BeginReadSequence(DicomElement,bool,long) Method

Summary

Used to read values from an existing DICOM sequence.

Syntax

C++

public DicomDataSet BeginReadSequence( 
   DicomElement element, 
   bool tree, 
   long tag 
)

Public Overloads Function BeginReadSequence( _ 
   ByVal element As DicomElement, _ 
   ByVal tree As Boolean, _ 
   ByVal tag As Long _ 
) As DicomDataSet

public: 
DicomDataSet^ BeginReadSequence(  
   DicomElement^ element, 
   bool tree, 
   int64 tag 
)

Parameters

element
an item in the data set

tree
true to evaluate the Data Set as a tree; false to evaluate the Data Set as a list.

tag
tag number of the DICOM element sequence

Return Value

a reference to the DicomDataSet

Remarks

This method is used to begin reading values from an existing DICOM sequence. It is part of a group of four methods that are to be used together. The four methods are listed below:

BeginReadSequence
EndReadSequence
BeginReadItem
EndReadItem

These methods are part of a fluent interface that are used to easily work with DICOM sequences. The methods can be chained together to create easily human readable code to create a sequence.

Passing null for the parameter element, and true for the parameter tree will attempt to read a sequence from the root of the DICOM data set. To read a sequence that is not at the root, pass the sequence item element for the parameter element, and false for the parameter tree. For more information on the element and tree paramters, see FindFirstElement.

The format of the code for reading a sequence is as follows:

ds.BeginReadSequence 
  .BeginReadItem() 
     .GetValue 
     .GetValue 
  .EndReadItem() 
  .BeginReadItem() 
     .GetValue 
     .GetValue 
  .EndReadItem() 
.EndReadSequence();