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Using Themes in ASP.NET loads System.Drawing namespace

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Using the System.Drawing namespace is strongly discouraged in ASP.NET as it leads to a lot of performance/runtime problems.

Recently one of our customers reported an issue where we were getting GDI+ errors in a  normal ASP.NET application.

Exception type: System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalException
Message: GDI+ is not properly initialized (internal GDI+ error).
InnerException: <none>
StackTrace (generated):
    SP       IP       Function
    048CE1A0 7AE65963 System.Drawing.Bitmap..ctor(System.IO.Stream)
    048CE1C8 7AE31EAE System.Drawing.ToolboxBitmapAttribute..cctor()

StackTraceString: <none>
HResult: 80004005

The GDI+ calls were not something intentional, none of the application code contained any  reference to the System.Drawing namespace. But the namespace was getting loaded in the process as a result of applying a Theme to the page.

System.Reflection.CustomAttribute._CreateCaObject(Void*, Void*, Byte**, Byte*, Int32*)
System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.CreateCaObject(System.Reflection.Module, System.RuntimeMethodHandle, IntPtr ByRef, IntPtr, Int32 ByRef)
System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.GetCustomAttributes(System.Reflection.Module, Int32, Int32, System.RuntimeType, Boolean, System.Collections.IList)
System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.GetCustomAttributes(System.RuntimeType, System.RuntimeType, Boolean)
System.RuntimeType.GetCustomAttributes(System.Type, Boolean)
System.ComponentModel.ReflectTypeDescriptionProvider.ReflectGetAttributes(System.Type)
System.ComponentModel.ReflectTypeDescriptionProvider+ReflectedTypeData.GetAttributes()
System.ComponentModel.TypeDescriptor+TypeDescriptionNode+DefaultTypeDescriptor.System.ComponentModel.ICustomTypeDescriptor.GetAttributes()
System.ComponentModel.TypeDescriptor.GetAttributes(System.Type)
System.Web.UI.ThemeableAttribute.IsTypeThemeable(System.Type)
System.Web.UI.Control.ApplySkin(System.Web.UI.Page)
System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(System.Web.UI.Control)
System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(System.Web.UI.Control)
System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(System.Web.UI.Control)
System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(System.Web.UI.Control)
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean, Boolean)

When an ASPX page has to load a Theme we loop through all Controls/Types on the page and check if we can apply the theme to it(IsTypeThemeable). This involves generating  a list of attributes for the Control/Type. Its a simple call to TypeDescriptor.GetAttributes method which results in each attribute being instantiated. And this is where the trouble starts.

Controls have a ToolboxBitmap attribute which is a picture representation of the control. Its a bitmap and this results in the unintentional loading of the System.Drawing namespace in the worker process.

Currently a fix is being worked on and should be released soon.

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    September 01, 2008
    PingBack from http://housesfunnywallpaper.cn/?p=3514

  • Anonymous
    November 27, 2008
    Has a fix been released yet for this issue?

  • Anonymous
    November 27, 2008
    Today I get the 'System.Drawing.ToolboxBitmapAttribute' exception for the first time on a test server :( Any news about this fix ? ;)

  • Anonymous
    November 30, 2008
    Please contact MS Support for assistance on this issue.

  • Anonymous
    January 15, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    January 22, 2009
    You can find the update here to fix the GDI error. <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954316> Google instructions to download the hotfix.  :google: download microsoft KB hotfix if it isn't provided on the page.

  • Anonymous
    April 14, 2009
    Is this hotfix included in .net3.5 sp1?

  • Anonymous
    April 14, 2009
    Where can I download this update? It seems that there is no download link on the page "http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954316". Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    November 19, 2011
    It is the end of 2011, but it seems like the error is not fixed :(