Creating VS 2010 executable for Daily Tasks

I want to create an executable in VS 2010. This executable will be create an excel spreadsheet and will transfer that file via FTP. I want this executable to be fired off via Windows tasks.

What is the best way to accomplish this? Would 开发者_运维知识库I create a regular windows form application, dll, or Empty Project, or windows service?

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

A plain old console application scheduled with the task scheduler should do the trick.

If you need the application to run when a computer is turned on but no one is logged in, create a service. If your application runs only when someone is logged in, but has no UI, use a console application. If your application runs only when someone is logged in and has a UI, use a Winforms app.

I'm not sure what the current best practice is, but in our shop we create console applications and use the task scheduler to execute them.

A library (dll) won't be executable from the task scheduler AFAIK, and a WinForms app isn't very useful for any app that runs automatically (i.e.: doesn't require user interaction).

A service would be appropriate for an application that needs to respond to system events/changes when they occur, which doesn't sound like your use case.