CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phphtmlpaypaltransactionspaypal-sandbox
Adam
Adam

Reputation: 20942

Paypal Transaction Pass Unique Data - PHP

I've a question about processing a PayPal Transaction & being able to pass a unique piece of information along with the transaction to identify the customer.

Customers have a unique ID that isn't sensitive - say 1000000898.

Situation: A customer can join this site with any email address and later can decide to upgrade with Paypal which might be registered under a different email address. I can then have an issue identifying which account make the transaction as i only have the email as a reference. I want to be to pass the Unique ID (above) along with the transaction and be able to see this ID when I look at the transaction in Paypal.

Below is some code I'm using and the last line I added to try to pass the ID along with the transaction. Transaction processed fine but in PayPal (Sandbox) I couldn't find the ID with the transaction - didn't appear anywhere...

<form action="https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="blahblahblah">
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="https://somewhere.com" />
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="1000000898">

Question: What input name would I add (or line(s) of code would I add) to be able to see the ID in the PayPal transaction. EG along with name, email and address.

thanks heaps..!! Adam

Upvotes: 0

Views: 98

Answers (1)

Drew Angell
Drew Angell

Reputation: 26056

This code is for a hosted button. You cannot add additional variables directly to a hosted button's code. If you want to add dynamic data into your button you will need to make it non-hosted.

When building the button, Step 2 (or maybe Step 3) asks you if you want to save the button at PayPal. You need to disable this option. Then at the end there will be another option for securing the code, and you'll need to disable that, too, so that it's not encrypted. This will give you the basic, raw HTML form code.

With this raw form code you can add any variables you want from the PayPal Standard Variables reference.

Of course, doing things this way does leave the door open for somebody to potentially copy your HTML code, adjust the variable values, load the HTML form/button on their own page, and submit a payment for your product/service at a cheaper price. You would need procedures in place to catch this sort of thing.

Another option (which I recommend) is to use the Express Checkout API instead. This allows you to customize everything and make it dynamic without the ability for anybody to adjust any of the code/values.

Since you're working with PHP you could take a look at my PayPal PHP SDK. This would allow you to make the API calls for Express Checkout very quick and easy.

Upvotes: 1

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