Define card type

1. Start the CardDesigner tool from the Start menu in Windows.

1. In CardDesigner, click File > New Card Type or click the Create new card type button in the tool bar.
2. The New Card Type dialog box opens. Continue to make settings for the new card type.

In the New Card Type dialog box > Global tab, you make settings for the card layout.

In the New Card Type dialog box > Print tab, you make settings for the different printers.

In the New Card Type dialog box > Encoding tab, you select and configure encoding.

1. Click New to create a new encoding. The Encoding Type Selection dialog box will open.
2. Select an encoding type from the list and click Next > to confirm the selection.

3. The Encoding Description dialog box opens and lists all encoding rules available for this card type (that is, which have been installed on your computer.

4. Optional: Click Import to install additional encoding rules which contain your customer-specific encoding structure.

5. Select an encoding rule and click Next > to confirm your selection. In the Encoding Fields dialog box that opens, all available encoding fields are listed.

   An encoding rule may contain one or more encoding fields. The value of an encoding field can be fixed or variable:

   Values that are identical to all cards such as, for example, the company ID (company code) or the validity of a card are constant, fixed entries.

   Values that are individual and different such as, for example, card numbers or card versions are variable settings read in from a database.

6. To assign specific values to the encoding fields, select an encoding field from the list, and click Edit to open the Encoding Field – Database Field Assignment dialog box.

   The following settings can be used in an encoding field:
   • Only constant values (Values enclosed in double quotes, for example, "0147", or "11-99")
   • Only variable values (Values bound to a database field, for example, CardNumber or CardVersion)
   • Mixed constant and/or variable values (Combine values by using the plus sign, for example, "0147"+CardNumber+"11-99")

7. Map the encoding field to a database field or a fixed value:

   1. Click Database Field... to open a list of available database fields.
   2. Select the database field you want, and then click OK to go back to the Encoding Field – Database Field Assignment dialog box.
8. Define further settings to adjust the value of the encoding field. You can, for example, extend your input to include fixed values by entering the card validity in addition to the card number.
9. Click OK to confirm your entries and to go back to the Encoding Fields dialog box or click Cancel to close the dialog box without making any changes.
10. In the Encoding Fields dialog box, click Finish to save your settings. You will automatically go back to the Encoding tab.

11. If there are more than one encoding, you can use the toggle button to set the order of the encodings. During production, the encodings are performed from top to bottom.

    The actual production order may also be dependent on (and influenced by) the hardware used.

You can change an existing encoding at a later date.

1. Click the Edit Card Type button on the Toolbar - Card Table, or use the menu bar (File > Edit Card Type...), or double-click on the name of the card type in the Card Table view to open the Card Table: Edit Card Type... dialog box.
2. In the Encoding tab, select an encoding rule from the list and click Edit. The Encoding Fields dialog box opens.
3. Select an encoding field and click Edit and Next.
4. In the Encoding Configuration dialog box you can use the Encoding Fields, Devices and Condition tabs to adjust the settings of the encoding rules.
   
   1. In the Encoding Fields tab you change an existing assignment between encoding fields and database fields.
      
      1. Select an encoding field displayed in the list, and click Edit to change the existing assignment (described above in this article).
   2. In the Devices tab you assign other encoders or readers.
      1. Select another encoder, if further encoders are connected to the system. The card type will be encoded using the device that is displayed. There can be internal encoders, which are directly integrated into a printer, and external encoders, which are connected as an independent device.
      2. Select another reader, if further readers are connected to the system. The card type will be read using the device that is displayed. The procedure for installing hardware components is described in detail in Configure Card SDK.
   3. In the Condition tab you decide if a conditional encoding as necessary. Conditional encodings are required, for example, if the employees of a company should not all have the same permissions. Conditional encodings enable you, for example, to distinguish ID cards which authorize access either to the premises or to the canteen, from those which authorize both in combination.
      1. Here, you can set conditions to determine whether and when a card should be encoded. If encoding conditions have already been defined for an encoding type, these settings are automatically displayed in the input fields when clicking on this tab.
      2. Select a database field. An encoding is performed during runtime, in accordance with the contents of the database field.

      3. Enter a value in the Value field. The encoding is only performed if the value of the database field matches the contents of the specified database field during runtime.

         If multiple encoding descriptions are assigned to one card type, you must make sure that the defined condition allows to uniquely select one of the descriptions.

      4. Click OK to save your settings. The Encoding Configuration dialog box is closed, and you automatically go back to the Card Table: Edit Card Type tab.

In the Data Source tab you can configure an individual data source for each card type, and link the fields of CardDesigner to the fields of an external data source (Fields section). In addition, you can set up an individual counter (Counter section) for each card type.

These are the settings available to set up a counter:

1. Click the Edit Card Type button on the Toolbar - Card Table (select a card type first), or use the menu bar (File > Edit Card Type...), or double-click on the name of the card type in the Card Table view to open the Card Table: Edit Card Type... dialog box.
2. Use the Global, Print, Encoding, and Data Source tabs to set, change or delete the different settings, see "Create card type" in this article.