Question

how do we retrieve images from an image folder into a listview control where folder path is taken from ms access

Asked by: tolgss

I have an imageDesc and imagePath columns in a table in ms access. Now I need to create a connection to MS Access to retrieve these two columns. Once retrieved I need to display the imageDesc column and its corresponding images from the directory folder referenced by the imagePath column (eg c:\image1.gif). I don't want to display column headers in the listview.

So basically I have a listview control with images and a description of each image in thumbnail style view.

I tried using OleDBDataReader to access the columns and managed to display images but it seemed to show the same image for all image descriptions.

the below code was working (but not as expected) and now it has some error but overall it gives you an idea of what i'm trying to accomplish

Any sample code will be appreciated.

'form load       
Dim myCon As OleDbConnection
        Dim cmd As OleDbCommand = New OleDbCommand("SELECT imageDesc, imagePath FROM table1")
        Dim myData As OleDbDataReader
        myCon = New OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Data Source=" & Trim$(gsDatabase)) 'database connection string
 
        Try
            cmd.Connection = myCon
            myCon.Open()
            myData = cmd.ExecuteReader
            FillListView(myData)
            myCon.Close()
        Catch eOledb As OleDbException
            MessageBox.Show(eOledb.ToString)
        End Try        
'end form load
'database is a simple 2 column table, both columns are string, col1 is imageDesc and 
'col2  is imagePath
'fill data for testing purpose eg imageDesc could be imageDesc1 and imagePath could be
' c:\image1.gif . The aim is the display multiple records.
 
Public Sub FillListView(ByRef myData As OleDbDataReader)
        Dim imagelist1 As New ImageList()
        ListView1.View = View.LargeIcon
 
        ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
ListView1.Clear()
        Dim listviewitem1 As ListViewItem
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Do While myData.Read 
            For i = 0 To myData.FieldCount() - 1
                If Not myData.IsDBNull(0) Then
                    listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString, i)
                    ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1)
 
                    imagelist1.Images.Add(Bitmap.FromFile(myData(1)))
                   (System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(file), imagelist1.Images.Count - 1)
                    imagelist1.ImageSize = New Size(100, 100)
                    ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
                End If
                i += 1
            Next
        Loop
end Sub

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Asked On: 2009-09-25 at 01:33:36ID24761071
Tags: vb.net 2005
,; vb.net 2008
Topics: .Net Editors & IDEs
,; Microsoft Visual Basic.Net
,; Visual Basic Programming
Participating Experts: 1
Points: 500
Comments: 11

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Answers

by: KrisTheComputerGuyPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:02:42ID: 25421177

Which image gets displayed, the first image, or the last image in the database? This would help me in deducing the cause problem.

All the images in the image list must all have the same size. Resizing the image list may be clearing the images. try commenting out that line.

If that doesn't work, you can try loading the image file before adding the listviewitem to the listview. Just in case the listview is checking to see if the image actually exists.

by: KrisTheComputerGuyPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:22:52ID: 25421254

After reading up in the Microsoft documentation, I'm positive this issue is caused by the resizing. It says that the image list clears out the images when ever you set the size of the images.

In the code snippet provided, i simply moved the size assignment of the image list (line 38) to the top of the method and removed (line 39) the imagelist1 assignment within the loop; which is no longer needed.

That should do it!

Public Sub FillListView(ByRef myData As OleDbDataReader)
        Dim imagelist1 As New ImageList()
        imagelist1.ImageSize = New Size(100, 100)
 
        ListView1.View = View.LargeIcon
 
        ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
 
ListView1.Clear()
        Dim listviewitem1 As ListViewItem
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Do While myData.Read 
            For i = 0 To myData.FieldCount() - 1
                If Not myData.IsDBNull(0) Then
                    listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString, i)
                    ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1)
 
                    imagelist1.Images.Add(Bitmap.FromFile(myData(1)))
                   (System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(file), imagelist1.Images.Count - 1)
 
                End If
                i += 1
            Next
        Loop
end Sub

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by: tolgssPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:23:15ID: 25421256

Thanks for your quick reply, unfortunately I overwrited the working version of the code I had and with the current version I am getting an error 'Conversion from type 'DBNull' to type 'String' is not valid.' I think this is caused because some of my column fields are blank eg I may have an imageDesc but the corresponding image field might be blank, I don't know how to fix it.

when I had the code working there was an occasion when it showed more than one image but usually not in the right sequence eg the image didn't match the imageDesc - i also can't remember which image showed first.

What I have is a table with some of the image fileds blank and some with the image paths. I expect the listview to display images with only the fields that have an image path.

        Dim imagelist1 As New ImageList()
        ListView1.View = View.LargeIcon
 
        ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
        ListView1.Clear()
        Dim listviewitem1 As ListViewItem
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Do While myData.Read
            For i = 0 To myData.FieldCount() - 1
                If Not myData.IsDBNull(0) Then
                    listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString, i)
                    ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1)
 
                    imagelist1.Images.Add(Bitmap.FromFile(myData(1))) 'error is occuring here ['Conversion from type 'DBNull' to type 'String' is not valid.']
                    imagelist1.ImageSize = New Size(100, 100)
                    ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
                End If
                i += 1
            Next
        Loop

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by: tolgssPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:30:01ID: 25421276

i tried the amended code but I'm still get this error:
'Conversion from type 'DBNull' to type 'String' is not valid.


 
Dim imagelist1 As New ImageList()
        imagelist1.ImageSize = New Size(100, 100)
 
        ListView1.View = View.LargeIcon
 
        ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
 
        ListView1.Clear()
        Dim listviewitem1 As ListViewItem
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Do While myData.Read
            For i = 0 To myData.FieldCount() - 1
                If Not myData.IsDBNull(0) Then
                    listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString, i)
                    ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1)
                    imagelist1.Images.Add(Bitmap.FromFile(myData(1))) 'error is here
                End If
                i += 1
            Next
        Loop

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by: KrisTheComputerGuyPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:37:52ID: 25421309

You simply need to check to see if column 1 is also null just as you did for column 0. I added an extra if statement within your code loop.

Dim imagelist1 As New ImageList()
        imagelist1.ImageSize = New Size(100, 100)
 
        ListView1.View = View.LargeIcon
 
        ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
 
        ListView1.Clear()
        Dim listviewitem1 As ListViewItem
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Do While myData.Read
            For i = 0 To myData.FieldCount() - 1
                If Not myData.IsDBNull(0) Then
                    listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString, i)
                    ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1)
                
                  If Not myData.IsDBNull(1) Then
                    imagelist1.Images.Add(Bitmap.FromFile(myData(1))) 'error is here
                  End If                
 
                End If
                i += 1
            Next
        Loop

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by: KrisTheComputerGuyPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:44:43ID: 25421340

Looking at it, you actually you need some code revision in the loop. so that you call List view item without a reference to the image list when no image is present in the database.

Dim imagelist1 As New ImageList()
        imagelist1.ImageSize = New Size(100, 100)
 
        ListView1.View = View.LargeIcon
 
        ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
 
        ListView1.Clear()
        Dim listviewitem1 As ListViewItem
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Do While myData.Read
            For i = 0 To myData.FieldCount() - 1
 
 
                'Not 100% sure about the syntax here, but you get the idea
 
                If Not myData.IsDBNull(0) And Not myData.IsDBNull(1) Then 
                    listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString, i)
                    ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1)
                    imagelist1.Images.Add(Bitmap.FromFile(myData(1)))
 
		Else If Not myData.IsDBNull(0)
		     listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString)
 
                End If
 
                i += 1
            Next
        Loop

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by: tolgssPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:46:29ID: 25421347

images are appearing but they are duplicate otherwise the code is working
so what I have is:
col1 col2
image1 <blank>
image2 <image2> appears
image3 <image3> image2 appears again.

by: KrisTheComputerGuyPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:48:22ID: 25421352

I missed an the add items line in the previous snippet (lines 22-24). its fixed here

Dim imagelist1 As New ImageList()
        imagelist1.ImageSize = New Size(100, 100)
 
        ListView1.View = View.LargeIcon
 
        ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
 
        ListView1.Clear()
        Dim listviewitem1 As ListViewItem
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Do While myData.Read
            For i = 0 To myData.FieldCount() - 1
 
 
                'Not 100% sure about the syntax here, but you get the idea
 
                If Not myData.IsDBNull(0) And Not myData.IsDBNull(1) Then 
                    listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString, i)
                    ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1)
                    imagelist1.Images.Add(Bitmap.FromFile(myData(1)))
 
		Else If Not myData.IsDBNull(0)
		     listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString)
                                                ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1);
                End If
 
                i += 1
            Next
        Loop

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by: tolgssPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:53:44ID: 25421366

now the code is better layed out and I am receiving the image description even though it doesn't have an image (I think this is better than not appearing)
the problem is that the image is duplicating.
here is the difference:
col1 col2
image1 <blank> description only appears as its blank
image2 <image2> appears
image3 <image3> image2 appears again where as it should show image 3

by: KrisTheComputerGuyPosted on 2009-09-25 at 02:55:15ID: 25421376

Sorry, I missed something again. You will need a counter for the number of images in the loop. you can no longer rely on ' i ' because the number of images is less than (or equal to) the number of database entries. I added an imgCount integer in the snippet below.

Dim imagelist1 As New ImageList()
        imagelist1.ImageSize = New Size(100, 100)
 
        ListView1.View = View.LargeIcon
 
        ListView1.LargeImageList = imagelist1
 
        ListView1.Clear()
        Dim listviewitem1 As ListViewItem
        Dim i As Integer = 0
 
        Dim imgCount As Integer = 0
 
        Do While myData.Read
            For i = 0 To myData.FieldCount() - 1
 
 
                'Not 100% sure about the syntax here, but you get the idea
 
                If Not myData.IsDBNull(0) And Not myData.IsDBNull(1) Then 
                    listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString, imgCount)
                    ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1)
                    imagelist1.Images.Add(Bitmap.FromFile(myData(1)))
                    imgCount += 1 
 
		Else If Not myData.IsDBNull(0)
		     listviewitem1 = New ListViewItem(myData.GetValue(0).ToString)
                                                ListView1.Items.Add(listviewitem1);
                End If
 
                i += 1
            Next
        Loop

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by: tolgssPosted on 2009-09-25 at 03:05:26ID: 31633430

your last change corrected the problem
code works perfect
your a genius
thank you very much.

can i post another question relevant to topic.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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Question

how do we retrieve images from an image folder into a listview control where folder path is taken from ms access

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vb.net 2005

vb.net 2008

.Net Editors & IDEs

Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

Visual Basic Programming

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