Can an ASP.NET MVC controller return an Image?

Question

Can I create a Controller that simply returns an image asset?

I would like to route this logic through a controller, whenever a URL such as the following is requeste

Answer 1

Look at ContentResult. This returns a string, but can be used to make your own BinaryResult-like class.

Answer 2

I see two options:

1) Implement your own IViewEngine and set the ViewEngine property of the Controller you are using to your ImageViewEngine in your desired "image" method.

2) Use a view :-). Just change the content type etc.

Answer 3

You can write directly to the response but then it isn't testable. It is preferred to return an ActionResult that has deferred execution. Here is my resusable StreamResult:

public class StreamResult : ViewResult
{
    public Stream Stream { get; set; }
    public string ContentType { get; set; }
    public string ETag { get; set; }

    public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
    {
        context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = ContentType;
        if (ETag != null) context.HttpContext.Response.AddHeader("ETag", ETag);
        const int size = 4096;
        byte[] bytes = new byte[size];
        int numBytes;
        while ((numBytes = Stream.Read(bytes, 0, size)) > 0)
            context.HttpContext.Response.OutputStream.Write(bytes, 0, numBytes);
    }
}

Answer 4

Below code utilizes System.Drawing.Bitmap to load the image.

using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;

public IActionResult Get()
{
    string filename = "Image/test.jpg";
    var bitmap = new Bitmap(filename);

    var ms = new System.IO.MemoryStream();
    bitmap.Save(ms, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
    ms.Position = 0;
    return new FileStreamResult(ms, "image/jpeg");
}

Answer 5

Yes you can return Image

public ActionResult GetImage(string imageFileName)
{
    var path = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("/Images"), imageFileName + ".jpg"); 
    return base.File(path, "image/jpeg");
}

(Please don't forget to mark this as answer)

Answer 6

This might be helpful if you'd like to modify the image before returning it:

public ActionResult GetModifiedImage()
{
    Image image = Image.FromFile(Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("/Content/images"), "image.png"));

    using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(image))
    {
        // do something with the Graphics (eg. write "Hello World!")
        string text = "Hello World!";

        // Create font and brush.
        Font drawFont = new Font("Arial", 10);
        SolidBrush drawBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.Black);

        // Create point for upper-left corner of drawing.
        PointF stringPoint = new PointF(0, 0);

        g.DrawString(text, drawFont, drawBrush, stringPoint);
    }

    MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();

    image.Save(ms, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);

    return File(ms.ToArray(), "image/png");
}