.NET PictureBox - how to be sure that the resource is released

Question

I have an OpenFileDialog and PictureBox in user control. To understand the problem better I'll explain in few words how this user control works. The user can select an image to be opened for the form. The name of this image is saved in a DataBase and the file for the image is copied in a default location. When there is some image saved in the database it is load in the picturebox when the form with the picturebox control is loaded. If the user select another image and want to save the form with the new image I have a method that takes care to delete the old image file from my default location and that is where the problem occurs.

When I have loaded image and try to save new one, sometimes (very rare in fact) I get an error that The resource is being used by another process.. I can paste the exact error if needed. I think that the problem is caused from the picturebox and the way it deals with images.

Here is my code:

if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
            {
                try
                {
                    if (MyImage != null)
                    {
                        MyImage.Dispose();

                    }
                    selectedFile = openFileDialog1.FileName;
                    selectedFileName = openFileDialog1.SafeFileName;

                    MyImage = new Bitmap(openFileDialog1.FileName);
                    pictureBox1.Image = (Image)MyImage;

                    int imageWidth = pictureBox1.Image.Width;
                    int picBoxWidth = pictureBox1.Width;

                    if (imageWidth != 0 && picBoxWidth > imageWidth)
                    {
                        pictureBox1.Width = imageWidth;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        pictureBox1.Width = defaultPicBoxWidth;
                    }
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    logger.Error(ex.ToString());
                    MessageBox.Show("Error loading image!", "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
                }

and my delete method:

public void DeleteImage(AppConfig imageInfo, string imageName)
        {
            string imgPath = imageInfo.ConfigValue.ToString();
            try
            {
                File.Delete(imgPath + "\\" + imageName);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString());
            }
        }

I thought that :

if (MyImage != null)
                        {
                            MyImage.Dispose();

                        }

will deal with this problem but still sometimes it occurs. And because it's not everytime it's even more critical to deal with it because at some point I may decide that I have solved it but in fact to be just lucky for some time.

Answer 1

    MyImage = new Bitmap(openFileDialog1.FileName);
    pictureBox1.Image = (Image)MyImage;

Yes, that code puts a lock on the file. The lock is produced by a memory mapped file object that GDI+ creates to efficiently map the pixel data of the file into memory without having to allocate space in the paging file. You will not be able to delete the file as long as the image is displayed in the picture box and not disposed, the lock prevents that. You will have to dispose the image and set the Image property back to null before you can delete the file.

You can prevent the file from getting locked by making an in-memory copy of the image:

    using (var temp = new Bitmap(openFileDialog1.FileName)) {
        pictureBox1.Image = new Bitmap(temp);
    }

It is not as efficient of course, to be avoided if the image is large. And do beware that another process may in fact have a similar lock on the file. Nothing you can do about that.