Prima MAGICARD ID Card Printer - Manual (Page 22)

Ultra Electronics Card Systems
Magicard Prima Driver Manual 22
3.3.2 SAMPLE OF MAGSTRIPE ENCODING
Sending Track Information
Magnetic track data are sent in the form of text strings from the application software
to the printer driver, along with all of the other printable objects within your card
design. For the printer driver to differentiate between magnetic track data and the
rest of the printable objects, the magnetic track data strings must be uniquely
“tagged” and be formatted using the “System” font. In other words, specific
characters must be added to the magnetic track data for the printer driver to know
which data are to be encoded, which tracks to encode, when the track data stops and
starts and so on. When using the Generic Printer Driver, you must manually add
these characters to the string of magnetic track data. If these characters are not
added to the track data, the text intended for the magnetic track will most likely
appear as printed text on the card. To avoid this, track information must be entered
as described below.
When entering track data, the “~” character is entered first, followed by the track
number (1, 2, or 3) on which you intend to encode the data. The data to be encoded
should then follow. The first character of this data string must be the track’s specific
SS (Start Sentinel), and the last character must be the specific ES (End Sentinel).
The characters or data in between the SS and the ES can include all of the valid
characters specific to each track. The number of these characters, however, is
limited by each track’s maximum character capacity. When segmenting track data,
the appropriate FS (Field Separator) must be used. The following table shows the
SS, ES, FS, and valid characters defined for each track. (Track character limits are
enforced by the TR-1, TR-2, and TR-3/NNT format options selected in the Magnetic
Encoding properties.)
Note:
This data must always appear on page one of your document.
The following example illustrates how track data should be entered for tracks 1, 2,
and 3 under following Windows OS:
Windows 2000/XP:
Track
Start Sentinel End Sentinel Field Separator Valid Characters
~1 % ? ^ 0-9, A-Z, Punct., ASCII 32-95
~2; ; ? = ASCII 48-63
~3; ; ? = ASCII 48-63
~3;
for XP only
+ ? = ASCII 48-63
Sample for Windows XP:
Sending Data to Track 1 : ~1%JULIE ANDERSON^623-85-1253?
Sending Data to Track 2 : ~2;012345…89?
Sending Data to Track 3 : ~3+012345…89?