VS 2012: Failed to create a 'ImageSource' from the text - wpf

Question

I am declaring an image within my resource dictionary and then displaying in a user control as follows:
ResourceDictionary.xaml (I am using a style here as I plan to update the image as the user changes what they look at, i.e., company, employee, etc.)
<ImageSource x:Key="CompanyIcon">Images/company_128.png</ImageSource>
<Style x:Key="QuickInfoIcon" TargetType="{x:Type Image}">
<!-- Default Value -->
<Setter Property="Source" Value="{StaticResource CompanyIcon}" />
</Style>
The 'Images' folder is a subfolder of 'Assests'. The 'Assests' folder contains my 'ResourceDictionary.xaml' file and I know the path is correct as I get a designer error if I change the path to something like '../Images/company_128.png'
QuickinfoView.xaml
<UserControl x:Class="SidekickAdmin.Views.QuickInfoView"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="500" Height="100"
Background="BlanchedAlmond">
<!-- Setup a grid to house the icon and the info -->
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="100" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid Grid.Column="0" Name="InfoIcon">
<Image Style="{StaticResource QuickInfoIcon}" Height="50" Width="50"/>
</Grid>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
When viewing the layout in Visual Studio 2012 designer, everything appears correctly but when I run the program I get an error of "XamlParseException occurred: Failed to create a 'ImageSource' from the text 'Images/employee_128.png'." on the ResourceDictionary line with ImageSource.
If I change ImageSource to use a different image it updates as expected within VS2012 designer but then get the same error when trying to run the program.
I have set the Build Action to 'Embedded Resource' on the Resource.resx file but this hasn't fixed the issue.
Any idea on why I am getting the XamlParseException when I try to run this program?
As a side question, when I incorporate images in my program should the image itself (the file) be visible in the bin/debug folder somewhere or is this information hidden with one of the files in bin/debug?

Answer 1

I had the same issue.
You may have a try for what fixed my issue.
Add the file into your project within the Solution Explorer.
I recommend to add folders too dependend on the relative path of your file to the project file.
Then go to:
BUILD -> clean Solution
Finish.

Answer 2

I, too, ran afoul of this issue. Not a single suggested provided by this or any community, most of which were verbatim statements about PACK uri's and other approaches solved the problem. Sadly, for all the enthusiasm people show in answering, most of them haven't a clue on how to fix it.
Setup: 1 solution, 2 projects.
Project 1 was a class library containing resource dictionary containing a list of BitMapSource entries pointing to the local relative path to the images contained below itself.
Example:
<BitmapSource x:Key="RedoImage">Images/Redo.png</BitmapSource>
Project 2 was a WPF application which referenced that class library and which used the MergedDictionary to load the dictionary from the other assembly:
<Application.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
<ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/WPFResourceLibrary;component/Resources/images.xaml"/>
</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>
In a form in the WPF Application project, I dropped a simple IMAGE control on the form. Under it's source property I could select, under LocalResources, from the list of BitMapSources (by key) from my images.xaml resource dictionary. Making a selection, the image would appear (as expected).
But lo and behold, upon running the application, I would get the dreaded "Failed to create image source from the text ..." message. I fiddled about trying all of the many suggestions, each with no success. Always either the same error, or, no error, but no image, at run time.
Fed up, I produced my own custom control. I chose to NOT override the image source property, so we might use that where appropriate, but extended it by adding a dependency property called ResourceName. This control looks through all of the BitMapSources and ImageSources recorded and available within the current app domain. Bingo, it works.
The code:
<Image x:Class="WPFResourceLibrary.Controls.ImageFromResource"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
>
</Image>
And the Code Behind for it.
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
namespace WPFResourceLibrary.Controls
{
/// <summary>
/// ImageFromResource - an extension of the standard Image control that properly handles binding Resource to an Image from a Resource
/// </summary>
public partial class ImageFromResource : Image
{
public ImageFromResource()
{
InitializeComponent();
DependencyPropertyDescriptor imageDescriptor = DependencyPropertyDescriptor.FromProperty(ImageFromResource.ResourceNameProperty, typeof(ImageFromResource));
if (imageDescriptor != null)
{
imageDescriptor.AddValueChanged(this, delegate { SetImage(); });
}
}
public static DependencyProperty ResourceNameProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("ResourceName", typeof(ImageSource), typeof(ImageFromResource), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(null, FrameworkPropertyMetadataOptions.BindsTwoWayByDefault));
[Description("Resource String of the Target Image."), Category("Appearance")]
public ImageSource ResourceName
{
get { return (ImageSource)GetValue(ResourceNameProperty); }
set
{
SetValue(ResourceNameProperty, value);
}
}
private void SetImage()
{
if(ResourceName != null)
this.Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri(ResourceName.ToString()));
}
}
}
Thus, providing the functionality expected of the standard image, without the issues arising.
Note, this was performed in Visual Studio 2012 with SP3.
Paul