FIS ISO 8583 Processor Interface - ASCII or Binary Packager?

[Karoy]

So, a new FIS integration project I'm working is yet to get any detailed support from FIS, other than their ISO manual, which has this to say about their message format:

Message Text Options

You can select a combination of the following message text options:

• 􏰀  ASCII or EBCDIC alphanumeric characters

• 􏰀  Packed or unpacked bit maps

• 􏰀  Packed or unpacked numeric data

• 􏰀  Fixed or variable length data fields 

Well, this reads to me that in JPOS terms I could go with either ASCII or Binary packagers.

However, the spec uses numeric field format descriptions like this:

nP Numeric data element that is capable of being packed, based on the database setting. The data element contains numeric digits in unsigned packed format (4- bit BCD) when the numeric packing option is set. The number indicates the number of digits the data element contains.

Note: When the numeric packing option is set, all lengths are 1-byte binary. Odd- length packed numerics have a leading zero to ensure data elements begin and end on byte boundaries. 

Also, some others use 'NsP', which is numeric special packed designation.

Does the usage of packed decimals not imply binary, or the two are not related? In other words, can the ASCII JPOS packager still 'pack' numbers and if so what is that directive?

[Mark Salter]

On 23/11/2012 21:09, Karoy wrote:
> Does the usage of packed decimals not imply binary,

Sort of, but binary with only the hex digits 0123456789 present (no ABCDEF).

> In other words, can the ASCII JPOS packager still 'pack'
> numbers and if so what is that directive?

It can't unless the packager includes/uses binary fields of course.

The options available to you suggests to me that you might not need to
worry, just go for the :-

ASCII, with 'unpacked' - I read that as character bitmaps,data. Fixed
length fields sounds a little wasteful of bandwidth - but it might be an
option people could use (otherwise why would they provide it :-) ).


--
Mark

[Karoy]

Mark, thanks for your input! And really, come to think of it, if they balk, then whatev, thanks to JPOS, I can switch with little to no pain.

[chhil]

I always find the specs data types confusing :). Sometimes they are good and provide a hexdump of the message sent on the wire else it's capture the raw data using a sniffer and analyse.
Another thing that always helps me are the test cases of the field packagers that are provided by the framework, brings sanity to my confusion :)

-chhil

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