PRIMA 2e User Manual

 
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 

~1 

% 

? 

^ 

0-9, A-Z, Dot., ASCII 32-95 

~2; ; 

? 

= 

ASCII 

48-63 

~3; ; 

? 

= 

ASCII 

48-63 

~3; 

+ ? = 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?