+ * \brief Creates a new UID. As stipulate in the DICOM ref
+ * each time a DICOM image is create it should have
+ * a unique identifier (URI)
+ * @param root is the DICOM prefix assigned by IOS group
+ */
+std::string Util::CreateUniqueUID(const std::string &root)
+{
+ std::string prefix;
+ std::string append;
+ if( root.empty() )
+ {
+ // gdcm UID prefix, as supplied by http://www.medicalconnections.co.uk
+ prefix = RootUID;
+ }
+ else
+ {
+ prefix = root;
+ }
+
+ // A root was specified use it to forge our new UID:
+ append += ".";
+ append += Util::GetMACAddress();
+ append += ".";
+ append += Util::GetCurrentDateTime();
+
+ //Also add a mini random number just in case:
+ int r = (int) (100.0*rand()/RAND_MAX);
+ append += Format("%02d", r);
+
+ // If append is too long we need to rehash it
+ if( (prefix + append).size() > 64 )
+ {
+ gdcmErrorMacro( "Size of UID is too long." );
+ // we need a hash function to truncate this number
+ // if only md5 was cross plateform
+ // MD5(append);
+ }
+
+ return prefix + append;
+}
+
+void Util::SetRootUID(const std::string &root)
+{
+ if( root.empty() )
+ RootUID = GDCM_UID;
+ else
+ RootUID = root;
+}
+
+const std::string &Util::GetRootUID()
+{
+ return RootUID;
+}
+
+//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+/**
+ * \brief
+ * @param os ostream to write to
+ * @param val val
+ */
+template <class T>
+std::ostream &binary_write(std::ostream &os, const T &val)
+{
+ return os.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&val), sizeof val);
+}
+
+/**
+ * \brief binary_write binary_write
+ * @param os ostream to write to
+ * @param val val
+ */
+std::ostream &binary_write(std::ostream &os, const uint16_t &val)
+{
+#ifdef GDCM_WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+ uint16_t swap;
+ swap = ((( val << 8 ) & 0xff00 ) | (( val >> 8 ) & 0x00ff ) );
+ return os.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&swap), 2);
+#else
+ return os.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&val), 2);
+#endif //GDCM_WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+}
+
+/**
+ * \brief binary_write binary_write
+ * @param os ostream to write to
+ * @param val val
+ */
+std::ostream &binary_write(std::ostream &os, const uint32_t &val)
+{
+#ifdef GDCM_WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+ uint32_t swap;
+ swap = ( ((val<<24) & 0xff000000) | ((val<<8) & 0x00ff0000) |
+ ((val>>8) & 0x0000ff00) | ((val>>24) & 0x000000ff) );
+ return os.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&swap), 4);
+#else
+ return os.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&val), 4);
+#endif //GDCM_WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+}
+
+/**
+ * \brief binary_write binary_write
+ * @param os ostream to write to
+ * @param val val
+ */
+std::ostream &binary_write(std::ostream &os, const char *val)
+{
+ return os.write(val, strlen(val));
+}
+
+/**
+ * \brief
+ * @param os ostream to write to
+ * @param val val
+ */
+std::ostream &binary_write(std::ostream &os, std::string const &val)
+{
+ return os.write(val.c_str(), val.size());
+}
+
+//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Protected
+
+//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Private
+/**