Tru-Test XRS2 Stick Reader Setup Manual page 3

Creating your own file
Alternatively, can create your own file containing animal lifetime information using MS Excel. Alternative methods or
software may be used, as long as the resulting file is in .csv, .xls, xlsx or .txt format. See the technical information below
for specific advice on formatting.
Here is an example:
By default, MS Excel will display a long number (e.g. EIDs) in scientific notation (e.g. 9.85152E+15):
This may cause issues when the file is transferred to the stick reader.
To change this, select the column containing EIDs, right-click, select Format Cells. In the Number tab, select
Number and set Decimal Places to 0.
The EIDs will now display normally:
Technical information about animal information files
A header row must be included. Use the same default field names used on the stick reader (EID, VID, Breed, Sex,
•
DOB). You can use any case as long as the field name is spelt correctly (e.g. breed, Breed or BREED is acceptable). If
using a field name other than the default field names, the stick reader will create a new field.
It doesn't matter which order the columns are in.
•
All information in the file will be transferred to the stick reader, so if your file contains a column of data which you
•
don't need, you should delete it.
The file must only contain letters and digits. It cannot contain any of the following characters [](){};,~^\|#".
•
The EID format used in the file can be in any of the four allowable formats, regardless of the EID format setting in
•
the stick reader itself. The allowable formats for EID are: Standard (e.g. 826 456789112345, No space (e.g.
826456789112345), Hexadecimal (e.g.8000F58009FA4860) and ISO (e.g. 100000982000167397472).
A VID may contain up to 24 characters. If a VID is long (between 16-24 characters), the whole VID will be saved in
•
the session file, but only the last 16 characters will be displayed on the stick reader during scanning. VIDs longer
than 24 characters will not be transferred to the stick reader.
If using a txt file, fields must be separated by a comma (essentially, a .csv file).
•
Up to 49,000 life data records can be transferred.
•
3