Previous Table of Contents Next


The Builder module is used to create and delete new files on a card. To create a new file of 20 16-byte records, you would first describe this file to the Builder module using the window in Figure 6.7.


Figure 6.7.  The EZ Formatter Directory/File Attributes window.

After clicking Apply, choose the access conditions for this new file named 1234 using the window, shown in Figure 6.8.


Figure 6.8.  The EZ Formatter Access Conditions window.

After you click Apply in this window, the new file shows up back in the Builder window, shown in Figure 6.9.


Figure 6.9.  The EZ Formatter Builder interface window.

You have described the new file, but the file hasn’t been created on the smart card yet. You can add and delete files until you are satisfied with the structure and then click Create to create all the files you’ve defined on the card. Furthermore, you can save this structure in a template so that it can be quickly applied to other cards.

Once the file is created, you can use the editor to read, write, and update information in the file. The file Editor window is shown in Figure 6.10.


Figure 6.10.  The EZ Formatter Editor window.

Figure 6.11 shows the results of writing data into and reading data out of our new file.


Figure 6.11.  The EZ Formatter Editor window data display.

Finally, the Advanced Controls module can be used to execute any command the card supports. You can also use it to send arbitrary byte sequences to the card. EZ Formatter includes a simple hex editor for those situations where you have to get down to the bits. Figure 6.12 shows the Advanced Control window.


Figure 6.12.  The EZ Formatter Advanced Controls window.

If you are going to use one of the card commands that EZ Formatter knows (as opposed to sending your own byte sequence), the command, as it will be sent to the card, is displayed along with the arguments it takes. When you click the Build Command button, an input window for each argument is displayed and a value of the argument collected. When all arguments have been supplied, you click the Process button to send the completed command to the card.

A strength of EZ Formatter is that individual smart cards and smart card readers the program can access are described in simple text files kept on your hard disk and read by the program when it starts. The language used for these descriptions is included in the EZ Formatter User’s Guide. As a result, you can update the program to work with new cards and new readers that weren’t in existence when you bought the program. You do this by creating a new description text file that describes the new card or card reader and loading it into EZ Formatter. Here, for example, is part of the EZ Formatter description of Schlumberger’s Multiflex card:

[ChangeCHV]
Type=0
Instruction=F0 24 00 01 10 zOldPIN(8Bytes) zNewPIN(8Bytes)
Response Length=0
Response Time=5000
Comment=Changes secret code

[DeleteFile]
Type=0
Instruction=F0 E4 00 00 02 xFileID(2Bytes)
Response Length=0
Response Time=5000
Error1=6A 82, File ID not found

You can see that exactly what you put in the description file is what appears in the Advanced Controls window (refer to Figure 6.12). Furthermore, the description includes the text that is displayed in the main EZ Formatter window status bar when an error code is returned from the card.

Smart Card Systems, Infrastructures, and Plug-ins

Of course, the easiest way to implement a smart card application is simply to buy the application off-the-shelf, already smart card aware. Although the situation is changing rapidly, there are unfortunately very few smart card-aware applications available today. There are, however, software products that seamlessly and invisibly add smart card capability to existing applications (see Table 6.2).

Table 6.2. Smart card systems, infrastructures, and plug-ins.
Product Company Telephone WWW Email

Avi-BoKs AU-Systems +468 726 7500 www.ausys.com ahg@ausys.se
BoKS Dynasoft +468 725 0900 www.dynas.se info@dynas.com
CAP-Net
Plug-ins
Selenium Intl. +1 514 933-8800 www.selenium.com cap@selenium.com
Snare Works Intellisoft +1 508 635-9070 www.isoft.com info@isoft.com
MiniCash
Electronic
Purse
Donpa +358 208-330033 www.sci.fi/~donpa raimo.kainulainen
@sci.fi
Multicard
Smart
Mars
Electronics
+44 118 969 7700 www.meiglobal.com matco@meiglobal.com
NetSign Litronic +1 714 545-6649 www.litronic.com info>@litronic.com
Prepaid
Smart
Card
System
Amerkore +1 703 204-0023 www.amerkore.com amerkore@amerkore.com
Prepaid
System
Amerkore +1 703 204-0023 www.amerkore.com amerkore@amerkore.com
SafePak Schlumberger +1 609 234-8000 www.slb.com/et/ info@et.slb.com
SmartGate V-ONE +1 301 838-8900 www.v-one.com sales@v-one.com
Web Browser
Plug-ins
Innovonics +1 602 516-1341 www.innovonics.com questions@innovonics.com


Previous Table of Contents Next