Crop image and save it in database using vb.net - vb.net

Question

I'm following a tutorial on Image Cropping with resizing using vb.net . Everything works well, But instead of saving it
on the hard disk. I want to save it on my database(SQLServer).
This is the code of saving on a disk
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cropSaveBtn.Click
Dim tempFileName As String
Dim svdlg As New SaveFileDialog()
svdlg.Filter = "JPEG files (*.jpg)|*.jpg|All files (*.*)|*.*"
svdlg.FilterIndex = 1
svdlg.RestoreDirectory = True
If svdlg.ShowDialog() = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
tempFileName = svdlg.FileName 'check the file exist else save the cropped image
Try
Dim img As Image = PreviewPictureBox.Image
SavePhoto(img, tempFileName, 225)
Catch exc As Exception
MsgBox("Error on Saving: " & exc.Message)
End Try
End If
End Sub
Public Function SavePhoto(ByVal src As Image, ByVal dest As String, ByVal w As Integer) As Boolean
Try
Dim imgTmp As System.Drawing.Image
Dim imgFoto As System.Drawing.Bitmap
imgTmp = src
imgFoto = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(w, 225)
Dim recDest As New Rectangle(0, 0, w, imgFoto.Height)
Dim gphCrop As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(imgFoto)
gphCrop.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.HighQuality
gphCrop.CompositingQuality = CompositingQuality.HighQuality
gphCrop.InterpolationMode = InterpolationMode.High
gphCrop.DrawImage(imgTmp, recDest, 0, 0, imgTmp.Width, imgTmp.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
Dim myEncoder As System.Drawing.Imaging.Encoder
Dim myEncoderParameter As System.Drawing.Imaging.EncoderParameter
Dim myEncoderParameters As System.Drawing.Imaging.EncoderParameters
Dim arrayICI() As System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageCodecInfo = System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageCodecInfo.GetImageEncoders()
Dim jpegICI As System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageCodecInfo = Nothing
Dim x As Integer = 0
For x = 0 To arrayICI.Length - 1
If (arrayICI(x).FormatDescription.Equals("JPEG")) Then
jpegICI = arrayICI(x)
Exit For
End If
Next
myEncoder = System.Drawing.Imaging.Encoder.Quality
myEncoderParameters = New System.Drawing.Imaging.EncoderParameters(1)
myEncoderParameter = New System.Drawing.Imaging.EncoderParameter(myEncoder, 60L)
myEncoderParameters.Param(0) = myEncoderParameter
imgFoto.Save(dest, jpegICI, myEncoderParameters)
imgFoto.Dispose()
imgTmp.Dispose()
Catch ex As Exception
End Try
End Function
I want it to save the picture to SQL Server 2008 (Image data type) together with my two data just like this
Using cmd As New SqlClient.SqlCommand("dbo.uspAdd", cn)
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure
cmd.Parameters.Add("#firstname", SqlDbType.VarChar, 100).Value = txtName.Text
cmd.Parameters.Add("#lastName", SqlDbType.VarChar, 100).Value = txtSurname.Text
'add insert picture code here
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
MsgBox("Save Record New record Successfully")
End Using
And now i'm stuck for almost 8 hours finding ways on how to fix this.Can anyone help me to solve this. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

I would suggest converting the image to Base64 and then storing it as a string.
Then when you want to get the image back you need to convert it back from Base64 to an image.
You can convert an image to Base64 using this code:
Public Function ConvertImageToBase64(ByRef img As Image, ByVal format As System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat) As String
Dim ImgStream As MemoryStream = New MemoryStream()
img.Save(ImgStream, format)
ImgStream.Close()
Dim ByteArray() As Byte = ImgStream.ToArray()
ImgStream.Dispose()
Return Convert.ToBase64String(ByteArray)
End Function
(http://www.dailycoding.com/posts/convert_image_to_base64_string_and_base64_string_to_image.aspx)
And to convert it back to an image you can use this code:
Public Function ConvertBase64ToImage(ByVal base64 As String) As Image
Dim img As System.Drawing.Image
Dim MS As System.IO.MemoryStream = New System.IO.MemoryStream
Dim b64 As String = base64.Replace(" ", "+")
Dim b() As Byte
b = Convert.FromBase64String(b64)
MS = New System.IO.MemoryStream(b)
img = System.Drawing.Image.FromStream(MS)
Return img
End Function
(http://snipplr.com/view/27514/vbnet-base64-to-image/)
Now you can basically add the image as a string, like this:
Dim Base64Bitmap As String = ConvertImageToBase64(img, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png)
cmd.Parameters.Add("#Image", SqlDbType.VarChar, Base64Bitmap.Length).Value = Base64Bitmap