.NET Process Boilerplate

Exploring standardized boilerplate for a variety of process types. 

 Here's a known list of process types: 

 

 Windows Form running as a short-lived client application 

 Long-running Windows Service. 

 Long-running Task Tray app. 

 Short-lived admin task. 

 Camunda worker service. 

 

 General Process Actions 

 

 Startup Debug Hooking 

 Hookup Unhandled Exception Handler 

 Name the current thread 

 Assembly and Dependency Identification 

 Load Global App Data (app name, appid, runtimeid, installid, version, etc) 

 Memory Logging Setup 

 Argument Collection 

 OS Verification Check 

 Configuration Service 

 Locate HCS Instance 

 Secrets Service 

 Logging Service 

 Telemetry Service 

 Status Publishing Service 

 

 Startup Debug Hooks 

 Top of Program:main, we include an optional debug spin-wait. 

 This is triggered by a command-line argument to debug the process. 

 If activated, the process will wait for a debugger to connect, so early startup activities can be diagnosed. 

 See this page for implementation details: DotNet Startup Remote Debugging Hook 

 Secrets Service 

 

 Initial Process Secret - SPIRE-given secret, used to retrieve client token for secrets access. 

 Secrets - pulled from central secrets store 

 

 Configuration Service 

   

 

 Logging Service 

 Manages logging for the process: 

 

 Performs logging setup for the process 

 Sets up the NLog instance (or, whichever is used) 

 Retrieves any static config of where to store or ship logs. 

 Folder Locations - for log files and local configuration 

 

 

 Telemetry Service 

 Publishes action spans and metrics to a central collector. 

 Status Publishing Service 

 For publishing when a process starts, ends, errors, and periodically while running. 

 This service is responsible for publishing process metadata, such as: 

 

 App Name 

 AppId, RuntimeId, InstallationId 

 Exe name 

 Exe version and build number 

 Start Time 

 Machine Host 

 Environment 

 All dependencies and versions 

 Source Repository URL and Rev 

 Status: starting, running, shutting down 

 Where logs are stored