Tutorial: C-STORE Workflow

Table of Contents

• Goal
• Step 1: Run a C-STORE SCP (Storage Provider)
• Step 2: Send a file from a C-STORE SCU (Storage User)
• Association Negotiation
• Common Mistakes
• Next Steps

Goal

Set up a minimal DICOM store server (SCP) and a matching client (SCU) that sends a DICOM file to it.

Step 1: Run a C-STORE SCP (Storage Provider)

The SCP listens on a TCP port, accepts DICOM associations, receives incoming objects, and writes them to storage.

#include <pacs/services/store_scp.h>
#include <pacs/storage/file_storage.h>
 
using namespace pacs;
 
int main() {
    auto storage = std::make_shared<storage::file_storage>("./dicom_store");
 
    services::store_scp_config config;
    config.ae_title = "PACS_STORE";
    config.port = 11112;
 
    services::store_scp scp(config, storage);
    scp.set_on_received([](const core::dataset& ds) {
        auto sop_uid = ds.get_string(tags::sop_instance_uid);
        std::cout << "Received: " << sop_uid.value_or("?") << std::endl;
    });
 
    scp.run();  // blocks, listening
}

Step 2: Send a file from a C-STORE SCU (Storage User)

#include <pacs/services/store_scu.h>
#include <pacs/core/part10_reader.h>
 
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    core::part10_reader reader;
    auto dataset = reader.read(argv[1]).value();
 
    services::store_scu_config config;
    config.peer_ae_title = "PACS_STORE";
    config.peer_host = "localhost";
    config.peer_port = 11112;
    config.calling_ae_title = "MY_WORKSTATION";
 
    services::store_scu scu(config);
    auto result = scu.send(dataset);
    if (result.is_ok()) {
        std::cout << "Stored successfully\n";
    } else {
        std::cerr << "Store failed: " << result.error().message << "\n";
    }
}

Association Negotiation

Before any DIMSE command flows, the SCU and SCP negotiate an association. The SCU proposes presentation contexts (SOP class + acceptable transfer syntaxes), and the SCP accepts or rejects each.

pacs_system's association state machine handles this automatically. You only interact with it if you need to debug failures (see Troubleshooting).

Common Mistakes

• Wrong AE title. The SCP rejects associations with an unexpected Called AE Title.
• SOP class not supported. The SCP's presentation context list must include the SOP class of the object being sent.
• Transfer syntax mismatch. If the SCU proposes only JPEG 2000 and the SCP supports only Implicit VR, negotiation fails.

Next Steps

• Tutorial: Query/Retrieve
• examples/store_scp/ and examples/store_scu/ for runnable demos