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.NET TWAIN image scanner

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12 May 2002Public Domain2 min read 7.2M   132.2K   421   996
Using TWAIN API to scan images

Sample Screenshot

Abstract

In Windows imaging applications, the most used API for scanning is TWAIN www.twain.org. Unfortunately, the new .NET Framework has no built-in support for TWAIN. So we have to work with the interop methods of .NET to access this API. This article doesn't explain this interop techniques, and good knowledge of the TWAIN 1.9 specifications is assumed! The sample code included doesn't present a finished library, only some essential steps for a minimal TWAIN adaption to .NET applications.

Details

First step was to port the most important parts of TWAIN.H, these are found in TwainDefs.cs. The real logic for calling TWAIN is coded in the class Twain, in file TwainLib.cs.. As the TWAIN API is exposed by the Windows DLL, twain_32.dll, we have to use the .NET DllImport mechanism for interop with legacy code. This DLL has the central DSM_Entry(), ordinal #1 function exported as the entry point to TWAIN. This call has numerous parameters, and the last one is of variable type! It was found to be best if we declare multiple variants of the call like:

C#
[DllImport("twain_32.dll", EntryPoint="#1")]
private static extern TwRC DSMparent(
    [In, Out] TwIdentity origin,
    IntPtr zeroptr,
    TwDG dg, TwDAT dat, TwMSG msg,
    ref IntPtr refptr );

The Twain class has a simple 5-step interface:

C#
class Twain
{
    Init();
    Select();
    Acquire();
    PassMessage();
    TransferPictures();
}

For some sort of 'callbacks', TWAIN uses special Windows messages, and these must be caught from the application-message-loop. In .NET, the only way found was IMessageFilter.PreFilterMessage(), and this filter has to be activated with a call like Application.AddMessageFilter(). Within the filter method, we have to forward each message to Twain.PassMessage(), and we get a hint (enum TwainCommand) back for how we have to react.

Sample App

The sample is a Windows Forms MDI-style application. It has the two TWAIN-related menu items Select Source... and Acquire... Once an image is scanned in, we can save it to a file in any of the GDI+ supported file formats (BMP, GIF, TIFF, JPEG...)

Limitations

All code was only tested on Windows 2000SP2, with an Epson Perfection USB scanner and an Olympus digital photo camera. The scanned picture is (by TWAIN spec) a Windows DIB, and the sample code has VERY little checking against error return codes and bitmap formats. Unfortunately, no direct method is available in .NET to convert a DIB to the managed Bitmap class... Some known problems may show up with color palettes and menus.

Note, TWAIN has it's root in 16-Bit Windows! For a more modern API supported on Windows ME/XP, have a look at Windows Image Acquisition (WIA).

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under A Public Domain dedication


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Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralRe: change capability - help! Pin
yasushiSap20-Apr-12 22:19
yasushiSap20-Apr-12 22:19 
QuestionTutorial? Pin
Diagon Alley8-Dec-05 18:45
Diagon Alley8-Dec-05 18:45 
AnswerRe: Tutorial? Pin
jgoemat10-Mar-06 15:51
jgoemat10-Mar-06 15:51 
GeneralRe: Tutorial? Pin
Diagon Alley14-Mar-06 7:39
Diagon Alley14-Mar-06 7:39 
Question1-bit scanning Pin
AlexKak8-Dec-05 2:17
AlexKak8-Dec-05 2:17 
GeneralGreat Job Pin
Santiago Corredoira5-Nov-05 3:47
Santiago Corredoira5-Nov-05 3:47 
GeneralAuto Crop to be set Programatically Pin
Nil_Gup4-Nov-05 2:19
Nil_Gup4-Nov-05 2:19 
GeneralCompressing the image Pin
jptros13-Oct-05 11:44
jptros13-Oct-05 11:44 
I'm working on a program for doing multipage scans. I'm converting the DIB to a Bitmap object. My issue is, one image's memory footprint is way too large. I think I could save the image with a format that has good compression and reload it but ideally I would like to compress the image while in memory. There could be a 300 page scan comming through this application at any given time so cutting down the memory usage for a single page is necessary. I think saving to disk and reloading for so many pages is a bad idea all together. My question is, how can I can I add some kind of compression to this image while still in memory? Do I need to do it before I convert it to a Bitmap object or would it be easier using .net tools after it's a Bitmap object? I don't need any fine grain control over the compression really, just decent quality with a signifigant loss in the memory usage for the image. If save the black and white image scanned in as a bmp, it's ~14,200 on disk. As a jpeg it's ~200k. I would like to get something like this jpeg compression without ever writing to disk.

Thanks in advance for any help.
AnswerRe: Compressing the image Pin
olm_23@yahoo.com1-Dec-05 11:10
olm_23@yahoo.com1-Dec-05 11:10 
GeneralRe: Compressing the image Pin
Raja Chandrasekaran20-Feb-06 4:44
Raja Chandrasekaran20-Feb-06 4:44 
QuestionError when not selecting a source Pin
Diogo Alves15-Sep-05 3:26
Diogo Alves15-Sep-05 3:26 
AnswerRe: Error when not selecting a source Pin
Diogo Alves16-Sep-05 1:36
Diogo Alves16-Sep-05 1:36 
GeneralRe: Error when not selecting a source Pin
AhmadHamid19-Oct-05 21:32
AhmadHamid19-Oct-05 21:32 
GeneralRe: Error when not selecting a source Pin
sujanakar13-Dec-05 19:42
sujanakar13-Dec-05 19:42 
QuestionIs it possible to scan directly? Pin
ecmpain13-Sep-05 11:33
ecmpain13-Sep-05 11:33 
AnswerRe: Is it possible to scan directly? Pin
Triano19-Oct-05 3:18
Triano19-Oct-05 3:18 
AnswerRe: Is it possible to scan directly? Pin
Triano19-Oct-05 21:07
Triano19-Oct-05 21:07 
GeneralRe: Is it possible to scan directly? Pin
Gavrix15-Dec-05 4:30
Gavrix15-Dec-05 4:30 
QuestionRe: Is it possible to scan directly? Pin
Jwalant Natvarlal Soneji29-Jun-07 5:27
Jwalant Natvarlal Soneji29-Jun-07 5:27 
GeneralCancel Scan Pin
SuriouslyFoReal8-Sep-05 3:00
SuriouslyFoReal8-Sep-05 3:00 
GeneralRe: Cancel Scan Pin
AhmadHamid11-Nov-05 1:19
AhmadHamid11-Nov-05 1:19 
GeneralRe: Cancel Scan Pin
AhmadHamid11-Nov-05 8:33
AhmadHamid11-Nov-05 8:33 
GeneralDistinction between scanners and webcams Pin
Olivier DALET6-Sep-05 6:02
Olivier DALET6-Sep-05 6:02 
GeneralImage Acquisition Pin
sabster8-Aug-05 21:06
sabster8-Aug-05 21:06 
GeneralICAP_ImageLayout Pin
Dev_Calz5-Aug-05 7:35
Dev_Calz5-Aug-05 7:35 

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