService is a Windows Unicode console application that lets 
you run regular applications and servers as Windows services. 

For each application that you need to run as a service, simply 
execute AppToService with the appropriate parameters to create 
a service encapsulating the client application. You can manage 
services created with AppToService using any Windows service 
manager such as the Services Control Panel applet or the Net 
console application from the Command Prompt. When the service 
is no longer needed, remove it by executing AppToService with 
the appropriate parameters.

When an AppToService service starts, it opens the client application 
associated with it. When the service stops, it closes the client 
application. If the client application closes while the service is 
running, the service automatically stops.


EXAMPLE

You want to run a dialer application, namely MyApp, as a service 
in order to start it automatically during unattended reboots, and 
have it connect your computer to the Internet without the need to 
logon.

- Use AppToService to install a service that starts automatically 
  with Windows and runs MyApp. Assuming that the path of MyApp is 
  C:/MyApp.exe, enter the following command at the command prompt: 

    AppToService /Install /Startup:A "C:/MyApp.exe"

    NOTE: Several installation options are available to customize 
    services. Enter "AppToService /?" from the command prompt for 
    a complete list of options.

- Open the Windows Control Panel Services applet. You will find the 
  following new service in the list of installed services:

    AppToService MyApp

  You can manage the service from the Control Panel Services applet.
  Select the service by clicking it to test it, or to review and edit 
  its startup options.

  To review or edit the startup options of the service:

    - Press the "Startup" button.
    - The "Automatic" box in the "Startup Type" group should be checked.
    - The "Log On As" group should be properly configured to run the 
      service. Most services log on to a system account.

  To test the service:

    - Press the Start button. This should open MyApp.
    - Press the Stop button. This should close MyApp.

    NOTE: You can also start and stop services from the command 
    prompt by using the Net command as following:

      Net Start "AppToService MyApp"
      Net Stop "AppToService MyApp"

    For more information about the Net command, enter "Net help" 
    at the command prompt.

  This is it. The service just created should make MyApp behave like 
  a Windows service.

    NOTE: If you had previously configured MyApp to start 
    automatically when a user logs on, you will probably want to 
    cancel this option in order to avoid having two instances of 
    MyApp running at the same time, in case MyApp doesn't prevent 
    this usually undesirable situation from occurring. If MyApp 
    doesn't include a configuration screen to cancel this option, 
    look for shortcuts to MyApp in the Startup folders and delete 
    them if found. Automatic services start when Windows start. 
    Shortcuts in the Startup folder are opened when a user logs on.

- When you no longer need to use MyApp as a service, you can remove 
  the related service using the following command prompt:

    AppToService /Remove "MyApp"


TIPS:

- For general help, enter: AppToService /?
- If you close an application started by AppToService, the service 
  will stop automatically.
- If the /Arguments data includes double quotes, precede each one of them 
  with 3 slashes. E.g., /Arguments:"unquoted \\\"quoted\\\" unquoted".
- If you are using /Directory and want to terminate the path with a 
  slash, use a forward slash (/) instead of a backslash (\). The \" 
  character combination has a special meaning in Windows. To avoid this 
  and other potential parsing problems, we recommend using the forward 
  slash (/) exclusively to separate components in a path.
- If you want to create an AppToService service that depends on another 
  one created using the /AbsName parameter, you should prefix the service 
  name specified with the /DependOn parameter with "AppToService_". For 
  example, /DependOn:"AppToService_MyOtherServiceCreatedWithAbsName".
- An application will generally survive logoff if you do not allow the 
  associated service to interact with the desktop. However, this will 
  prevent the application window from being displayed. The ability of 
  an application to survive logoff depends ultimately on its design.


REVISION HISTORY

- v2.4a on 2001-09-19: Fixed a v2.4 bug that prevented the /Arguments 
  flag from working properly.
- v2.4  on 2001-08-30: Added support for batch files. Added /ShowAll 
  and /RemoveAll flags to display or remove all the installed services.
- v2.3  on 2000-07-16: Added the /Interact flag to specify whether 
  the client application should interact with the desktop. Added the 
  /AbsName flag to eliminate the "AppToService" prefix in the service 
  display name. Extended the command line capacity.
- v2.2a on 2000-04-16: Accepted lengthier command line arguments.
- v2.2  on 1999-09-14: Added the /Name flag to allow the creation of 
  multiple services hosting the same client application with different 
  arguments, and improved the ability to close client applications when 
  services are stopped.
- v2.1  on 1999-04-29: Added the /Directory flag to specify the working 
  directory.
- v2.0  on 1998-12-01: Changed naming conventions and added /DependOn.
  WARNING: This release is not backward compatible.
- v2.0 Beta on 1998-11-15: Changed the application name from 
  ServiceIt to AppToService, and added support for command line 
  arguments, execution priority, window state, and startup type.
  WARNING: This release is not backward compatible.
- v1.0  on 1998-05-10: Initial release.
- v1.0  Beta on 1998-05-01: Beta release.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

- For Windows NT, 2000, or later.
- About 1 MB of free disk space to install the software.


PACKAGE CONTENTS

- SetupAppToService.exe: Program executable.
- ReadMe.txt: This file.
- File_ID.diz: Product identification summary.
- LicenseAgreement.txt: End User License Agreement.
- OrderInfo.txt: Ordering information.
- OrderForm.txt: Order form.


INSTALLATION

Close the application if it is currently running, then run the 
SetupAppToService.exe file and follow the instructions on the screen.


UPGRADES

Close the application if it is currently running, then install the 
new version in the same folder where you had installed the old one.


UNINSTALLATION

Close the application if it is currently running, then click the 
Windows "Start" button and select "Settings", then "Control Panel" 
from the Start menu. Open the "Add/Remove Programs" dialog box, 
locate this product in the list of installed programs, and remove 
it by following the instructions provided in the dialog box.

Note that configuration and ordering files, generally with a 
".dat", ".ini", ".txt", or ".bak" extension, may be created in the 
application folder, and will not be deleted for your convenience 
in case you wish to refer to them at a later date. Delete these 
files manually if you do not want them.


HOW TO BUY LICENSES

This product is distributed as shareware. This means that you 
are welcome to evaluate it for thirty (30) days to make sure 
that it meets your needs. You must purchase the appropriate 
number of licenses to continue using it after the evaluation 
period. Otherwise, you must stop using it. Please review the 
End User License Agreement included with the product for the 
complete set of policies governing its legal use. The software 
will remind you about licensing once each day during the 
evaluation period, and each time you run it thereafter. You 
can access purchasing information by pressing the "Yes" button 
in the Welcome message box that is displayed when you run the 
software, by pressing the "Purchasing Information" button in 
the About window, or by visiting our web site at 
http://www.basta.com


CONTACT

Internet web site: http://www.basta.com

E-mail (let us know if you are a licensed user):

    Sales information: sales@basta.com
    Product support: support@basta.com
    Bug reports: bugs@basta.com
    Feature requests: suggestions@basta.com
    Guest book entries: guestbook@basta.com
    Consulting services: consulting@basta.com
    Marketing information: marketing@basta.com
    Everything else: info@basta.com

Fax: +1 (425) 889 8745

Postal Mail:

    Basta Computing
    P.O. Box 485
    Kirkland, WA 98083-0485
    USA


FURTHER INFORMATION

For the latest news about our products and services, 
please visit our web site at http://www.basta.com
