User manual

Using Different Type Of Terminals Simultaneously
You can use different type of readers at the same time. Selecting “Readers.INI Based” in
Attendance Reader Interface under configuration does this.
The readers.ini file should exist in same folder where TASQLDAT.MDB is placed. In the
“Readers.INI” file, you select the reader being used by having a line Interface=N (no space
before or after the “=”). Till version FA.3D9.2C9.9D9.4, valid N values are 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 97, 98 (total 10, note 0 & 2 must not be used). Open the file in notepad to check which
number corresponds to which terminal.
Since different terminals send different values of IN/OUT/F1/F2/F3/F4, you need to ensure
that the readers.ini is correctly configured for it (the default file is correctly configured for
existing terminals). In addition, readers that can also accept punching of job code and task
code, also need to be defined properly in this file. The proxy id lengths may also be different.
Moreover you may like to have automatic posting for one type of reader but not for another.
Readers.ini file allows you to define parameters that are different for different readers.
Note:
1. A terminal is disabled simply by putting # before “Interface” (like #Interface=9 will make
ADCT terminal inactive).
2. Each terminal’s definition ends with a line ‘END’.
Creating Interface For New Type Of Terminal
Two Interface types, namely IF97 and IF98 are used for mapping data of terminals for which
TAS2000 does not have an existing Interface. This is a powerful feature that can be used with
any reader that sends data in text file, which can be mapped using IF97 or IF98 interface.
These two interfaces are used via “Readers.INI Based” interface as explained in “Using
Different Type…” above. Simply disable all other terminals (or rename the original and create
a new readers.ini file).
The difference between IF97 and IF98 is that while IF97 expects data in a format where each
field is separated by comma, the IF98 interface expects fixed length record.
The offsets defined in readers.ini file for IF97 are within each field. The restriction is that all
records must have same number of fields. This allows even variable length records, provided
the field, which is of variable length, is ignored. For example if iGuard’s Access log is
exported, it gives 9 fields including employee name and department name in each record.
However since these two fields are ignored by TAS2000 interface, they do not cause any
harm.
For IF98, the offsets are defined within the whole record.
You can also define values in a certain position that will force the interface to ignore that
record. You can also define values in a certain position that will tell the interface that it is a
valid record.
For better understanding go through the readers.ini file that comes with system.
Part 7