Return multiple images from a .NET web service

Question

I can return an image as an array of bytes from my .NET web service.

My question is if I want to return more than one image in a single request. For example, my web method currently looks something like this:

public byte[] GetImage(string filename) 

BUT what I am trying to solve is how I could achieve something more:

 public ..?... GetAllMemberStuffInOneHit(string memberID) 

This will return, for example, several images, as well as other information, such as the participant’s name and department.

Can this be done? Please help, thanks.

Answer 1

That's right. Instead of returning only a byte array, create a DTO class with a byte array, as well as potentially other useful information (file name, content type, etc.). Then just return the IList of them. Something like that:

 public class MyImage { public byte[] ImageData { get; set; } public string Name { get; set; } public MyImage() { // maybe initialize defaults here, etc. } } public List<MyImage> GetAllMemberStuffInOneHit(string memberID) { // implementation } 

Since your method name means that you want to return even more information, you can create more DTO classes and put them together to create a member object. Something like that:

 public class Member { public List<MyImage> Images { get; set; } public string Name { get; set; } public DateTime LastLogin { get; set; } // etc. } public Member GetAllMemberStuffInOneHit(string memberID) { // implementation } 

Answer 2

A simple solution is to simply return the List<byte[]> collection, for example:

 [WebMethod] public List<byte[]> GetAllImages(string memberID) { List<byte[]> collection = new List<byte[]>(); // fetch images one at a time and add to collection return collection; } 

To use this, you will need this line at the top of your Service.cs file:

 using System.Collections.Generic;