Supporting Video Streaming and Pixel Array Assignment to an Image Control

Other topics

Remarks:

  • Make sure to reference the System.Windows.Interactivity assembly, so that the XAML Parser will recognize the xmlns:i declaration.
  • Note that the xmlns:b statement matches the namespace where the behavior implementation resides
  • Example assumes working knowledge of binding expressions and XAML.
  • This behavior supports assigning pixels to an image in the form of a byte array - even though the Dependency Property type is specified as an IList. This works since the C# byte array implements the IList
  • interface.
  • Behavior achieves very high performance, and can be used for Video Streaming
  • Do not assign the image's Source Dependency Property- bind to the Pixels Dependency Property instead
  • The Pixels, PixelWidth, PixelHeight and PixelFormat properties must be assigned for the pixels to be rendered
  • Order of Dependency Property assignment does not matter

Behavior Implementation

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Interactivity;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;

namespace MyBehaviorAssembly
{
    public class PixelSupportBehavior : Behavior<Image>
    {

    public static readonly DependencyProperty PixelsProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
        "Pixels", typeof (IList<byte>), typeof (PixelSupportBehavior), new PropertyMetadata(default(IList<byte>),OnPixelsChanged));

    private static void OnPixelsChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var b = (PixelSupportBehavior) d;
        var pixels = (IList<byte>) e.NewValue;

        b.RenderPixels(pixels);
    }
 
    public IList<byte> Pixels
    {
        get { return (IList<byte>) GetValue(PixelsProperty); }
        set { SetValue(PixelsProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty PixelFormatProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
        "PixelFormat", typeof (PixelFormat), typeof (PixelSupportBehavior), new PropertyMetadata(PixelFormats.Default,OnPixelFormatChanged));

   
    private static void OnPixelFormatChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var b = (PixelSupportBehavior) d;
        var pixelFormat = (PixelFormat) e.NewValue;

        if(pixelFormat==PixelFormats.Default)
            return;

        b._pixelFormat = pixelFormat;

        b.InitializeBufferIfAttached();
    }

    public PixelFormat PixelFormat
    {
        get { return (PixelFormat) GetValue(PixelFormatProperty); }
        set { SetValue(PixelFormatProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty PixelWidthProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
        "PixelWidth", typeof (int), typeof (PixelSupportBehavior), new PropertyMetadata(default(int),OnPixelWidthChanged));

    private static void OnPixelWidthChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var b = (PixelSupportBehavior)d;
        var value = (int)e.NewValue;

        if(value<=0)
            return;

        b._pixelWidth = value;

        b.InitializeBufferIfAttached();
    }

    public int PixelWidth
    {
        get { return (int) GetValue(PixelWidthProperty); }
        set { SetValue(PixelWidthProperty, value); }
    }


    public static readonly DependencyProperty PixelHeightProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
        "PixelHeight", typeof (int), typeof (PixelSupportBehavior), new PropertyMetadata(default(int),OnPixelHeightChanged));

    private static void OnPixelHeightChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var b = (PixelSupportBehavior)d;
        var value = (int)e.NewValue;

        if (value <= 0)
            return;

        b._pixelHeight = value;

        b.InitializeBufferIfAttached();
    }

    public int PixelHeight
    {
        get { return (int) GetValue(PixelHeightProperty); }
        set { SetValue(PixelHeightProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty DpiXProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
        "DpiX", typeof (int), typeof (PixelSupportBehavior), new PropertyMetadata(96,OnDpiXChanged));

    private static void OnDpiXChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var b = (PixelSupportBehavior)d;
        var value = (int)e.NewValue;

        if (value <= 0)
            return;

        b._dpiX = value;

        b.InitializeBufferIfAttached();
    }

    public int DpiX
    {
        get { return (int) GetValue(DpiXProperty); }
        set { SetValue(DpiXProperty, value); }
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty DpiYProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
        "DpiY", typeof (int), typeof (PixelSupportBehavior), new PropertyMetadata(96,OnDpiYChanged));

    private static void OnDpiYChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var b = (PixelSupportBehavior)d;
        var value = (int)e.NewValue;

        if (value <= 0)
            return;

        b._dpiY = value;

        b.InitializeBufferIfAttached();
    }

    public int DpiY
    {
        get { return (int) GetValue(DpiYProperty); }
        set { SetValue(DpiYProperty, value); }
    }

    private IntPtr _backBuffer = IntPtr.Zero;
    private int _bytesPerPixel;
    private const int BitsPerByte = 8;
    private int _pixelWidth;
    private int _pixelHeight;
    private int _dpiX;
    private int _dpiY;
    private Int32Rect _imageRectangle;
    private readonly GCHandle _defaultGcHandle = new GCHandle();
    private PixelFormat _pixelFormat;

    private int _byteArraySize;
    private WriteableBitmap _bitMap;

    private bool _attached;

    protected override void OnAttached()
    {
        _attached = true;
        InitializeBufferIfAttached();
    }

    private void InitializeBufferIfAttached()
    {
        if(_attached==false)
            return;

        ReevaluateBitsPerPixel();
        
        RecomputeByteArraySize();

        ReinitializeImageSource();
    }

    private void ReevaluateBitsPerPixel()
    {
        var f = _pixelFormat;

        if (f == PixelFormats.Default)
        {
            _bytesPerPixel = 0;
            return;
        };

        _bytesPerPixel = f.BitsPerPixel/BitsPerByte;
    }

    private void ReinitializeImageSource()
    {
        var f = _pixelFormat;
        var h = _pixelHeight;
        var w = _pixelWidth;

        if (w<=0|| h<=0 || f== PixelFormats.Default)
            return;

        _imageRectangle = new Int32Rect(0, 0, w, h);
        _bitMap = new WriteableBitmap(w, h, _dpiX, _dpiY, f, null);
        _backBuffer = _bitMap.BackBuffer;
        AssociatedObject.Source = _bitMap;
    }

    private void RenderPixels(IList<byte> pixels)
    {
        if (pixels == null)
        {
            return;
        }

        var buffer = _backBuffer;
        if (buffer == IntPtr.Zero)
            return;

        var size = _byteArraySize;

        var gcHandle = _defaultGcHandle;
        var allocated = false;
        var bitMap = _bitMap;
        var rect = _imageRectangle;
        var w = _pixelWidth;
        var locked = false;
        try
        {
            gcHandle = GCHandle.Alloc(pixels, GCHandleType.Pinned);
            allocated = true;

            bitMap.Lock();
            locked = true;
            var ptr = gcHandle.AddrOfPinnedObject();
            _bitMap.WritePixels(rect, ptr, size,w);                            
        }
        finally
        {
            if(locked)
                bitMap.Unlock();

            if (allocated)
                gcHandle.Free();
        }
    }

    private void RecomputeByteArraySize()
    {
        var h = _pixelHeight;
        var w = _pixelWidth;
        var bpp = _bytesPerPixel;

        if (w<=0|| h<=0 || bpp<=0)
            return;

        _byteArraySize = (w * h * bpp);
    }

    public PixelSupportBehavior()
    {
        _pixelFormat = PixelFormats.Default;
    }
}
}

XAML Usage

<UserControl x:Class="Example.View"
         xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
         xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
         xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
         xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
         xmlns:b="clr-namespace:MyBehaviorAssembly;assembly=MyBehaviorAssembly"
         xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
         mc:Ignorable="d" 
         d:DesignHeight="200" d:DesignWidth="200"                    
         >

                <Image Stretch="Uniform">             

                <i:Interaction.Behaviors>

                    <b:PixelSupportBehavior 
                            PixelHeight="{Binding PixelHeight}"
                            PixelWidth="{Binding PixelWidth}"
                            PixelFormat="{Binding PixelFormat}"
                            Pixels="{Binding Pixels}"
                            />

                </i:Interaction.Behaviors>

            </Image>

</UserControl>

Parameters:

ParametersDetails
PixelHeight (System.Int32)The height of the image in units of image pixels
PixelWidth (System.Int32)The width of the image in units of image pixels
PixelFormat (System.Windows.Media.PixelFormat)The width of the image in units of image pixels
PixelsAnything which implements IList<T>- including the C# byte array
DpiXSpecifies the horizontal Dpi - Optional
DpiYSpecifies the vertical Dpi - Optional

Contributors

Topic Id: 6435

Example Ids: 22116,22117

This site is not affiliated with any of the contributors.