action.  An action is an entry point into triggering the functionality contained in a tool.  Typically, actions are declared using attributes on the tool class, and are represented in the user interface by menu items and toolbar buttons.

action decorator.  An action decorator modifies the action with the specified ID to add custom behaviour and/or appearance, such as being enabled/disabled at runtime or having a dynamic icon.

action initiator.  An action initiator defines an action with a given ID and a given activation method.  Each action initiator attribute defines exactly one action in the action model.

action model.  The action model refers to the tree that describes how the actions are displayed relative to each other in the user interface, such as location of a toolbar button and the parent menus of a menu item.

API (Application Programming Interface).  The API is the set of classes, interfaces, other constructs and functions that can be used to develop code using a library or on top of a framework (such as the ClearCanvas Framework).

application component.  An application component is a self-contained, reusable component that provides some specific functionality on top of the ClearCanvas Framework and has some user interface associated with it.  Related class: ClearCanvas.Desktop.ApplicationComponent.

application component host.  An application component host is the object that instantiates and loads the view for a given application component.  The host is typically constructed by the framework although, if an application component is actually a composite of one or more components, the parent component would construct its own host for the child components.  Related interface: ClearCanvas.Desktop.IApplicationComponentHost.

application component view.  An application component view is the presentation layer for a given application component.  The view class itself is an extension of the application component's view extension point, and specifies the user interface element class that should be used to display the application component.  Related interface: ClearCanvas.Desktop.IApplicationComponentView.

automation. Term generally referring to when one application drives another via some exposed service interface(s).

client-code. When used in the context of software development in a framework, client-code typically refers to the code outside the framework that makes use of the defined public API, and is typically used to distinguish such code from that which is internal to the framework.

component.  See application component.

controller.  In the model-view-controller architecture, the controller is responsible for responding to events triggered by the user in the view, and to invoke appropriate responses in the model.  See also: model, view.

desktop window.  A desktop window is a top-level window that appears on the user's desktop.  All application components run within a desktop window as workspaces, shelves, dialog boxes, or within other components as hosted child components.

dialog box.  A dialog box is the part of the desktop architecture typically used to show application components that allow the user to enter some input to feed a certain operation.  Dialog boxes must be canceled or accepted before the user can continue on with the operation.

DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine).  A commonly-used standard in the storage, retrieval and transmission of medical images.

display set.  A display set is a logical grouping of presentation images owned by an image set.  The default implementation groups DICOM SOPs of the same series into a display set.

extension.  An extension is a class marked as extending a certain extension point.  They are discovered at runtime and instantiated by classes that consume the extension point.  Related class: ClearCanvas.Common.ExtensionOfAttribute.

extension point.  An extension point is a class that defines an extensible feature or algorithm.  Classes marked as extending an extension point (called extensions) are discovered at runtime and instantiated by classes that consume the extension point.  Related class: ClearCanvas.Common.ExtensionPoint.

frame.  A frame is a single, individual slide in an image, which may contain one or more such frames (for example, in DICOM, a cine or movie loop can be treated as a single "image" with many frames).

framework.  A framework is a core implementation of an application, modeling commonly used, generic concepts and allowing developers to focus on the creation of features by adding onto the core.  Compare with library, which is a collection of generic, reusable components.

GUI (graphical user interface). Refers to the visual user interface that a user interacts with in order to control an application through direct manipulation of graphics and text with the keyboard, mouse, and other input hardware.

host.  See also application component host.

image set.  An image set is a logical grouping of display sets owned by the logical workspace.  The default implementation groups DICOM series of the same study into an image set.

image SOP.  An image SOP is the basic elemental class that contains information relating to a particular DICOM image.  In the ClearCanvas Framework, all image SOPs are implemented as multiframe images, with "regular" images being a special case of multiframe images.

image viewer component.  The image viewer component is the application component that is responsible for opening and displaying medical images in a typical PACS client interface.

ImageServer (ClearCanvas ImageServer).  The ImageServer refers to the DICOM PACS server product by ClearCanvas.

ImageViewer (ClearCanvas ImageViewer).  The ImageViewer refers to the DICOM PACS viewer product by ClearCanvas.  It is also referred to as the Workstation.

library.  A collection of generic, reusable components that must be integrated with other components in order to produce a working application.  Compare with framework, which is a core implementation of an application.

logical workspace.  The logical workspace describes how the images loaded into the image viewer component are logically grouped into image sets, which are collections of display sets.  The default implementation groups DICOM series of the same study into an image set.

MDI (multiple document interface).  MDI describes an application model that revolves around having multiple documents open in the application simultaneously.  ClearCanvas Workstation uses the MDI model.

model.  In the model-view-controller architecture, the model is the part responsible for the business data and the business logic that operates on the data.  See also: view, controller.

model-view-controller (MVC).  MVC is a software engineering term describing the architecture of an application in three separate levels: model, view and controller.

PACS (Picture Archival and Communications System).  A medical imaging term for any system allowing the storage, retrieval, transmission and viewing of medical images.

physical workspace.  The physical workspace describes how the logical workspace in the image viewer component maps to actual user interface elements.  The default layout manager maps display sets to image boxes and individual presentation images to tiles within each image box.

plugin. In the ClearCanvas Framework, a plugin is a .NET assembly that is discovered by the framework at runtime.  The plugin contains classes that either extend parts of the framework, or extend functionality in other plugins.  Assemblies that do not contain any extension classes should be considered libraries, not plugins.

presentation image.  A presentation image is essentially the scene graph that contains all the elements making up the final image displayed in the image viewer component – the actual image pixel data and any overlay graphic items.

presentation state.  A presentation state is a set of attributes describing the displayed view of a presentation image at a particular instance in time, allowing for persistence of various characteristics such as rotation, magnification and any overlaid measurement graphics.

regular expression.  In computer science, regular expressions are string specifications of a certain pattern which can be used to validate and extract matching portions from an input string.

ROI (region of interest).  A subset of pixels on a medical image which exhibits some particular notable quality.

scene graph.  A tree of graphic objects, where the leaves are graphic primitives that a renderer knows how to draw to the screen.  In ClearCanvas, a presentation image is essentially a scene graph, where the image (pixel data) is at the 'bottom' of the scene, and the overlay graphics are on 'top'.

SDK (Software Development Kit).  An SDK is a complete collection of libraries and/or frameworks allowing the development of custom products on a certain platform.  SDKs are typically bundled with the API reference documentation and quick start wizards and tutorials to assist the developer in writing new code.

shelf.  A shelf is the part of the desktop architecture typically used to display components which are not "documents" in their own right, but interact with or operate on other components.

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). A simple XML-based protocol for communicating with web services.

SOP (service-object pair).  In DICOM, SOP is the term for its fundamental unit element.  All DICOM operations are achieved through the use of SOPs – storage of images is done in storage SOPs, search requests are communicated by exchanging SOPs, and so on.  In the context of the Workstation, the only SOP you'll likely deal with is the image SOP.

Study Root Query.  A query model defined in DICOM, where the study is at the root of the hierarchy.

tool.  A tool is a class that defines one or more functions that operate on the owner component.  Typically, tools are extensions of the owner component's tool extension point, and usually have one or more action initiator attributes that define user interface elements that can trigger the tool's functionality.  Related interface: ClearCanvas.Desktop.Tools.ITool.

tool context.  A tool context is a class that contains information about the objects that the tool operates on.  Typically, tool contexts contain at least a reference to the owner component and a reference to the desktop window the owner is running on so that the tool can interact with the user (such as showing its own dialog boxes). Related interface: ClearCanvas.Desktop.Tools.IToolContext.

UI (user interface).  Refers to the way in which a user interacts with an application, such as a command line or a visual interface known as a GUI.

user.  When used in the context of software development in a framework, user typically refers to the person who uses the application as a compiled entity via the user interface, as opposed to a developer who uses the framework's API via software code.  See also client-code, which is the code that makes use of an API.

view.  In the model-view-controller architecture, the view is the part responsible for presenting the data in the user interface.  See also: model, controller.

Windows Communications Foundation (WCF).  A generic network communication framework available as part of .NET Framework 3.0.

Windows Forms (WinForms).  Windows Forms is the original GUI design toolkit that was included with .NET 1.0.  The current distribution of ClearCanvas Workstation uses Windows Forms.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). WPF is the next-generation GUI design toolkit that was included with .NET 3.0.  It will likely replace Windows Forms as the dominant toolkit for building Windows applications.

workspace.  A workspace is the part of the desktop architecture typically used to display "document-based" components, although any application component can be hosted in a workspace.  Components hosted in a workspace are typically independent of all other workspaces, although other components in shelves may interact with and operate on the workspace, or it's contained component.

Workstation (ClearCanvas Workstation).  The Workstation refers to the DICOM PACS viewer product by ClearCanvas.  It is also referred to as the ImageViewer.