FARGO electronic HDP700 manual Sending Track Information, Sample String

FARGO Electronics Inc.

3.7.7 Sending Track Information

Magnetic track data is sent in the form of text strings from the application software to the printer driver. In order for the printer driver to differentiate between magnetic track data and the rest of the printable objects, specific characters must be added to the magnetic data to be encoded. These specify the data that is to be encoded, the tracks to encode, and mark the start and stop of the data string. In some cases, these specific characters are automatically added to the string of track data by ID software applications. In most cases, the user 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 appear as printed text on the card. To avoid this, track information must be entered as follows.

When entering track data, the "~" (tilde) character is entered first, followed by the track number (1, 2, or 3) on which the data should encode. This is followed by the data to be encoded. The first character of this data string must be the track's specific Start Sentinel (SS) and the last character must be the specific End Sentinel (ES). The characters or data in between the SS and 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 Field Separator (FS) must be used. Table 3-3 shows the SS, ES, FS, and the valid characters defined for each track.

Sample String

Track 1: ~1%JULIEANDERSON^1234567890?

Track 2: ~2;1234567890987654321?

Track 3: ~3;1234567890987654321?

Table 3-2

					Maximum
	Start Sentinel	End Sentinel	Field Separator	Valid Characters	Number of
					Characters
Track 1	%	?	^	ASCII 32-95	78
				(See Table 3-3)
Track 2	;	?	=	ASCII 48-63	39
				(See Table 3-3)
Track 3	;	?	=	ASCII 48-63	106
				(See Table 3-3)

HDP700 Series Card Printer 3-17