Download image from the site in .NET/C#

Question

I am trying to download images from the site. The code which I am using is working fine while the image is available. If the image it not available it is creating a problem. How to validate availability of the image?

Code:

Method 1:

WebRequest requestPic = WebRequest.Create(imageUrl);

WebResponse responsePic = requestPic.GetResponse();

Image webImage = Image.FromStream(responsePic.GetResponseStream()); // Error

webImage.Save("D:\\Images\\Book\\" + fileName + ".jpg");

Method 2:

WebClient client = new WebClient();
Stream stream = client.OpenRead(imageUrl);

bitmap = new Bitmap(stream); // Error : Parameter is not valid.
stream.Flush();
stream.Close();
client.dispose();

if (bitmap != null)
{
    bitmap.Save("D:\\Images\\" + fileName + ".jpg");
}

Edit:

Stream has the following statements:

      Length  '((System.Net.ConnectStream)(str)).Length' threw an exception of type  'System.NotSupportedException'    long {System.NotSupportedException}
    Position  '((System.Net.ConnectStream)(str)).Position' threw an exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException'    long {System.NotSupportedException}
 ReadTimeout  300000    int
WriteTimeout  300000    int

Solution 1

There is no need to involve any image classes, you can simply call WebClient.DownloadFile:

string localFilename = @"c:\localpath\tofile.jpg";
using(WebClient client = new WebClient())
{
    client.DownloadFile("http://www.example.com/image.jpg", localFilename);
}

---

Update
Since you will want to check whether the file exists and download the file if it does, it's better to do this within the same request. So here is a method that will do that:

private static void DownloadRemoteImageFile(string uri, string fileName)
{
    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(uri);
    HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

    // Check that the remote file was found. The ContentType
    // check is performed since a request for a non-existent
    // image file might be redirected to a 404-page, which would
    // yield the StatusCode "OK", even though the image was not
    // found.
    if ((response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK || 
        response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.Moved || 
        response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.Redirect) &&
        response.ContentType.StartsWith("image",StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
    {

        // if the remote file was found, download oit
        using (Stream inputStream = response.GetResponseStream())
        using (Stream outputStream = File.OpenWrite(fileName))
        {
            byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
            int bytesRead;
            do
            {
                bytesRead = inputStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
                outputStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
            } while (bytesRead != 0);
        }
    }
}

In brief, it makes a request for the file, verifies that the response code is one of OK, Moved or Redirect and also that the ContentType is an image. If those conditions are true, the file is downloaded.

Solution 2

I have used Fredrik's code above in a project with some slight modifications, thought I'd share:

private static bool DownloadRemoteImageFile(string uri, string fileName)
{
    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(uri);
    HttpWebResponse response;
    try
    {
        response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        return false;
    }

    // Check that the remote file was found. The ContentType
    // check is performed since a request for a non-existent
    // image file might be redirected to a 404-page, which would
    // yield the StatusCode "OK", even though the image was not
    // found.
    if ((response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK ||
        response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.Moved ||
        response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.Redirect) &&
        response.ContentType.StartsWith("image", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
    {

        // if the remote file was found, download it
        using (Stream inputStream = response.GetResponseStream())
        using (Stream outputStream = File.OpenWrite(fileName))
        {
            byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
            int bytesRead;
            do
            {
                bytesRead = inputStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
                outputStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
            } while (bytesRead != 0);
        }
        return true;
    }
    else
        return false;
}

Main changes are:

• using a try/catch for the GetResponse() as I was running into an exception when the remote file returned 404
• returning a boolean

Solution 3

Also possible to use DownloadData method

    private byte[] GetImage(string iconPath)
    {
        using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
        {
            byte[] pic = client.DownloadData(iconPath);
            //string checkPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments) +@"\1.png";
            //File.WriteAllBytes(checkPath, pic);
            return pic;
        }
    }

Comments

[Darin Dimitrov]

Don't forget to dispose the WebClient.

[Fredrik Mörk]

@Geetha: do you get an image if you try to navigate to the given URL in a web browser?

[Fredrik Mörk]

@Geetha: it sounds as if you would first want to check if the image exists, then download it. For that first step, check here: stackoverflow.com/questions/1379371/…

[Geeth]

It is taking too much of time and also downloading blank image. the line bitmap = new Bitmap(stream); shows error: Parameter is not valid

[bernhardrusch]

thank you - looks like well written code and works well in my application

[Johann]

"There is no need to involve any image classes". Actually there is a need if you're intention is download an image, manipulate it and simply display it. There is no need to store a file or even fill up a disk with images if there is no need to store the file.

[Alex Zhukovskiy]

Why return a boolean flag when you can throw an exception? It's always better until you have performance problems. SRP does not allow to have these methods.

[Nissa]

Perhaps you could explain this code, and why it works?