Magnetic Stripe Escapes; Enabling Magnetic Stripe Escapes - DataCard ImageCard IV User Manual

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Magnetic stripe escapes

Customers have the ability to use magnetic stripe escape codes with the SmartDriver,
version 5.0 and higher, and the ImageCard IV printer. Magnetic stripe escape codes
are used by card printers from several other manufacturers. To support existing
custom applications, Datacard has implemented magnetic stripe escapes. To use
magnetic stripe escapes with the SmartDriver, a custom application must send data to
the driver, not directly to the printer. Magnetic stripe escapes can also be used when
an application cannot format magnetic stripe data and when the application does not
allow you to select the SmartDriver's magnetic stripe fonts for formatting magnetic
stripe data.
Magnetic stripe escapes are most commonly used for the IAT format, which encodes
IATA (International Air Transport Association) data on Track 1, ABA (American
Banker's Association) data on Track 2, and TTS (Thrift Third Shift) data on Track 3.
Other card printer manufacturers sometimes refer to this format as ISO format. Using
information in this section, you can also use magnetic stripe escapes to encode
variations to the AIT format.

Enabling magnetic stripe escapes

The SmartDriver includes a setting to enable magnetic stripe escapes. Enable
magnetic stripe escapes on each PC that will use magnetic stripe escapes to send
data to a printer. Also, enable magnetic stripe escapes for each printer attached to a
PC if you will send magnetic stripe data to the printer.
To enable magnetic stripe escapes, do the following:
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User's Guide for the ImageCard® IV Printer
Proprietary formats, used for applications such as driver's licenses or hotels, can
be used with the printer. Obtain the guidance of your service provider or VAR
when using proprietary formats.
See the Release Notes file for the operating system you use to identify any
limitations that might apply to magnetic stripe encoding.
On Windows 98 and Me, data formatted with magnetic stripe fonts or escape
codes cannot be located in rotated fields.
Make sure the printer power is on and the printer is connected to the PC. Also
make sure the driver is installed on the PC and communicates with the printer.
Select Start from the Windows task bar.
From the Windows Start menu, select Settings and then Printers. The Printers
window appears.
Click once on the SmartDriver icon.
Select File from the Printers menu bar, and then:
– For Windows 9x, select Properties. The SmartDriver Properties dialog box
appears.
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