I'm porting a legacy application from vb6 to c#, using serial port communication with a MSR206 Magstripe reader/writer. I can reset, connect, flash lights, read and write to the device successfully in both applications, and, verify the data being read/written with the EZWriter software that came with the MSR206.
However, I am having problems reconciling the programmers manual with the data being received over the serial port.
The legacy application treats any response with the byte value / ASCII code 94 ^, as an ACK. However, the user manual doesn't mention this as a valid response code. Also, I thought the ASCII code 6 is an ACK. Either way, if I treat this character as a "Success", everything works.
When I try to perform an operation, such initialisation, I only receive this one character as the response, and not what output the manual says.
e.g.
"8.1 MSR 206 INITIALIZATION
Command code: < ESC > a (Reset)
Command code: < ESC > e (Serial port test)
Response : Command test ACK: < ESC >y
Command code: < ESC > a (Reset)"
When running the initialisation, I'd expect byte[2] {27, 121} (< ESC >, y) as a response. Instead, I get:
Send: byte[2] {27, 97} (< ESC >, a)
Receive: byte[1] {94} (^)
Send: byte[2] {27, 101} (< ESC >, e)
Receive: byte[1] {94} (^)
Send: byte[2] {27, 97} (< ESC >, a)
Receive: byte[1] {94} (^)
If I try to return the firmware version:
- Command: Get firmware version
Command code: < ESC > v
Response: < ESC > [version]
Description: This command can get the firmware version of MSR206.
* [version] is a 5 bytes version number, format is “ REV?X.XX “MSR206? = 0 MSR206HC? = H MSR206HL? = U
I only receive the ^, and a ?.
Send: byte[2] {27, 118} (< ESC >, v)
Receive: byte[2] {94, 161} (^, ?)
Sample code:
using System;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
public class MSR206Test
{
static bool _continue;
static SerialPort _serialPort;
public static void Main()
{
string message;
StringComparer stringComparer = StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
_serialPort = new SerialPort("COM7", 9600, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.One);
_serialPort.DataReceived += new SerialDataReceivedEventHandler(port_DataReceived);
_serialPort.Open();
_continue = true;
Console.WriteLine("Type Command 1 to 6 or QUIT to exit");
while (_continue)
{
message = Console.ReadLine();
if (stringComparer.Equals("quit", message))
{
_continue = false;
}
else
{
switch (message)
{
case "1":
Console.WriteLine("Send ESC > reset");
_serialPort.Write(new byte[] { 27, 97 }, 0, 2);
break;
case "2":
Console.WriteLine("2 Sending ESC > firmware version)");
_serialPort.Write(new byte[] { 27, 118 }, 0, 2);
break;
case "3":
Console.WriteLine("3 Sending ESC > Serial port test)");
_serialPort.Write(new byte[] { 27, 101 }, 0, 2);
break;
case "4":
Console.WriteLine("4 Sending ESC > ram test)");
_serialPort.Write(new byte[] { 27, 87 }, 0, 2);
break;
case "5":
Console.WriteLine("5 Sending ESC > del)");
_serialPort.Write(new byte[] { 27, 127 }, 0, 2);
break;
case "6":
Console.WriteLine("6 ESC > flash)");
_serialPort.Write(new byte[] { 27, 40 }, 0, 2);
break;
}
}
}
_serialPort.Close();
}
public static void port_DataReceived(object sender, SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
var bytes = _serialPort.BytesToRead;
var buffer = new byte[bytes];
_serialPort.Read(buffer, 0, _serialPort.BytesToRead);
for(var i = 0; i < buffer.Length; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Response index ({i}) : " + buffer[i]);
}
var data = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(buffer);
Console.WriteLine($"Response ({buffer.Length}) : " + data);
}
}
I must be missing something simple, as I can encode and decode cards, I just cannot make sense on what's going on / why the output doesn't match the manual?
It's a device age issue, it doesn't look like the firmware on this model supports these commands. I've used a new magstripe and it functions as per the manual. I've reached out to the manufacturer for a device manual that matches this revision firmware.