A generic error occurred in GDI+

Question

[ExternalException (0x80004005): A generic error occurred in GDI+.]
   IpitchitImageHandler.Data.ImageRepository.AddNewTempImage(Stream image, String extension, Guid PageId, Guid ImageId, ImageTransformCollection toDoTransforms) +1967
   IpitchitImageHandler.Data.ImageRepository.AddNewTempImage(Stream image, String extension, Guid PageId, Guid ImageId) +85
   IpitchitWeb.Sell.Controls.UploadImagesSubstep.UploadImages(Object sender, EventArgs e) in F:\Documents and Settings\Vjeran\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Ipitchit\IpitchitWeb\Sell\Controls\UploadImagesSubstep.ascx.cs:88
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.OnClick(EventArgs e) +111
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +79
   System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +10
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) +13
   System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData) +175
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +1565

my code is:

public void AddNewTempImage(Stream image, string extension, Guid PageId, Guid ImageId, 
    ImageTransformCollection toDoTransforms)
{
    //mapping steam to memory stream so it does support the seek

    MemoryStream targetStream = new MemoryStream(ReadStream(image, 1024));
    Image ImageToTransform=null;
    Image transformedImage = null;
    string storagePath = ImageTransformManager.Config.StorageServerPhysicalPath;
    Uri storageUrl = new Uri(ImageTransformManager.Config.StorageServerUrl);

    //string TempPath = Path.Combine(storagePath, GenerateFileName(extension));
    //SaveStream(TempPath, image);
    //File.WriteAllBytes(TempPath, ReadStream(image, 1024));

    if (!HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
        throw new Exception("Nonauthenticated users image submition is not supported");

        try
        {            
            foreach (ImageTransform transform in toDoTransforms)
            {
            ImageRepositoryTempImage newimage = new ImageRepositoryTempImage();
            newimage.ImageGuid = ImageId;
            newimage.PageGuid = PageId;
            newimage.CreatedBy = HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name;
            newimage.CreatedDate = DateTime.UtcNow;
            newimage.Format = transform.OutputType;
            newimage.Width = transform.Width;
            newimage.Height = transform.Height;
            newimage.Watermark = transform.UseWaterMark;
            string filename = GenerateFileName(transform.OutputType);
            string fullStoragePath = Path.Combine(storagePath, Path.Combine(transform.StorageFolder, filename));
            string fullStorageUrl = CombineUri(storageUrl, Path.Combine(transform.StorageFolder, filename));
            newimage.PhysicalStoragePath = fullStoragePath;
            newimage.StoragePath = fullStorageUrl;
            CheckOrAddImageTransform(transform);
            var ImgRepTransform = GetTransformation(transform);
            newimage.ImageRepositoryTransformation = ImgRepTransform;
            newimage.TransformId = ImgRepTransform.Id;

            Bitmap uploaded = new Bitmap(image);

            ImageToTransform = (Image)uploaded.Clone();
            uploaded.Dispose();
            transformedImage = transform.Transform(ImageToTransform);
            AddNewTempImage(newimage);
            //adding named watermark and transformation
            string wname = ImageTransformManager.Config.WaterMarkName;
            string wpath = ImageTransformManager.Config.WaterMarkPath;
            ChechOrAddWaterMark(wname, wpath);


            if (!(string.IsNullOrEmpty(wname) && string.IsNullOrEmpty(wpath)))
                newimage.ImageRepositoryWaterMark = GetWatermark(wname, wpath);

            transformedImage.Save(fullStoragePath, GetFormat(newimage.Format));
            }
        }
        catch (System.Exception ex)
        {
            ErrorHandling.LogErrorEvent("Add new temp image method", ex);
            throw ex;
        }
        finally
        {
            //File.Delete(TempPath);
            if (ImageToTransform!=null)
                ImageToTransform.Dispose();
            image.Dispose();
            targetStream.Dispose();
            if (transformedImage != null)
            transformedImage.Dispose();
        }

}

On my local machine everything works - but still happens.. on server (2003) - i have folder permissions .. and everything...

Answer 1

I hate that error with a passion. Generic Error is possibly the most useless error description ever written.

When I've encountered it the problem as always been related to file IO.

Here is the list of fixes I keep in my notes- Not sure if these apply but they usually do the trick for me.

• Check File path
  • Make sure that the parent directory exists
  • Ensure that path includes both the filename and extension
  • Use server.MapPath() to create the path
• Make sure that the file isn't being written back to it's source. Close and reopen the stream if necessary.

My apologies if i stole this list from somewhere else. It has been in my notebook for awhile and I can't remember where it came from.

Answer 2

Everyone here (and on this site) has discussed this as due to a permissions error. I've stumbled over another flavor: memory. I ran out of memory and started receiving this error as well. So keep that in mind as another potential source of error.

In my particular case I was running in a .NET application, and running against a number of threads (few enough that I wasn't being held back too much by the GDI+ process-wide lock). Adding a "GC.Collect()" after major tasks finished didn't seem to affect the speed much, but did completely get rid of the out of memory errors.