LDicomDS::DeleteElement

#include "Ltdic.h"

pDICOMELEMENT LDicomDS::DeleteElement(pElement)

Deletes the specified item from the Data Set.

Returns

Comments

You can remove all items from the Data Set using LDicomDS::ResetDS.

Since the Data Set is stored internally as a tree, the deletion must be carried out as a tree.

When deleting an item from the tree, if the item being deleted has a sibling (same level, same parent), following it, this function returns a pointer to this sibling. If the item being deleted does not have a sibling following it, but has a sibling preceding it, this function returns a pointer to the preceding sibling. If the item being deleted is an only child, this function returns a pointer to the parent. If there is no parent this function returns NULL.

Below are illustrations of these situations:

For the sake of these illustrations, the order of siblings is top to bottom. A preceding sibling is drawn above the sibling it precedes, a following sibling is drawn below the sibling it follows.

Please note that the numbering of the items of interest is arbitrary, and does not imply order.

In this illustration item 2 will be deleted. Since it has a following sibling, the returned pointer will point to item 3.

In this illustration item 3 will be deleted. Since it does not have a following sibling, but does have a preceding sibling, the returned pointer will point to item 2.

In this illustration item 2 will be deleted. Since it is an only child, the returned pointer will point to the parent, item 1.

In this illustration item 1 will be deleted. Since it has no siblings and no parent, this function will return NULL.

Required DLLs and Libraries

Platforms

Win32, x64

L_INT LDicomDS_DeleteElementExample() 
{ 
   LDicomDS*      pDS; 
   pDICOMELEMENT  pElement; 
   pDS = new LDicomDS(NULL); 
   pDS->InitDS( CLASS_CT_IMAGE_STORAGE, 0); 
   pElement = pDS->FindFirstElement(NULL, TAG_PATIENT_NAME, FALSE); 
   if (pElement != NULL) 
   { 
      pDS->DeleteElement(pElement); 
   } 
   delete pDS; 
   return DICOM_SUCCESS; 
}