WIA Scanner in C# Windows Forms

• Download Scannerapplication (no EXE)
• Download Scannerapplication
• Download Interop.WIA.dll
• Download Interop.WIA.dll (no EXE)

Introduction

This project is used to show how to use WIA Windows Image Acquisition supported Scanner. Using this project, we can scan applications from scanner and save into specific location automatically.

Background

With this project, we can learn how we can Access Scanners through C#. For this project, we need two things:

1. WIA DLL
2. WIA class

WIA dll is available in my resource file.

You can add this WIA class and there is no need to change anything.

class WIAScanner
    {
        const string wiaFormatBMP = "{B96B3CAB-0728-11D3-9D7B-0000F81EF32E}";
        class WIA_DPS_DOCUMENT_HANDLING_SELECT
        {
            public const uint FEEDER = 0x00000001;
            public const uint FLATBED = 0x00000002;
        }
        class WIA_DPS_DOCUMENT_HANDLING_STATUS
        {
            public const uint FEED_READY = 0x00000001;
        }
        class WIA_PROPERTIES
        { 
            public const uint WIA_RESERVED_FOR_NEW_PROPS = 1024;
            public const uint WIA_DIP_FIRST = 2;
            public const uint WIA_DPA_FIRST = WIA_DIP_FIRST + WIA_RESERVED_FOR_NEW_PROPS;
            public const uint WIA_DPC_FIRST = WIA_DPA_FIRST + WIA_RESERVED_FOR_NEW_PROPS;
            //
            // Scanner only device properties (DPS)
            //
            public const uint WIA_DPS_FIRST = WIA_DPC_FIRST + WIA_RESERVED_FOR_NEW_PROPS;
            public const uint WIA_DPS_DOCUMENT_HANDLING_STATUS = WIA_DPS_FIRST + 13;
            public const uint WIA_DPS_DOCUMENT_HANDLING_SELECT = WIA_DPS_FIRST + 14;
        }
         /// <summary>
        /// Use scanner to scan an image (with user selecting the scanner from a dialog).
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns>Scanned images.</returns>
        public static List<Image> Scan()
        {
            WIA.ICommonDialog dialog = new WIA.CommonDialog();
            WIA.Device device = dialog.ShowSelectDevice
                (WIA.WiaDeviceType.UnspecifiedDeviceType, true, false);
            if (device != null)
            {
                return Scan(device.DeviceID);
            }
            else
            {
                throw new Exception("You must select a device for scanning.");
            }
        }
        /// <summary>
        /// Use scanner to scan an image (scanner is selected by its unique id).
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="scannerName"></param>
        /// <returns>Scanned images.</returns>
      public static List<Image> Scan(string scannerId)
        {
            List<Image> images = new List<Image>();
            bool hasMorePages = true;
            while (hasMorePages)
            {
                // select the correct scanner using the provided scannerId parameter
                WIA.DeviceManager manager = new WIA.DeviceManager();
                WIA.Device device = null;
                foreach (WIA.DeviceInfo info in manager.DeviceInfos)
                {
                    if (info.DeviceID == scannerId)
                    {
                        // connect to scanner
                        device = info.Connect();
                        break;
                    }
                }
                // device was not found
                if (device == null)
                {
                    // enumerate available devices
                    string availableDevices = "";
                    foreach (WIA.DeviceInfo info in manager.DeviceInfos)
                    {
                        availableDevices += info.DeviceID + "\n";
                    }
                    // show error with available devices
                    throw new Exception("The device with provided ID could not be found. 
                    Available Devices:\n" + availableDevices);
                }
                WIA.Item item = device.Items[1] as WIA.Item;
                try
                {
                    // scan image
                    WIA.ICommonDialog wiaCommonDialog = new WIA.CommonDialog();
        WIA.ImageFile image = (WIA.ImageFile)wiaCommonDialog.ShowTransfer(item,wiaFormatBMP                                                                           , false);
                      // save to temp file
                    string fileName = Path.GetTempFileName();
                    File.Delete(fileName);
                    image.SaveFile(fileName);
                    image = null;
                    // add file to output list
                    images.Add(Image.FromFile(fileName));
                }
                catch (Exception exc)
                {
                    throw exc;
                }
                finally
                {
                    item = null;
                    //determine if there are any more pages waiting
                    WIA.Property documentHandlingSelect = null;
                    WIA.Property documentHandlingStatus = null;
                    foreach (WIA.Property prop in device.Properties)
                    {
                    if (prop.PropertyID == WIA_PROPERTIES.WIA_DPS_DOCUMENT_HANDLING_SELECT)
                            documentHandlingSelect = prop;
                    if (prop.PropertyID == WIA_PROPERTIES.WIA_DPS_DOCUMENT_HANDLING_STATUS)
                            documentHandlingStatus = prop;
                    }
                    // assume there are no more pages
                    hasMorePages = false;
                    // may not exist on flatbed scanner but required for feeder
                    if (documentHandlingSelect != null)
                    {
                        // check for document feeder
                        if ((Convert.ToUInt32(documentHandlingSelect.get_Value()) & 
                        WIA_DPS_DOCUMENT_HANDLING_SELECT.FEEDER) != 0)
                        {
                            hasMorePages = ((Convert.ToUInt32(documentHandlingStatus.get_Value()) & 
                            WIA_DPS_DOCUMENT_HANDLING_STATUS.FEED_READY) != 0);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            return images;
        }
        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the list of available WIA devices.
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public static List<string> GetDevices()
        {
            List<string> devices = new List<string>();
            WIA.DeviceManager manager = new WIA.DeviceManager();
            foreach (WIA.DeviceInfo info in manager.DeviceInfos)
            {
                devices.Add(info.DeviceID);
            }
            return devices;
        }
    }

Using the Code

I have created a UserInterface design like this:

Here Scan button is used to trigger the event to scan the objects placed in Scanner. I have used panel control to show scanned image.

After scanning the object placed in Scanner device, the UI will be like this:

Here, I have saved scanned image into specific location with yyyy-MM-dd HHmmss format.

Points of Interest

With this project, we can learn how to access local devices like printers, scanners and cameras.