How do I set background image to a Canvas

Question

Wpf Canvas Background image does not display selected image from local path

XAML Code

  <Canvas x:Name="LayoutRoot" Margin="485,24,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="341" Height="506" VerticalAlignment="Top">
                <Canvas.Background>
                    <ImageBrush ImageSource="{Binding BGImage}"/>
                </Canvas.Background>
            </Canvas>

MVVM code

private String _BGImage = @"‪C:/Users/sam/Desktop/photo-5.jpg";

public String BGImage
    {
        get
        {
            return this._BGImage;
        }
        set
        {
            this._BGImage = value;
            NotifyPropertyChanged("BGImage");
        }
    }

Why this image not display on canvas background

Answer 1

or you can try using a converter

<UserControl.Resources>
<local:StringToImageConverter x:Key="StringToImageConverter" />
</UserControl.Resources>

...

<Canvas x:Name="LayoutRoot" Margin="485,24,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="341" Height="506" VerticalAlignment="Top">
                <Canvas.Background>
                    <ImageBrush ImageSource="{Binding Path=BGImage, Converter={StaticResource StringToImageConverter}}"/>
                </Canvas.Background>
            </Canvas>

and this is the converter

public class StringToImageConverter : IValueConverter
    {
      public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
      {
        if (value.GetType() != typeof(string))
        {
          throw new InvalidOperationException("The value must be a string");
        }

        return new BitmapImage(new Uri((string)value));
      }

      public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
      {
        return null;
      }
    }

of course you would still need to check if the string is a valid URI