Using the code

Code section of Image Enhancer is located at Microsoft CodePlex repository (http://imageenhancer.codeplex.com/SourceControl/latest) under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). In the following code example, Binarization filter is applied on the input image. At the very beginning, all namespaces required for this project in .NET were imported into the workspace. At first, when the “Binarize” button is clicked from the interface, the Binarize_Click event is invoked (Line 6).

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using AForge.Imaging.Filters;
using AForge.Math.Random;
using AForge.Imaging.Textures;
using System.IO;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using AForge.Imaging;

1        /* Method stub for Image Binarization */
2        /* The filter accepts 8, 16 bpp grayscale images for processing */
3       /* In the case of 8 bpp images the threshold value is in the [0, 255] range,
4         * but in the case of 16 bpp images the threshold value is in the [0, 65535] range */
5
6        private void Binarize_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
7        {
8            try
9            {
10              Cursor.Current = Cursors.WaitCursor;
11              int final_threshold_binarization;    // storing the final binarization threshold                                 
12              Bitmap bp = (Bitmap)rgb_image;
13              if (bp != null)
14              {
15                  Binarization bs = new Binarization();
16                  bs.ShowDialog();
17                  final_threshold_binarization = Convert.ToInt32(bs.getValue());
18                  Bitmap temp = bp.Clone() as Bitmap;
19                  FiltersSequence fseq = new FiltersSequence();
20                  fseq.Add(AForge.Imaging.Filters.Grayscale.CommonAlgorithms.BT709);
21                  temp = fseq.Apply(temp);
22   /* As Threshold filter accepts 8/16 bpp grayscale image, so the input grayscale image is 
converted into 8 bpp(0-255 threshold range) grayscale image before binarization */
23                  if (temp.PixelFormat != PixelFormat.Format8bppIndexed)
24                    temp = new Bitmap(temp.Width, temp.Height, PixelFormat.Format8bppIndexed);
25                  Threshold t = new Threshold(final_threshold_binarization);
26                  t.ApplyInPlace(temp);
27                  picImage.Image = new Bitmap(temp);
28                  picImage.Show();
29                  Cursor.Current = Cursors.Default;
30                }
31                  else
32                  MessageBox.Show("Select the Image", "Close", 
		MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);
33                  Cursor.Current = Cursors.Default;
34                  this.Refresh();
35            }
36            catch (Exception e1)
37            {
38                  MessageBox.Show("Error in Binarization", "Try Again", 
		MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
39                  this.Refresh();
40            }
41        }     

Code Segment 1. Binarization event present in Form1.cs

Until the filter is applied on the input image, current cursor icon will be a busy cursor indicating that a task is running in the background (Line 10).Then the input image (rgb_image) is copied to a Bitmap object for further processing (Line 12). An object of Binarization class is created (Line 15) which is a partial windows form class capable of accepting Binarization threshold (0-255 for an 8 bit image) from users. Next an instance of FiltersSequence class from AForge.Imaging.Filters namespace is created to add and apply Grayscale and Threshold filters (Line 19-26). Belonging to AForge.Imaging.Filters namespace, The FiltersSequence class, represents collection of filters, which need to be applied to an image in sequence. Using this class, user may specify set of filters, which will be applied to source image one by one in the order users define them. The Grayscale filter converts the RGB image to grayscale, Otsu Threshold filter is used for threshold setting in binarized images and to convert from grayscale image to binary image. These filters are combined in FiltersSequence object and applied on the input image and output image is stored. The resultant binarized image is shown in the picture box viewer (Line 28). If the input image to this method stub is null then the user is prompted to browse for the input image (Line 31-34). Any errors or exceptions occurred during conversion from RGB to binary image, is properly handled through catch block (Line 36-40).

Parameter customization of imaging filter

Like other image editors, editing the threshold parameters of a specific image processing algorithm is also an important aspect of Image Enhancer. The following part (Code Segment 2) represents the Binarization class through which users can edit the binarization threshold. Whenever, threshold value selected from the Binarization dialogue control, the SetValue() method (Line 14-17) present in Binarization.cs, sets the value of the threshold and GetValue() method (Line 18-22) returns the threshold value to the Binarize_Click event. Whenever the user chooses the threshold value from Binarization dialogue, it is ensured whether the user enters a valid threshold value within the range (For an 8 bit image, the RGB intensity varies between 0 -255) (Line 32-37) otherwise a warning dialogue appears notifying the user to enter valid threshold values (Line 38-40).

1        using System.ComponentModel;
2        using System.Data;
3        using System.Drawing;
4        using System.Linq;
5        using System.Text;
6        using System.Windows.Forms;
7
8        namespace Accord_Test
9    {
10    public partial class Binarization : Form
11    {
12       /* threshold value for binarization within the range[0-255] for 8 bit image */
13        private string threshold;  
14        public void SetValue(string str)
15        {
16            this.threshold = str;
17        }
18        public string getValue()
19        {
20       /* method returns the binarization threshold */
21          return threshold;                  
22        }
23        public Binarization()
24        {
25            InitializeComponent();
26        }
27        private void comboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
28        {            
29        }
30        private void OkButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
31        {
32            if ((Convert.ToInt32(comboBox1.Text) > 0) || 
		(Convert.ToInt32(comboBox1.Text) < 255))
33                {
34                comboBox1.Items.Add(comboBox1.Text);
35                threshold = comboBox1.Text;
36                this.Close();
37                }              
38                else
39                MessageBox.Show("Please Select a Threshold Limit For Binarization", 
		"Warning", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);
40        }       
41     }
42   }       

Code Segment 2. Binarization event present in Form1.cs

Whenever the Binarize_Click event occurs, an object of binarization class is created, through which the GetValue() method present in Binarization.cs is invoked and the GetValue() method returns the threshold binarization value (Code Segment 1, Line 15-17)

Code Metric for Image Enhancer 1.0.0 Release Candidate

Maintainability Index (MI) - An index value between 0 and 100 that represents the relative ease of maintaining the code. A high value means better maintainability. The classifications of the Maintainability index with respect to range of values are defined as

• 20-100-good maintainability
• 10-19-moderately maintained
• 0-9-low maintainability
• The MI value for Image Enhancer 1.0 RC was found to be 55. (Ref. 1)

Cyclomatic/Conditional Complexity (CC) - A software metric measuring linearly independent paths through a program’s source code. The CC of this software was found to be 802. (Ref. 1, 2)

Depth of Inheritance Tree (DIT) – It is defined as the maximum length from the node to the root of the tree which was found to be 7 here. Since all classes inherit from System. Object class, the depth 7 means 6 child classes are utilized under System. Object. (Ref. 1)

Class Coupling (C_c) – It is a distinguishing metric and accurate predictor of software failure to depict how many classes a single class uses. It also measures the coupling to unique classes through parameters, local variables, return types, method calls, generic or template instantiations, base classes, interface implementations, fields defined on external types, and attribute decoration. The class coupling value of Image Enhancer 1.0.0 RC was 191. (Ref. 1)

Lines of Code (LC) – 8309

The Release Candidate (RC) and the Beta versions of Image Enhancer went through an extensive acceptance testing. “SOFTPEDIA” and “FreewaresFiles” certified that Image Enhancer didn’t contain any form of malware, including but not limited to: spywares, viruses, Trojans and backdoors. This software product was also thoroughly tested in SOFTPEDIA lab and was found absolutely clean. (Dated 16^th July, 2014)

Name

Figshare

Persistent identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1045339

License

GNU lesser general public license (LGPL) version 2.1

Publisher

Abhisek Hazra

Date published

04/06/2014(Release Candidate)

Name

CodePlex

Identifier

http://imageenhancer.codeplex.com

License

GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1

Date published

28/05/2014(Release Candidate)