title: Sending and receiving an image over sockets with C#
body: <p>I am trying to set up two programs in C#. Basically, a simple client server set up where I want the server to listen for an image from the client. Then, upon receiving the image, will display it in a PictureBox. </p>
  
  <p>I keep running into the following error: </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>A first chance exception of type
    'System.ArgumentException' occurred in
    System.Drawing.dll</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>The error is happening on the server code that is listening at this line:
  Image bmp = Image.FromStream(ms);
  Any ideas? </p>
  
  <p><strong>The Server code that listens:</strong> </p>
  
  <pre><code>using System;
  using System.Collections.Generic;
  using System.ComponentModel;
  using System.Data;
  using System.Drawing;
  using System.Linq;
  using System.Text;
  using System.Windows.Forms;
  using System.IO;
  using System.Net;
  using System.Net.Sockets;
  
  namespace NetView
  {
      public partial class Form1 : Form
      {
          public Form1()
          {
              InitializeComponent();
              startListening();
          }
  
          private void startListening()
          {
              ////////////////////////////////////////////
  
              Console.WriteLine("Server is starting...");
              byte[] data = new byte[1024];
              IPEndPoint ipep = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Any, 9050);
  
              Socket newsock = new Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetwork,
                              SocketType.Stream, ProtocolType.Tcp);
  
              newsock.Bind(ipep);
              newsock.Listen(10);
              Console.WriteLine("Waiting for a client...");
  
              Socket client = newsock.Accept();
              IPEndPoint newclient = (IPEndPoint)client.RemoteEndPoint;
              Console.WriteLine("Connected with {0} at port {1}",
                              newclient.Address, newclient.Port);
  
              while (true)
              {
                  data = ReceiveVarData(client);
                  MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(data);
                  try
                  {
                      Image bmp = Image.FromStream(ms);
                      pictureBox1.Image = bmp;
                  }
                  catch (ArgumentException e)
                  {
                      Console.WriteLine("something broke");
                  }
  
  
                  if (data.Length == 0)
                      newsock.Listen(10);
              }
              //Console.WriteLine("Disconnected from {0}", newclient.Address);
              client.Close();
              newsock.Close();
              /////////////////////////////////////////////
  
          }
  
          private static byte[] ReceiveVarData(Socket s)
          {
              int total = 0;
              int recv;
              byte[] datasize = new byte[4];
  
              recv = s.Receive(datasize, 0, 4, 0);
              int size = BitConverter.ToInt32(datasize, 0);
              int dataleft = size;
              byte[] data = new byte[size];
  
  
              while (total &lt; size)
              {
                  recv = s.Receive(data, total, dataleft, 0);
                  if (recv == 0)
                  {
                      break;
                  }
                  total += recv;
                  dataleft -= recv;
              }
              return data;
          }
  
          private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
          {
  
          }
  
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>The Client Code:</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>using System;
  using System.Net;
  using System.Net.Sockets;
  using System.Text;
  using System.Drawing;
  using System.IO;
  
  namespace ConsoleApplication2
  {
      class Program
      {
          static void Main(string[] args)
          {
              byte[] data = new byte[1024];
              int sent;
              IPEndPoint ipep = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1"), 9050);
  
              Socket server = new Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetwork,
                              SocketType.Stream, ProtocolType.Tcp);
  
              try
              {
                  server.Connect(ipep);
              }
              catch (SocketException e)
              {
                  Console.WriteLine("Unable to connect to server.");
                  Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
                  Console.ReadLine();
              }
  
  
              Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap("c:\\eek256.jpg");
  
              MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
              // Save to memory using the Jpeg format
              bmp.Save(ms, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg);
  
              // read to end
              byte[] bmpBytes = ms.GetBuffer();
              bmp.Dispose();
              ms.Close();
  
              sent = SendVarData(server, bmpBytes);
  
              Console.WriteLine("Disconnecting from server...");
              server.Shutdown(SocketShutdown.Both);
              server.Close();
              Console.ReadLine();
          }
  
          private static int SendVarData(Socket s, byte[] data)
          {
              int total = 0;
              int size = data.Length;
              int dataleft = size;
              int sent;
  
              byte[] datasize = new byte[4];
              datasize = BitConverter.GetBytes(size);
              sent = s.Send(datasize);
  
              while (total &lt; size)
              {
                  sent = s.Send(data, total, dataleft, SocketFlags.None);
                  total += sent;
                  dataleft -= sent;
              }
              return total;
          }
      }
  }
  </code></pre>