I'm writing a Windows application using Delphi and Firebird as it's
database. In most cases, it will be installed as a stand-alone
desktop application. I want to be able to determine if the database
service is running when the application starts, start the service if
it's not, and give the user the option to stop the service when
closing the application. I'm presuming that end-users PCs may not
be state-of-the-art, high-end machines and they may not want to
leave the service running when not using the application.

I tried using the TIBConfigService and TIBServerProperties
components that came with Delphi 6, but they are very poorly
documented. They would throw exceptions unless the service was
active and would still indicate the service was NOT started even if
it was.

Any help would be appreciated.