Published: 4/17/2019 up Version >= BAB09000

USB Transfers

Some TT3000 controllers are fitted with a USB interface where a USB drive can be inserted. The USB interface enables a list of Transactions to be transferred out of the controller, and a list of Access IDs to be transferred into the controller. This is useful for sites where a communication link (i.e. 3G or PSTN) does not exist, or does exist but is unreliable. The flow of data between TWeb and the controller is as follows:

Please note:

  • Only full Access ID lists are supported via USB transfer - incremental Access ID buffers are not supported.
  • Drivers or software required to access the USB drive when plugging it in to your PC are not the responsibility of TT and support cannot be provided for assistance in those areas.
  • The way that all modern browsers work is that they sandbox webpages from reading and writing to the file system automatically. This is done for security reasons – otherwise webpages could read private data and write viruses to computers. However this limitation means that the following actions cannot be performed automatically by TWeb and therefore must be performed manually by the operator:
    • selection of the directory where Access ID files are to be saved-to
    • selection of the directory where transactions are to be read-from
  • The USB drive must not require an external power supply – power must come entirely from the USB rails.
  • The USB file system must be FAT32. This standard is read/write compatible with both Mac OS and Windows.

Setting up the USB drive

Firstly, check that the USB drive is formatted with a FAT32 file system. This is done in MS Windows by navigating to My Computer, right clicking on the USB drive, and clicking Properties. The resulting window will show you the type of file system:

For the Access IDs to be read from the USB drive, they must be placed in a folder with the same name as the site number (always a 6 digit number). So for example, if your site number is 1000 and the USB drive has been mounted by your PC as drive G:\ then you would create a folder at G:\001000, like so:

Within this folder, create two sub-folders:

  • TRANS
  • CARDS

Like so:

The CARDS folder is where Access ID files downloaded from TWeb must be saved, and the TRANS folder is where the controller saves transaction files. It is very important not to have any typing errors in the folder names - no spaces at the start or end of the name, and the leading zeros must be included in the site number. Also it is very important that the site number folder be located at the top level of the USB directory tree. It is no good putting this folder somewhere like G:\XYZ\001000\ since the controller will not be able to find it there. If the controller cannot find the exact folder then it will not be able to load any Access IDs.

Transferring Access IDs from TWeb into the controller

Before beginning this process please ensure that you have exactly the correct folder structure set up on the USB drive, as per the Setting up the USB drive Section.

  1. Download the Access IDs from TWeb using the Access IDs Source > USB Export Template. The following guide provides a walk-through of this process: https://help.tweb.com.au/tweb/en/ExportTemplate/View. Note:
    • This file includes all Access IDs for the specified site, sorted in ascending order.
    • If you edit the file to add more Access IDs then you must also sort the Access IDs in ascending order.
    • The first line of the file contains the site number. If you edit the file in MS Excel then it will remove any leading zeros from this site number, and the controller will not be able to read the file.
  2. Save the CSV file to the USB:\CARDS folder of your USB drive. For example if your USB drive is mounted as drive G:\ and your site number is 1000 then the file should be saved in G:\001000\CARDS\
  3. Safely eject the USB drive
  4. Plug the USB drive into the controller. It should then display the following message on the display: 
    Enter USB code
  5. Enter the USB password. This will have been configured for you by Transponder Technologies. It should then display a message similar to the following on the display: 
    TRANSMITTING
    SENDING: T01R0001.CSV ... 0% ... 100%
    RECEIVING: C01R0001.CSV ... 0% ... 100%
    ALL DONE! REMOVE DISC OR PRESS #No FOR MENU

    Note that the names of the files may be different in your case, however the sending file will always start with T and end with CSV, and the receiving file will always start with C and end with CSV.

  6. Remove the USB drive from the controller and proceed to the Transferring transactions from the controller into TWeb Section.

Transferring transactions from the controller into TWeb

Before beginning this process please ensure that you have exactly the correct folder structure set up on the USB drive, as per the Setting up the USB drive Section.

  1. If you have just completed the Transferring Access IDs from TWeb into the controller Section then skip to Step 5.
  2. Plug the USB drive into the controller. It should then display the following message on the display: 
    Enter USB code
  3. Enter the USB password. It should then display the a message similar to the following on the display: 
    TRANSMITTING
    SENDING: T01R0001.CSV ... 0% ... 100%
    ALL DONE! REMOVE DISC OR PRESS #No FOR MENU

    At this point, the controller has downloaded the transactions CSV file to the USB drive.

  4. Remove the USB drive from the controller.
  5. Plug the USB drive into your PC.
  6. Import the transactions from the USB drive into TWeb using the Transactions Source > USB Standard Template. The following guide provides a walk-through of this process: https://help.tweb.com.au/tweb/en/ImportTemplate/Execute. Note:
    • The transactions CSV file to be imported is located on the USB drive under USB:\\TRANS. For example if your site number is 1000 and your USB drive is mounted as G:\ then the file can be found under G:\001000\TRANS\.
    • You should import any transactions CSV files that have not previously been imported into TWeb. The controller increments the sequence number of the transactions CSV files, so the files with the higher sequence numbers are more recent files.
    • If necessary, you can create your own transactions or edit existing transactions before importing them into TWeb, however TWeb will detect that these transactions did not originate from the controller and flag them accordingly.
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