Update/refresh/reload Image/picture (.jpg) in PictureBox every 5 minutes

Question

Hi Guys!
I have a wuestion about, how to Update/refresh/reload Image/picture (.jpg) in PictureBox every 5 minutes?
I mean that every 5 minutes a picture is reloaded in a PictureBox control!
What shall I do?
Please help me!

Answer 1

Add a timer object to your form with its timeout property set to 300000(5 minutes) and double click on it.
In the newly created tick handler add your code for loading the image in the picture box. The code will be called once every 5 minutes.

Regards

Answer 2

In the newly created tick handler add your code for loading the image in the picture box. The code will be called once every 5 minutes.

What do you mean by loadnig an image in the picture box?
I add PictureBox1.ImageLocation = "UrlOfTheFile" and do as you say!But nothing happens!

Answer 3

Hi,

 

I would get the Timer Tick event to call either

 

Me.Refresh()

 

'or

 

Me.Invalidate()

 

every 5 minutes.

This will call the Paint events and the PictureBox will be re-painted.

 

It is better to refresh the image in the Paint event as the image will also be refreshed if you minimise and maximise the FORM as well as if the end-user has another window temporarily in front of your application window.

When your window is brought to the front it is also refreshed.

 

Change the picture file name and path as appropriate.>>

"C:\Documents and Settings\John\My Documents\My Pictures\2.jpg"

 

Change the user name to the name of your folder.

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

John

 

 

Code Block

Public Class Form1

 

 

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

 

Timer1.Interval = 30000

Timer1.Start()

End Sub

 

 

 

Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

 

Me.Refresh()

End Sub

 

 

 

Private Sub PictureBox1_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs) Handles PictureBox1.Paint

 

PictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile("C:\Documents and Settings\John\My Documents\My Pictures\2.jpg")

 

End Sub

End Class

 

 

 

 

Answer 4

Gromav wrote:

I mean that every 5 minutes a picture is reloaded in a PictureBox control! ... I add PictureBox1.ImageLocation = "UrlOfTheFile" and do as you say!But nothing happens!

 

Hi Gromav,

 

Marcel and John are right. Thank you for your help!

 

Here is additional code sample.

To show the effect reloading an image, it randomly selects an image among 1.jpg and 2.jpg.

Code Block

Public Class Form1

    Dim r As New Random

 

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

        Timer1.Interval = 2000 ' 2 seconds=2000 milliseconds. 5 minutes =300000 milliseconds

        Timer1.Start()

    End Sub

 

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

        PictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile("E:\VBProject\" & r.Next(1, 3) & ".jpg")

        ' or

        PictureBox1.ImageLocation = "E:\VBProject\" & r.Next(1, 3) & ".jpg"

    End Sub

End Class

 

Answer 5

Hi Martin,

 

Taking the random picture idea one stage further, how could you load all the pictures of say type *.jpg and *.bmp into a LIST (Of IMAGE) regardless of the filenames from the users My_Pictures folder ( and include the sub-folders in My_Pictures if possible )?

 

I realise that adding all the PATHs to a LIST(Of String) may be possible and you could then use the ToArray method to put the LIST into an array.

 

Then the RANDOM could be between zero and the Ubound of the array.

 

How easy would that be please?

Would you be able to post the code to do this please?

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

John

 

Answer 6

John Oliver (UK)MSP, VSIP wrote:

Taking the random picture idea one stage further, how could you load all the pictures of say type *.jpg and *.bmp into a LIST (Of IMAGE) regardless of the filenames from the users My_Pictures folder ( and include the sub-folders in My_Pictures if possible )?   I realise that adding all the PATHs to a LIST(Of String) may be possible and you could then use the ToArray method to put the LIST into an array.   Then the RANDOM could be between zero and the Ubound of the array.

 

Hi John,

 

Here are the code samples.

 

Approach 1: Load all images from My Picture folder to LIST (Of IMAGE)

Code Block

Imports System.IO

 

Public Class Form1

    Dim r As New Random

    Dim ListImage As New List(Of Image)

 

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

        Dim PicFolder As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyPictures

        Dim dirPath As DirectoryInfo = New DirectoryInfo(PicFolder)

 

        For Each file As FileInfo In dirPath.GetFiles("*.jpg", SearchOption.AllDirectories)

            ListImage.Add(Image.FromFile(file.FullName))

        Next

        For Each file As FileInfo In dirPath.GetFiles("*.bmp", SearchOption.AllDirectories)

            ListImage.Add(Image.FromFile(file.FullName))

        Next

 

        MessageBox.Show("Image count " & ListImage.Count)

 

        Timer1.Interval = 2000

        Timer1.Start()

    End Sub

 

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

        PictureBox1.Image = ListImage(r.Next(0, ListImage.Count))

    End Sub

End Class

 

 

Approach 2: Load all image path from My Picture folder to LIST (Of String).

Code Block

Imports System.IO

 

Public Class Form2

    Dim r As New Random

    Dim ListPath As New List(Of String)

 

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

 

        Dim PicFolder As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyPictures

        Dim dirPath As DirectoryInfo = New DirectoryInfo(PicFolder)

 

        For Each file As FileInfo In dirPath.GetFiles("*.jpg", SearchOption.AllDirectories)

            ListPath.Add(file.FullName)

        Next

        For Each file As FileInfo In dirPath.GetFiles("*.bmp", SearchOption.AllDirectories)

            Me.Text = file.FullName

            ListPath.Add(file.FullName)

        Next

 

        MessageBox.Show("Image count " & ListPath.Count)

 

        Timer1.Interval = 2000

        Timer1.Start()

    End Sub

 

    Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick

        PictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile(ListPath(r.Next(0, ListPath.Count)))

    End Sub

End Class

 

 

Reference: DirectoryInfo.GetFiles Method (String, SearchOption)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143327(VS.80).aspx

Returns a file list from the current directory matching the given searchPattern and using a value to determine whether to search subdirectories.

 

Regards,

Martin

Answer 7

Hi again Martin,

 

Thanks very much.

 

I just noticed the slight difference between the two listings above however you named them both as Approach 1.

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

John

 

Answer 8

John Oliver (UK)MSP, VSIP wrote:

however you named them both as Approach 1.

 

Oh! I'm careless. I have changed the second Approach 1 to Approach 2.

 

Thank you John for your great help and contribution to MSDN forums!

Answer 9

For Each file As FileInfo In dirPath.GetFiles("*.bmp", SearchOption.AllDirectories)

            Me.Text = file.FullName

            ListPath.Add(file.FullName)

        Next

Me.Text = file.FullName

May I please ask the purpose of this line of code and why is it not in the .jpg portion of the For Each/Next code, thanks to Martin.

Answer 10

Duane in Japan wrote:

Me.Text = file.FullName May I please ask the purpose of this line of code and why is it not in the .jpg portion of the For Each/Next code, thanks to Martin.

 

Sorry, this line of code "Me.Text = file.FullName" is redundant. Please ignore it.

 

Hi Duane, I'm glad to see your recent passional participation in MSDN forums.

Answer 11

Martin, are the timer necessary?  - don't much about i just start

Answer 12

augevonaar wrote:

Martin, are the timer necessary?  - don't much about i just start

 

Yes, one Timer control is required.

It can automatically trigger the Timer_Tick event at specific interval, thus you can do something you expect in the Timer_Tick event.