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Google Firebase and Unity (C#): Unable to download png from bucket

Specs
Unity editor version: 2018.2.8f1
Firebase Unity SDK version: 5.5.0
Additional SDKs: SimpleFirebaseUnity
Developing on: Mac
Export Platform: Android
Issue
I'm having troubles setting up a system to download pictures from storage. I'm not an expert in databases, but I wanted to give it try, just to learn how it is done.
I found Firebase very useful to store metadata on the real-time database and easy to approach even for an entry level programmer like me.
The problem is that I'm trying to download a .png file from a folder in storage, but I can't manage to find if the file is actually downloaded or if it's just lost in the process. I don't get any errors in the console, but when I open the folder in which the files should be, it's empty.
Code
private SimpleFirebaseUnity.Firebase firebaseDatabase;
private FirebaseQueue firebaseQueue;
private FirebaseStorage firebaseStorage;
private StorageReference m_storage_ref;
// Setup refernece to database and storage
void SetupReferences()
{
// Get a reference to the database service, using SimpleFirebase plugin
firebaseDatabase = SimpleFirebaseUnity.Firebase.CreateNew(FIREBASE_LINK, FIREBASE_SECRET);
// Get a reference to the storage service, using the default Firebase App
firebaseStorage = FirebaseStorage.DefaultInstance;
// Create a storage reference from our storage service
m_storage_ref = firebaseStorage.GetReferenceFromUrl(STORAGE_LINK);
// Create a queue, using SimpleFirebase
firebaseQueue = new FirebaseQueue(true, 3, 1f);
}
// ...
IEnumerator DownloadImage(string address, string fileName)
{
var local_path = Application.persistentDataPath + THUMBNAILS_PATH;
var content_ref = m_storage_ref.Child(THUMBNAILS_PATH + fileName + ".png");
content_ref.GetFileAsync(local_path).ContinueWith(task => {
if (!task.IsFaulted && !task.IsCanceled)
{
Debug.Log("File downloaded.");
}
});
yield return null;
}

There can be many reason for why this is not working for you including:
security rules are not setup properly
paths to files are not correct
you are testing it on wrong platform (Firebase is not working well in the editor)
your device is blocking the connection
etc...
In order to get error messages you need to log them:
IEnumerator DownloadImage(string address, string fileName)
{
var local_path = Application.persistentDataPath + THUMBNAILS_PATH;
var content_ref = m_storage_ref.Child(THUMBNAILS_PATH + fileName + ".png");
content_ref.GetFileAsync(local_path).ContinueWith(task => {
if (!task.IsFaulted && !task.IsCanceled)
{
Debug.Log("File downloaded.");
}
else
{
Debug.Log(task.Exception.ToString());
}
});
yield return null;
}
Keep in mind testing it in the editor may not work.

Xamarin Media Plugin Crashes when second photo is taken

I am using the Plugin.Media (jamesmontemagno/MediaPlugin) plugin for Xamarin and I am having an issue with accepting a picture. When I take the second picture (the first picture works fine) and I click to accept the image the whole app crashes with no output as to the error. I have tried trapping the error but cannot find where it is occurring. I have as suggested removing the min SDK from Android manifest, but the crash still happens.
I have tried looking through the output in visual studio but it is always different. I am assuming the code works as it takes the image and gives me data back, to be clear, it only happens when trying to accept the second image.
private string GetTimestamp(DateTime value)
{
string timestamp = value.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmssfff");
string filename = timestamp + ".jpg";
return filename;
}
public Command CaptureImage => new Command(TakePicture);
private async void TakePicture()
{
await CrossMedia.Current.Initialize();
if (!CrossMedia.Current.IsCameraAvailable || !CrossMedia.Current.IsTakePhotoSupported)
{
//Some message
return;
}
var file = await CrossMedia.Current.TakePhotoAsync(new Plugin.Media.Abstractions.StoreCameraMediaOptions
{
Directory = "FoodSnap",
Name = GetTimestamp(DateTime.Now) //Gets a unique file name,
PhotoSize = Plugin.Media.Abstractions.PhotoSize.Custom,
CustomPhotoSize = 50
});
if (file == null)
return;
FilePath = file.Path;
}
I am completely stumped as to why this is happening. I am also having trouble refreshing my ViewModel when data changes in the page I am using to take the image. I can't help wondering if this has something to do with it.

I solved the problem by testing each line of code. Once I removed PhotoSize = Plugin.Media.Abstractions.PhotoSize.Custom I could take as many pictures as I need. I did use the Github information for the plugin.
I would be interested to know what I did wrong to cause the error. I would suggest that I have misunderstood the tutorial on Github.

Opening a document from Imanage in Word 2016

I am attempting to open an Imanage document, in MS Word, within a temporary test application (for debugging) to later copy over into an ActiveX control project. The error that is popping up is:
Exception thrown at 0x7618851A (msvcrt.dll) in w3wp.exe: 0xC0000005: Access >violation reading location 0x09801000.
If there is a handler for this exception, the program may be safely continued.
The error occurs when running the cmd.Execute line and I am unsure as to why I am getting the error.
using IManage;
using IMANEXTLib;
using System;
namespace WebApplication3
{
public partial class WebForm2 : System.Web.UI.Page
{
IManDatabase imanagedatabase;
IManDMS myDMS = new ManDMSClass();
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
openImanageDoc("docNumber", "versionNumber", "server", "database", ReadOnly);
}
public void imanageLogin(string server, string database)
{
try
{
IManSession session = myDMS.Sessions.Add(server);
IManWorkArea oWorkArea = session.WorkArea;
session.TrustedLogin();
foreach (IManDatabase dbase in session.Databases)
{
if (dbase.Name == database)
{
imanagedatabase = dbase;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
}
public void openImanageDoc(string docNo, string versionNo, string server, string database, bool isReadOnly = true)
{
IManDocument doc;
try
{
imanageLogin(server, database);
int iDocNo = int.Parse(docNo);
int iVersion = int.Parse(versionNo);
doc = imanagedatabase.GetDocument(iDocNo, iVersion);
openNRTDocument(ref doc, isReadOnly);
imanagedatabase.Session.Logout();
myDMS.Close();
}
catch (Exception Ex)
{
imanagedatabase.Session.Logout();
throw Ex;
}
finally
{
imanagedatabase = null;
myDMS = null;
}
}
public void openNRTDocument(ref IManDocument nrtDocument, Boolean isReadonly)
{
OpenCmd cmd = new OpenCmd();
ContextItems objContextItems = new ContextItems();
objContextItems.Add("NRTDMS", myDMS);
objContextItems.Add("SelectedNRTDocuments", new[] { (NRTDocument)nrtDocument.LatestVersion });
objContextItems.Add("IManExt.OpenCmd.Integration", false);
objContextItems.Add("IManExt.OpenCmd.NoCmdUI", true);
cmd.Initialize(objContextItems);
cmd.Update();
cmd.Execute();
}
}
}
Due to the nature of the error, I am presuming it is a configuration issue rather than a code error although I could be completely wrong as I am very new to programming.
I have found out that w3wp.exe is an IIS worker process created by the app pool but other than that I have no idea what the numeric code represents. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

The error is being raised by the OpenCmd instance because it is most likely trying to access resources such as local registry settings. It's not possible to do that in a web application, unless you host your code in a proprietary technology like ActiveX (which is specific to Internet Explorer)
Actually, it is not appropriate for you to use OpenCmd here. Those type of commands (iManage "ICommand" implementations) are intended to be used in regular Windows applications that have either the iManage FileSite or DeskSite client installed. These commands are all part of the so-called Extensibility COM libraries (iManExt.dll, iManExt2.dll, etc) and should not be used in web applications, or at least used with caution as they may inappropriately attempt to access the registry, as you've discovered, or perhaps even display input Win32 dialogs.
For a web app you should instead just limit yourself to the low-level iManage COM library (IManage.dll). This is in fact what iManage themselves do with their own WorkSite Web application
Probably what you should do is replace your openNRTDocument method with something like this:
// create a temporary file on your web server..
var filePath = Path.GetTempFileName();
// fetch a copy of the iManage document and save to the temporary file location
doc.GetCopy(filePath, imGetCopyOptions.imNativeFormat);
In an MVC web application you would then just return a FileContentResult, something like this:
// read entire document as a byte array
var docContent = File.ReadAllBytes(filePath);
// delete temporary copy of file
File.Delete(filePath);
// return byte stream to web client
return File(stream, MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, fileName);
In a Web Forms application you could do something like this:
// set content disposition as appropriate - here example is for Word DOCX files
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document";
// write file to HTTP content output stream
Response.WriteFile(filePath);
Response.End();

Uploading file with post from ASP.NET web api throws error when published to Azure but not localhost

I have this web api where I'm posting images to a folder in my web api and it works fine when doing it locally but when publishing the web api online it doesn't work and throws the following error message "Error writing MIME multipart body part to output stream". I've seen a few people with similar questions but i havent been able to solve it therefore im putting the code out there and hopefully someone could notice what may be causing this! here is the code:
public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> Post()
{
// Check whether the POST operation is MultiPart?
if (!Request.Content.IsMimeMultipartContent())
{
throw new HttpResponseException(HttpStatusCode.UnsupportedMediaType);
}
// Prepare CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider in which our multipart form
// data will be loaded.
string fileSaveLocation = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data");
CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider provider = new CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider(fileSaveLocation);
List<string> files = new List<string>();
try
{
// Read all contents of multipart message into CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider.
//Here the code goes down to public class CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider and runs that code and then jump back here. When it gets back here is when the Error is Thrown
await Request.Content.ReadAsMultipartAsync(provider);
foreach (MultipartFileData file in provider.FileData)
{
files.Add(Path.GetFileName(file.LocalFileName));
}
// Send OK Response along with saved file names to the client.
return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, files);
}
catch (System.Exception e)
{
return Request.CreateErrorResponse(HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError, e);
}
}
}
public class CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider : MultipartFormDataStreamProvider
{
public CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider(string path) : base(path) { }
public override string GetLocalFileName(HttpContentHeaders headers)
{
return headers.ContentDisposition.FileName.Replace("\"", string.Empty);
}
}
The code is from http://www.intstrings.com/ramivemula/articles/file-upload-using-multipartformdatastreamprovider-in-asp-net-webapi/ where you can read more about the code. Any help or input highly appreciated, thanks!

I am not sure you can store data in the App_Data.
It will be a thousand times better if you store all your files in the Blob storage. If you need any help I will assist.
Follow this article and you will get it running.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/storage-dotnet-how-to-use-blobs/

Make sure the virtual directory (~/App_Data directory as below example) where the image files are first uploaded are physically existence. When you publish the project, it may not be in the output files.
string fileSaveLocation = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data"); CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider provider = new CustomMultipartFormDataStreamProvider(fileSaveLocation);

Transfer file from Windows Mobile device to...anywhere

I can't seem to find a solution to this issue. I'm trying to get my Compact Framework application on Windows Mobile 6 to have the ability to move a file on its local filesystem to another system.
Here's the solutions I'm aware of:
FTP - Problem with that is most of
the APIs are way to expensive to use.
HTTP PUT - As far as I have been able to find, I can't use anonymous PUT with IIS7, and that's the web server the system is running. (An extreme workaround for this would be to use a different web server to PUT the file, and have that other system transfer it to the IIS system).
Windows share - I would need authentication on the shares, and I haven't seen that a way to pass this authentication through windows mobile.
The last resort would be to require that the devices be cradled to transfer these files, but I'd really like to be able to have these files be transferred wirelessly.

FTP: define "too expensive". Do you mean performance or byte overhead or dollar cost? Here's a free one with source.
HTTP: IIS7 certainly supports hosting web services or custom IHttpHandlers. You could use either for a data upload pretty easily.
A Windows Share simply requires that you to P/Invoke the WNet APIs to map the share, but it's not terribly complex.

I ended up just passing information to a web server via a PHP script.
The options provided above just didn't work out for my situation.
Here's the gist of it. I've got some code in there with progress bars and various checks and handlers unrelated to simply sending a file, but I'm sure you can pick through it. I've removed my authentication code from both the C# and the PHP, but it shouldn't be too hard to roll your own, if necessary.
in C#:
/*
* Here's the short+sweet about how I'm doing this
* 1) Copy the file from mobile device to web server by querying PHP script with paramaters for each line
* 2) PHP script checks 1) If we got the whole data file 2) If this is a duplicate data file
* 3) If it is a duplicate, or we didn't get the whole thing, it goes away. The mobile
* device will hang on to it's data file in the first case (if it's duplicate it deletes it)
* to be tried again later
* 4) The server will then process the data files using a scheduled task/cron job at an appropriate time
*/
private void process_attempts()
{
Uri CheckUrl = new Uri("http://path/to/php/script?action=check");
WebRequest checkReq = WebRequest.Create(CheckUrl);
try
{
WebResponse CheckResp = checkReq.GetResponse();
CheckResp.Close();
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("Error! Connection not available. Please make sure you are online.");
this.Invoke(new Close(closeme));
}
StreamReader dataReader = File.OpenText(datafile);
String line = null;
line = dataReader.ReadLine();
while (line != null)
{
Uri Url = new Uri("http://path/to/php/script?action=process&line=" + line);
WebRequest WebReq = WebRequest.Create(Url);
try
{
WebResponse Resp = WebReq.GetResponse();
Resp.Close();
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("Error! Connection not available. Please make sure you are online.");
this.Invoke(new Close(closeme));
return;
}
try
{
process_bar.Invoke(new SetInt(SetBarValue), new object[] { processed });
}
catch { }
process_num.Invoke(new SetString(SetNumValue), new object[] { processed + "/" + attempts });
processed++;
line = dataReader.ReadLine();
}
dataReader.Close();
Uri Url2 = new Uri("http://path/to/php/script?action=finalize&lines=" + attempts);
Boolean finalized = false;
WebRequest WebReq2 = WebRequest.Create(Url2);
try
{
WebResponse Resp = WebReq2.GetResponse();
Resp.Close();
finalized = true;
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("Error! Connection not available. Please make sure you are online.");
this.Invoke(new Close(closeme));
finalized = false;
}
MessageBox.Show("Done!");
this.Invoke(new Close(closeme));
}
In PHP (thoroughly commented for your benefit!):
<?php
//Get the GET'd values from the C#
//The current line being processed
$line = $_GET['line'];
//Which action we are doing
$action = $_GET['action'];
//# of lines in the source file
$totalLines = $_GET['lines'];
//If we are processing the line, open the data file, and append this new line and a newline.
if($action == "process"){
$dataFile = "tempdata/SOME_KIND_OF_UNIQUE_FILENAME.dat";
//open the file
$fh = fopen($dataFile, 'a');
//Write the line, and a newline to the file
fwrite($fh, $line."\r\n");
//Close the file
fclose($fh);
//Exit the script
exit();
}
//If we are done processing the original file from the C# application, make sure the number of lines in the new file matches that in the
//file we are transferring. An expansion of this could be to compare some kind of hash function value of both files...
if($action == "finalize"){
$dataFile = "tempdata/SOME_KIND_OF_UNIQUE_FILENAME.dat";
//Count the number of lines in the new file
$lines = count(file($dataFile));
//If the new file and the old file have the same number of lines...
if($lines == $totalLines){
//File has the matching number of lines, good enough for me over TCP.
//We should move or rename this file.
}else{
//File does NOT have the same number of lines as the source file.
}
exit();
}
if($action == "check"){
//If a file with this unique file name already exists, delete it.
$dataFile = "tempdata/SOME_KIND_OF_UNIQUE_FILENAME.dat";
if(file_exists($dataFile)){
unlink($dataFile);
}
}
?>