hi
i'm trying to load an image from a file to a picture but keep getting the error
Illegal characters in path.
there are two picture boxes on the form
pbFront and pbRear
the lines of code is

pbFront.Image = Image.FromFile(pathF)
pbRear.Image = Image.FromFile(pathR)

when the program runs the
pathF is C:\ArchiveF\Images\20080028\B0031F.bmp
and pathR is C:\ArchiveF\Images\20080028\B0031R.bmp
can somebody tell me what going on here and the files do exists

Owen

Owen, Programmer

Maybe there are some non-alphanumeric characters in your paths. Try something like:

pbFrom.Image = Image.FromFile(pathF.Trim())
pbRear.Image = Image.FromFile(pathR.Trim())

Can you show us the lines where you assign pathF and pathR, because there is obviously something wrong with them.

/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

Ok here is where i assign the paths
ctmpF1 and CtnpF2 are used by the program to get the path to store each file that is scanned.

Public CtmpF1 As New VB6.FixedLengthString(256)
Public CtmpF2 As New VB6.FixedLengthString(256)


CtmpF1.Value = imgpath & "B" & VB.Right("0000" & CStr(Img_count), 4) & "F." & CtmpExt & Chr(0)
CtmpF2.Value = imgpath & "B" & VB.Right("0000" & CStr(Img_count), 4) & "R." & CtmpExt & Chr(0)

pathF = Trim(CtmpF1.Value).Replace(" ", vbNullChar)
pathR = Trim(CtmpF2.Value).Replace(" ", vbNullChar

Owen, Programmer

Why are you using VB6 FixedLengthString? What happens if the imgPath is longer than 250 characters?

Also, why do you have a Chr(0) on the end? What is that for exactly? That will be your invalid character.

Also, I have no idea why you are doing the replace on a space with vbNullChar - this is not valid for a filename either.

Assuming Img_count is an integer then Img_count.ToString("0000") will produce the same result as your VB.Right bit of code as well.

pathF = imgpath & "B" & Img_count.ToString("0000") & "F." & CtmpExt
pathR = imgpath & "B" & Img_count.ToString("0000") & "R." & CtmpExt


/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

I would suggest that you use String.Format method to build those paths.

Dim pathF As String = String.Format("{0}B{1:0000}F.{2}", imgpath, Img_count, CtmpExt)

If you do many of those inside a loop you could try to use StringBuilder class.

I'm not sure if that formatting is correct :) For some reason I've never got used to .NET's formatting syntax.

hi
i stored the path to a string, i could enter the same path in
start >> run in windows and open the image or i could hard code the path into the program and it runs ok.
the problem is when i'm assign the path in the program via a string read from a database or generated within the program

Owen, Programmer

Well this means you're assigning it from the database or 'generating' it incorrectly. But without seeing your code its hard to guess how you might be doing it.

Again some points to look out for:

* avoid all use of both vbNullChar and Chr(0) as these will make a path invalid.
* Don't use VB6.FixedLengthString as it might be truncating your paths if they are longer than 256 character.

Personally I'd recommend using the FolderBrowserDialog control if you are taking path information directly from the user.

/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

thanks for the tip
the character array was assigning the "Nothing" character value at the end of the string which caused the Error


Owen, Programmer