How to display raw data as an image (Visual Studio

Question

I will be receiving some raw data that will be stored in a byte array, where each 2 bytes is a pixel value (16 bits/px). To start with, the array will contain 100x100*2 bytes (enough for a 100x100 pixel image). I would like to display this data in the Form window. Eventually, I would like to refresh the image with the new data to make it look like a video stream. No strict frame rate is required. How can this be done? Any code examples in C#?

EDIT: After some suggestions and reviews of tens of similar questions I still can not get this going. Here's the general idea of what I am trying to do, but the image is not displayed in the picture box on the form. What is specifically wrong with my implementation and how to fix it?

// array of data I collected
byte[] dataArray = new byte[100 * 100 * 2]; 
//create a pointer to the data
IntPtr hglobal = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(100 * 100 * 2);

// copy my array to global
Marshal.Copy(dataArray, 0, hglobal, dataArray.Length);
// create a bitmap: 100x100 pixels, 2bytes/pixel, 16bitgrayscale
Bitmap newBitmap = new Bitmap(100, 100, 2 * 100, PixelFormat.Format16bppGrayScale, hglobal);

// display bitmap
pictureBox1.Image = newBitmap;

// free the memory
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(hglobal);

Answer 1

Use this Bitmap constructor:

public Bitmap(
    int width,
    int height,
    int stride,
    PixelFormat format,
    IntPtr scan0
)

You pass it the shape of your bitmap, the stride (how many bytes per line, including padding), pixel format and the pixel data as a void * pointer. You can create the latter with Marshal.AllocHGlobal and fill it in as normal with pointer operations. Don't forget to free this memory after you create your bitmap.

Edit to account for updated question:

Simply call IntPtr.ToPointer() to get back a pointer. If you're familiar with C, the rest should be cake:

var p=(char *)hglobal.ToPointer();  // bad name by the way, it's not a handle, it's a pointer
p[0]=0;                             // access it like any normal pointer

However, you can use the Marshaller to copy memory for you from managed to unmanaged (getting your hands dirty is usually frowned upon in C#):

Marshal.Copy(dataArray, 0, hglobal, dataArray.Length); // again, terrible name

A Bitmap is an Image (as in, it derives from it), however you're using Graphics.DrawImage() wrong. As the error says, it's not a static method, you draw it to a specific graphic context. Now what that graphic context is, that's up to you:

• If you want to paint it in response to WM_PAINT, use the Paint event -- it provides you with a special Graphics object set up with clipping and everything as instructed by the windowing system.
• If you want to paint it on a bitmap to be later displayed somehow (the common use, also called double buffering), use Graphics.FromImage() on the source bitmap then draw your bitmap over it.

You can (and should) delete your virtual memory buffer as soon as you get the result back from the Bitmap constructor. Don't leak memory, use a try..finally construct.

Answer 2

The main problem is that PixelFormat.Format16bppGrayScale is not supported (at least on my Win 8.1 x64 system). So you have to convert image to rgb before displaying:

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //Create pixel data to put in image, use 2 since it is 16bpp
    Random r = new Random();
    int width = 100;
    int height = 100;
    byte[] pixelValues = new byte[width * height * 2];
    for (int i = 0; i < pixelValues.Length; ++i)
    {
        // Just creating random pixel values for test
        pixelValues[i] = (byte)r.Next(0, 256);
    }

    var rgbData = Convert16BitGrayScaleToRgb48(pixelValues, width, height);
    var bmp = CreateBitmapFromBytes(rgbData, width, height);

    // display bitmap
    pictureBox1.Image = bmp;
}

private static byte[] Convert16BitGrayScaleToRgb48(byte[] inBuffer, int width, int height)
{
    int inBytesPerPixel = 2;
    int outBytesPerPixel = 6;

    byte[] outBuffer = new byte[width * height * outBytesPerPixel];
    int inStride = width * inBytesPerPixel;
    int outStride = width * outBytesPerPixel;

    // Step through the image by row
    for (int y = 0; y < height; y++)
    {
        // Step through the image by column
        for (int x = 0; x < width; x++)
        {
            // Get inbuffer index and outbuffer index
            int inIndex = (y * inStride) + (x * inBytesPerPixel);
            int outIndex = (y * outStride) + (x * outBytesPerPixel);

            byte hibyte = inBuffer[inIndex + 1];
            byte lobyte = inBuffer[inIndex];

            //R
            outBuffer[outIndex] = lobyte;
            outBuffer[outIndex + 1] = hibyte;

            //G
            outBuffer[outIndex + 2] = lobyte;
            outBuffer[outIndex + 3] = hibyte;

            //B
            outBuffer[outIndex + 4] = lobyte;
            outBuffer[outIndex + 5] = hibyte;
        }
    }
    return outBuffer;
}

private static Bitmap CreateBitmapFromBytes(byte[] pixelValues, int width, int height)
{
    //Create an image that will hold the image data
    Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(width, height, PixelFormat.Format48bppRgb);

    //Get a reference to the images pixel data
    Rectangle dimension = new Rectangle(0, 0, bmp.Width, bmp.Height);
    BitmapData picData = bmp.LockBits(dimension, ImageLockMode.ReadWrite, bmp.PixelFormat);
    IntPtr pixelStartAddress = picData.Scan0;

    //Copy the pixel data into the bitmap structure
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.Copy(pixelValues, 0, pixelStartAddress, pixelValues.Length);

    bmp.UnlockBits(picData);
    return bmp;
}

Idea was taken from this thread.