Extracting OLE thumbnails using Access OLE Export / SQL Blob Export

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Access OLE Export / SQL Blob Export version 7.9 onwards has an option to extract OLE thumbnails from OLE-Object fields.

There are a couple of situations where this is useful.

  1. A linked OLE-Object image file may no longer be available, but a thumbnail was stored.  You can now at least extract the thumbnail.
  2. You only need the image and not the entire file.  For example, you may only need the thumbnail images from an Origin project files.  Exporting the thumbnails gives us the image, without needing to first export the project file, open it, then save the image to disk.

Download the latest version of Access OLE Export / SQL Blob Export and experience how you can easily export OLE thumbnails.

Extracting OLE thumbnails using SQL Image Viewer

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When viewing OLE-Object data in a database using SQL Image Viewer, a thumbnail of the embedded OLE object is displayed if one is available.

From SQL Image Viewer 12.5, you can now extract these thumbnails in addition to the OLE object that’s stored.  To do this, select the Extract OLE thumbnails option during the export process.

There are a couple of situations where this is useful.

  1. A linked OLE-Object image file may no longer be available, but a thumbnail was stored.  You can now at least extract the thumbnail.
  2. You only need the image and not the entire file.  In the above example, the embedded OLE objects are Origin project files.  If we only need the image from the project, exporting the thumbnails gives us the image, without needing to first export the project file, open it, then save the image to disk.

Download the latest version of SQL Image Viewer using this link.

Speeding up your searches in Easy PDF Search

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Searching your PDF files is already fast using Easy PDF Search.  You can make it even faster when there are no new files to scan and index.

Every time you run a search using the default option Index new files only, Easy PDF Search will first scan your libraries for new files before performing the search.

However, if you know that no new files have been added since your last search, you can skip the scanning process by selecting the Search index only (selected libraries) option.

Selecting this option can make a significant difference when your libraries contain a lot of files, as Easy PDF Search no longer needs to check if each and every file needs to be indexed or reindexed.

In Easy PDF Search 10.3, there is now a prompt to change to this option when Easy PDF Search detects that no new files were indexed in the last 5 searches.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy PDF Search now and make lightning fast searches in your PDF file collection.

Exporting DICOM frames / series to a AVI movie file

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In Easy DICOM Viewer 5.4, we added the option to export the currently selected series to an AVI movie file.

You can set the delay in seconds between each frame in the series, and also the video encoding codec to use.  Only codes already installed on your computer are listed, and some codecs may only support playback and not encoding.

You can also choose to include any annotations, measurements, redactions, and information profiles in the AVI movie.  Most users would use an information profile that displays the frame/slice information to know which frame/slice they are viewing at any point in the movie.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Viewer now and easily export your DICOM images to an AVI file.

 

Extracting fingerprint images from HID Global databases

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We have now added support to extract fingerprint images from HID Global databases in the following products:

When you select items the Biometrics table, the image stored in the CompositeIM field is displayed accordingly.

The fingerprint images will be exported as PNG images.

 

Easy DICOM Search – search parameters examples

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Working with text values

Search for exact text:

(Image.Tag('0008,0060') = 'CT')

matches CT but not ct, Ct, cT.

Search for multiple exact text:

(Image.Tag('0008,0060') In ['CT', 'MR'])

matches CT and MR, but not ct, Ct, cT, mr, Mr, mR.

Search for multiple text values (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0060').Match('CT, MR'))

matches CT, MR, ct, Ct, cT, mr, Mr, mR.

Search for multiple text values (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0060').Match('CT, MR'))

matches CT, MR, ct, Ct, cT, mr, Mr, mR.

Search for partial text matches (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').Contain('hospital'))

matches ‘Hospital of Columbia’, ‘Columbia Hospital’

Search for multiple partial text matches (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').Contain('hospital, research'))

matches ‘Hospital of Columbia’, ‘Columbia Hospital’, ‘Columbia Research Institute’, ‘Research Institute of Columbia’

Search for values starting with a specific text (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').StartWith('hospital'))

matches ‘Hospital of Columbia’ but not ‘Columbia Hospital’.

Search for values starting with multiple specific text (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').StartWith('hospital, research'))

matches ‘Hospital of Columbia’, ‘Research Institute of Columbia’, but not ‘Columbia Hospital’, ‘Columbia Research Institute’.

Search for values ending with a specific text (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').EndWith('hospital'))

matches ‘Columbia Hospital’ but not ‘Hospital of Columbia’.

Search for values ending with multiple specific text (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').EndWith('hospital, research'))

matches ‘Columbia Hospital’, ‘Columbia Research Institute’ but not ‘Hospital of Columbia’, ‘Research Institute of Columbia’.

Search for inequality values:

(Image.Tag('0008,0060') <> 'CT')

matches any value but CT.

Reverse the results of the ‘inner’ parameters:

(NOT (Image.Tag('0008,0060') = 'CT'))

Working with numbers

Match a specific value:

(Image.Tag('0010,1030') = 50)

Match one value from a list of values:

(Image.Tag('0010,1030') IN [30,33,36,39])

Match value using comparison operators:

(Image.Tag('0010,1030') > 50)
(Image.Tag('0010,1030') >= 50)
(Image.Tag('0010,1030') < 50)
(Image.Tag('0010,1030') <= 50)
(Image.Tag('0010,1030') <> 50)

Match a range of values:

(Image.Tag('0010,1030').BETWEEN(30, 60))

Reverse the results of the ‘inner’ parameters.

(NOT (Image.Tag('0010,1030').BETWEEN(30, 60)))

Working with date and time values

Dates are represented in the [year][month][day] format, so February 14, 2024 is represented as 20240214.  You then write your search parameters the same way as you would for numbers e.g.

(Image.Tag('0008,0020') = 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') > 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') >= 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') < 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') <= 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') <> 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') IN [20240214, 20241108]
(Image.Tag('0008,0020').BETWEEN(20240214, 20250214))

Similarly, time is represented in the [hour][minutes][second] format, so 10:30.24 PM is represented as 223024.  You then write your search parameters the same way as you would for numbers.

Working with patient age (AS-type)

Patient age can be returned in a variety of values.

Image.PatientAge – returns the age in years
Image.PatientAgeInDays – returns the age in years
Image.PatientAgeInWeeks – returns the age in weeks
Image.PatientAgeInMonths – returns the age in months

The returned values are number values, and you can then use the same search parameters for numbers e.g.

(Image.PatientAge = 50)
(Image.PatientAgeInDays >= 180)
(Image.PatientAgeInWeeks.BETWEEN(15, 30)
(Image.PatientAgeInMonths < 10)

Easy DICOM Search is the easiest tool you can use to search your DICOM image collection, and the most flexible in how you can work with the search results.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Search now.  A 12-months license costs USD 45, and includes 12 months of support and updates.

See also:

Getting started with Easy DICOM Search

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Let’s get started using Easy DICOM Search to search for specific DICOM images.

Selecting the folders to search in

2 ways to do this.

1 – select the folders in the Explorer window on the left

2 – enter the folders directly into the Folders listing

Enter the file extensions

By default, Easy DICOM Search will search for files with the dcm and dicom extensions in the search folders.  You can add additional extensions if required.

Enter the search parameters

Let’s start with the basics – searching for text values.  To search for all CT images, enter this:

and press F5 or click on the Search files (F5) button.

Image.Tag(‘0008,0060’)

tells Easy DICOM Search to evaluate the modality tag value.

= ‘CT’

tells Easy DICOM Search to check if the value matches the value CT.

The expression is enclosed in brackets by convention.

To search for images of multiple modalities, you have 2 options:

1 – enter each condition on a separate line, using the OR parameter

2 – use the MATCH operator

One difference between the two is that the equality search is case-sensitive, which the MATCH operator is case-insensitive.

To search for multiple parameters, use the AND operator e.g.

In the above example, Easy DICOM Search will return all CT and MR head and lung images.

To search for partial text values, use the CONTAIN, STARTWITH and ENDWITH operators.  All 3 operators are case-insentivie.

For e.g. to search for all images where the institution name contains the word JIRA, enter the following:

You can search for multiple values by separating each value with a comma e.g.

To search for a phrase, enclose the phrase in double quotes e.g.

Easy DICOM Search will return only images containing the phrase jira hospital or osirix in the Institution Name tag.

Finding tag group and element values

Easy DICOM Search has a tags reference function to help you search for each tag’s group and element values

You can filter the tags by entering the complete or partial tag description.

When you double-click on the tag item, the Tags Assist function helps you write your search parameters.  For e.g. when we double-click on the Patient’s Weight tag, the following Tags Assist window is displayed.

Say we want to search for patients whose weight is between 60 and 70.

Clicking OK then generates the following search parameter for us.

Note that the Tags Assist function must be active for this to work.

Working with your search results

Your search results are displayed in an Explorer-like window.  The search parameter values are also displayed.

You can add additional columns to the file listing to display other DICOM tag values by clicking on the Add columns to search results button.

You can export the file list to the clipboard or to a text file, or export the displayed file details, or export all or part of the DICOM tags for all the listed files to an Excel spreadsheet.  See this topic for more details.

Persistent search history

Click on the View search history function to display details of all your previous searches.

From the Search History window, you can choose to display the search results again, or perform the search again using the same parameters if you have added new files to search in.

Easy DICOM Search is the easiest tool you can use to search your DICOM image collection, and the most flexible in how you can work with the search results.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Search now.  A 12-months license costs USD 45, and includes 12 months of support and updates.

See also:

Easy DICOM Search released

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Need to search for your DICOM images matching specific tag values?  Like searching for CT images of the lung of male patients aged between 70 and 80?  Easy DICOM Search can help you with that.

Easy DICOM Search helps you search for images matching specific attributes using simple expressions like this:

You can search for any top-level tag value.  If the tag isn’t named, you can use the tag group and element directly e.g.

In this example, the 0008,0090 tag refers to the referring physician name.

You can also search on file attributes, in addition to DICOM tag values e.g.

Here, Easy DICOM Search will return all CT image files larger than 1 MB in size, created after January 1, 2024.

Working with your search results

Your search results are displayed in a Explorer-like window, and automatically displays the  tag values that match your search parameters.

The context menu of each DICOM file displays the same options you would see in Windows Explorer.

You can export the list of files, and even export all or part of the tag values of each file, to an Excel worksheet, complete with image thumbnails.

Persistent search results

Your search results are automatically stored and recalled when you open Easy DICOM Search.  You do not have to repeat the searches each time, unless you have new files.  In these situations, you can simply open the search history, and choose to perform the search again using the same parameters.  There is no need to write the search parameters again.

Easy DICOM Search is the easiest tool you can use to search your DICOM image collection, and the most flexible in how you can work with the search results.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Search now.  A 12-months license costs USD 45, and includes 12 months of support and updates.

See also:

Easy DICOM Viewer – anonymizing tags with Japanese character values

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In Easy DICOM Viewer, you can anonymize the DICOM tags in a series of images.

Prior to version 5.3, you could not modify the tag values to include Japanese characters.  From version 5.3 onwards, this is now possible.

For example, say you want to modify the Image Type tag (0008,0008) value to T1強調画像 (T1 weighted image).  First, create a new tags template or use an existing template.  A list of the most commonly used tags are displayed.

To check if Image Type is on the list, you can enter the tag value in the Filter area.

No results are displayed, meaning the tag isn’t on the list.  You could also have entered a partial description, e.g. type

A tag containing type is displayed, but it isn’t the tag we want.  To add a new tag, click on the Add button.

Enter the group and element value.

The new tag is then added to the list, and you can enter the value you want to use.

Another thing to note when using Japanese text is to ensure that your Specific Character Set tag (0008,0005) contains the value ISO 2022 IR 87.  You can check this in the Tags viewer in Easy DICOM Viewer.

If the image’s character set does not have this value, the tag value would be displayed  incorrectly.

With the correct value for Specific Character Set, the tag value is displayed correctly.

If you would like us to support additional character sets, please drop us a line at support@yohz.com.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Viewer now to easily anonymize or modify your DICOM images’ tag values.

Using date and time values in your file naming convention

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In SQL Image Viewer, Access OLE Export, and SQL Blob Export, you can use date values in the file naming convention.

In this query, we select the ID (integer), content (blob), and lastupdated (datetime) fields.

To use the date value from the lastupdated field, include it in the file naming convention value.

The file name then uses the default format of yyyymmdd to format the date value.

You can also format the date value differently using date and time specifiers.  For e.g. using <LASTUPDATE:yyyy_mm> indicates that we only want to use the year and month elements separated by an underscore character.

resulting in

You can also use the time values e.g. hhnn indicates we want to use the hour and minute values:

resulting in this:

You can use both and and time values by using the appropriate specifiers.  The thing to note is that minute specifiers use n or nn, instead of m or mm, as those are month specifiers.

A list of all date and time specifiers available here for reference.