Filtering out unwanted characters from a mag stripe swipe.

[Frank.Sebesta]

I have a wedge mag stripe reader that I swipe when ask to input
information in a query.
How do I filter the unwanted characters.
Apparently there are two mag stripes that are read every time I swipe
the card.
The first line has the name information and the second line has the
number that I want to use.
The number looks like this when I swipe a card.
%00123478?
I need to filter out the % and the ?
I guess I will also have to filter out the first line of the mag
stripe which has the name info.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

[PC Datasheet]

If there is ALWAYS 8 characters between % and ?, then use:
Me!DesiredNumbe r = Mid([SwipedNumber],2,8)
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<Fr***********@ lakeheadu.ca> wrote in message
news:11******** *************@o 13g2000cwo.goog legroups.com...

I have a wedge mag stripe reader that I swipe when ask to input
information in a query.
How do I filter the unwanted characters.
Apparently there are two mag stripes that are read every time I swipe
the card.
The first line has the name information and the second line has the
number that I want to use.
The number looks like this when I swipe a card.
%00123478?
I need to filter out the % and the ?
I guess I will also have to filter out the first line of the mag
stripe which has the name info.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

[Frank.Sebesta]

The following is what a sample of the mag info looks like when I do a
swipe. The first line is the name information, which varies in length.
The second line is what I need the access querry to read, but only the
number. The field is set up as text because we want the zero's to show.
How do I modify the line you gave me;
Me!DesiredNumbe r = Mid([SwipedNumber],2,8)
to also strip off the name info.
Can I use this line as an expression in a query or do I need to put
this into access code.
If I create sample database with a couple of records with the number
0166120 in an ID field, build a query to search for this number using
the mag reader, how would I go about this?

The following is a sample of the mag stripe info.

%FRANK^TEST?
;0166120?

[Alex]

I couldn't remember what the search string function was in Access,
until I saw it in another thread. Here is what I successfully pulled
your ID string out of your sample data with. It uses InStr to find the
leading ";" and the len function to find the trailing bit of the string
to the next "?".

If you may have data after this, just do a search in the string again
for the next "?" and modifiy the MID statement.

DesiredNumber :
Mid([SwipedNumber],InStr([SwipedNumber],";")+1,Len([SwipedNumber])-InStr([SwipedNumber],";")-1)

You can also use a similar routine to pull the name out of the data as
well, looking for the "%", "^", and "?" characters. I would have
figured you could program the swipe reader for exactly what you wanted
and not all the other stuff. Go figure.

Alex.
Fr***********@l akeheadu.ca wrote:

The following is what a sample of the mag info looks like when I do a
swipe. The first line is the name information, which varies in length. The second line is what I need the access querry to read, but only the number. The field is set up as text because we want the zero's to show. How do I modify the line you gave me;
Me!DesiredNumbe r = Mid([SwipedNumber],2,8)
to also strip off the name info.
Can I use this line as an expression in a query or do I need to put
this into access code.
If I create sample database with a couple of records with the number
0166120 in an ID field, build a query to search for this number using
the mag reader, how would I go about this?

The following is a sample of the mag stripe info.

%FRANK^TEST?
;0166120?

[Frank.Sebesta]

Thanks for all your help Alex.
One problem I'm having is when I swipe the card at the query prompt to
enter information, the query wants to input the info into the table
instead of pulling up a record in the form.
What am I doing wrong?

[Alex]

Frank.Sebe...@l akeheadu.ca wrote:

Thanks for all your help Alex.
One problem I'm having is when I swipe the card at the query prompt to enter information, the query wants to input the info into the table
instead of pulling up a record in the form.
What am I doing wrong?

Why don't you use a form? Have the mag stripe data go into a field on
a form and point the query at the form? You would get better results
with that.

I am to the point where I just use a form for everything. That way the
user can't mess stuff up as much.

[Alex]

Frank.Sebe...@l akeheadu.ca wrote:

Thanks for all your help Alex.
One problem I'm having is when I swipe the card at the query prompt to enter information, the query wants to input the info into the table
instead of pulling up a record in the form.
What am I doing wrong?

Why don't you use a form? Have the mag stripe data go into a field on
a form and point the query at the form? You would get better results
with that.

I am to the point where I just use a form for everything. That way the
user can't mess stuff up as much.

[Frank.Sebesta]

I am using the switchboard form which points to a query then to a form.
If I click on a button on the switchboard that asks me to enter a 7
digit number. It goes to a query and then opens a form with the
appropriate record.
It works if I enter the number manually but when I swipe the number in,
the program thinks the info on the swipe should be input into the
table. It creates a new record instead of bringing up the requested
record.