Volume Attributes

Attributes are small datasets, text or numeric, which are used to describe extra information about the variables they are attached to and carry NO information about the medical image itself.

The attributes in MINC 2 are defined in three different categories of global, structural and informational. Each category defines a set of predefined standard attributes. Global attributes such as history contain information about the entire MINC file. Structural attributes such as dimorder: an ordered comma separated list of dimension names, convery information to support the MINC file format format. Finally, informational attributes provide information about the medical image itself. For a detailed list of all MINC 2 attributes refer to APPENDIX A, section 4.

The MINC 2 library defines a set of functions for manipulating attributes. To set an attribute's value and create it , if it does not already exist, use the following:

      miset_attr_values(mihandle_t volume, 
                        mitype_t attr_data_type,
                        const char *path, 
                        const char *name,
                        int length, void *values)

where file handle, data type, path to the attribute (i.e., where in the hierarchy this attribute is created, /minc-2.0/stuff), name of the attribute, its length (i.e., 10 characters) and finally the attribute's value are passed as parameters. The attribute's value is retrieved using the following,

      miget_attr_values(mihandle_t volume,
                        mitype_t attr_data_type,
                        const char *path, 
                        const char *name,
                        int length, void *values)

and finally to delete an attribute use

      midelete_attr(mihandle_t volume, 
                    const char *path, const char *name)