msgbox in windows service

[psprogrammer]

Is it possible to have a msgbox appear from a running service in Win2000?

[RobAnd]

Don't do this. By default, if a service tries to display a dialog box of any kind (including MessageBoxes), the UI will actually get placed on a non-interactive service desktop that is inaccessible to interactive users. It takes a lot of work for a service to display a dialog/messagebox and it is never recommended.

Why do you want to display a messagebox? If you want a service to report an error, use the EventLog like all other services do.

- Robert

[psprogrammer]

I need a messagebox because the service is manipulating some flat files and if a file is transmitted to us a second time, we need to be notified immediately. I guess an alternative is to have some kind of message thrown from the application log. Is this possible?