Extech Instruments S4500THS, User Manual

Page: 4 / 25

Magnetic Card Read command strings
Six Commands strings are provided, to read the magnetic cards. These commands are
summarized in the tables below. The general syntax for commands are as follows:
`
Command String – General Syntax EEsc <‘M’> <’n’> <’n’> <’ Track # ‘>CR
Command String – Example Esc <‘M’> <’9’> <’9’> ‘6’ CR
Magnetic Card Read Command Strings – general form
ƒ
The ESC-M command turns on the power to the MC Reader
ƒ
The next two bytes, <nn> are used to set the MC reader’s timer. "01" through "99" are
valid timer settings and “00” disables the timer.
ƒ
The printer aborts and transmits the time-out error message, if the operator fails to swipe a
card within the time period set by the host application.
ƒ
On timeout printer aborts the swipe process, transmits timeout error message and turns off
the <READING> LED. The timeout feature works best on power up. If used after that it
may not cause the LED to turn OFF. Future Firmware releases will eliminate this.
ƒ
A good magnetic card swipe automatically terminates the read process.
Magnetic Card Command String Description
ESC – M - nn - 1 – CR (CR = Enter) Read Track1 only
ESC – M - nn - 2 – CR Read Track2 only
ESC – M - nn - 3 – CR Read Track3 only
ESC – M - nn - 4 – CR Read Track1 and Track2 simultaneously
ESC – M - nn - 5 – CR Read Track2 and Track3 simultaneously
ESC – M - nn - 6 – CR Read Tracks 1,2 and 3 simultaneously
ESC – C Cancel MC Read process
nn = ASCII "01" through "99" seconds
nn = “00” disables the MC reader timer
Magnetic Card Read Command Strings - Details
Magnetic Card Data Output Format
The track data retrieved from a magnetic card is transmitted to the host in ISO7811 ASCII
format as summarized in the table below. The first four characters (“%/1/”) flag the track
number, the track data follows the flag string, terminated with ‘?’-CR-LF. ‘%;+’ are the track
start sentinel characters, While ‘?’ is the end of track sentinel character. If no data is available
for a track that data field will be empty. If an Error is encountered on any track a single ‘E’ will
be the output for that tracks data field.