Question

Delete file in use

Asked by: Tchuki

I'm creating a small picture viewer application that reads the content of a directory containing images and populates a listbox with the images names.

I'm using a FileSystemWatcher to alert the application that files have either been added to the directory, renamed or deleted from the directory.  I then update the listbox accordingly, however the problem I'm having is that I cannot delete files, the error tells me that the file is in use.

I'm not sure why I'm getting this error as I'm not actually using the file, and not certain how to fix it.

All help is appreciated.

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Asked On
2009-10-13 at 19:06:41ID24809932
Topics

.NET

,

C# Programming Language

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: HainKurtPosted on 2009-10-13 at 20:05:12ID: 25566900

maybe you should wait a few seconds and try again...

 

by: mas_oz2003Posted on 2009-10-13 at 20:10:57ID: 25566926

Check if there is any other application accessing the file.
In your program:
- Check that you do not have a stream open using the file.
- Delete the file outside the FileSystemWatcher handlers. Using a button or timer or whatever. The FileSystemWatcher seems to keep the file open until the handler finishes execution.

 

by: TchukiPosted on 2009-10-13 at 20:33:31ID: 25567037

There are no other application accessing it and it's not a time issue.

I think it has something to do with my resizing the images to fit into the picturebox.  If I do not select any of the images in the listbox, I can delete all the files in the picture directory, however as soon as I select an image from the listbox and then attempt to delete it I get the error.

That said I'm not sure how to resolve the error so I'll attach the code that deals with placing the image into the imagebox:

        /*
         *  Image scaling for picture box viewing
         */
        private Image ScaleImage(Image source, int MaxWidth, int MaxHeight)
        {
            double _maxRatio = MaxWidth / MaxHeight;
            double _imgRatio = source.Width / source.Height;
 
            if (source.Width > MaxWidth)
            {
                return new Bitmap(source, new Size(MaxWidth, (int)Math.Round(MaxWidth / _imgRatio, 0)));
            }
            if (source.Height > MaxHeight)
            {
                return new Bitmap(source, new Size(MaxHeight, (int)Math.Round(MaxHeight * _imgRatio, 0)));
            }
            
            return source;
        }
 
        /*
         *  Form element operations
         */
        private void lbPictures_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            pbPicture.Image = ScaleImage(Image.FromFile(path + lbPictures.SelectedItem.ToString()), 342, 465);
        }

                                              
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by: HainKurtPosted on 2009-10-13 at 20:43:31ID: 25567072

looks like you are using the file :)
you click on it, you open, show it but do not close the file / release resources, and trying to delete file...

 

by: TchukiPosted on 2009-10-13 at 21:26:44ID: 25567245

Right OK.

Well I'm *assuming* it is this line:

pbPicture.Image = ScaleImage(Image.FromFile(path + lbPictures.SelectedItem.ToString()), 342, 465);

Which is opening a connection to the file, however I don't know how to close the connection to the opened image file.

I attempted to add a dispose after that line but it did nothing.  If you could point me in the right direction to close the connection it would be greatly appreciated.

 

by: TchukiPosted on 2009-10-13 at 21:37:33ID: 25567277

Not to worry.  I did some more digging and finally stumbled across:

MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(File.ReadAllBytes(path + lbPictures.SelectedItem.ToString()));
Image pbImage = Image.FromStream(ms);
pbPicture.Image = ScaleImage(pbImage, 342, 465);

Connecting to the image using a stream means once all the bytes are loaded the file is released allowing me to delete or do as I choose with it.  <:

 

by: AfricansPosted on 2009-10-14 at 04:35:43ID: 25569292

You can also try to release the file by calling Garbage Collector to collect resources which are not used by your code.
So your lbPictures_SelectedIndexChanged Event code should be like attached

Good Luck

 private void lbPictures_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            pbPicture.Image = ScaleImage(Image.FromFile(path + lbPictures.SelectedItem.ToString()), 342, 465);
GC.Collect();
        }

                                              
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by: mas_oz2003Posted on 2009-10-14 at 17:08:13ID: 25576340

Thcuki, you are right, once the memory stream reads the file then it releases the file handle.
You do not need to call Garbage Collector.
glad to see that my previous comment help yuo to solve your issue

 

by: TchukiPosted on 2009-11-08 at 16:06:11ID: 31640873

Responses provided insight into the solution without hand feeding the exact code.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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