Is there a recommended way to return an image using ASP.NET Web API

by

You shouldn’t return a System.Drawing.Image, unless you also add a formatter which knows how to convert that into the appropriate bytes doesn’t serialize itself as the image bytes as you’d expect.

One possible solution is to return an HttpResponseMessage with the image stored in its content (as shown below). Remember that if you want the URL you showed in the question, you’d need a route that maps the {imageName}, {width} and {height} parameters.

public HttpResponseMessage Get(string imageName, int width, int height)
{
    Image img = GetImage(imageName, width, height);
    using(MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
    {
        img.Save(ms, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);

        HttpResponseMessage result = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK);
        result.Content = new ByteArrayContent(ms.ToArray());
        result.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("image/png");

        return result;
    }
}

But again, if you are doing this in many places, going the formatter route may be the “recommended” way. As almost everything in programming, the answer will depend on your scenario.

More Related Contents:

  1. Returning binary file from controller in ASP.NET Web API
  2. ASP.NET Web API – PUT & DELETE Verbs Not Allowed – IIS 8
  3. Accessing Session Using ASP.NET Web API
  4. Asp.NET Web API – 405 – HTTP verb used to access this page is not allowed – how to set handler mappings
  5. How to support HTTP OPTIONS verb in ASP.NET MVC/WebAPI application
  6. bytearray to image asp.net
  7. ASP.NET Web API OperationCanceledException when browser cancels the request
  8. Could not load file or assembly ‘System.Net.Http, Version=2.0.0.0 in MVC4 Web API
  9. CORS support for PUT and DELETE with ASP.NET Web API
  10. Get Image dimensions using Javascript during file upload
  11. Is there a way to force ASP.NET Web API to return plain text?
  12. ASP.NET Web API 2: How do I log in with external authentication services?
  13. Custom Authorization in Asp.net WebApi – what a mess?
  14. Can I incorporate both SignalR and a RESTful API?
  15. How to Customize ASP.NET Web API AuthorizeAttribute for Unusual Requirements
  16. How to get POST data in WebAPI?
  17. Force CamelCase on ASP.NET WebAPI Per Controller
  18. Display image from database in ASP.net with C#
  19. How to return raw string with ApiController?
  20. ASP.NET Image uploading with Resizing
  21. Web Api Parameter always null
  22. How to bind a MemoryStream to asp:image control?
  23. Web API Queryable – how to apply AutoMapper?
  24. Is there a default verb applied to a Web API ApiController method?
  25. Images that are in App_Data folder not shown in browser
  26. What’s the best way to display an image from a sql server database in asp.net?
  27. User Authentication in ASP.NET Web API
  28. All requests to ASP.NET Web API return 404 error
  29. Is there a way to handle form post data in a Web Api controller?
  30. call aspx page to return an image randomly slow

Leave a Comment