C# Return from a try-catch block

Question

I why can't I return the image I get from the url from within a try block? Sorry for the bad English :(.

This is the error I get:

Return statement is missing

    public static Image GetExternalImg(string name, string size)
    {
        try
        {
            // Get the image from the web.
            WebRequest req = WebRequest.Create(String.Format("http://www.picturesite.com/picture.png", name, size));
            // Read the image that we get in a stream.
            Stream stream = req.GetResponse().GetResponseStream();
            // Save the image from the stream that we are rreading.
            Image img = Image.FromStream(stream);
            // Save the image to local storage.
            img.Save(Environment.CurrentDirectory + "\\images\\" + name + ".png");
            return img;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {

        }
    }

Any help would be appreciated, because I'm stuck right now :(.

Answer 1

You need to return from all possible execution paths.

So, if your try fails, you need to return something from either the catch or the end of the function.

Note:

You really shouldn't have empty catch blocks - swallowing exceptions is a really bad habit which make debugging and finding where an exception originated from really difficult.

I would write the function as:

public static Image GetExternalImg(string name, string size)
{
    // Get the image from the web.
    WebRequest req = WebRequest.Create(String.Format("http://www.picturesite.com/picture.png", name, size));
    // Read the image that we get in a stream.
    Stream stream = req.GetResponse().GetResponseStream();
    // Save the image from the stream that we are rreading.
    Image img = Image.FromStream(stream);
    // Save the image to local storage.
    img.Save(Environment.CurrentDirectory + "\\images\\" + name + ".png");
    return img;
}

If you do have something in the catch block, either throw the exception up (throw;) after logging it, or return null.