User Guide

MagTek Device Drivers for Windows
108
read
Function
Read data from the device.
Syntax
/read [[x] y]
The optional argument x specifies the data source; if x is missing, a card will be
read. Refer to the Read Argument table below for a description data sources.
The optional argument y is used to specify a message to be displayed on the
LCD screen, if supported, before carrying out the command. If y is omitted
and the device supports a display, the text in the msg1 property is shown. In
order to use y, the x argument must be present. See the
display command
for the description of the message format for y.
Errors
/read -00045<LF>
If a command is already pending or the enc_key is not defined for read pin.
/read -00082<LF>
If the command was canceled by the application (82) or by the user (83) (e.g.,
with CLEAR key).
Remarks
The response to this command has the following format: /read status data
The status field is a 6-character string aligned to the right in the arg1 field. It is
formatted as follows: TX
1
X
2
X
3
SS
T defines the type of data that was read:
C = a check was read
M = a magnetic card was read
P = a PIN was read
K = a key press or string was read
- = indeterminate: no data was received from the device. Returned on errors
not specific to the data type, such as command canceled (SS=82).
X
i
define a media-specific status. For checks, this is the decimal representation of
the check read status, as defined in the MICR specification. For magnetic cards,
XXX indicates the read status for each of the three magnetic tracks (see
card in
the Read Arguments table below for a description of the status). For PIN data
this status is always 000; for keypress and string data, XXX is the data length in
characters.
SS is a two-digit status code. 00 indicates a good read (but some tracks may be
bad); any other status code indicates an error. These error codes indicate an error
in the communication between the driver and the device or driver’s internal
errors. Read errors are reported in the X
i
fields and do not cause the SS field to
be set to a non-zero value. See Appendix C. Status Codes.
The data format is described in the
write command below.
Example
To request an amount to be entered by the customer on the IntelliPIN:
Command
/set entry_len 6<LF>
/read key_string Enter the amount<LF>
Response
/read K00300 123<LF>
Example
To read a card (from any device):
Command
/read card<LF>
Response
/read M10900 ;12345?<LF>
track 1 error, track 2 good, track 3 blank