Keeping MemoryStream open or clone image

Question

I'm reading images from a database. I read the binary / blob for a field, and I convert it to an image like this:

Public Function BytesToImage(ByVal ByteArr() As Byte) As Image

    If ByteArr.Length < 1 Then
        Return Nothing
    End If

    Dim ImageStream As MemoryStream  'Needs to stay open for the image's life-time

    Dim nImage As Image = Nothing

    Try
        ImageStream = New MemoryStream(ByteArr)
        nImage = Image.FromStream(ImageStream, True)
    Catch ex As Exception
        nImage = Nothing
    End Try

    Return nImage

End Function

I can't use "Using nImageStream As New MemoryStream(ByteArr)" because the image goes "dead" after some time. According to the documentation, MemoryStream needs to stay open for the image's lifetime.

Now I would like to know what's actually the best. Should I not care about the MemoryStream and just accept that it's there and still open "in the background", or should I rather clone the image and close the memorystream?

Answer 1

According to JonSkeet in this question, you don't need to worry about keeping a reference around.

Since you've already got a Try/Catch in your code, boil it down to:

Public Function BytesToImage(ByVal ByteArr() As Byte) As Image
    Try
        Return Image.FromStream(New MemoryStream(ByteArr), True)
    Catch ex As Exception
        Return Nothing
    End Try
End Function