> I'm writing a Windows service that is dependent on the Firebird
> service.
> Is it valid to hard code "FirebirdServerDefaultInstance" as the
> Firebird service name, or should I be deriving the name somehow to
> ensure future (and perhaps backwards) compatability?
>
> Regards,
>
> Robert.

in my experience of doing quite a few of these, it's better not to use this
dependency option. Make your service handle the absence of the FB service
with inaction and an error log or alert instead. If you use dependencies, it
makes starting and stopping FB more cumbersome and some people won't know
what to do with the messages, or be able to make sure your service is
restarted. That's why IIS has a separate admin service which monitors and
manipulates all its dependent services. It's just messy. And don't make your
service try to do something as soon as I starts. Make it wait for an initial
5 or so minutes so all services are running and the boot has settled down or
if you must, make it keep testing for a 3050 response before it tries it's
action. Make the port configurable in a control panel app/ini/reg store
along with whatever other options you wish to set the service.
Alan