CardValidator Class

Properties   Methods   Events   Config Settings   Errors  

The CardValidator class 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

class ipworks3ds.CardValidator

Remarks

Utilization of this class 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 class 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 validate_card method explains these checks in more detail.

Property List

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

card_exp_month Property

Expiration month of the credit card specified in CardNumber .

Syntax

def get_card_exp_month() -> int: ...
def set_card_exp_month(value: int) -> None: ...

card_exp_month = property(get_card_exp_month, set_card_exp_month)

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 validate_card method compares this property against the system time to determine if the card is expired.

card_exp_year Property

Expiration year of the credit card specified in CardNumber .

Syntax

def get_card_exp_year() -> int: ...
def set_card_exp_year(value: int) -> None: ...

card_exp_year = property(get_card_exp_year, set_card_exp_year)

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 validate_card method compares this property against the system time to determine if the card is expired.

card_number Property

Credit card number to be validated.

Syntax

def get_card_number() -> str: ...
def set_card_number(value: str) -> None: ...

card_number = property(get_card_number, set_card_number)

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 card_types is 19 characters (excluding whitespace), and the minimum length is 13 characters.

card_type Property

Indicates the results of the Luhn Digit Check algorithm.

Syntax

def get_card_type() -> int: ...

card_type = property(get_card_type, None)

Default Value

0

Remarks

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

This property is read-only.

card_type_description Property

Human-readable description of the CardType .

Syntax

def get_card_type_description() -> str: ...

card_type_description = property(get_card_type_description, None)

Default Value

""

Remarks

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

This property is read-only.

date_check_passed Property

Indicates whether the card is expired or not.

Syntax

def get_date_check_passed() -> bool: ...

date_check_passed = property(get_date_check_passed, None)

Default Value

FALSE

Remarks

The validate_card method checks whether the card's expiration date (card_exp_month and card_exp_year) is a valid future date, and stores that result in the date_check_passed property.

This property is read-only.

digit_check_passed Property

Indicates the results of the Luhn Digit Check algorithm.

Syntax

def get_digit_check_passed() -> bool: ...

digit_check_passed = property(get_digit_check_passed, None)

Default Value

FALSE

Remarks

The validate_card method checks whether or not the card_number conforms to the mod-10 digit check algorithm, and stores that result in the digit_check_passed 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 card_type).

This property is read-only.

track_data Property

Magnetic stripe data read off the credit card.

Syntax

def get_track_data() -> str: ...
def set_track_data(value: str) -> None: ...

track_data = property(get_track_data, set_track_data)

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 track_data is set, the values contained in card_number, card_exp_month, and card_exp_year are ignored when calling validate_card. 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 card_number, card_exp_month, and card_exp_year will now contain the values parsed from the track data. track_type will also indicate whether the track_data is Track1 or Track2 (in this case, it's Track2 data).

track_type Property

Indicates the type of the specified TrackData .

Syntax

def get_track_type() -> int: ...

track_type = property(get_track_type, None)

Default Value

0

Remarks

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

This property is read-only.

config Method

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

def config(configuration_string: str) -> str: ...

Remarks

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

These settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, 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

Clears all properties to their default values.

Syntax

def reset() -> None: ...

Remarks

This method clears all properties to their default values.

validate_card Method

Checks the card number and expiration date for validity.

Syntax

def validate_card() -> None: ...

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:

on_error Event

Information about errors during data delivery.

Syntax

class CardValidatorErrorEventParams(object):
  @property
  def error_code() -> int: ...

  @property
  def description() -> str: ...

# In class CardValidator:
@property
def on_error() -> Callable[[CardValidatorErrorEventParams], None]: ...
@on_error.setter
def on_error(event_hook: Callable[[CardValidatorErrorEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_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.

CardValidator Config Settings

The class 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 class, access to these internal properties is provided through the config method.

CardValidator Config Settings

CardValidator Errors

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 track_data. Format cannot be determined.