Hosting multiple WCF Services under a single Windows Service

I am often asked how to host multiple services under a single windows service and through trial and error have been streamlining this process for clients.

I thought I'd blog an example here for reference:

class Program {
    static void Main() {
        if (Environment.UserInteractive) {
            ServiceManager serviceManager = new ServiceManager();
            serviceManager.OpenAll();
            Console.ReadKey();
            serviceManager.CloseAll();
        }
        else
            ServiceBase.Run(new WindowsService());
    }
}

public class WindowsService : ServiceBase
{
    public static string WindowsServiceName = "Windows Service Name";
    public static string WindowsServiceDescription = "Windows Service Description";
    public static string WindowsServiceUsername = @".\username";
    public static string WindowsServicePassword = "password";

    private readonly ServiceManager serviceManager = new ServiceManager();

    private readonly IContainer components = new Container();

    protected override void Dispose(bool disposing) {
        if (serviceManager != null) serviceManager.CloseAll();
        if (disposing && (components != null)) components.Dispose();
        base.Dispose(disposing);
    }

    public WindowsService() {
        ServiceName = WindowsServiceName;
        CanStop = true;
    }

    protected override void OnStart(string[] args) {
        base.OnStart(args);
        serviceManager.OpenAll();
    }

    protected override void OnStop() {
        serviceManager.CloseAll();
        base.OnStop();
    }
}

public class ServiceManager {
    readonly List serviceHosts = new List();

    public void OpenAll() {
        OpenHost();
        OpenHost();
        ...
    }

    public void CloseAll() {
        foreach (ServiceHost serviceHost in serviceHosts)
            serviceHost.Close();
    }

    private void OpenHost() {
        Type type = typeof(T);
        ServiceHost serviceHost = new ServiceHost(type);
        serviceHost.Open();
        serviceHosts.Add(serviceHost);
    }
}

/// 
/// Enables application to be installed as a Windows Service by running InstallUtil
/// 
[RunInstaller(true)]
public class WcfServiceHostInstaller : Installer {
    public WcfServiceHostInstaller() {
        Installers.Add(new ServiceInstaller
                           {
                               StartType = ServiceStartMode.Automatic,
                               ServiceName = WindowsService.WindowsServiceName,
                               Description = WindowsService.WindowsServiceDescription
                           });
        Installers.Add(new ServiceProcessInstaller { Account = ServiceAccount.User, Username = WindowsService.WindowsServiceUsername, Password = WindowsService.WindowsServicePassword });
    }
}

And some configuration:

- Here, the binding & behaviour configuration is shared across services but you may need different configurations for different types of services.
- I use different ports for different services, but you don't have to.

<system.serviceModel>
  <services>
    <service behaviorConfiguration="DefaultBehavior" name="Namespace.Service1">
      <endpoint address="" binding="netTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration="TCPBindingConfig" name="TCPEndpoint" contract="Namespace.IService1" />
      <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration="" name="TcpMetaData" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
      <host>
        <baseAddresses>
          <add baseAddress="net.tcp://localhost:8001/Namespace/Service1" />
        </baseAddresses>
      </host>
    </service>
    <service behaviorConfiguration="DefaultBehavior" name="Namespace.Service2">
      <endpoint address="" binding="netTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration="TCPBindingConfig" name="TCPEndpoint" contract="Namespace.IService2" />
      <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration="" name="TcpMetaData" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
      <host>
        <baseAddresses>
          <add baseAddress="net.tcp://localhost:8002/Namespace/Service2" />
        </baseAddresses>
      </host>
    </service>
    ...
  </services>
  <bindings>
    <netTcpBinding>
      <binding name="TCPBindingConfig" maxBufferSize="5242880" maxReceivedMessageSize="5242880">
        <readerQuotas maxStringContentLength="5242880" />
        <security mode="None" />
      </binding>
    </netTcpBinding>
  </bindings>
  <behaviors>
    <serviceBehaviors>
      <behavior name="DefaultBehavior">
        <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="false" />
        <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
        <serviceThrottling maxConcurrentCalls="21" maxConcurrentSessions="50" />
      </behavior>
    </serviceBehaviors>
  </behaviors>
</system.serviceModel>

Shuffle: an extension method of random uselessfulness

UPDATE: I have updated this method here: http://thegrenade.blogspot.com/2010/02/when-random-is-too-consistent.html

Have you ever needed to randomly sort a list in C#? Add this to your nifty extensions library:

/// <summary>
/// Shuffles the specified list (Extension Method for any IList<T>).
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// Algorithm described at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher-Yates_shuffle
/// </remarks>
/// <example>list.Shuffle();</example>
public static void Shuffle<T>(this IList<T> list)
{
    Random rng = new Random();
    int n = list.Count;
    while (n > 1) {
        n--;
        int k = rng.Next(n + 1);
        T value = list[k];
        list[k] = list[n];
        list[n] = value;
    }
}