Paypal Ipn Database Integration

[jqcotten]

I'm planning to put a PayPal shopping cart on my Web. The shopping cart "Buy" and "View Cart" icons are easy to create and consist of simple HTML on my products pages. I also want to include PayPal's Instant Payment Notification (IPN) so it can "post" to a database on the server. I've created a MySQL database with a MyISAM table structure using PayPal provided variables (fields).

 

To activate IPN, I need to enter the URL at which I want to receive the

notification posts. After activation, the server will be sent notifications as a hidden "FORM POST" to the URL specified.

 

Question #1: What URL should I use, the www site where my public

web pages with the shopping cart resides, the CGI_BIN, or somewhere else? Can someone give me an idea what URL I should use, based on the above information?

 

Question #2: Can anyone give me a hint how to proceed to link IPN

transaction data to the MySQL database I created on the server? Has anyone done this already?

 

BTW: TCH rejected this as a ticket item because "they do not assist with code." I'm not asking for help with coding. The question is where should I put code and how to link PayPal-generated script with a server-resident database.

[matman]

Basically, you would be creating a whole new web page, anyplace you want on your site, that will receive these postings and input the results to your database. This would be a "special" page in a way, because it is meant to be accessed by a machine, not a human being. It needn't have any visible HTML or form fields at all. It just needs to accept POST input and do an INSERT into your database.

 

If you've never done any PHP/MySQL coding before, you'll need more explanation than that, I suppose. If you have done that sort of programming, then think of this page as being the "action" page for a form on your site, except that there is no actual form involved, just the page that processes the form posting.

[jqcotten]

Thanks Matman. Your reply was helpful, which is more than I can say for TCH Tech Support. After an 8 hour wait I got basically nothing from them.

 

I'm not a PHP programmer and this is my first experience with a Linux Web Server environment, but based on what you have told me I'll see what I can do with some help from PayPal. They have an active and responsive developer community. Thanks again for responding.

[matman]

Well, you have to understand that tech support is not going to be able to give you much support (if any) in configuring third-party apps and in coding applications of your own. Some may or may not even have the expertise, but the main issue is that it's just not their function. From my experience working in tech support, if you reach just a little bit past your job, you often end up getting yanked into a bad situation trying to support something you shouldn't be supporting.

 

Look at it this way -- TCH provides this board as a way for their customers to help each other, and their techs often contribute a lot of "unofficial" support in this forum as well. Trust me, it's a lot more than you'd get at most hosts.

 

In the old days there were hosting companies that would just bend over backward for you and help with things that weren't really their jobs, but they were either VERY expensive (like 500x what TCH costs, no kidding) or are out of business because they tried to do too much. I actually used to work for a hosting company that charged anywhere from $1000/month+ and they wouldn't have been able to help you either.

 

If you need some more specific help with this issue, feel free to keep asking here. I use PayPal to do payments for some sites, but I've never tried the IPN functionality. Maybe I'll try setting it up myself and show you how I did it.

[Lianna]

Matman, thanks for the great explanation of the TCH Tech Support functions. You were spot-on.

 

jqcotten and matman,

 

I don't know if this will help a whole lot, but aMember uses Paypal's IPN function and puts everything into a database. You could possibly use their structure as a model for what you need to accomplish.

 

You can check out aMember at their site.

 

I have installed it and implemented the IPN from Paypal, but I don't know how much help I would be.

Good luck to you.

[Head Guru]

Thanks Matman.  Your reply was helpful, which is more than I can say for TCH Tech Support.  After an 8 hour wait I got basically nothing from them.

 

I'm not a PHP programmer and this is my first experience with a Linux Web Server environment, but based on what you have told me I'll see what I can do with some help from PayPal.  They have an active and responsive developer community.  Thanks again for responding.

First of all You listed your support ticket as a Priority 3 ticket.

 

Secondly "we do not provide developer level support to assist clients in coding webpages" thats not what web hosting support is intended to provide.

 

This type of support is available but not for $4.00 per month.

 

If you still require support for this non-standard support item our billing rate is $65.00 per hour.

[xGrendel]

You can get sample scripts directly from PayPal which will do the authentication portion that PayPal requires. You can add your code to post to your database after the authentication portion is completed.

 

 

PayPal sample scripts

If you are looking for help with IPN integration:

PayPal Developer Forum

PayPal IPN links (if it is up)