Magnetic Stripe

[uddin]

I want to write a c# application to capture the contents of a
magnetic stripe card with a card reader attached to the USB or COM
port of the PC. Are there any libraries or anything available to
do this, or do I need to read directly from the these port? Any
suggestions welcome ;) or Any code samples :-0

[tlhintoq]

I've done a lot with serial port card readers. The USB ones I've seen just make themselves into virtual COM ports, so you still treat them like serial COM ports.

Each maker has their own API. For example: You might need to put it into "auto read" mode by sending it a given command. Or you might need to specify that you are only reading track 3 of the magnetic strip. Is your brand sending you data as 3 strings (one for each stripe), or as a three byte arrays, or does it raise 3 events each with a stripe of data? Do you have to ACK after each stripe before the next is sent? Is the maker following their own data encryption and checksum formula? Etc. etc.

So, you need to follow the guidelines of the card reader you purchase.