C# ImageFormat to string

Question

How can I obtain human readable string(i.e. image format itself) from System.Drawing.ImageFormat object?

I mean if I have ImageF

Answer 1

ImageFormat values are identified by Guid you need to create your own map of Guid -> Name

var dict = (
    from t in typeof(ImageFormat).GetProperties()
    where t.PropertyType == typeof(ImageFormat)
    let v = (ImageFormat)t.GetValue(null, new object[0])
    select new { v.Guid, t.Name }
    ).ToDictionary(g => g.Guid, g => g.Name);

string name;
if (dict.TryGetValue(ImageFormat.Png.Guid, out name))
{
    Console.WriteLine(name);
}

Answer 2

Use the ImageFormatConverter class from the System.Drawing namespace:

this.imageInfoLabel.Text = 
    new ImageFormatConverter().ConvertToString(this.Image.RawFormat);

For a PNG image it returns Png, and so on.

Answer 3

There are not so many Image formats. So you can use a switch in case you want to specify your descriptions yourself or just use the

Imageformat.Specific.ToString()

(specific is the name of the specific image format)

Answer 4

ImageFormat.Png.ToString() returns "Png"...

EDIT: OK, it seems ToString returns the name only for ImageFormat instances returned by the static properties...

You could create a lookup dictionary to get the name from the Guid:

private static readonly Dictionary<Guid, string> _knownImageFormats =
            (from p in typeof(ImageFormat).GetProperties(BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.Public)
             where p.PropertyType == typeof(ImageFormat)
             let value = (ImageFormat)p.GetValue(null, null)
             select new { Guid = value.Guid, Name = value.ToString() })
            .ToDictionary(p => p.Guid, p => p.Name);

static string GetImageFormatName(ImageFormat format)
{
    string name;
    if (_knownImageFormats.TryGetValue(format.Guid, out name))
        return name;
    return null;
}