I am facing problems with Image generation at runtime using .Net GDI Library. The code was taken from net and works fine at source location. While it was working absolutely fine with my local server till two days back, it has started having issues now.

On the production server, the code runs only once or twice and puts the site on a hang. Thereafter the image generation pages dont work until the IIS is restarted, although the rest of the site still works.

Below I am pasting the code that I am using for image generation. The concept is that we take a set of values from user along with the font and size and then create an image on runtime.

    Sub NewWordingPreview()
        Dim i, j As Int16
        Dim conn As SqlConnection
        Dim cmd As SqlCommand
        Dim reader As SqlDataReader
        Dim Query As String
        conn = clsmyHelper.getConnection


        Dim ImgTemplatePath As String = "testimage.jpg"
'you can include any of your image here, mines comes from db. I have just removed that code to make it simple.

        Dim iHeight As Int16 = 100

        Dim bmp As New Bitmap(Server.MapPath(ImgTemplatePath))
        Dim g As Graphics
        Dim sAlign As New StringFormat
        Dim bmpNew As Bitmap
        Dim imageNew As Image

        Dim InkColor As Color
        InkColor = Color.FromName("Red")

        Dim pvtFntColl As New PrivateFontCollection
        pvtFntColl.AddFontFile(Server.MapPath("Fonts/Arial.ttf"))
        pvtFntColl.AddFontFile(Server.MapPath("Fonts/verdana.ttf"))
        pvtFntColl.AddFontFile(Server.MapPath("Fonts/times.ttf"))
'The ttf files are present in the correct location

        sAlign.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
        Try
            g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
        Catch ex As Exception
            bmpNew = New Bitmap(bmp.Width, bmp.Height)
            imageNew = bmpNew
            g = Graphics.FromImage(imageNew)
            ' Draw the contents of old bitmap to new bitmap
            g.DrawImage(bmp, New Rectangle(0, 0, _
                                  imageNew.Width, imageNew.Height), _
                                  0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height, _
                                  GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
            bmp = imageNew
            bmpNew.Dispose()
            imageNew.Dispose()
        End Try
        g.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias
        '*************Getting values of lines from left control***************

        For i = 1 To 8
            Try
                Dim fnt As Font
                Dim str As String = "This is a sample string"
                fnt = New Font(pvtFntColl.Families(0), 1)
                g.DrawString(str, fnt, New SolidBrush(InkColor), New PointF((bmp.Width / 2), iHeight), sAlign)
                iHeight += g.MeasureString(str, fnt).Height
            Catch ex As Exception
                Response.Write(ex)
            End Try
        Next
        'saving and showing image
        Try
            'Response.Write(Server.MapPath("Images/Orders/" & Session.SessionID & "-" & Session("PID") & "-" & Session("OrderID") & ".jpg"))
            bmp.Save(Server.MapPath("Images/Orders/" & Session.SessionID & "-" & Session("PID") & "-" & Session("OrderID") & ".jpg"), ImageFormat.Jpeg)
        Catch ex As Exception
            Response.Write(ex)
        End Try
        cImg.Controls.RemoveAt(0)
        Dim img As New HtmlImage
        img.Src = "Images/Orders/" & Session.SessionID & "-" & Session("PID") & "-" & Session("OrderID") & ".jpg"
        cImg.Controls.Add(img)

        g.Dispose()
        bmp.Dispose()
        pvtFntColl.Dispose()
    End Sub

You should wrap all your code in a Try Catch block and make sure you call .Dispose in the Finally block so all resources are released.
Working with Graphics objects like the Bitmap causes a lock on those files until you release it by calling Dispose. That blocks other code from accessing the files.

Use Try / Catch and see if that makes any difference. Also, make sure you call .Dispose on each of the objects you're using that supports .Dispose.

Cheers,

Imar
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Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.

Thanks for the reply Imar. I had used the try catch for only the situation that raised exceptions. But as per your suggestion I have now used another try..catch to include the complete code of the procedure and then dispose the objects in finally, but even this is of no help.

I am not very sure of why this happens, seems to be some problem with memory leak or something. It works for upto 15 minutes some times and then hangs, once hanged, it needs a server reboot to run again.

I have searched the net on this, but the problem seems to be a bit particular and nothing much is given on net. I found 2-3 more people with same problem but even they dont have a solution to it.

Please see if you can provide some more solution to it.

Thanks
Sandeep

I am afraid I don't have any more tips at this point.

A while ago I built a Windows Service that automatically imported JPG images. It reads in the embedded EXIF and IPTC data, creates three thumbs of the image, and watermarks the larger original. In the beginning, I was experiencing the same problem. The service would suck up to 500MB of memory and then come to a grinding halt. Once we shuffled things around a bit, making sure we called .Dispose on each important object at the right time, the problem went away.

It has been running for months now, importing thousands and thousands of images without a problem (or even a reboot).

So the only thing I can recommend is reevaluating your Dispose strategy. Although it is possible there is a memory leak in the .NET framework, it's more likely it's due to some coding problems....

Cheers,

Imar
---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.
While typing this post, I was listening to: Trainspotting by Primal Scream (Track 3 from the album: Trainspotting) What's This?

are you sure your finally block is beeing run?
some errors might stop the finally from beeing run?

Olav Alexander Mjelde