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RESTRICTED USE ONLY Fargo Electronics, Inc.
DTC500 Series Card Printer/Encoders User Guide (Rev. 5.0)
196
Sending the Track Information
Magnetic track data is sent in the form of text strings from the application software to the
Printer driver. Specific characters must be added to the magnetic data (to be encoded) in
order for the Printer driver to differentiate between Magnetic Track data and the rest of the
printable objects. (Note: These specify the data and the tracks to encode and mark the
start and the stop of the data string.)
Automatic: In some cases, these specific characters are automatically added to the
string of track data by ID software applications.
Manual: In most cases, the User must manually add these characters to the string of
Magnetic Track data. (Note: 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 described below.
Step Procedure
1 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.
Start Sentinel and End Sentinel: 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). (Note: The characters or data in between the SS
and ES can include all of the valid characters specific to each track.)
Maximum Character Capacity: The number of these characters, however,
is limited by each track's maximum character capacity.
Field Separator: When segmenting track data, the appropriate Field
Separator (FS) must be used. (Note: See the table on the next page, which
displays the SS, ES, FS and the valid characters defined for each track.)