Windows Service Applet

Question

Hi, I want to know how to write a service applet that will appear in the Control Panel and tells me stuff about a custom built service. The service itself talks to a database and does stuff, like send emails etc. I would like the applet to allow me to view the dataset it is working its way through, how far it has got, how many failures etc, etc. Also it would allow me to stop the service. The is no real reason why I do not make this a windows application, and in all honesty I probably will, but I wanted to experiment for my own pleasure (geek!). I have been unable to find anything out there apart from examples on how to stop, start, pause etc your service. Thanks y'all. K