VB.NET - game programming in vb.net using directx

hey guys,,,i m new for this game programming stuff.......i m following a book " game programming for teens"...they have given code for loading bitmap image but its giving me an error "INVALIDDATAEXCEPTION"
In this line---
SurfaceLoader.FromFile(image, " sky.bmp", Filter.None, BLACK)

here is complete code.i m using visual studio 2005 and directx9...
plz help me out


Imports Microsoft.DirectX
Imports Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D

Public Class Form1
REM define some useful constants
Const SCREENW As Integer = 800
Const SCREENH As Integer = 600
Dim BLACK As Integer = RGB(0, 0, 0)
REM Direct3D device variable
Dim device As Direct3D.Device
REM create image from a Direct3D surface
Dim image As Direct3D.Surface

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
REM resize the form
Me.Size = New Size(SCREENW, SCREENH)
Me.Text = "Bitmap Loading Demo"
Me.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint Or _
ControlStyles.Opaque, True)
REM get the desktop display mode
Dim adapterNumber As Integer = Manager.Adapters.Default.Adapter
Dim mode As DisplayMode
mode = Manager.Adapters.Default.CurrentDisplayMode
REM set up the presentation parameters
Dim params As New PresentParameters
params.Windowed = True
params.SwapEffect = SwapEffect.Copy
params.AutoDepthStencilFormat = DepthFormat.D16
params.EnableAutoDepthStencil = True
params.MultiSample = MultiSampleType.None
params.BackBufferCount = 1
params.BackBufferWidth = SCREENW
params.BackBufferHeight = SCREENH
REM check video card capabilities
Dim flags As CreateFlags
flags = CreateFlags.HardwareVertexProcessing
flags += CreateFlags.PureDevice

REM create the Direct3D device
device = New Device(adapterNumber, DeviceType.Hardware, Me, flags, params)
REM load the bitmap file
image = device.CreateOffscreenPlainSurface(SCREENW, SCREENH, Format.A8R8G8B8, Pool.Default)
SurfaceLoader.FromFile(image, " sky.bmp", Filter.None, BLACK)
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnPaint(ByVal e As PaintEventArgs)
REM begin rendering
device.BeginScene()
REM clear the back buffer
device.Clear(ClearFlags.Target + ClearFlags.ZBuffer, Color.Green, 1.0, 0)
REM specify the drawing rectangles for the image
Dim source_rect As New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, SCREENW, SCREENH)
Dim dest_rect As New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, SCREENW, SCREENH)
REM get reference to the back buffer
Dim backbuffer As Direct3D.Surface
backbuffer = device.GetBackBuffer(0, 0, BackBufferType.Mono)
REM draw the image
device.StretchRectangle(image, source_rect, backbuffer, dest_rect, 0)
REM stop rendering
device.EndScene()
REM copy back buffer to the screen
device.Present()
End Sub


End Class

Hi snehasoni,
I'm not an expert in game programming but have done some.

It looks like the path to the image has a space at the start of the file plus you might want to supply the full path to the image.

SurfaceLoader.FromFile(image, My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath & "\sky.bmp", Filter.None, BLACK)

And just to help if you can I would recommend using PNG image files as they have much better file sizes with the same quality as BMPs