#ifndef __creaImageIOImageReader_h_INCLUDED__
#define __creaImageIOImageReader_h_INCLUDED__


#include <creaImageIOTreeAttributeDescriptor.h>

#include <vtkImageData.h>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <map>

namespace creaImageIO
{


  //=====================================================================
  /// Image reader of a specific image format
  class SpecificImageReader;
  //=====================================================================

  //=====================================================================
  /// Generic image reader which stores a vector of SpecificImageReader
  class ImageReader
  {
  public:
    ImageReader();
    ~ImageReader();

    /// Returns the known extensions
    const std::vector<std::string>& GetKnownExtensions()  
    { return mKnownExtensions; }
    /// Returns true iff the file is readable
    bool CanRead( const std::string& filename, 
		  const std::string& exclude = "");
    /// Reads and returns the image data. 
    /// Returns an "Unreadable image" picture if fails
    vtkImageData* ReadImage( const std::string& filename,
			     const std::string& exclude = "");
    
    /// Reads the attributes of the image.
    /// Requested attributes names are provided as keys 
    /// in a string to string map
    /// On return, the values of the map are the values 
    /// of the attributes (empty string if not available).
    void ReadAttributes(const std::string& filename, 
			std::map<std::string,std::string>& attr);

  protected:
    
    void Register(SpecificImageReader*);

    std::vector<SpecificImageReader*> mReader;
    std::vector<std::string> mKnownExtensions;
    vtkImageData* mUnreadableImage;

    std::string mLastFilename;
    SpecificImageReader* mLastReader;
    
  private:

  }; // class ImageReader
  //=====================================================================



} // namespace creaImageIO



#endif // #ifndef __creaImageIOImageReader_h_INCLUDED__