How to add an existing item via code in wpf

Question

I am attempting to copy a selected image to a folder and then want to display it with an Image object. The copying works fine, but when I want to display it it seems like the program cannot find it. Displaying the image only works if I manually use "add existing Item". Is there a way to add it automatically?

Here is my code:

string name = "image1";

OpenFileDialog dialog = new OpenFileDialog();

Nullable<bool> dialogOK = dialog.ShowDialog();

if(dialogOK == true)
{
     File.Copy(dialog.FileName, @"..\..\Images\" + name + ".png", true);


     image.Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri(@"Images\" + name + ".png", UriKind.Relative));
}

("image" is defined in xaml)

is it definitely copying the image into the correct folder (ie: not the project folder but the one in debug/release folders underneath the bin folder)? — Slipoch, Apr 15 '20 at 23:35
Why not load the file as a byte array for example and create a BitmapImage with it? — Sotiris Panopoulos, Apr 15 '20 at 23:37
@Slipoch It´s the right folder. I tested it and it works only if I add the existing item manually. — mountygaming, Apr 16 '20 at 13:23
@SotirisKoukios-Panopoulos Would you be so kind to give me an example? — mountygaming, Apr 16 '20 at 13:25

Clemens · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-16T13:42:12.663

1

It seems safer to use an absolute path for loading the BitmapImage:

var dialog = new OpenFileDialog();

if (dialog.ShowDialog() == true)
{
    var targetFile = @"..\..\Images\" + name + ".png";
    var currentDir = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
    var targetPath = Path.Combine(currentDir, targetFile);
    var targetDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(targetPath);

    Directory.CreateDirectory(targetDir);

    File.Copy(dialog.FileName, targetPath, true);

    image.Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri(targetPath));
}

In order to release the file directly after loading the BitmapImage, load it from a FileStream:

BitmapImage bitmap = new BitmapImage();

using (var stream = File.OpenRead(targetPath))
{
    bitmap.BeginInit();
    bitmap.CacheOption = BitmapCacheOption.OnLoad;
    bitmap.StreamSource = stream;
    bitmap.EndInit();
}

image.Source = bitmap;

edited Apr 16 '20 at 13:42

answered Apr 16 '20 at 07:17

Clemens

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Thanks for your help! I already tried a similar thing (giving the absolute path @"C:\Users\..."). The Problem with that is when i want to delete the Image with `File.Delete(@"C:\Users\...")` i get an error because the path is currently used by the picture. Even if i set ´image.Source = null` the garbagecollector won´t delete it. But when i use a relative path this error doesn´t appear but i ran into the issue i described above. So is there a way to do it with a relative path? @Clemens – mountygaming Apr 16 '20 at 13:37
A relative path won't help. See the edited answer, or here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/13265190/1136211 – Clemens Apr 16 '20 at 13:39
Thank you so much. That was the missing piece! Just out of curiosity what is this line for? `Directory.CreateDirectory(targetDir);` – mountygaming Apr 16 '20 at 15:24
It creates all subdirectories of the target path, just in case they do not already exist. So it's not strictly necessary. – Clemens Apr 16 '20 at 15:49
Thanks again Clemens! – mountygaming Apr 16 '20 at 16:37
This may possibly hit permission issues, especially if it is in program files folders. You could also create and use a my documents sub folder for storing temporary or program used files. – Slipoch Apr 28 '20 at 00:02

How to add an existing item via code in wpf

1 Answers1