SSRS: Report loading external images, image not found, can I hide the image control - image

Question

My SSRS report loads logo images for each customer from a customer number specific folder on the report server.
I write an expression, to form my URL to the image based on th customer number.
..."http://localhost/images/" + iCustomerNumber.ToString() + "/logo.gif"
I am able to get this working, but the problem I face is, when a particular customer doesn't has an image, then my report shows a red X mark in place of the logo. In this case, I expect to hide the image control itself. Any thoughts????
The other dirty solution will be to ensure that each customer specific folder has the designated image! even if there is no logo for a customer, I'll place a blank.gif or a spacer.gif of probably a square pixel in dimension!.

Answer 1

You could try adding some custom code and use this in the Image.Value property to load a default image if no image is found:
Public Function GetImage(ByRef CustomerNumber As String) As String
' Customer image
Dim ImageCustomerURL As String
ImageCustomerURL = "http://localhost/images/" + CustomerNumber + "/logo.gif"
' Default Image if customer image does not exist
Dim ImageDefaultURL As String
ImageDefaultURL = "http://localhost/images/default.gif"
' Create a web request to see if customer image exists
Dim m_Req As System.Net.HttpWebRequest = System.Net.HttpWebRequest.Create(ImageCustomerURL)
Try
Dim HttpWResp As System.Net.HttpWebResponse = CType(m_Req.GetResponse(), System.Net.HttpWebResponse)
If HttpWResp.StatusCode = System.Net.HttpStatusCode.OK
Return ImageCustomerURL
Else
Return ImageDefaultURL
End If
Catch ex As System.Net.WebException
If ex.Status = System.Net.WebExceptionStatus.ProtocolError Then
Return ImageDefaultURL
End If
End Try
Return ImageDefaultURL
End Function
Then your Image.Value property expression is:
=Code.GetImage(iCustomerNumber.ToString())
Edit: Set the Visibility.Hidden property rather than use a default image
Well, I thought it might be nicer to have a default image rather than a blank space but it's really the same idea:
Public Function HideImage(ByRef CustomerNumber As String) As Boolean
' Customer image
Dim ImageCustomerURL As String
ImageCustomerURL = "http://localhost/images/" + CustomerNumber + "/logo.gif"
' Create a web request to see if customer image exists
Dim m_Req As System.Net.HttpWebRequest = System.Net.HttpWebRequest.Create(ImageCustomerURL)
Try
Dim HttpWResp As System.Net.HttpWebResponse = CType(m_Req.GetResponse(), System.Net.HttpWebResponse)
If HttpWResp.StatusCode = System.Net.HttpStatusCode.OK
Return False
Else
Return True
End If
Catch ex As System.Net.WebException
If ex.Status = System.Net.WebExceptionStatus.ProtocolError Then
Return True
End If
End Try
Return True
End Function
Then your Visibility.Hidden property expression is:
=Code.HideImage(iCustomerNumber.ToString())