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Ultra Electronics Ltd
Pronto Maintenance Manual
- 61 -
SECTION 14.3
ENCODING USING BADGE PRINTING SOFTWARE.
Magnetic Track data is 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 is 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. There must be no spaces between these encoding characters.
The first character of this data string must be the Track specific “SS” (Start Sentinel), and the last character must be Track
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 format.
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. TR-1, TR-2, and TR-3/NNT
format options selected in the Magnetic Encoding properties, enforce Track character limits.
The following example illustrates how Track data should be entered for Tracks 1, 2, and 3 under Windows Operating
Systems:
Windows 2000 / 2003 SERVER/ XP / VISTA / Windows 7
It should be noted that testing independently from an application could be carried out in “WordPad”.
Sample Encoded Data.
~1%MAGICARD MAGTEST^24-07-2003?
~2;0123456789?
~3;0123456789?
However, after the page set-up has been carried out, the text must fit within the Card; “Carriage Returns” could be
automatically inserted if the “magnetic string” continues over the page edge.
The text must be of “True Type Font” and in capital letters.
TRACK
START SENTINEL
END SENTINEL
FIELD
SEPARATOR
VALID
CHARACTERS
~1
%
?
^
ASCII CHAR 32-95
~2
;
?
=
ASCII CHAR 48-63
~3
;
?
=
ASCII CHAR 48-63
NOTE Magnetic Encoding Data must always appear on Page One of your Badge Design.