System.Drawing.Image.Save() results in ArgumentException: "Parameter is not valid"

If you are using the .NET Image.Save() method to save an image, and you receive an ArgumentException with the message "Parameter is not valid," you probably spent a while examining the parameters you were passing into the Save() call, right? You probably banged your head against the wall and said, "Dear GOD, please tell me WHICH PARAMETER is not valid!"

Unfortunately, the error message is completely unhelpful, and you are seeing it because you had a brain fart. You have called Dispose() on the image object before you tried to Save() it.

If this helps you, please comment on this post, thanks.

Google Maps GIcon imageMap Property

Been fooling around with Google Maps API lately. When using custom markers on the maps, you should specify the imageMap property, so that the markers are still clickable even when beneath a "shadow," in Firefox. Yet the Google Maps API never describes the format in detail, simply stating it is "an array of integers representing the x/y coordinates of the image map we should use to specify the clickable part of the icon image in browsers other than Internet Explorer."

I searched high and low and could not find anyone that explained the format in more detail, but after studying the HTML image map formats, it became clearer that Google wants you to use the same format for this imagemap array as the "polygon" type of imagemap that HTML uses.

Specifically, your x,y pairs should denote points OUTLINING the area you want to be clickable. In very simple terms, if you have a square icon that is 8x8, and you wanted the entire square to be clickable, you would use an array of: [0,0, 7,0, 7,7, 0,7]. The first pair is the top/left corner, the second pair is top/right, the third is bottom/right, and the fourth is bottom/left.

They key is to think of your starting point, and traveling from point to point in order, encircling the area to make clickable for your GIcon (aka google.maps.Icon).