Provided by: dcmtk_3.6.6-5_amd64 bug

NAME

       dcmsend - Simple DICOM storage SCU (sender)

SYNOPSIS

       dcmsend [options] peer port dcmfile-in...

DESCRIPTION

       The  dcmsend  application  implements  a  Service Class User (SCU) for the Storage Service
       Class. In contrast to the well-known storescu utility, dcmsend has less  options  and  is,
       therefore,  easier  to  use  - this also explains the term 'simple' in the title. The main
       purpose of this application is to send a whole bunch of DICOM files to a  Storage  Service
       Class  Provider  (SCP).  dcmsend supports both multiple associations (one after the other)
       and decompression of DICOM SOP instances if needed to transfer them.

PARAMETERS

       peer        hostname of DICOM peer

       port        tcp/ip port number of peer

       dcmfile-in  DICOM file or directory to be transmitted

OPTIONS

   general options
         -h    --help
                 print this help text and exit

               --version
                 print version information and exit

               --list-decoders
                 list transfer syntaxes of decoders and exit

               --arguments
                 print expanded command line arguments

         -q    --quiet
                 quiet mode, print no warnings and errors

         -v    --verbose
                 verbose mode, print processing details

         -d    --debug
                 debug mode, print debug information

         -ll   --log-level  [l]evel: string constant
                 (fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)
                 use level l for the logger

         -lc   --log-config  [f]ilename: string
                 use config file f for the logger

         +v    --verbose-pc
                 show presentation contexts in verbose mode

   input options
       input file format:

         +f    --read-file
                 read file format or data set

         +fo   --read-file-only
                 read file format only (default)

         -f    --read-dataset
                 read data set without file meta information

       input files:

         +rd   --read-from-dicomdir
                 read information on input files from DICOMDIR

         +sd   --scan-directories
                 scan directories for input files (dcmfile-in)

         +sp   --scan-pattern  [p]attern: string (only with --scan-directories)
                 pattern for filename matching (wildcards)

                 # possibly not available on all systems

         -r    --no-recurse
                 do not recurse within directories (default)

         +r    --recurse
                 recurse within specified directories

   processing options
       transfer syntax conversion:

         -dn   --decompress-never
                 never decompress compressed data sets

         +dls  --decompress-lossless
                 only decompress lossless compression (default)

         +dly  --decompress-lossy
                 decompress both lossy and lossless compression

       deflate compression level:

         +cl   --compression-level  [l]evel: integer (default: 6)
                 0=uncompressed, 1=fastest, 9=best compression

       other processing options:

         -nh   --no-halt
                 do not halt on first invalid input file
                 or if unsuccessful store encountered

         -nip  --no-illegal-proposal
                 do not propose any presentation context that does
                 not contain the default transfer syntax (if needed)

         -nuc  --no-uid-checks
                 do not check UID values of input files

   network options
       application entity titles:

         -aet  --aetitle  [a]etitle: string
                 set my calling AE title (default: DCMSEND)

         -aec  --call  [a]etitle: string
                 set called AE title of peer (default: ANY-SCP)

       association handling:

         +ma   --multi-associations
                 use multiple associations (one after the other)
                 if needed to transfer the instances (default)

         -ma   --single-association
                 always use a single association

       other network options:

         -to   --timeout  [s]econds: integer (default: unlimited)
                 timeout for connection requests

         -ta   --acse-timeout  [s]econds: integer (default: 30)
                 timeout for ACSE messages

         -td   --dimse-timeout  [s]econds: integer (default: unlimited)
                 timeout for DIMSE messages

         -pdu  --max-pdu  [n]umber of bytes: integer (4096..131072)
                 set max receive pdu to n bytes (default: 16384)

               --max-send-pdu  [n]umber of bytes: integer (4096..131072)
                 restrict max send pdu to n bytes

   output options
       general:

         +crf  --create-report-file  [f]ilename: string
                 create a detailed report on the transfer
                 (if successful) and write it to text file f

NOTES

   Typical Usage
       A typical use case of dcmsend is to send arbitrary SOP instances that are stored as  DICOM
       files to a storage SCP. The following command does exactly this:

       dcmsend --verbose <peer> <port> *.dcm

       If  the DICOM files are stored in a hierarchy of directories below the directory 'IMAGES',
       the following command can be used:

       dcmsend -v <peer> <port> --scan-directories --recurse IMAGES

       It is also possible to specify multiple directories  and  to  combine  the  aforementioned
       approaches (using both file and directory names):

       dcmsend -v +sd +r <peer> <port> IMAGES_1 IMAGES_2 test.img *.dcm

       If  the SOP instances are referenced from a DICOMDIR file, option --read-from-dicomdir (or
       +rd) can be used to send all referenced DICOM files without loading them already  for  the
       association negotiation:

       dcmsend -v <peer> <port> --read-from-dicomdir DICOMDIR

       And again, all of the above approaches can be combined like this:

       dcmsend -v +sd +r +rd <peer> <port> IMAGES_1 IMAGES_2 test.img DICOMDIR *.dcm

       The  default  option --read-file-only makes sure that only DICOM files (i.e. the ones with
       meta-header and  magic  word  'DICM'  after  the  preamble)  are  processed.  Usually,  if
       processing a whole bunch of files, it is also a good idea not to halt on the first invalid
       input file or if an unsuccessful store was encountered. This can be accomplished by  using
       option  --no-halt.  Please note, however, that 'unsuccessful store' does not mean that the
       DIMSE status of the C-STORE response indicates an error. It means that the C-STORE request
       could not be sent to the storage SCP.

       If  more  than  128  presentation contexts are needed, which is the maximum number allowed
       according to the DICOM standard, a new association is started after the previous  one  has
       been  completed. In cases where this behavior is unwanted, it can be disabled using option
       --single-association.  In  addition,  whether  only  lossless  compressed  data  sets  are
       decompressed  (if needed), which is the default, or also lossy compressed data sets can be
       specified using the --decompress-xxx options.

       In order to get both an overview and detailed information on the transfer of the DICOM SOP
       instances,  option  --create-report-file  can be used to create a corresponding text file.
       However, this file is only created as a final step if the application  did  not  terminate
       before (with an error).

   Scanning Directories
       Adding  directories  as a parameter to the command line only makes sense if option --scan-
       directories is also given. If the files in the provided  directories  should  be  selected
       according to a specific name pattern (e.g. using wildcard matching), option --scan-pattern
       has to be used. Please note that this file pattern only applies to the  files  within  the
       scanned  directories, and, if any other patterns are specified on the command line outside
       the --scan-pattern option (e.g. in order to select further files), these do not  apply  to
       the specified directories.

       Thus,  the third of the above examples will recurse over directories IMAGES_1 and IMAGES_2
       and transmit files that are contained in these two folders and all their  subfolders  (due
       to option +r). Additionally, dcmsend will transfer 'test.img' and all files with extension
       'dcm' from the current  working  folder.  Note  that  providing  directory  names  without
       enabling option +sd does not make sense.

   DICOM Conformance
       Basically,  the  dcmsend application supports all Storage SOP Classes as an SCU, including
       private ones. By default, the application checks the SOP Class UID of the  DICOM  file  in
       order  to  make  sure  that only valid SOP instances are sent. With option --no-uid-checks
       this check can be disabled.

       The dcmsend application also supports all Transfer Syntaxes that are defined in the  DICOM
       standard.  Private  transfer  syntaxes  can only be used if the UID check is disabled with
       option --no-uid-checks. Please note, however, that  only  a  limited  number  of  transfer
       syntaxes  are  supported  for  converting them to the default transfer syntax (Implicit VR
       Little Endian). With option --list-decoders the transfer syntaxes supported natively or by
       decoders are listed. The output typically looks like the following:

       Transfer syntaxes supported natively:
       - Little Endian Implicit
       - Little Endian Explicit
       - Big Endian Explicit

       Transfer syntaxes supported by decoders:
       - Deflated Explicit VR Little Endian
       - JPEG Baseline
       - JPEG Extended, Process 2+4
       - JPEG Spectral Selection, Non-hierarchical, Process 6+8
       - JPEG Full Progression, Non-hierarchical, Process 10+12
       - JPEG Lossless, Non-hierarchical, Process 14
       - JPEG Lossless, Non-hierarchical, 1st Order Prediction
       - JPEG-LS Lossless
       - JPEG-LS Lossy (Near-lossless)
       - RLE Lossless

       Since  dcmsend  tries  to  be  as simple as possible for the user, by default presentation
       contexts might be proposed to the SCP  that  are  strictly  speaking  'illegal'.  This  is
       because,  according  to  the  DICOM  standard,  the  SCU always has to propose the default
       transfer syntax in at least one presentation context associated with each abstract  syntax
       (i.e.  SOP  class).  This  requirement  is  waived  if  the SCU only has access to the SOP
       instance in lossy compressed form or if the decompressed pixel data would be too large  to
       be  encoded. With option --no-illegal-proposal the strict DICOM-conformant behavior can be
       enforced, i.e.  no  possibly  illegal  presentation  context  will  be  proposed  but  the
       corresponding  SOP  instance  will be rejected (if needed). Please note, however, that the
       size of the decompressed pixel data is not checked.

       Please note, however, that the default transfer syntax for  'Lossless  JPEG  Compression',
       'Lossy  JPEG  Compression' and so on are not always proposed as also required by the DICOM
       standard. The same limitation applies to other  compression  schemes.  See  DICOM  PS  3.5
       section 10 for details.

LOGGING

       The level of logging output of the various command line tools and underlying libraries can
       be specified by the user. By default, only errors and warnings are written to the standard
       error  stream.  Using option --verbose also informational messages like processing details
       are reported. Option --debug can be used to get more details  on  the  internal  activity,
       e.g.  for  debugging  purposes.  Other  logging levels can be selected using option --log-
       level. In --quiet mode only fatal errors are reported. In such very severe  error  events,
       the  application will usually terminate. For more details on the different logging levels,
       see documentation of module 'oflog'.

       In case the logging output should be written to file (optionally with  logfile  rotation),
       to  syslog  (Unix)  or  the  event  log  (Windows)  option  --log-config can be used. This
       configuration file also allows for directing only certain messages to a particular  output
       stream  and  for  filtering certain messages based on the module or application where they
       are generated. An example configuration file is provided in <etcdir>/logger.cfg.

COMMAND LINE

       All command line tools use the following notation for parameters: square brackets  enclose
       optional  values  (0-1),  three  trailing  dots  indicate that multiple values are allowed
       (1-n), a combination of both means 0 to n values.

       Command line options are distinguished from parameters by  a  leading  '+'  or  '-'  sign,
       respectively. Usually, order and position of command line options are arbitrary (i.e. they
       can appear anywhere). However, if options are mutually exclusive the rightmost  appearance
       is used. This behavior conforms to the standard evaluation rules of common Unix shells.

       In  addition,  one or more command files can be specified using an '@' sign as a prefix to
       the filename (e.g. @command.txt). Such a command argument is replaced by  the  content  of
       the corresponding text file (multiple whitespaces are treated as a single separator unless
       they appear between two quotation marks) prior to any further evaluation. Please note that
       a  command  file  cannot  contain another command file. This simple but effective approach
       allows one to summarize common combinations of options/parameters and avoids  longish  and
       confusing command lines (an example is provided in file <datadir>/dumppat.txt).

EXIT CODES

       The  dcmsend utility uses the following exit codes when terminating. This enables the user
       to check for the reason why the application terminated.

   general
       EXITCODE_NO_ERROR                         0
       EXITCODE_COMMANDLINE_SYNTAX_ERROR         1

   input file errors
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_READ_INPUT_FILE          20 (*)
       EXITCODE_NO_INPUT_FILES                  21
       EXITCODE_INVALID_INPUT_FILE              22
       EXITCODE_NO_VALID_INPUT_FILES            23

   output file errors
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_WRITE_OUTPUT_FILE        40 (*)
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_WRITE_REPORT_FILE        43

   network errors
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_INITIALIZE_NETWORK       60
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_NEGOTIATE_ASSOCIATION    61
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_SEND_REQUEST             62
       EXITCODE_CANNOT_ADD_PRESENTATION_CONTEXT 65

       (*) Actually, these codes are currently not used by dcmsend but serve as a placeholder for
       the corresponding group of exit codes.

ENVIRONMENT

       The  dcmsend  utility  will  attempt  to  load  DICOM  data  dictionaries specified in the
       DCMDICTPATH environment variable. By default, i.e. if the DCMDICTPATH environment variable
       is  not  set,  the  file <datadir>/dicom.dic will be loaded unless the dictionary is built
       into the application (default for Windows).

       The default behavior 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 Unix shell PATH  variable  in  that  a  colon  (':')  separates
       entries. On Windows systems, a semicolon (';') is used as a separator. 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.

SEE ALSO

       dcmrecv(1), storescu(1), storescp(1)

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2011-2018 by OFFIS e.V., Escherweg 2, 26121 Oldenburg, Germany.