Has anyone ever accessed a card reader (credit card, smart card) reader from Clipper? We need to read from and write to a card. If so, could you point me in the right direction to research this? My experience so far has been limited to printer access across a network. I know that this is a totally different process and I would appreciate any advice you could offer. We are trying to find out if we will have to communicate with another application to bridge the gap between the reader and our Clipper application. Thanks.
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Card Reader Devices 1
- Thread starter fidhle
- Start date
If you have a card-reader that has a keyboard interface: no problem, as it's just emulating keyboard antry, and with set typeahead turned off, you'll have no trouble reading anything that's ascii-like.
If you have to read and write to the card it'll better be either serial or parallel-port interfaced, not USB, as the USB port usually is not available from DOS apps.
There is currently another thread on barcode scanners going on, you'd read that also for more info, it's practically the same issue.
HTH
TonHu
If you have to read and write to the card it'll better be either serial or parallel-port interfaced, not USB, as the USB port usually is not available from DOS apps.
There is currently another thread on barcode scanners going on, you'd read that also for more info, it's practically the same issue.
HTH
TonHu
- Thread starter
- #4
Thanks for your quick response. One of my problems is that the contractor on this project has not yet decided on the card reader and reader software they will be using but they want me to tell them if I can access it from Clipper. We have used scanners so I will pull one out for testing. I'll keep watching the thread you suggested.
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1
- #5
Pardon me for butting in but I just finished a project where we are required to:
a) Print the card face,
b) encode the mag stripe
c) encode the smart chip
We tested two different card printers, one of which had a smart card coupler built in. (DataCard printer). The coupler supposedly enables communication directly to the smart chip while the card is contained within the printer. As it turns out, the type of card we are using at this time is not compatible with the encoder.
The other printer we tested (Eltron) contains smart card contacts, but requires an externally connected encoder to be able to encode the smart chip. Both printers print on the card just fine, and both encode the mag stripe just fine, but we have to use an external encoder for the smart chip. 2 step process.
What it boils down to is some printers will take a field on the report layout as defined by a certain font, and encode it on the mag stripe at the same time the card is sent through to print. Others require raw data to be sent to the printer through a serial port, with formatting, font size, positioning, mag stripe data, etc., very similar to what you would use for printer control codes.
Both ways will take the stuff you want encoded, for instance, a member number ('123456'), and apply the ISO standard formatting (start, stop, len, crc and so on) for mag stripe encoding.
The smart chip encoder requires the printer to stop at a certain point and wait for the chip to be encoded. If the printer doesn't have smart card contacts or an encoder, it will have to be encoded in a separate, or stand-alone encoder.
When it comes to reading the mag stripe info, it is best to use a reader to take the ISO format data and give it to you like you need it.
For the smart chip encoding, things get a little more complicated. They are more like accessing a secured network drive. You can read and write to certain areas of the card, but only after presenting the correct security code.
Again, the smart card is accessesd using serial communications.
For more info on the smart card encoder I use, go here:
Dave S.
![[cheers]](/data/assets/smilies/cheers.gif "[cheers] [cheers]")
a) Print the card face,
b) encode the mag stripe
c) encode the smart chip
We tested two different card printers, one of which had a smart card coupler built in. (DataCard printer). The coupler supposedly enables communication directly to the smart chip while the card is contained within the printer. As it turns out, the type of card we are using at this time is not compatible with the encoder.
The other printer we tested (Eltron) contains smart card contacts, but requires an externally connected encoder to be able to encode the smart chip. Both printers print on the card just fine, and both encode the mag stripe just fine, but we have to use an external encoder for the smart chip. 2 step process.
What it boils down to is some printers will take a field on the report layout as defined by a certain font, and encode it on the mag stripe at the same time the card is sent through to print. Others require raw data to be sent to the printer through a serial port, with formatting, font size, positioning, mag stripe data, etc., very similar to what you would use for printer control codes.
Both ways will take the stuff you want encoded, for instance, a member number ('123456'), and apply the ISO standard formatting (start, stop, len, crc and so on) for mag stripe encoding.
The smart chip encoder requires the printer to stop at a certain point and wait for the chip to be encoded. If the printer doesn't have smart card contacts or an encoder, it will have to be encoded in a separate, or stand-alone encoder.
When it comes to reading the mag stripe info, it is best to use a reader to take the ISO format data and give it to you like you need it.
For the smart chip encoding, things get a little more complicated. They are more like accessing a secured network drive. You can read and write to certain areas of the card, but only after presenting the correct security code.
Again, the smart card is accessesd using serial communications.
For more info on the smart card encoder I use, go here:
Dave S.
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