ImageGear Professional for Windows ActiveX
Working with Data Elements
| ImageGear Professional v18.2 > User Guide > Using ImageGear > Using ImageGear MD Component > Working With DICOM Data Structures > Working with Data Elements |
Use the IGMedDataElem Object to obtain information on the individual Data Elements, retrieve, or modify their data.
DICOM Standard defines a number of "Value Representations", which specify the type and meaning of the Data Element. A few examples of Value Representations are: "SL" (Signed Long), "CS" (Code String), "OB" (Other Byte). Many of the Value Representations allow the Data Element to have multiple values. Some of the Value Representations have a certain maximum or fixed length, such as "SL" and "CS", and some allow the Value to be of unlimited length.
To deal with the various Value Representations in a unified way, the ImageGear Medical component indexes Data Element Values as "Items". Each Value Representation is mapped to a certain "Item Type". All string based Value Representations are mapped to String type. They can be accessed through the String Property (indexed) of the IGMedDataElem Object. Floating point Value Representations are mapped to Float and Double item types, and can be accessed through the Double Property (indexed). Integer Value Representations are mapped to integer types, and can be accessed through the Long Property (indexed). The table that lists the mapping from Value Representations to Item Types is provided in the API Reference (see description of the IGMedDataElem Object).
The table below lists the properties and methods of the IGMedDataElem Object.
| Action | API Reference |
|---|---|
| Obtain information on the Data Element | |
| Find out which type of data is actually stored in the Data Element, and the number of data items | |
| Access the Data Items stored in the Data Element | |
| Change the number of items stored in the Data Element | Resize Method |
| Output the data in a printable form | OutputDataToString Method |