20
Appendix A
Mag Command Structure Required for ISO Standard Encoding
Listed below are the command instructions which must be placed in the image file control
header for an ISO standard encoding string:
Command
Parameter
Function
MAG
1, 2, 3
Track 1, 2 or 3
BPI
75, 210
Bits per inch
MPC
7, 5
Bits per character
COE
H, L
High or low Coercivity
Card Data Format
All user data selected for encoding must be sent in
UPPER CASE
characters. The Magnetic
Stripe data formats that can be encoded on tracks 1, 2 or 3 is as follows:
Track 1 Data Format
210 BPI, 7 BPC, 79 alphanumeric characters
Track 2 Data Format
75 BPI, 5 BPC, 40 numeric characters
Track 3 Data Format
210 BPI, 5 BPC, 107 numeric characters
Valid ISO Card Track Data Characters
Track 1:
Start Sentinel
%
= Start of data to be encoded.
Field Separator
^
= Space character.
End Sentinel
?
= End of encoded data.
Track 2:
Start Sentinel
;
= Start of data to be encoded.
Field Separator
=
= Space character.
End Sentinel
?
= End of encoded data.
Track 3:
Start Sentinel
;
= Start of data to be encoded.
Field Separator
=
= Space character.
End Sentinel
?
= End of encoded data.
To encode the word “MAGTEST” on Track 1 at 210 Bits Per Inch (BPI) and 7 Bits Per
Character (MPC), on a Hi-Co card, the data added to the file header would be as follows:
~1,BPI210,MPC7,COEH,%MAGTEST?
Windows Applications
When encoding from a Windows Application only true type fonts may be used. The user data
that has been selected for encoding must have the tilde symbol (~) at the start.
To encode the word “1234567890” on Track 2 at 75 Bits Per Inch (BPI) and 5 Bits Per
Character (MPC), on a Hi-Co card the data added to the file header would be as follows:
~2,BPI75,MPC5,COEH,;1234567890?
Should this data be put onto an image or id badge the Windows Driver would replace the tilde
symbol with the MAG command and add it to the file header before it was sent to the
encoder.
To encode all 3 tracks at once with data, the header file must contain the three separate
command lists. For example:
~1,BPI210,MPC7,COEH,%MAGTEST?
~2,BPI75,MPC5,COEH,;1234567890?
~3,BPI210,MPC5,COEH,;1234567890?