Different Methods of Performing FloodFill

Question

OK everyone I have several different methods of performing a FloodFill. All of them cause problems. I will list the 3 methods and explain what happens with each one. If anyone could give me some pointers that would be great. I have seen some similar posts but none of them have been for C#, java, or VB.net (the only languages I know).

The givens for this are that I have a class called PixelData which stores a Color in a CellColor member variable. I have an array that is 50x50 of PixelData objects in size called "pixels". I also have a constant called CANVAS_SIZE which is 50 in this case. Here are the three methods I have tried using.

This one is recursive. It is EXTREMELY prone to stack overflows. I have tried settings a timer that enabled a CanFill member after this method is complete. This still does not prevent the overflows:

private void FloodFill(Point node, Color targetColor, Color replaceColor)
{
  //perform bounds checking X
  if ((node.X >= CANVAS_SIZE) || (node.X < 0))
    return; //outside of bounds

  //perform bounds checking Y
  if ((node.Y >= CANVAS_SIZE) || (node.Y < 0))
    return; //ouside of bounds

  //check to see if the node is the target color
  if (pixels[node.X, node.Y].CellColor != targetColor)
    return; //return and do nothing
  else
  {
    pixels[node.X, node.Y].CellColor = replaceColor;

    //recurse
    //try to fill one step to the right
    FloodFill(new Point(node.X + 1, node.Y), targetColor, replaceColor);
    //try to fill one step to the left
    FloodFill(new Point(node.X - 1, node.Y), targetColor, replaceColor);
    //try to fill one step to the north
    FloodFill(new Point(node.X, node.Y - 1), targetColor, replaceColor);
    //try to fill one step to the south
    FloodFill(new Point(node.X, node.Y + 1), targetColor, replaceColor);

    //exit method
    return;
  }
}

Next I have a method that uses a Queue based fill. This method causes OutOfMemory Exceptions at runtime and is EXTREMELY slow when filling the entire canvas. If just filling a small portion of the canvas, it is somewhat effective:

private void QueueFloodFill(Point node, Color targetColor, Color replaceColor)
{
  Queue<Point> points = new Queue<Point>();
  if (pixels[node.X, node.Y].CellColor != targetColor)
    return;

  points.Enqueue(node);

  while (points.Count > 0)
  {
    Point n = points.Dequeue();
    if (pixels[n.X, n.Y].CellColor == targetColor)
      pixels[n.X, n.Y].CellColor = replaceColor;

    if (n.X != 0)
    {
      if (pixels[n.X - 1, n.Y].CellColor == targetColor)
        points.Enqueue(new Point(n.X - 1, n.Y));
    }

    if (n.X != CANVAS_SIZE - 1)
    {
      if (pixels[n.X + 1, n.Y].CellColor == targetColor)
        points.Enqueue(new Point(n.X + 1, n.Y));
    }

    if (n.Y != 0)
    {
      if (pixels[n.X, n.Y - 1].CellColor == targetColor)
        points.Enqueue(new Point(n.X, n.Y - 1));
    }

    if (n.Y != CANVAS_SIZE - 1)
    {
      if (pixels[n.X, n.Y + 1].CellColor == targetColor)
        points.Enqueue(new Point(n.X, n.Y + 1));
    }
  }
  DrawCanvas();
  return;
}

The final method that I have tried also uses a queue based floodfill. This method is MUCH faster than the previous queue based floodfill but also eventually causes OutOfMemory exceptions at runtime. Again, I have tried setting a FillDelay timer that would prevent the user from rapidly clicking but this still doesn't stop the exceptions from occurring. Another bug with this one is that it has a hard time properly filling small areas. I see no point in fixing this until I can get it to not crash.

private void RevisedQueueFloodFill(Point node, Color targetColor, Color replaceColor)
{
  Queue<Point> q = new Queue<Point>();
  if (pixels[node.X, node.Y].CellColor != targetColor)
    return;

  q.Enqueue(node);
  while (q.Count > 0)
  {
    Point n = q.Dequeue();
    if (pixels[n.X, n.Y].CellColor == targetColor)
    {
      Point e = n;
      Point w = n;
      while ((w.X != 0) && (pixels[w.X, w.Y].CellColor == targetColor))
      {
        pixels[w.X, w.Y].CellColor = replaceColor;
        w = new Point(w.X - 1, w.Y);
      }

      while ((e.X != CANVAS_SIZE - 1) && (pixels[e.X, e.Y].CellColor == targetColor))
      {
        pixels[e.X, e.Y].CellColor = replaceColor;
        e = new Point(e.X + 1, e.Y);
      }

      for (int i = w.X; i <= e.X; i++)
      {
        Point x = new Point(i, e.Y);
        if (e.Y + 1 != CANVAS_SIZE - 1)
        {
          if (pixels[x.X, x.Y + 1].CellColor == targetColor)
            q.Enqueue(new Point(x.X, x.Y + 1));
        }
        if (e.Y - 1 != -1)
        {
          if (pixels[x.X, x.Y - 1].CellColor == targetColor)
            q.Enqueue(new Point(x.X, x.Y - 1));
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Thanks for everyone's help! All of these methods are based on pseudo code on wikipedia.

EDIT:

I selected the RevisedQueueFloodFill and modified as suggested so that no variables are declared within the loops. An OutOfMemory is still generated. Even with a filldelay timer.

private void RevisedQueueFloodFill(Point node, Color targetColor, Color replaceColor)
{
  Queue<Point> q = new Queue<Point>();

  if (pixels[node.X, node.Y].CellColor != targetColor)
    return;

  q.Enqueue(node);

  Point n, e, w, x;
  while (q.Count > 0)
  {
    n = q.Dequeue();
    if (pixels[n.X, n.Y].CellColor == targetColor)
    {
      e = n;
      w = n;
      while ((w.X != 0) && (pixels[w.X, w.Y].CellColor == targetColor))
      {
        pixels[w.X, w.Y].CellColor = replaceColor;
        w = new Point(w.X - 1, w.Y);
      }

      while ((e.X != CANVAS_SIZE - 1) && (pixels[e.X, e.Y].CellColor == targetColor))
      {
        pixels[e.X, e.Y].CellColor = replaceColor;
        e = new Point(e.X + 1, e.Y);
      }

      for (int i = w.X; i <= e.X; i++)
      {
        x = new Point(i, e.Y);
        if (e.Y + 1 != CANVAS_SIZE - 1)
        {
          if (pixels[x.X, x.Y + 1].CellColor == targetColor)
            q.Enqueue(new Point(x.X, x.Y + 1));
        }
        if (e.Y - 1 != -1)
        {
          if (pixels[x.X, x.Y - 1].CellColor == targetColor)
            q.Enqueue(new Point(x.X, x.Y - 1));
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Answer 1

Ok a couple of things:

1. C# has a recursive limit (determined by stack size) of a few thousand in depth. This means you can't go DEEPER in recursion downward without causing a stack overflow. As soon as a method returns its pointer is popped off the stack. Your problem is not the same as an OutOfMemoryException. The stack holds pointers not actual memory and as such is not meant to hold thousands of pointers.

2. Garbage collection is what's causing your out of memory exception. You need to stop declaring variables inside of your loops. The garbage collector sees these as "still in scope" and will not free up the memory space until the loop completes all iterations. But if you use the same memory address, it will just overwrite it each time and hardly use any memory.

To be clear:

for (int i = w.X; i <= e.X; i++)
{
    Point x = new Point(i, e.Y);
}

Should be like this:

Point x;

for(int i = w.X; i<= e.X; i++)
{
   x = new Point(i, e.Y);
}

This will reuse the memory address like you would want it to.

Hope that helps!