In addition, we plan to provide C++ code for parsing/writing/manipulating the CIFTI-2 XML soon, also in the downloads section (http://www.nitrc.org/frs/?group_id=454).  It will not include code for reading NIfTI-2 files, as our current code for doing so needs improvement to support the additional dimension allowed in CIFTI-2.  When those improvements are made, we may provide that code also.

When the XML handling code is available, we will make an announcement on this forum, and on the hcp-users mailing list at humanconnectome.org.