NAME

    dump2dcm


SYNOPSIS

    dump2dcm [options] dumpfile-in dcmfile-out


SUMMARY

The dump2dcm utility converts an ASCII dumpfile to a dicom file. The dumpfile
has the same format as the output of dcmdump.  Thus it is possible to capture
the output of dcmdump into a file, modify some attributes and create a new
dicom file.  However, dump2dcm is not really suitable for generating dicom
files containing pixel data.


USAGE

dump2dcm: Convert ASCII dump to DICOM file
usage: dump2dcm [options] dumpfile-in dcmfile-out

parameters:
  dumpfile-in                   dump input filename
  dcmfile-out                   DICOM output filename

general options:
  -h     --help                 print this help text and exit
         --version              print version information and exit
  -v     --verbose              verbose mode, print processing details
  -d     --debug                debug mode, print debug information
input options:
  +l     --line                 [m]ax-length: integer
                                maximum line length m (default 4096)
output options:
  output file format:
    +F   --write-file           write file format (default)
    -F   --write-dataset        write data set without file meta information
  output transfer syntax:
    +t=  --write-xfer-same      write with same TS as input (default)
    +te  --write-xfer-little    write with explicit VR little endian TS
    +tb  --write-xfer-big       write with explicit VR big endian TS
    +ti  --write-xfer-implicit  write with implicit VR little endian TS
  post-1993 value representations:
    +u   --enable-new-vr        enable support for new VRs (UN/UT) (default)
    -u   --disable-new-vr       disable support for new VRs, convert to OB
  group length encoding:
    +g=  --group-length-recalc  recalculate group lengths if present (default)
    +g   --group-length-create  always write with group length elements
    -g   --group-length-remove  always write without group length elements
  length encoding in sequences and items:
    +e   --length-explicit      write with explicit lengths (default)
    -e   --length-undefined     write with undefined lengths
  data set trailing padding (not with --write-dataset):
    -p=  --padding-retain       do not change padding
                                (default if not --write-dataset)
    -p   --padding-off          no padding (implicit if --write-dataset)
    +p   --padding-create       [f]ile-pad [i]tem-pad: integer
                                align file on multiple of f bytes
                                and items on multiple of i bytes


DUMPFILE DESCRIPTION

The input file can be an output of dcmdump.  One element (Tag, VR, value) must
be written into one line separated by arbitrary spaces or tab characters.
A # begins a comment that ends at the line end.  Empty lines are allowed.

The parts of a line have the following syntax:
Tag:   (gggg,eeee)
       with gggg and eeee are 4 character hexadecimal values representing
       group- and element-tag.  Spaces and Tabs can be anywhere in a Tag
       specification
VR:    Value Representation must be written as 2 characters as in Part 6
       of the DICOM standard.  No Spaces or Tabs are allowed between the
       two characters. If the VR can be determined from the Tag, this part of
       a line is optional.
Value: There are several rules for writing values:
       1. US, SS, SL, UL, FD, FL are written as decimal strings that can be
          read by scanf.
       2. AT is written as (gggg,eeee) with additional spaces stripped off
          automatically and gggg and eeee being decimal strings that
          can be read by scanf.
       3. OB, OW values are written as byte or word hexadecimal values
          separated by '\' character.  Alternatively, OB or OW values can
          be read from a separate file by writing the filename prefixed
          by a '=' character (e.g. =largepixeldata.dat).  The contents of
          the file will be read as is.  OW data is expected to be little
          endian ordered and will be swapped if necessary.  No checks will
          be made to ensure that the amount of data is reasonable in terms
          of other attributes such as Rows or Columns.
       4. UI is written as =Name in data dictionary or as
          unique identifer string (see  6.) , e.g. [1.2.840.....]
       5. Strings without () <> [] spaces, tabs and # can be written directly
       6. Other strings with must be surrounded by [ ].  No bracket structure
          is passed. The value ends at the last ] in the line.  Anything after
          the ] is interpreted as comment.
       7. ( < are interpreted special and may not be used when writing an
          input file by hand as beginning characters of a string.
       Multiple Value are separated by \.
       The lines need not be sorted into ascending tag order.
       References in DICOM Directories are not supported.
       Semantic errors are not detected.

Examples:
 (0008,0020) DA  [19921012]          #     8,  1  StudyDate
 (0008,0016) UI  =MRImageStorage     #    26,  1  SOPClassUID
 (0002,0012) UI  [1.2.276.0.7230010.100.1.1]
 (0020,0032) DS  [0.0\0.0]           #     8,  2  ImagePositionPatient
 (0028,0009) AT  (3004,000c)         #     4,  1  FrameIncrementPointer
 (0028,0010) US  256                 #     4,  1  Rows
 (0002,0001) OB  01\00


ENVIRONMENT

The dump2dcm utility will attempt to load DICOM data dictionaries specified in
the DCMDICTPATH environment variable.  By default, if the DCMDICTPATH
environment variable is not set, the file /usr/local/dicom/lib/dicom.dic will
be loaded.  The default behaviour should be preferred and the DCMDICTPATH
environment variable only used when alternative data dictionaries are required.
The DCMDICTPATH environment variable has the same format as the shell PATH
variable in that a colon (":") separates entries.  The data dictionary code
will attempt to load each file specified in the DCMDICTPATH environment
variable.  It is an error if no data dictionary can be loaded.