Ultra electronic ID Card Printer - Manual (Page 34)

IDX380 Printer Driver Manual Page 34 of 42
TR-1, TR-2 and TR-3/NTT
Defines the maximum number of characters allowed on track one, two and three.
Sending Track Information
Magnetic track data are 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 are 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 page one of your document.