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3.5.7. Sample of magnetic stripe Encoding
Sending Track Information
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 formatted by 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. The first
character of this data string must be the track’s specific SS (Start Sentinel), and the last character
must be the 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. 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. (Track character limits are enforced by the TR-1, TR-2, and
TR-3/NNT format options selected in the Magnetic Encoding properties.)
Note: This data must always appear on the first page of your document.
The following example illustrates how track data should be entered for tracks 1, 2, and 3 under
following Windows OS:
Windows 2000/XP:
Track Start
Sentinel
End
Sentinel
Field
Separator
Valid Characters
~1 % ? ^ 0-9, A-Z, Dot., ASCII 32-95
~2; ; ? = ASCII 48-63
~3; ; ? = ASCII 48-63
~3;
for XP only
+ ? = ASCII 48-63
Sample for Windows XP:
Sending Data to Track 1: ~1%JULIE ANDERSON^623-85-1253?
Sending Data to Track 2: ~2;012345…89?
Sending Data to Track 3: ~3+012345…89?
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