[JiminSA]

This sounds like a Stephen King novel, but it's not

Is there a methodology whereby I can receive comms from a called php to tell me it has been activated?

The scenario is this...

I am using a 3rd party online payment company to receive payments on my behalf. It "links back" a) to a "Notify" page in the background, and b) to a "Success" page in the browser (in that order).

It definitely links to b) but I see none of the results which a) should have completed. ( a DB change and a couple of emails are dispatched ).

All this takes place in a "sandbox" test environment on the 3rd party's server.

[valis]

No clue on this, but the only reason I am posting was that I thought you had gone clairvoyant on us.

If no response in a couple days, let me know, I'll see if I can flag down someone.

[JiminSA]

Delightful reply valis!

[valis]

albeit useless.

[DrP]

You're not using Paypal are you? The Paypal sandbox is known for being next-to-useless so many developers, myslef included, test using the live version and small payments.

Whatever system, your Notify page will need to respond to an IPN call from the payment provider.

Start by checking you Notify page is being called at all, perhaps by having it do nothing more than send you an email. Once you know your Notify page is being called, have it grab the query so you can check it is correct, then go from there.

If you think the IPN call is being made correctly, you could get hold of an example of that call and manually send it to your notify page (usually by appending the call to the end of the url). Then you can troubleshoot from there.

[JiminSA]

Brilliant! Thanks a lot DrP that puts meat on the bone!
I am using a local (domestic) company here in South Africa called PayFast, who probably emulate PayPal, so your warning probably applies...

Incidentally IPN must stand for Internet Payment Notification - yes? These guys use PDT - Payment Data Transfer and ITN - Internet Transaction Notification, but it's all "roses of a different name" to me...

[DrP]

Yep - IPN stands for that, but they're all similar in principle. Enjoy!

[allnodcoms]

Are you using PDT or ITN? I've just checked out the Integration Guide and these are tow very different beasts...

I did a bit of 3rd party payment processing for a rabble I worked with early last year (I'll not get started, I could ramble on for hours about that shambles!) but I worked pretty closely with the support guys server side (mainly so I could talk to someone with at least a double digit IQ), so I know my way around this sort of thing.

If you strip out all the sensitive stuff and post a) (or PM me) I'll take a look...

Danny

[JiminSA]

No, I'm still battling - I started a new thread http://techguy.org/1049931 trying to be a bit more articulate about my needs...

[allnodcoms]

Just found it...

Danny