iCal Tutorial: Running iCal as a Service

iCal can be installed as a system service by selecting iCal Install as a Service from the program group. Then go to the system Services Dialog to start the iCal service. The service name is iCalService.

There are a few iCal configuration items that can only be set through the console dialog box that appears when run as an application.

• Before starting iCal as a service first run it as an open application. This is done by selecting Start iCal Web Calendar from the Start Button.
• When running as an application, a console dialog box will be available. This dialog box allows entry of the registration name and code, change to port number and other settings. It is necessary to assign all of the settings before running iCal as a service.
• When these configuration items are set, click the Shutdown button on the Status Tab of the dialog box. No instance of iCal should be running before starting iCal as a service.
• Install iCal as a Service by selecting iCal Install as a Service from the program group.
• The system Services dialog box will now list iCalService. Start the service. When properly started no iCal icon will be visible in the task tray. From the browser it will now be possible to access iCal with a url like http://localhost (localhost can be the IP address or domain name of the host machine)

iCal configuration items can be changed after starting as a service. There is a property setting available on the Service's dialog box to Allow service to interact with the desktop. By checking this option and restarting the service the iCal dialog box will appear. This will allow you to change settings. Then stop the iCal service, uncheck the Allow service to interact with the desktop, and restart the service.