Running "lc" as a Windows NT Service

A special version of "lc" - the GUI-less form of liveCaster - is available as a Windows NT Service. (This will allow it to run automatically on machine startup, and on Windows NT machines without a console or GUI.)

To install the 'Service' version of "lc", run "lcService" with the "-install" option. This will install the service in manual mode; you must then use the Windows NT "service control applet" to start it up (and/or set it to run automatically upon machine startup).

To remove the service, run "lcService" again, this time with the "-remove" option.

Like "lc", "lcService" outputs information about its channel, and about each file that it streams. These messages are recorded as 'pseudo-errors' in the Application Log, which is viewable using the "Event Viewer" application (Start->Programs->Administrative Tools (Common)->Event Viewer).

Alternatively, you can redirect these messages to a file, by adding - to each SELF*.txt file - a line of the form

logFileName <filename>

where <filename> can be either an absolute filename, or a filename relative to the directory containing the "lcService.exe" binary.

You can also run "lcService" as a console application - e.g., for debugging purposes - by running it with the "-debug" option. (This is equivalent to running the regular (non-Service) version of the application.)

Important note

Because the Service cannot take command-line arguments (except when run as a console application using the "-debug" flag), you cannot specify a source directory using the "-d" option. Instead, the Service uses the same directory that contains the "lcService.exe" application. Therefore, this directory must also contain:

The "mk_sap_watcher.tcl" file. (This should have been installed automatically by the "lcServiceSetup" utility.)
A "SELF.txt" file (e.g., previously created using the GUI-based application ("liveCaster")). You can also specify more than one output stream, using multiple SELF*.txt files.
Data to stream (e.g., MP3 files and/or playlists), unless an alternative input source was previously specified by running the GUI-based application ("liveCaster") with the -s <source-name> option.

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