ASP.NET MVC custom ActionResult (ImageResult)

The ASP.NET MVC framework introduces the concept of returning an ActionResult in Controllers since the "preview preview" release on CodePlex. The purpose of this concept is to return a generic ActionResult object for each Controller method, allowing different child classes returning different results.

An example ActionResult (built-in) is the RenderViewResult. Whenever you want to render a view, you can simply return an object of this class which will render a specific view in its ExecuteResult method. Another example is the HttpRedirectResult which will output an HTTP header (Location: /SomethingElse.aspx).

In my opinion, this is a great concept, because it allows you to develop ASP.NET MVC applications more transparently. In this blog post, I will build a custom ActionResult class which will render an image to the HTTP response stream.

As an example, let's create a page which displays the current time as an image.

One option for implementing this would be creating an ASP.NET HttpHandler which renders this image and can be used inline with a simple HTML tag: <img src="DisplayTime.ashx" />

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to do something more ASP.NET MVC-like? Let's consider the following: <%=Html.Image<HomeController>(c => c.DisplayTime(), 200, 50, "Current time")%>

1. Creating the necessary HtmlHelper extension methods

The above example code is not available in standard ASP.NET MVC source code. We'll need an extension method for this, which will map a specific controller action, width, height and alternate text to a standard HTML image tag:

[code:c#]

public static class ImageResultHelper
{
    public static string Image<T>(this HtmlHelper helper, Expression<Action<T>> action, int width, int height)
        where T : Controller
    {
        return ImageResultHelper.Image<T>(helper, action, width, height, "");
    }

    public static string Image<T>(this HtmlHelper helper, Expression<Action<T>> action, int width, int height, string alt)
        where T : Controller
    {
        string url = helper.BuildUrlFromExpression<T>(action);
        return string.Format("<img src=\"{0}\" width=\"{1}\" height=\"{2}\" alt=\"{3}\" />", url, width, height, alt);
    }
} 

[/code]

2. The custom ActionResult class

Our new ImageResult class will inherit the abstract class ActionResult and implement its ExecuteResult method. This method basically performs communication over the HTTP response stream.

[code:c#]

public class ImageResult : ActionResult
{
    public ImageResult() { }

    public Image Image { get; set; }
    public ImageFormat ImageFormat { get; set; }

    public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
    {
        // verify properties
        if (Image == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("Image");
        }
        if (ImageFormat == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("ImageFormat");
        }

        // output
        context.HttpContext.Response.Clear();

        if (ImageFormat.Equals(ImageFormat.Bmp)) context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "image/bmp";
        if (ImageFormat.Equals(ImageFormat.Gif)) context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "image/gif";
        if (ImageFormat.Equals(ImageFormat.Icon)) context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "image/vnd.microsoft.icon";
        if (ImageFormat.Equals(ImageFormat.Jpeg)) context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "image/jpeg";
        if (ImageFormat.Equals(ImageFormat.Png)) context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "image/png";
        if (ImageFormat.Equals(ImageFormat.Tiff)) context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "image/tiff";
        if (ImageFormat.Equals(ImageFormat.Wmf)) context.HttpContext.Response.ContentType = "image/wmf";

        Image.Save(context.HttpContext.Response.OutputStream, ImageFormat);
    }
}

[/code]

3. A "DisplayTime" action on the HomeController

We'll add a DisplayTime action on the HomeController class, which will return an instance of the newly created class ImageResult:

[code:c#]

public ActionResult DisplayTime()
{
    Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(200, 50);
    Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp);

    g.FillRectangle(Brushes.White, 0, 0, 200, 50);
    g.DrawString(DateTime.Now.ToShortTimeString(), new Font("Arial", 32), Brushes.Red, new PointF(0, 0));

    return new ImageResult { Image = bmp, ImageFormat = ImageFormat.Jpeg };
}

[/code]

And just to be complete, here's the markup of the index view on the HomeController:

[code:c#]

<%@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Index.aspx.cs" Inherits="MvcApplication1.Views.Home.Index" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="MvcApplication1.Code" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="MvcApplication1.Controllers" %>

<asp:Content ID="indexContent" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server">
    <p>
        <%=Html.Image<HomeController>(c => c.DisplayTime(), 200, 50, "Current time")%>
    </p>
</asp:Content>

[/code]

Want the source code? Download it here! You can use it with the current ASP.NET MVC framework source code drop.

This is an imported post. It was imported from my old blog using an automated tool and may contain formatting errors and/or broken images.