Image Viewer > Basic Viewing > Hanging Protocols > Fine-tuning Protocols and Layouts

You may find that the default behaviour of the Hanging Protocols feature (as described in Basic use), where you simply change the content and state of the active viewer workspace and capture that state to a Layout, is sufficient for many purposes. However, in the event that the automatic capture functionality doesn't quite do what you want, or you would simply prefer to manually fine-tune a protocol's applicability or layout instructions, the HP designer allows you to do so.

Protocol Applicability

When you create a protocol, the protocol records information about the type of study it was captured from. This information is used by the viewer to determine the applicability of the protocol to studies other than the one it was captured from, and is known as the protocol applicability.

Adjusting a protocol's Applicability

You can view and edit a protocol's applicability in the HP Designer. To do so:

1.	Select the protocol in the Protocols list in the HP designer.

2.	Click on the Protocol Properties link below the Protocols list, to expand the Protocol Properties section.

3.	Notice that you now see a list of properties under the heading of Applicability, such as Modality, Study Description, and Institution.

4.	Edit or clear the values as desired. You may also enter values for any properties that are blank.

For a protocol to be considered applicable to a given study, every non-empty property must match the value in the study's DICOM headers. For example, a protocol whose Modality property has a value of 'CT' and Study Description property has a value of 'Chest' will be considered applicable if and only if the study has a Modality tag with the value 'CT' and a Study Description tag with the value 'Chest'.

A protocol whose Modality property has a value of 'CT' and Study Description property is empty is applicable to any study with a Modality of 'CT', regardless of its Study Description.

Alter the applicability of the Protocol (as shown above) to create a "Default" Hanging Protocol for all CT studies.

The degree of applicability is a measure of the number of properties that are in agreement between the protocol and the study. In the above example, the protocol with values specified for both Modality and Study Description will be considered more applicable (i.e. more specific) to a CT Chest study than the protocol that has only a value for Modality.

Note

•	You can configure whether additional properties such as Institution are automatically captured. To do so, go to the Tools > Preferences > Layout > Hanging Protocols configuration page, and see the Additional Protocol Applicability Properties section.

Adjusting a Layout

Having captured a layout, you may want to view and edit its properties in the HP designer. To do so:

1.	Select the layout whose properties you would like to view or edit in the Layouts list.

2.	Click on the Layout Properties link below the Layouts list, to expand the Layout Properties section.

3.	Notice that several new areas are now exposed on the user-interface: a list of Layout Properties, a small replica of the physical workspace layout, and below that a list of Image Box Properties.

4.	Select an image box in the workspace replica in order to see its property values in the Image Box Properties property list.

5.	You may modify the Layout Properties and the Image Box Properties as desired. See the following sections for details.

Adjusting a Layout's Applicability

A layout has several properties that control whether it is applicable to a given study. For details, see the Layout Applicability section.

Adjusting the Workspace Layout

Use the Rows and Columns up-down controls to adjust the dimensions of the workspace layout.

Adjusting the Study Property

The Study property determines the study (e.g. primary or related) that is assigned to an image box. Use this property to handle automatic hanging of priors.

1.	Use the workspace replica to select the image box whose properties you want to view/modify.

2.	Select the Study property, and click the ellipses button on the right to open the Study dialog.

1.	The Study dialog appears.

2.	To select either the primary study, or a related study that you have already defined (e.g. in another image box), choose Select a previously defined study and use the drop-down to make a selection.

3.	If the related study you would like to select does not exist in the drop-down, choose Define a new related study, and adjust the properties as desired.

Adjusting the Display Set Property

The Display Set property determines the display that is assigned to an image box.

1.	Use the workspace replica to select the image box whose properties you want to view/modify.

2.	Select the Display Set property, and click the ellipses button on the right to open the Display Set dialog.

3.	The Display Set dialog appears.

4.	Use the Display Set Type drop down list to select the type of display set that you would like to assign to the image box.

5.	Adjust the image matching properties as desired. Note that different image matching properties will appear in the list depending on the type of display set selected in step 4.

Adjusting the Tile Layout Property

The tile layout of the selected image box can be adjusted independently.

1.	Use the workspace replica to select the image box whose properties you want to view/modify.

2.	Select the Layout property, and click the ellipses button on the right to open the Layout dialog.

3.	Select the desired tile layout in the Layout dialog that appears.

Adjusting the Overlays Property

The Overlays property configures which overlays are shown by default in the image box.

1.	Use the workspace replica to select the image box whose properties you want to view/modify.

2.	Select the Overlays property, and click the ellipses button on the right to open the Overlays dialog.

3.	Select the desired overlays in the Overlays dialog that appears.

Adjusting the Orientation Property

The Orientation property determines the orientation of the display set assigned to an image box.

1.	Use the workspace replica to select the image box whose properties you want to view/modify.

2.	Select the Orientation property, and click the ellipses button on the right to open the Orientation dialog.

3.	The Orientation dialog appears.

4.	Use the Right Edge and Bottom Edge drop down lists to select the side(s) of the patient that should be aligned along the right and bottom edges of the viewport, respectively.

Adjusting the Window/Level Property

The Window/Level property determines the Window/Level (or Lookup Table) to apply to the display set assigned to an image box.

1.	Use the workspace replica to select the image box whose properties you want to view/modify.

2.	Select the Window/Level property, and click the ellipses button on the right to open the Window/Level dialog.

3.	The Window/Level dialog appears.

4.	Use the Window/Level drop down list to select the type of window/level or lookup table that you would like to apply.

5.	Adjust the properties as desired. Note that different properties will appear in the list depending on the type of window/level selected in step 4.

Adjusting the Invert Property

The Invert property determines whether or not to invert the grayscale images in the display set assigned to an image box.

1.	Use the workspace replica to select the image box whose properties you want to view/modify.

2.	Select the Invert property, and use the drop down on the right to select the desired value.

3.	Selecting Yes will always the image, and selecting No will never invert it. Selecting (default) will apply the default viewer behaviour, which you can configure in Tools > Preferences > Layout > Display Sets.

Adjusting the Sort By Property

The Sort By property determines how the images in the display set assigned to an image box should be initially sorted.

1.	Use the workspace replica to select the image box whose properties you want to view/modify.

2.	Select the Sort By property, and use the drop down on the right to select the desired value.

Layout Applicability

You may wish to define a layout that is shown conditionally, dependent upon the existence of certain images or related studies. For example, you may wish to define a layout that displays the 1st prior, and have that layout shown if and only if the 1st prior actually exists for a given study. Or you may wish to define a layout that displays a particular series that may or may not be present in the study, and have that layout shown if and only if that series is present. The HP designer provides several Layout Applicability properties that allow you to do this, discussed below.

Note

•	A layout that is not "shown" will not be included in the layout navigation cycle, but it can still be applied manually from the layout drop-down list (see Navigating Protocols and Layouts for a discussion of the layout navigation cycle and layout drop-down list concepts).

Adjusting the Require Primary Display Set Property

The Require Primary Display Set property allows you to specify that a layout should be shown if and only if at least one of the primary study display sets referenced by the layout actually exists.

1.	Select the layout in the Layouts list in the HP designer.

2.	Ensure that the Layout Properties section is expanded.

3.	Select the Require Primary Display Set property, and use the drop down to select the desired value.

Adjusting the Require Related Study Property

For a layout that references one or more related studies, the Require Related Study property allows you to specify that the layout should be shown if and only if at least one of the related studies actually exists.

1.	Select the layout in the Layouts list in the HP designer.

2.	Ensure that the Layout Properties section is expanded.

3.	Select the Require Related Study property, and use the drop down to select the desired value.

Testing Layout Adjustments

You can test adjustments to layout properties made in the HP designer by applying them to the active workspace. To do this:

1.	Select the layout that you would like to test in the Layouts list.

2.	Click the Apply Layout to workspace button. This will immediately apply all layout property values to the currently active workspace.