--- title: "How to test a Uniprint Billing Gateway for a single user." slug: "how-to-test-a-uniprint-billing-gateway-for-a-single-user" updated: 2024-04-11T09:38:29Z published: 2024-04-11T09:38:29Z canonical: "kb.pharos.com/how-to-test-a-uniprint-billing-gateway-for-a-single-user" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.pharos.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to test a Uniprint Billing Gateway for a single user. ### Question: How can I test Balance calls through the Pharos system to the External Billing Gateway system for a singel user to see what the response is? --- ### Answer: Terms used throughtout this article: **External Billing Gateway**: External billing system that runs on a server not controlled by Pharos nor configured by our software. this is the system that our gateway will comminucate TO. **Pharos Billing Gateway:** An application developed by Pharos to communuicate to an "External Billing Gateway", receive a response and provide this data back to the Uniprint system. They typically consist of two components. The **Gateway** application itself and the **Plug-In.** The Gateway is an application which communicates to the External Billing Gateway and the Plug-In communicates to the Pharos Billing Gateway. The majority of the Pharos Billing Gateways, from the Pharos Blackboard TIA to the ones used by our CSGold Gateway application use one of two applications (a Pharos **Plug-In)**to send a Balance request to the external billing gateway. The two main **Plug-Ins** are the **IpBilExt.exe** or **BillPlug.exe.** The default location of these two **Plug-Ins** once they are installed on a Pharos Print server are shown below. 1. IpBilExt.exe: C:\Program Files (x86)\Pharos\bin 2. BillPlug.exe: C:\Program Files (x86)\Pharos\Bin\Gateway\Plug-in In each of the directories above for the Plug-Ins is a Windows batch file called "balance.bat". It contains the commands as seen below. @echo =====balance for testing only===== @Echo off Rem Commandline parameters are: Rem Output File StdIO is directed to this file Rem Balance Billing transaction type verb Rem Account The account that will be checked (CardID) Rem ExternalID The name of the Pharos Station ID Rem Rem Command Format: billplug Rem billplug out.txt balance 1234 1 type out.txt echo. pause The **Plug-Ins** take 4 variables as outlined in the REM statements above. To use the batch file simply edit it with the necessary and values. Will be the user information that you normally expect to send to the **External Billing Gateway.** Will be the value from the Pharos Administrator that is used for a "Release Station" called the "External Name". When you run the batch file you should see the output of the balance call to the **External Billing Gateway** and this should help determine if the problem is on the Pharos side or the External Billing Gateway side. You may see responses like 'card not found' or other errors related to the card itself. When the **External Billing Gateway** returns this type of a response the user will see an insufficient funds message when trying to login. ## Related - [“Invalid username or password” when using Omega with a Billing Gateway](/invalid-username-or-password-when-using-omega-with-a-billing-gateway.md) - [Using a Billing Gateway with Omega - PlugIn.Result = true;](/using-a-billing-gateway-with-omega-pluginresult-true.md) - [Uniprint: Diebold ETI Gateway configuration](/uniprint-diebold-eti-gateway-configuration.md)