Usage

The mciutil package provides command line tools and python functions you can use when working with MasterCard files.

Note

Make sure set binary transfers when moving MasterCard files. For example, if using FTP, use the binary command before starting the transfer

paramconv - Convert MPE parameter extract files

Use this tool if you are moving between a mainframe and PC based clearing application and need the parameter files available on both platforms. The app currently works exclusively with 1014 blocked file format which is used for communications between MasterCard and the member.

Most simple usage, just provide a MasterCard MPE file to convert:

paramconv <inputfile>

This runs with the following assumptions

  • Input file format is EBCDIC
  • Output file is the input file plus a ‘.out’ extension

If you have a ASCII file and want to convert it to EBCDIC, you need to provide the source format type:

paramconv -s ascii <inputfile>

You can change the output file location:

paramconv -o <outputfile> <inputfile>

To get all the usage details:

paramconv --help

mideu - MasterCard IPM file tool

This utility is for working with MasterCard IPM clearing files. Currently the utility provides the following functions:

  • extract - provide IPM transaction data in usable format
  • convert - convert IPM files between ASCII and EBCDIC encoding

Extract command

Use this command to extract transactions from a MasterCard IPM format file into usable formats like csv. The app currently works exclusively with 1014 blocked file format which is used for communications between MasterCard and the member.

Get a csv file from an IPM file:

mideu extract <filename>

This runs with the following assumptions

  • Input file format is EBCDIC
  • Output file is the input file plus a ‘.csv’ extension

Attention

Currently python 2.6 does not print a header row as the csv library only added this support in python 2.7. This function may be added in a future release.

If you need to process an ASCII encoded file:

mideu extract -s ascii <filename>

You can change the output file location for the CSV file:

mideu extract <inputfile> --csvoutputfile <outputfile>

You can also load the transactions into a MongoDB collection:

mideu extract <inputfile> --mongohost localhost --mongodb testdb

The transactions will be added to a collection called mastercardtransactions Currently the existing collection is deleted prior to the load. You should consider this functionality to be beta and subject to change in the future. Feel free to suggest changes.

To get all the usage details:

mideu extract --help

Convert command

Use this command to convert a MasterCard IPM format file into another encoding scheme (ASCII or EBCDIC). The app currently works exclusively with 1014 blocked file format which is used for communications between MasterCard and the member.

Most simple usage, just provide a MasterCard IPM file to convert:

mideu convert <inputfile>

This runs with the following assumptions

  • Input file format is EBCDIC
  • Output file is the input file plus a ‘.out’ extension

If you have a ASCII file and want to convert it to EBCDIC, you need to provide the source format type:

mideu convert -s ascii <inputfile>

To get all the usage details:

mideu convert --help

mideu.yml configuration

The package provides a common configuration, but you can provide your own if you wish to change it. You have 2 options for providing your own configuration.

  • mideu.yml file in the current directory
  • .mideu.yml file in the users home directory

The file is a basic yaml file with the following sections

output_data_elements
Specify fields to output. Set the order and fields to be output.

Structure:

output_data_elements:
    - MTI
    - DE1
    - DE10
    - PDS0023
    - DE43_NAME
bit_config
Define the bitmap fields. You should not need to change this but if you think you need to, have a look at the source to see what the options mean. Will document this in more details at some point.

Structure:

bit_config:
    1:
        field_name: Bitmap secondary
        field_type: FIXED
        field_length: 8
    2:
        field_name: PAN
        field_type: LLVAR
        field_length: 0
        field_processor: PAN
mongo_config
Specify mongo host and port details. Command line options will override options provided in a config file

Structure:

mongo_config:
    host: 192.168.99.100:27017
    db: test

1014 blocked file format

This is the format used to send and receive files from MasterCard.

All file consists of records. Each record is prefixed with a 4 byte binary length. There are no carriage returns or line feeds in the file. Before sending, the contents is blocked into lengths of 1012, and an additional 2 x‘40’ characters are appended at each block. Finally, the total file length is made a multiple of 1014 with the final incomplete record being filled with the x‘40’ character

Say you had a file with the following 2 records:

"This is first record 1234567"  <- length 28
"This is second record AAAABBBBB123"  <- length 34

Add binary length to the start of each record. (x‘1C’ = 28, x‘22’ = 34)

00000000: 00 00 00 1C 54 68 69 73  20 69 73 20 66 69 72 73  ....This is firs
00000010: 74 20 72 65 63 6F 72 64  20 31 32 33 34 35 36 37  t record 1234567
00000020: 00 00 00 22 54 68 69 73  20 69 73 20 73 65 63 6F  ..."This is seco
00000030: 6E 64 20 72 65 63 6F 72  64 20 41 41 41 41 42 42  nd record AAAABB
00000040: 42 42 42 31 32 33                                 BBB123

Block to 1014 by adding 2 * x‘40’ characters every 1012 characters in the data. Finally fill with x‘40’ characters to next 1014 increment. In this case, there is only one increment:

00000000: 00 00 00 1C 54 68 69 73  20 69 73 20 66 69 72 73  ....This is firs
00000010: 74 20 72 65 63 6F 72 64  20 31 32 33 34 35 36 37  t record 1234567
00000020: 00 00 00 22 54 68 69 73  20 69 73 20 73 65 63 6F  ..."This is seco
00000030: 6E 64 20 72 65 63 6F 72  64 20 41 41 41 41 42 42  nd record AAAABB
00000040: 42 42 42 31 32 33 40 40  40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40  BBB123@@@@@@@@@@
00000050: 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40  40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40  @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
... all X'40' characters
000003E0: 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40  40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40  @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
000003F0: 40 40 40 40 40 40                                 @@@@@@

mciutil package

To use Mastercard file utilities in a project:

import mciutil

There are some useful functions for working with bitmap, variable length files. Will document in a future version.