Abstract

An app to covert NIfTI volumes to DICOM files. This is a ChRIS conformant “DS” (Data Synthesis) plugin that wraps around the medcon package and provides a thin shim about that executable.

Synopsis

python medcon.py                                                \
     -i|--inputFile <inputFile>                                 \
    [-a|--args 'ARGS: <argsToPassTo_medcon>']                   \
    [--do <macro>]                                              \
    [-h] [--help]                                               \
    [--json]                                                    \
    [--man]                                                     \
    [--meta]                                                    \
    [--savejson <DIR>]                                          \
    [-v <level>] [--verbosity <level>]                          \
    [--version]                                                 \
    <inputDir>                                                  \
    <outputDir>

Description

medcon.py coverts NIfTI volumes to DICOM files. This is a ChRIS conformant “DS” (Data Synthesis) plugin that wraps around the medcon package and provides a thin shim about that executable. Using the [--args 'ARGS: <args>'] CLI, a user can pass any additional arbitrary arguments to the underlying medcon.

If running this application directly, i.e. outside of its docker container, please make sure that the medcon application is installed in the host system. On Ubuntu, this is typically:

sudo apt install medcon

and also make sure that you are in an appropriate python virtual environment with necessary requirements already installed (see the requirements.txt file).

Please note, however, that running this application from its docker container is the preferred method and the one documented here.

Arguments

 -i|--inputFile <inputFile>
Input file to process. This file exists within the explictly provided
CLI positional <inputDir>.

[-a|--args 'ARGS: <argsToPassTo_medcon>']
Optional string of additional arguments to "pass through" to medcon.

All the args for medcon are themselves specified at the plugin level
with this flag. These args MUST be contained within single quotes
(to protect them from the shell) and the quoted string MUST start with
 the required keyword 'ARGS: '.

[--do <macro>]
Optional argument to provide a "macro" type functionality. Using this
argument will add the correct underlying arguments to the internal
`medcon` binary.

Currently available:

        - 'nifti2dicom' : this will silently add the args
                      '-c dicom -split3d'

[-h] [--help]
If specified, show help message and exit.

[--json]
If specified, show json representation of app and exit.

[--man]
If specified, print (this) man page and exit.

[--meta]
If specified, print plugin meta data and exit.

[--savejson <DIR>]
If specified, save json representation file to DIR and exit.

[-v <level>] [--verbosity <level>]
Verbosity level for app. Not used currently.

[--version]
If specified, print version number and exit.

Run

While pl-medcon is meant to be run as a containerized docker image, typcially within ChRIS, it is quite possible to run the dockerized plugin directly from the command line as well. The following instructions are meant to be a psuedo- jupyter-notebook inspired style where if you follow along and copy/paste into a terminal you should be able to run all the examples.

First, let’s create a directory, say devel wherever you feel like it. We will place some test data in this directory to process with this plugin.

cd ~/
mkdir devel
cd devel
export DEVEL=$(pwd)

Now, we need to fetch sample NIfTI data.

git clone https://github.com/FNNDSC/SAG-anon-nii.git

mkdir results && chmod 777 results

docker pull fnndsc/pl-medcon

Examples

Copy and modify the different commands below as needed

docker run --rm                                                         \
    -v ${DEVEL}/SAG-anon-nii/:/incoming -v ${DEVEL}/results/:/outgoing  \
    fnndsc/pl-medcon medcon.py                                          \
    -i SAG-anon.nii                                                     \
    --do nifti2dicom                                                    \
    /incoming /outgoing

Debug

Finally, let’s conclude with some quick notes on debugging this plugin. The debugging process is predicated on the idea of mapping a source code directory into an already existing container, thus “shadowing” or “masking” the existing code and overlaying current work directly within the container.

In this manner, one can debug the plugin without needing to continually rebuild the docker image.

So, assuming the same env variables as above, and assuming that you are in the source repo base directory of the plugin code:

git clone https://github.com/FNNDSC/pl-medcon.git
cd pl-medcon
docker run --rm -ti                                                     \
       -v $(pwd)/medcon:/usr/src/medcon                                 \
       -v ${DEVEL}/SAG-anon-nii/:/incoming                              \
       -v ${DEVEL}/results/:/outgoing                                   \
       fnndsc/pl-medcon medcon.py                                       \
       -i SAG-anon.nii                                                  \
       --do nifti2dicom                                                 \
       /incoming /outgoing

Of course, adapt the above as needed.