PHP Image prints out garbage

Question

Attempting to print out an image to the browser using code I copied from http://php.net/manual/en/function.imagecopyresampled.php.

It prints out a box of random characters.

CODE:

    public function printSummaryArticle($article, $copy, $thumb) {
    $src_image = Config::getAbsPath() . '/images/articles/' . $article['image'];
    echo
        '<div class="summary_article"><a href="/'
        . BreadCrumbs::getCrumb(1)
        . '/'
        . BreadCrumbs::getCrumb(2)
        . '/article/'
        . $article['id']
        . '"><h4>'
        . $article['title']
        . '</h4></a> ('
        . $article['date']
        . ')'
        . '<img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,'. imagejpeg($thumb->generateThumb($src_image, 300, 200)) . '"'
        . '<p>'
        . strip_tags($copy->truncateString($article['body'], 250, " "))
        . '</p><p><a href="/' . BreadCrumbs::getCrumb(1)
        . '/'
        . BreadCrumbs::getCrumb(2)
        . '/article/'
        . $article['id']
        . '"> Read more</a></p></div>';
}

Also tried:

    public function printSummaryArticle($article, $copy, $thumb) {
    $src_image = Config::getAbsPath() . '/images/articles/' . $article['image'];
    echo
        '<div class="summary_article"><a href="/'
        . BreadCrumbs::getCrumb(1)
        . '/'
        . BreadCrumbs::getCrumb(2)
        . '/article/'
        . $article['id']
        . '"><h4>'
        . $article['title']
        . '</h4></a> ('
        . $article['date']
        . ')';
        header('Content-type: image/jpeg');
        imagejpeg($thumb->generateThumb($src_image, 300, 200));
    echo
        '<p>'
        . strip_tags($copy->truncateString($article['body'], 250, " "))
        . '</p><p><a href="/' . BreadCrumbs::getCrumb(1)
        . '/'
        . BreadCrumbs::getCrumb(2)
        . '/article/'
        . $article['id']
        . '"> Read more</a></p></div>';
}

Same result. except with an added error claiming headers have already been sent.

How can I fix this?

By the way they are not random characters. – Popnoodles Jan 06 '13 at 01:03 — Popnoodles, Jan 06 '13 at 01:03

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

imagejpeg() neither returns a string nor performs Base64 encoding. To work around this, capture its output in a PHP output buffer, and then Base64 encode the captured output:

ob_start();
imagejpeg( $my_img );
echo '<img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,' . base64_encode(ob_get_clean()) . '">';

Note that data: URLs are limited to 32 KB in Internet Explorer 8 and do not work in earlier versions of IE (source). If you need to support IE 8 and below, you may want to instead save the image as a separate file on the server. This is left as an exercise for the reader :)

(For an explanation of the "Headers already sent" warning, see How to fix "Headers already sent" error in PHP.)

Thanks PleaseStand. I'm starting to think saving the thumb before outputting it might be the best way to do this.. — obmon, Jan 06 '13 at 09:59

Popnoodles · Answer 2 · 2013-01-06T10:12:17.407

0

You haven't closed the image tag, but more importantly you haven't base64_encoded the image data

Before you echo that string

ob_start();
imagejpeg($thumb->generateThumb($src_image, 300, 200));
$imagejpg=ob_get_clean();

then this

. '<img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,'
. base64_encode($imagejpg) 
. '" />'

You can't do what you're trying to do in the 2nd example

edited Jan 06 '13 at 10:12

answered Jan 06 '13 at 01:03

Popnoodles

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Thanks popnoodles. I will try that line, but I think base64, as mentioned above, would not be efficient anyway.. – obmon Jan 06 '13 at 09:59
1

ok. I forgot imagejpeg returns bool so have updated by answer – Popnoodles Jan 06 '13 at 10:12

PHP Image prints out garbage

2 Answers2