Develop Reference

C# - How can I have a dynamic Image / BitmapSource accessible from XAML?

In my C# project I have a list of images which are resources compiled in the exe:
/Pics/Image1.png
/Pics/Image2.png
/Pics/Image3.png
...
In my code I process the images to match them to the theme of the application. The issue I am having is that I am trying to figure out an easy way to access these processed images in the XAML syntax.
This is how I typically access a resource image (pre-processed):
<Image Source="/Pics/Image1.png" />
So I would really like to access these processed images a similar way.
I tried a static dictionary like this:
<Image Source="{x:Static local:Theme.Images.ImageDictionary[/Pics/Image1.png]}" />
But this threw an error because it doesn't like the ".png", I haven't been able to get this working with dictionary keys. Not to mention this looks really ugly.
Ideally I would love to be able to "replace" the resource references, or create a resource at runtime (e.g. PicsProcessed/Image1.png) but haven't been able to figure a way to add or modify resources in a running C# application programmatically.
Any suggestions are really appreciated - thank you!

Have you tried creating a Bitmap then setting it as the image source? I think this should be easy. Give your image a name, say theImage. You can't possibly reference the image without giving it a name.
Try the following:
string path="/Pics/Image3.png";//path to the image
var bitmapImage=new Bitmap(new Uri(path));
theImage.source=bitmapImage;//set the bitmap as the source.
There are other ways you can achieve this though. Hope this helps?

It took a couple of days but I figured out a solution!
I moved all my images into another C# Project in the same solution, set to compile as a Class Libary DLL file called DynamicResources.dll (assembly name in the Project settings is "DynamicResources"). This project is added as a reference to the main project. As such I can access images in the XAML - clean and tidy:
<Image Source="/DynamicResources;component/pics/image1.png" />
Then in the post-build event for the main project, I rename the compiled .dll so it doesn't get loaded by the main .exe binary at launch:
copy "$(TargetDir)DynamicResources.dll" "$(TargetDir)DynamicResources.temp"
del "$(TargetDir)DynamicResources.dll"
Then I used a third-party library called Mono.Cecil to load the DynamicResources.temp file (DLL format), replace the resources, write it back to memory, then tell the application to load it:
public static void UpdateAssembly()
{
string dllFile = "DynamicResources.temp";
string dllNamespace = "DynamicResources";
var asm = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(dllFile);
var module = asm.Modules.FirstOrDefault();
var resources = module.Resources;
var dllResource = (EmbeddedResource)(resources.FirstOrDefault());
var dllResourceReader = new ResourceReader(dllResource.GetResourceStream());
var newResourceOutputStream = new MemoryStream();
var newResourceWriter = new ResourceWriter(newResourceOutputStream);
foreach (DictionaryEntry dllResourceEntry in dllResourceReader)
{
var image = (BitmapSource)new ImageSourceConverter().ConvertFrom(dllResourceEntry.Value);
Color foreground = (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFFFFF");
var processed = (WriteableBitmap)ColorizeImage(image, foreground); // Your image processing function ?
newResourceWriter.AddResource(dllResourceEntry.Key.ToString(), BitmapToByte(processed));
}
newResourceWriter.Close();
var newResource = new EmbeddedResource(dllResource.Name, dllResource.Attributes, newResourceOutputStream.ToArray());
module.Resources.Remove(dllResource);
module.Resources.Add(newResource);
var woutput = new MemoryStream();
asm.Write(woutput);
var doutput = woutput.ToArray();
Assembly assembly = Assembly.Load(doutput);
}
public static MemoryStream BitmapToByte(BitmapSource bitmapSource)
{
var encoder = new System.Windows.Media.Imaging.PngBitmapEncoder();
var frame = System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapFrame.Create(bitmapSource);
encoder.Frames.Add(frame);
var stream = new MemoryStream();
encoder.Save(stream);
return stream;
}
public static void AttachAssembly(string myAsmFileName)
{
Assembly assembly = Assembly.LoadFile(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + myAsmFileName); // LoadFrom
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(assembly.GetName());
}
Important note: When iterating through resources, they become lowercase, so you must use lowercase file and folder names.

Load image to image box using C#

I am trying to load an image to picture box the below way worked with me.
image1.Image = Properties.Resources._0;
what it i want make the code reading from resources as variable name like the way below.
var imagename = _0;
image1.Image = Properties.Resources.imagename;
Thanks

Use the ResourceManager and pass it a string:
var imageName = "_0";
image1.Image = (Image)Properties.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject(imageName);

How to make the Bitmap Constructor take a string

I know this question has been asked before, but i couldnt find an answer for my specific situation. Im trying to create new bitmap from a resource image.
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string test = "meridian_am";
string resources = "Resources.Properties.Resources." + test;
var master = new Bitmap(Resources.Properties.Resources.master);
var meridian_am = new Bitmap(resources);
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(master))
{
g.DrawImageUnscaled(meridian_am, 114, 332);
}
}
for some reason, for the *var meridian_am = new Bitmap(resources)* im getting an invalid parameter error.. Ultimately, i would rather do a string concatenation on the fly, as in var meridian_am = new Bitmap(Resources.Properties.Resources. + test), but for some reason that wont work... Any ideas?

I'm no expert in C#, but... for var master = ... you're passing a resource that might well be an Image or something like that, while for var meridian = ... you're passing a string as the parameter, which should be the path to an accessible file.
Hope that helps.
EDIT:
I'm talking this constructor versus this one.

Does Resources.Properties.Resources.master contain image bytes or string (path to file name)? In any case you can't pass raw string "Resources.Properties.Resources.meridian_am" to Bitmap constructor. It treats it as path to file, not your resource.
You should load data from resources by this name before. Something like that (if your resource contain image bytes):
var assembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly();
var resources = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("Resources.Properties.Resources." + test);

How to open .PRI files with Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources.Core.ResourcesManager.LoadPriFiles?

I want to open a generated .PRI file (c:\test\resource.pri) programatically using C#.
The problem is that the method for ResourceManager takes as argument an object of type IEnumerable<IStorageFile>
I would like to be able to do something like
using Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources.Core;
ResourceManager rm = ResourceManager.Current;
//Now something like
IStorageFile stFile = IStorageFile.OpenPath(#"c:\test\resource.pri");
//but IStorageFile is static, how can I serialize it ??
IEnumerable<IStorageFile> files = new IEnumerable<IStorageFile>();
files.Add(stFile);
var priResources = rm.LoadPriFiles(files);
void process(priResources){
//extract the resources from priResources
//need this implementation also
}

How do I retrieve an image from my resx file?

I have added an image to my form's resource file, myForm.resx, and I would like to use it in my code file, myForm.cs, but I am not entirely clear on how to get a handle to it.

You can just use Visual Studio to add it (Project, Properties, Resources, Add existing file), and then access it by name:
Bitmap bmp = Properties.Resources.<name_you_gave_it>;

See MSDN for ResourceManager
rm = new ResourceManager("Images", this.GetType().Assembly);
pictureBox1.Image = (System.Drawing.Image)rm.GetObject("flag");

The following code is extracted from this link
// Creates the ResourceManager.
System.Resources.ResourceManager myManager = new
System.Resources.ResourceManager("ResourceNamespace.myResources",
myAssembly);
// Retrieves String and Image resources.
System.String myString;
System.Drawing.Image myImage;
myString = myManager.GetString("StringResource");
myImage = (System.Drawing.Image)myManager.GetObject("ImageResource");

pictureBox1.Image = new Bitmap (global::<<project namespace>>.Properties.Resources.<<Filename>>);
Like the following, the one I implemented:
pboxSignedInStaffIcon.Image = new Bitmap(global::EasyRent.Properties.Resources.worker1);