Bitmap loading generates InvalidCastException

Question

Hello all,
i'm on compact framework 2 (CLR Version: 2.0.7045.0), and i keep getting these first chance exceptions (disabled breaking on them) in my code when trying to load a bitmap from a file. However, the bitmap is created correctly.
I've seen it happen with both jpg and png, others i haven't tried yet.
Bitmap tmp;
tmp = new Bitmap(BackgroundImage);
or silimar ones all generate this.
A first chance exception of type 'System.InvalidCastException' occurred in System.Drawing.dll
The error is happening here:
System.Drawing.dll!Microsoft.AGL.Common.MISC.CreateMemoryStream(System.IO.Stream stream = {System.IO.FileStream}) + 0xb bytes   
and detailed one is:
System.InvalidCastException occurred
  Message="InvalidCastException"
  StackTrace:
    at Microsoft.AGL.Common.MISC.CreateMemoryStream()
    at System.Drawing.Bitmap..ctor()
    at OctopusCF.UI.xml.SkinConfig.GetBackgroundImage()
    at Octopuscf.Program.Main()
Anyone have any idea where they come from? As the bitmap gets created correctly, could it be that something is happening internally in the system.drawing dll, from which it can recover and still load the bitmap?
Thanks,
Kristof

Answer 1

Yes. You should cache bitmaps you're going to reuse not just because of exception but mostly because it takes a long time to decompress bitmaps. Exception take may be 1-2% of that time. Watch out for available memory though, don’t cache too much.