Deleting File which is displayed in picturebox

Question

I am selecting file from openfiledialoge and displaying it in picturebox and its name in textbox when I click on delete button I am getting exception The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. I searched a lot for this exception to get resolved but i didn't fine any of them working, when i tried closing file with imagename which is in textbox i.e the file i am displaying in picturebox ; using IsFileLocked method,this closes and deletes all files of particular directory path ,but how can I delete the only file shown in picturebox,where I am going wrong

     public partial class RemoveAds : Form
    {
        OpenFileDialog ofd = null;
        string path = @"C:\Users\Monika\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\OnlineExam\OnlineExam\Image\"; // this is the path that you are checking.

        public RemoveAds()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }


        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(path))
            {
                 ofd = new OpenFileDialog();
                ofd.InitialDirectory = path;
                DialogResult dr = new DialogResult();
                if (ofd.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
                {
                    Image img = new Bitmap(ofd.FileName);
                    string imgName = ofd.SafeFileName;
                    txtImageName.Text = imgName;
                    pictureBox1.Image = img.GetThumbnailImage(350, 350, null, new IntPtr());
                    ofd.RestoreDirectory = true;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                return;
            } 
        }
private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            //Image img = new Bitmap(ofd.FileName);
            string imgName = ofd.SafeFileName;  
             if (Directory.Exists(path))
             {

                 var directory = new DirectoryInfo(path);
                 foreach (FileInfo file in directory.GetFiles())
                 { if(!IsFileLocked(file))
                     file.Delete(); 
                 }
             }


        }
        public static Boolean IsFileLocked(FileInfo path)
        {
            FileStream stream = null;   
            try
            { //Don't change FileAccess to ReadWrite,
                //because if a file is in readOnly, it fails.
                stream = path.Open ( FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None ); 
            } 
            catch (IOException) 
            { //the file is unavailable because it is:
                //still being written to or being processed by another thread
                //or does not exist (has already been processed)
                return true;
            } 
            finally
            { 
                if (stream != null)
                    stream.Close();
            }   
            //file is not locked
            return false;
        }
    }

Thanks in advance for any help

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

The (previously) accepted answer to this question is very poor practice. If you read the documentation on System.Drawing.Bitmap, in particular for the overload that creates a bitmap from a file, you will find :

The file remains locked until the Bitmap is disposed.

in your code you create the bitmap and store it in a local variable but you never dispose of it when you are done. This means your image object has gone out of scope but has not released its lock on the image file you are trying to delete. For all objects that implement IDisposable (like Bitmap) you must dispose of them yourself. See this question for example (or search for others - this is a very important concept!).

To correct the problem properly you simply need to dispose of the image when you are done with it :

 if (ofd.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
 {
      Image img = new Bitmap(ofd.FileName);  // create the bitmap
      string imgName = ofd.SafeFileName;
      txtImageName.Text = imgName;
      pictureBox1.Image = img.GetThumbnailImage(350, 350, null, new IntPtr());
      ofd.RestoreDirectory = true;
      img.Dispose();  // dispose the bitmap object
 }

Please do not take the advice in the answer below - you should nearly never need to call GC.Collect and if you need to do it to make things work it should be a very strong signal that you are doing something else wrong.

Also, if you only want to delete the one file (the bitmap you have displayed) your deletion code is wrong and will delete every file in the directory as well (this is just repeating Adel's point). Further, rather than keep a global OpenFileDialog object alive simply to store the file name, I would suggest getting rid of that and saving just the file info :

FileInfo imageFileinfo;           //add this
//OpenFileDialog ofd = null;      Get rid of this

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
     if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(path))
     {
         OpenFileDialog ofd = new OpenFileDialog();  //make ofd local
         ofd.InitialDirectory = path;
         DialogResult dr = new DialogResult();
         if (ofd.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
         {
              Image img = new Bitmap(ofd.FileName);
              imageFileinfo = new FileInfo(ofd.FileName);  // save the file name
              string imgName = ofd.SafeFileName;
              txtImageName.Text = imgName;
              pictureBox1.Image = img.GetThumbnailImage(350, 350, null, new IntPtr());
              ofd.RestoreDirectory = true;
              img.Dispose();
         }
         ofd.Dispose();  //don't forget to dispose it!
     }
     else
     {
         return;
     }
 }

Then in your second button handler you can just delete the one file you are interested in.

        private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {                
           if (!IsFileLocked(imageFileinfo))
            {                 
                imageFileinfo.Delete();
            }
        }

I am saving image using another form ,so is it neccessary to dispose image after saving also or only at the time of retreiving and deleting it ? — Durga, Aug 07 '13 at 14:31
@Durga I don't understand what you mean. If you have another question, posting another question is the best option - show the code you are talking about there. In this case (above) the local variable `img` is being disposed - the instance of the `Bitmap` object, not the file it was created from. You don't use it later because it is a local variable and it goes out of scope. — J..., Aug 07 '13 at 14:37
I got it what you explained ,It is very clean answer and neatly explained ,got exactly how I shold do it in correct way Thank you so much — Durga, Aug 07 '13 at 14:42
@Durga reading your comment again, perhaps you are asking about when you have to dispose of a `Bitmap` object - the answer is *always*, any time you use it (or anything that implements `IDisposable`). You should always dispose of disposable objects when you are done with them. — J..., Aug 07 '13 at 15:08

Jack Griffin · Answer 2 · 2018-06-03T11:31:53.237

I had the same problem : I loaded a file in a PictureBox and when trying to delete it I got the same exception.
This occurred only when the image was displayed.
I tried them all :

picSelectedPicture.Image.Dispose();
picSelectedPicture.Image = null;
picSelectedPicture.ImageLocation = null;

and still got the same exception.
Then I found this on CodeProject : [c#] delete image which is opened in picturebox.
Instead of using PictureBox.Load() it creates an Image from the file and sets it as PictureBox.Image:

...
// Create image from file and display it in the PictureBox
Image image = GetCopyImage(imagePath);
picSelectedPicture.Image = image;
...  

private Image GetCopyImage(string path) {
    using (Image image = Image.FromFile(path)) {
        Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap(image);
        return bitmap;
    }
}

No more exceptions when I delete the file.
IMHO, this is the most suitable solution.

EDIT
I forgot to mention that you can safely delete the file immediately after display :

...
// Create image from file and display it in the PictureBox
Image image = GetCopyImage(imagePath);
picSelectedPicture.Image = image;
System.IO.File.Delete(imagePath);
...

Azad Chouhan · Answer 3 · 2013-08-02T05:51:49.243

0

use this code

string imgName = ofd.SafeFileName;
            if (Directory.Exists(path))
            {

                var directory = new DirectoryInfo(path);
                foreach (FileInfo file in directory.GetFiles())
                {
                    GC.Collect();
                    GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
                        file.Delete();
                }
            }

edited Aug 02 '13 at 05:51

answered Aug 02 '13 at 05:25

Azad Chouhan

79
1
1
11

I tried closing it using this `IsFileLocked(FileInfo path)` but it is not working ,can you suggest any other way with which i can close it – Durga Aug 02 '13 at 05:28
Try This Add these Lines In your code GC.Collect(); GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers(); – Azad Chouhan Aug 02 '13 at 05:31
after which line should i add this in my code ,so that it will work – Durga Aug 02 '13 at 05:35
Yes it is deleting file now ,and by combining this to `Adel Khayata's` answer ;file in picturebox is getting deleted ,thank you so much – Durga Aug 02 '13 at 06:06
This answer is terrible practice - please never write code like this. – J... Aug 07 '13 at 12:53

Adel Khayata · Answer 4 · 2013-08-02T05:55:45.223

Your button2_Click event handler is cycling through all the files inside your directory & doing the deletes.

You need to change your code like the following:

 public partial class RemoveAds : Form
{
    OpenFileDialog ofd = null;
    string path = @"C:\Users\Monika\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\OnlineExam\OnlineExam\Image\"; // this is the path that you are checking.
    string fullFilePath;

    public RemoveAds()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }


    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(path))
        {
             ofd = new OpenFileDialog();
            ofd.InitialDirectory = path;
            DialogResult dr = new DialogResult();
            if (ofd.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
            {
                Image img = new Bitmap(ofd.FileName);
                string imgName = ofd.SafeFileName;
                txtImageName.Text = imgName;
                pictureBox1.Image = img.GetThumbnailImage(350, 350, null, new IntPtr());
                fullFilePath = ofd.FilePath;
                ofd.RestoreDirectory = true;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            return;
        } 
    }

    private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
             FileInfo file = new FileInfo(fullFilePath);

             if(!IsFileLocked(file))
                 file.Delete(); 
         }


    }

    public static Boolean IsFileLocked(FileInfo path)
    {
        FileStream stream = null;   
        try
        { //Don't change FileAccess to ReadWrite,
            //because if a file is in readOnly, it fails.
            stream = path.Open ( FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None ); 
        } 
        catch (IOException) 
        { //the file is unavailable because it is:
            //still being written to or being processed by another thread
            //or does not exist (has already been processed)
            return true;
        } 
        finally
        { 
            if (stream != null)
                stream.Close();
        }   
        //file is not locked
        return false;
    }
}

yes It is checking for the file which is in picturebox but still it is not getting deleted — Durga, Aug 02 '13 at 05:46
There was some mistypes in my code, please check my code again. — Adel Khayata, Aug 02 '13 at 05:56

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 29 '13 at 10:03

By using GetThumnailImage you have to specify the width and height which is static. Use the Load method instead. eg: pictureBox1.Load(Path to the image); by using this u will have no problem in deleting the image or the folder before closing the app. no other methods need to be created. hope this helps

Deleting File which is displayed in picturebox

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