Question

I am referencing an ashx file to show an image which is generated at runtime:

<img alt="" style="height: 200px; width: 450px;" 
   id="Img1" src="<%= Url.Content ("~/Helpers/GetImage.ashx?side=Front") %>" />

Below is the code that creates the image. But I’m concerned that this is not the right approach; should I instead use a controller that returns an ImageResult?

if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(context.Request.Params["side"]))
{

    string ImageType = string.Empty;
    if (context.Request.Params["side"].Equals("Front"))
    { 
        ImageType="FrontJpegBase64";
    }
    else
    {
        ImageType = "BackJpegBase64";
    }

    Log.Info(context.Session["FrontBase64"].ToString());
    byte[] imageByteArray = System.Convert.FromBase64String(context.Session[ImageType].ToString());
    System.IO.MemoryStream imageMemoryStream = new System.IO.MemoryStream(imageByteArray);
    try
    {
        using (System.Drawing.Image img = System.Drawing.Image.FromStream(imageMemoryStream))
        {
            img.Save(context.Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg);
        }
    }
    catch (System.Exception ex)
    {
        Log.Error(ex, ": ConvertBytesToImage {0} ");
    }
    finally
    {
        imageMemoryStream.Close();
        context.Response.Flush();
    }
}

Answer 1

ashx is 7.23 times faster than using controller actions.