Question

A generic error occurred in GDI+

Asked by: melinalt

I am writing an ASP .NET applicaiton which creates thumbnails on the fly (code below).
It works ok with any type of file except bmp.

This is the line in which I get the error:
bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Bmp)

An the complete error is:
"A generic error occurred in GDI+."

Again, this only happends with bmp files (not with jpg or any other format).

Any ideas?

Dim intImage As String = Request.QueryString("ID")
 
 
Dim src As String = getobjects.getRecord("select fileThumbnail as id from marketing.dbo.iDAD_systemFileSearch where sysID='" & intImage & "'")
Dim strFormat As String = getobjects.getRecord("select fileThumbContentType as id from marketing.dbo.iDAD_systemFileSearch where sysID='" & intImage & "'")
 
 
Dim thumbWidth As Integer = 100
Dim fs As IO.FileStream = IO.File.OpenRead(src)
Dim image As System.Drawing.Image = System.Drawing.Image.FromStream(fs)
Dim srcWidth As Integer = image.Width
Dim srcHeight As Integer = image.Height
Dim sizeRatio As Decimal = (CType(srcHeight, Decimal) / srcWidth)
Dim thumbHeight As Integer = Decimal.ToInt32((sizeRatio * thumbWidth))
Dim bmp As Bitmap = New Bitmap(thumbWidth, thumbHeight)
Dim gr As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
gr.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality
gr.CompositingQuality = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.CompositingQuality.HighQuality
gr.InterpolationMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.High
Dim rectDestination As System.Drawing.Rectangle = New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, thumbWidth, thumbHeight)
gr.DrawImage(image, rectDestination, 0, 0, srcWidth, srcHeight, GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
 
fs.Dispose()
image.Dispose()
 
'Set the ContentType to "image/gif" and output the image's data
Response.ContentType = strFormat
 
If UCase(strFormat) = "BMP" Then
   bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Bmp)
ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "JPG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "JPEG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "PJPEG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "CDR" Then
   bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg)
ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "PNG" Then
   bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Png)
ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "TIFF" Then
   bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Tiff)
Else
    bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Gif)
End If
 
bmp.Dispose()
gr.Dispose()
GC.Collect()
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()

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Asked On: 2008-12-04 at 12:30:42ID23958201
Tags: asp .net
Topics: .NET
,; Programming for ASP.NET
Participating Experts: 4
Points: 50
Comments: 8

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Answers

by: Juan_BarreraPosted on 2008-12-04 at 12:39:53ID: 23099189

Hi there, have a look at the following links:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/netfxbcl/thread/b15357f1-ad9d-4c80-9ec1-92c786cca4e6/

http://blog.vishalon.net/index.php/bitmapsave-a-generic-error-occurred-in-gdi/

Also, don't call the Garbage Collection yourself, just use "Using" statements wherever possible, so you make sure that the unmanaged underlying GDI objects are properly disposed.

by: eridanixPosted on 2008-12-04 at 12:50:24ID: 23099284

This error is a bug in .NET, in .NET 2.0 SP1 it should be correct.

Try this (copying bitmap to a new bitmap and than save):

If UCase(strFormat) = "BMP" Then
   Bitmap bmpTemp = new Bitmap(bmp);
   bmpTemp.Save(Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp );

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by: melinaltPosted on 2008-12-04 at 14:37:58ID: 23100276

I changed the ImageFormat.Bmp for ImageFormat.Jpg and it seems to be working even with BMP's

I still have some issues.

My app is suposed to search my database (in which I have a list of over 120,000 file locations - no images, just the location of the file in my server) and create a thumbnail on the fly for each image found (based on the fileLocation).

The problem is that, if the user doesn't filter the information then we will have thousands of thumbnail being generated on the fly and, obviously, it takes for ever to display all thumbnails on the page.

Any idea how can I create the thumbnails faster?

ps: I am not saving images on my database because, as I said, there are thousands and I don't want to kill my server. So, I just save the file location and create the thumbnail on the fly.

by: Juan_BarreraPosted on 2008-12-04 at 14:44:17ID: 23100335

Can you please post your new code, after the changes?
What's killing your performace are calls to the garbage collector, which you shouldn't be doing

Also, if you want to generate the thumbnails faster, you are better off using .ashx handlers (google for "ashx handler for thumbnails", for example)

by: melinaltPosted on 2008-12-04 at 14:50:24ID: 23100377

Thanks Juan, i will google "ashx handler for thumbnails".

The reason why I am calling my garbage collector is because, even though I am disposing my objects, the source file stays open after generating my thumbnail and stays open until I close my page.

I have multiple users using my app so I ended up with bunch of open files (being used by my app) that were slowing my server too much.

Therefore, I had to call the garbage collector to be sure that the source file was closed.

Any other idea to handle this problem?

Dim intImage As String = Request.QueryString("ID")
 
 
Dim src As String = getobjects.getRecord("select fileThumbnail as id from marketing.dbo.iDAD_systemFileSearch where sysID='" & intImage & "'")
Dim strFormat As String = getobjects.getRecord("select fileThumbContentType as id from marketing.dbo.iDAD_systemFileSearch where sysID='" & intImage & "'")
 
 
Dim thumbWidth As Integer = 100
Dim fs As IO.FileStream = IO.File.OpenRead(src)
Dim image As System.Drawing.Image = System.Drawing.Image.FromStream(fs)
Dim srcWidth As Integer = image.Width
Dim srcHeight As Integer = image.Height
Dim sizeRatio As Decimal = (CType(srcHeight, Decimal) / srcWidth)
Dim thumbHeight As Integer = Decimal.ToInt32((sizeRatio * thumbWidth))
Dim bmp As Bitmap = New Bitmap(thumbWidth, thumbHeight)
Dim gr As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
gr.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality
gr.CompositingQuality = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.CompositingQuality.HighQuality
gr.InterpolationMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.High
Dim rectDestination As System.Drawing.Rectangle = New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, thumbWidth, thumbHeight)
gr.DrawImage(image, rectDestination, 0, 0, srcWidth, srcHeight, GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
 
fs.Dispose()
image.Dispose()
 
'Set the ContentType to "image/gif" and output the image's data
Response.ContentType = strFormat
 
If UCase(strFormat) = "BMP" Then
   bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg) 'Here I changed ImageFormat.Bmp for ImageFormat.Jpeg 
ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "JPG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "JPEG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "PJPEG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "CDR" Then
   bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg)
ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "PNG" Then
   bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Png)
ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "TIFF" Then
   bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Tiff)
Else
    bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat.Gif)
End If
 
bmp.Dispose()
gr.Dispose()
GC.Collect()
GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()

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by: Juan_BarreraPosted on 2008-12-04 at 14:56:48ID: 23100431

Yes, sure. You need to use using statements, as I mentioned in my first post. Your code would look like the snippet below.
Keep in mind that, in ASP.NET, the GC should NOT be called in the user code. Even more, is not needed if you properly dispose your resources by means of "Using" statements.

More about "using" statement: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yh598w02.aspx

 Dim intImage As String = Request.QueryString("ID")
 
        Dim src As String = getobjects.getRecord("select fileThumbnail as id from marketing.dbo.iDAD_systemFileSearch where sysID='" & intImage & "'")
        Dim strFormat As String = getobjects.getRecord("select fileThumbContentType as id from marketing.dbo.iDAD_systemFileSearch where sysID='" & intImage & "'")
 
        Dim thumbWidth As Integer = 100
        Using fs As IO.FileStream = IO.File.OpenRead(src)
            Using image As System.Drawing.Image = System.Drawing.Image.FromStream(fs)
                Dim srcWidth As Integer = image.Width
                Dim srcHeight As Integer = image.Height
                Dim sizeRatio As Decimal = (CType(srcHeight, Decimal) / srcWidth)
                Dim thumbHeight As Integer = Decimal.ToInt32((sizeRatio * thumbWidth))
                Using bmp As Drawing.Bitmap = New Drawing.Bitmap(thumbWidth, thumbHeight)
                    Using gr As System.Drawing.Graphics = System.Drawing.Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
                        gr.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality
                        gr.CompositingQuality = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.CompositingQuality.HighQuality
                        gr.InterpolationMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode.High
                        Dim rectDestination As System.Drawing.Rectangle = New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, thumbWidth, thumbHeight)
                        gr.DrawImage(image, rectDestination, 0, 0, srcWidth, srcHeight, Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
                        'Set the ContentType to "image/gif" and output the image's data
                        Response.ContentType = strFormat
                        If UCase(strFormat) = "BMP" Then
                            bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg) 'Here I changed ImageFormat.Bmp for ImageFormat.Jpeg 
                        ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "JPG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "JPEG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "PJPEG" Or UCase(strFormat) = "CDR" Then
                            bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg)
                        ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "PNG" Then
                            bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
                        ElseIf UCase(strFormat) = "TIFF" Then
                            bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Tiff)
                        Else
                            bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Gif)
                        End If
 
                    End Using
                End Using
            End Using
        End Using

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by: jfoutzPosted on 2009-05-22 at 20:32:23ID: 24456607

I know this issue is closed, but I had the same issue with outputting BMP files and here's the solution.

Instead of:
bmp.Save(Response.OutputStream, Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.bmp)
which doesn't work.

You can use:
Dim mstream As New MemoryStream
bmp.Save(mstream, ImageFormat.bmp)
Response.Clear()
Response.Buffer = True
Response.BinaryWrite(mstream.ToArray())
Response.End()
Response.Flush()

I hope this helps someone, it drove me nuts.

by: dbrckoviPosted on 2009-06-18 at 16:47:43ID: 24662792

Thanks jfoutz

If only I found your comment 3 hours ago :)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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A generic error occurred in GDI+

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asp .net

.NET

Programming for ASP.NET

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