CardValidator Component

Properties   Methods   Events   Config Settings   Errors  

The CardValidator component is used to verify that a given credit card number is formatted properly, and could be a valid card number. Validating a card before actually submitting a transaction for authorization can reduce the fees that may be associated with invalid or declined transactions.

Syntax

TibcCardValidator

Remarks

Utilization of this component catches accidentally mistyped card numbers and allows buyers to re-input their number without having the transaction declined. It can also determine the type of credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, etc) to easily determine if the customer is presenting a payment type which you do not support. The component can also parse swiped track data and perform these same checks on it.

There are three checks performed on the customer's credit card information:

The ValidateCard method explains these checks in more detail.

Property List

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The following is the full list of the properties of the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Method List

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The following is the full list of the methods of the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Event List

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The following is the full list of the events fired by the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Config Settings

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The following is a list of config settings for the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

CardExpMonth Property (CardValidator Component)

Expiration month of the credit card specified in CardNumber .

Syntax

property CardExpMonth: Integer read get_CardExpMonth write set_CardExpMonth;

Default Value

1

Remarks

This field contains the month portion of the expiration date of the customer's credit card. This property must be in the range 1 - 12. The ValidateCard method compares this property against the system time to determine if the card is expired.

CardExpYear Property (CardValidator Component)

Expiration year of the credit card specified in CardNumber .

Syntax

property CardExpYear: Integer read get_CardExpYear write set_CardExpYear;

Default Value

0

Remarks

This field contains the year portion of the expiration date of the customer's credit card. This property must be in the range 00-99, or 2000-2099. The ValidateCard method compares this property against the system time to determine if the card is expired.

CardNumber Property (CardValidator Component)

Credit card number to be validated.

Syntax

property CardNumber: String read get_CardNumber write set_CardNumber;

Default Value

''

Remarks

This property contains the customer's credit card number. A credit card number may be of any length, and may optionally include dashes or spaces. However, in practice the maximum length of the supported CardTypes is 19 characters (excluding whitespace), and the minimum length is 13 characters.

CardType Property (CardValidator Component)

Indicates the results of the Luhn Digit Check algorithm.

Syntax

property CardType: TibcTCCCardTypes read get_CardType;

TibcTCCCardTypes = (
  vctUnknown,
  vctVisa,
  vctMasterCard,
  vctAmex,
  vctDiscover,
  vctDiners,
  vctJCB,
  vctVisaElectron,
  vctMaestro,
  vctCUP,
  vctLaser
);

Default Value

vctUnknown

Remarks

This property is filled after a call to the ValidateCard method. Allowable values include:

This property is read-only and not available at design time.

CardTypeDescription Property (CardValidator Component)

Human-readable description of the CardType .

Syntax

property CardTypeDescription: String read get_CardTypeDescription;

Default Value

''

Remarks

This property is filled after calling the ValidateCard method, and will contain a text description of the CardType. This is useful to distinguish different program cards. For instance, a CardType of ccDiners might have a corresponding CardTypeDescription of "Diner's Club International", "Diner's Club Carte Blanche", or "Diner's Club enRoute".

This property is read-only.

DateCheckPassed Property (CardValidator Component)

Indicates whether the card is expired or not.

Syntax

property DateCheckPassed: Boolean read get_DateCheckPassed;

Default Value

false

Remarks

The ValidateCard method checks whether the card's expiration date (CardExpMonth and CardExpYear) is a valid future date, and stores that result in the DateCheckPassed property.

This property is read-only.

DigitCheckPassed Property (CardValidator Component)

Indicates the results of the Luhn Digit Check algorithm.

Syntax

property DigitCheckPassed: Boolean read get_DigitCheckPassed;

Default Value

false

Remarks

The ValidateCard method checks whether or not the CardNumber conforms to the mod-10 digit check algorithm, and stores that result in the DigitCheckPassed property. Note that a card may pass this check and still be an invalid card. (Either a fake number that passes the digit check, or an unknown CardType).

This property is read-only.

TrackData Property (CardValidator Component)

Magnetic stripe data read off the credit card.

Syntax

property TrackData: String read get_TrackData write set_TrackData;

Default Value

''

Remarks

This property may be set with the magnetic stripe read off the back of a credit card using any commercially available card reader. You may set this property with either Track1 or Track2 data. If TrackData is set, the values contained in CardNumber, CardExpMonth, and CardExpYear are ignored when calling ValidateCard. Instead, these properties are parsed out of the track data. This allows you to easily retrieve the expiration date and card number from either Track1 or Track2 data. For instance:

CardValidator1.TrackData = "4012000033330026=21121015432112345678" CardValidator1.ValidateCard()

The CardNumber, CardExpMonth, and CardExpYear will now contain the values parsed from the track data. TrackType will also indicate whether the TrackData is Track1 or Track2 (in this case, it's Track2 data).

TrackType Property (CardValidator Component)

Indicates the type of the specified TrackData .

Syntax

property TrackType: TibcTTrackTypes read get_TrackType;

TibcTTrackTypes = (
  ttUnknown,
  ttTrack1,
  ttTrack2
);

Default Value

ttUnknown

Remarks

This property will be filled after a call to ValidateCard. If magnetic stripe data was supplied in the TrackData field, this property will indicate which type of track was entered. If no track data was entered (ie, the CardNumber was specified instead) then the TrackType will be ttUnknown.

This property is read-only and not available at design time.

Config Method (CardValidator Component)

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

function Config(ConfigurationString: String): String;

Remarks

Config is a generic method available in every component. It is used to set and retrieve configuration settings for the component.

These settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the component, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

To set a configuration setting named PROPERTY, you must call Config("PROPERTY=VALUE"), where VALUE is the value of the setting expressed as a string. For boolean values, use the strings "True", "False", "0", "1", "Yes", or "No" (case does not matter).

To read (query) the value of a configuration setting, you must call Config("PROPERTY"). The value will be returned as a string.

Reset Method (CardValidator Component)

Clears all properties to their default values.

Syntax

procedure Reset();

Remarks

This method clears all properties to their default values.

ValidateCard Method (CardValidator Component)

Checks the card number and expiration date for validity.

Syntax

procedure ValidateCard();

Remarks

This method performs several checks on customer information to determine if the card information submitted could be valid. This should be done before submitting an actual transaction for authorization. The tests performed are listed below:

Error Event (CardValidator Component)

Information about errors during data delivery.

Syntax

type TErrorEvent = procedure (
  Sender: TObject;
  ErrorCode: Integer;
  const Description: String
) of Object;

property OnError: TErrorEvent read FOnError write FOnError;

Remarks

The Error event is fired in case of exceptional conditions during message processing.

ErrorCode contains an error code and Description contains a textual description of the error. For a list of valid error codes and their descriptions, please refer to the Error Codes section.

Config Settings (CardValidator Component)

The component accepts one or more of the following configuration settings. Configuration settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the component, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

CardValidator Config Settings

Base Config Settings

Trappable Errors (CardValidator Component)

CardValidator Errors

	504   Luhn digit check failed.
	505   Card date invalid.
	506   Card expired.
	703   Invalid CardNumber format (contains letters or unknown characters).
	704   Could not determine the Credit Card type.
	705   Error parsing TrackData. Format cannot be determined.