Launching the Program

Launching with Shortcuts

Each version and edition of the DICOM Viewer installed in Windows has their own shortcuts on the Desktop and the Start Menu to ensure the convenience of launching.

To launch the program, double-click on the desktop shortcut or click on the shortcut from the Start menu.

On Windows and macOS, the DICOM Viewer may be launched by dragging and dropping the data folder on the program icon. The studies contained in the folder will be opened in a new tab DICOM data in the folder, and, depending on the data type, the first series of the first study on the list will be opened:

In the Flat image viewing tab;
In the ECG viewing tab;
With the PDF viewer (if installed), by default;
In the DICOM Tag Viewing tab, if the series cannot be opened in the above mentioned tabs/by the above mentioned programs.

If the DICOM Viewer has already been launched, the data will be opened in it. If there are no data in the folder to be displayed, an empty tab DICOM data in the folder will pop up.

Launch from the Command Line

Launching the program from the command line allows you to set specific parameters for the current session of the program, change the settings and get help information about the command line options. To launch the DICOM Viewer use the following syntax on the command line:

[<path_to_the_program>]< executable_program> [ --help] | [--study-folder <path> [--open-series-images | --open-series-mpr | --open-series-volume | --open-series-endoscopy [--series-uid <uid> | --series-index <index>]]] | [--pacs-aetitle <aetitle> [--patient-id <patientID>] [--study-uid <studyUID>] [--series-index <seriesIndex> | --series-uid <seriesUID>] [--open-series-images] ] | [--aet <aet>] | [--import-settings <path> [--use-imported-listener-aetitle | --aet <aet>] [--update-scu-aetitle]] | [--export-settings <path>]

--help: display the help information about the command line options, exit the program.
--study-folder <path>: display the study (studies) contained in the specified folder. If there are several studies, then the following options are applied to the first study in the list:
- --open-series-images: display the first series in the flat image view window
- --open-series-mpr: display the first series in the multiplanar reconstruction window
- --open-series-volume: display the first series in the volume reconstruction window
- --open-series-endoscopy(PRO): display the first series in the virtual endoscopy window
- Any of these parameters can be used with the following parameters:
  - --series-uid <seriesUID>: show the series with the specified seriesUID
  - --series-index <seriesIndex>: show the series with the specified seriesIndex
--pacs-aetitle <aetitle>: attempt to open study list from PACSServer which AETitle matches the specified aetitle. The following options can be used with this option in different combinations:
- --patient-id <patientID>: show the study with the specified patientID. Parameter has higher priority than --study-uid
- --study-uid <studyUID>: show the series with the specified studyUID
- --series-uid <seriesUID>: select the series with the specified seriesUID. If several studies are found, the first one on the list is used
- --series-index <seriesIndex>: select the series with the specified seriesIndex. If several studies are found, the first one on the list is used
- --open-series-images: display the selected series in the flat image view window. If a series is not selected, the first one of the first study is used

Example: C:\Users\user\DICOMViewerPro1.9.1\viewer.exe --study-folder D:\dicom_data --open-series-images --series-index 1 shows series with seriesIndex 1 of the first study from the D:\dicom_data folder in the Flat images view window.

If the option is wrong, then the help information about the command line options is displayed, and the program exits. If the option value is wrong (e.g. there are not DICOM data in the specified folder, there is no series with the specified seriesUID or seriesIndex), then this and all subsequent options are ignored.

Attention! If some AETitles of several PACSServers match, then data will be searched on the first PACSServer on the list. PACSServers are sorted by the Server nickname field. For details on how to set up connection to PACSServer, see Section 11.2.

The following options are used to change the settings. After executing any of these commands, the program exits. In case of a successful execution, the word Done appears on the command line.

--aet <aetitle>: parameter AETitle for DICOM Listener is set to <aetitle>
--import-settings <file>: imports settings from <file> except parameter AETitle for DICOM Listener
- --use-imported-listener-aetitle: parameter AETitle for DICOM Listener is set to value from <file>
  - if the option --aet <aetitle> is used at the same time then AETitle for DICOM Listener is set to <aetitle>
- --update-scu-aetitle: Client name (SCU) for PACS Servers is set to AETitle for DICOM Listener specified in <file>
  - if the option --aet <aetitle> is used at the same time then Client name (SCU) for PACS Servers is set to <aetitle>
--export-settings <file>: exports settings to <file>.

Launch multiple instances of the program

If one instance of editions Pro or Lite is already launched, then other instances of editions Pro or Lite exit and activate the first instance. If another instance is launched from the command line, then the command line options are sent to the first instance.

Note that sometimes the program cannot exit immediately when the main window closes (e.g. if data is being transferred over the network, or if information is being written to a disk or flash card). In this case, if you try to launch the program, the main window of the launched instance does not open and you should wait until the launched instance exits and then launch the program again.