The Value Line Series Magnetic Stripe readers have the additional functionality of being able to output multiple card formats with a single reader. For example, if a hospitality customer wants to output credit cards one way, for their credit card processing software, and output employee cards for terminal access in another fashion.  With the Value Line reader you can output three distinct formats with a single card reader and this method requires no additional software be loaded on the computer once the readers are configured.

In order to setup this facility with the reader you will need to access the Parsing dialog by pressing the F11 key in the Universal Programmers Software.  On the Parsing dialog you setup the two parsings to handle two of the card types, the third format is handled by the settings under F2, F4, F5, and F6 settings, ie the default output. When a card is read the reader will examine the two parsings first looking for a match and if none is found, the default output will be used to output the card swipe.

The parsing conditions are defined by several different settings: Data Match On, Match Offset and Match String. Once the conditions are met the fields of the parsing are used to determine the data that the card reader will output. First field 1 with preamble and postamble is output followed by field 2 and it's preambles and postambles.  Once the first parsing is tested and acted upon the second parsing will be executed and if found to match, field 1 and field 2 of that parsing will be output along with the associated preamble and postamble strings.

Parsing Conditions

Parsing Required - This is a global option that tells the reader to not output any data unless Parsings 1 or 2 match the card that was read.  If this option is not checked the card reader will output the card data according to the default output if no Parsing matches.

Data Match On - This defines the track number that is to be used to match the card data. This option can be set to Off, Track 1, Track 2, Track 3 or "No Match Needed Always Parse". By setting this option to "No Match Needed Always Parse" the parsing will always be active for the current card data. If this option is set to a specific Track, then the Parsing will only be active if the Match String is found on the Track and at the Offset provided.

Match Offset - This is used to indicate the offset into the Track for the beginning of the Match String. You can specify the Offset from either the Start or End of the Track.  The data on any track of the card starts with the Start Sentinel followed by the actual card data and the End Sentinel and then finally the LRC (checksum). In other words an offset of Start+0 points to the Start Sentinel, End-1 points to the End Sentinel, and End - 0 points to the LRC (checksum).

Match String - This is the string that you are looking for on the Track defined in the Data Match On field. In order for the Parsing to be activated the Match String must be found at the Offset specified for the particular Track.

Field Definitions

Define the fields on the card that are to be output.  First Field 1 is output followed by Field 2, simply select the field number in the field list box and setup the field boundaries.  The field boundaries are defined by the following settings:

Track - This is the Track on which the field is found.  If the track is set to Off then the field is not defined.  Any fields that are defined must be found in order for the Parsing to be active.

Starting Offset - This is the starting character of the field on the Track.

Ending Offset - This is the ending character of the field on the Track.

Preamble - This is a string that will be transmitted just before the field data.

Postamble - This is a string that will be transmitted just after the field data.

Examples

Parsing cards of a specific length

If you wish to parse a card that has a track with a specific length you can do so with the following options:

Data Match On: Track A - Where A is the track number that you want to test

Match Offset : Start + XX - where XX is the length of the track - 1, for example with cards with a length of 10 on the Track set it to Start+9.

Match String: ?

The next step would be to define your fields for this card type.

Parse a server id card separate from credit cards

In order to parse server cards that are different from credit cards you must know something of the server card data.  For example, if your server cards are encoded on Track 2 with a ten character server id, then the data on the cards are 12 digits long. Set the fields as follows:

Data Match On: Track 2

Match Offset: Start + 11

Match String: ?

Define field 1 as the Server ID with the following field definition:

Field 1 - Track: 2

Field 1 - Starting Offset: Start + 1

Field 1 - Ending Offset: End - 1

Field 1 - Postamble: $0D

Now when you read your credit card all of the data on Track 1 and Track 2 will be output followed by a carriage return.  If you read your Server ID card then only the 10 digit server ID followed by a carriage will be transmitted to the computer.