POSTing to another site on redirect

Hi All

I'm building a shopping cart that ties in with PayPal for payments.
After working out the postage charge, I want the user to be able to
confirm if they'll sign up to a newsletter or not, and then to be taken
to Paypal. I'd like to do all that with just one click.

Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable, and I need that to
identify the customer in the back end stuff, so I can't check on the
newsletter thing after payment.

I'm looking for a way to process the form input myself, before sending
the user to PayPal. How can I add POST data to a "Location" header?

Although I could do it by sending them to a script that does the
processing for the newsletter, and then uses javascript to submit the
form values using post (e.g. <body onload="formname.submit();">) I'm
trying to keep it javascript free, so it'll be 100% accessible.

Anyone know how to add the headers (or have a suggestion how else I can
do this)?

Thanks

Jim

why not concat some sort of delimiter and the newsletter value to the
customer identity variable you're passing to paypal. for example, if
youre passing "12345" to paypal, why not send "12345.y" if they want
the newsletter and just explode the string at the "." when you get it
back?

Jim Evans wrote:
[color=blue]
> Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable, and I need that to
> identify the customer in the back end stuff, so I can't check on the
> newsletter thing after payment.[/color]

What do you mean by "Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable"?

Paypal has no idea how you pass the variables in your form as long as
it uses the POST methon
[color=blue]
>
> I'm looking for a way to process the form input myself, before sending
> the user to PayPal. How can I add POST data to a "Location" header?
>
> Although I could do it by sending them to a script that does the
> processing for the newsletter, and then uses javascript to submit the
> form values using post (e.g. <body onload="formname.submit();">) I'm
> trying to keep it javascript free, so it'll be 100% accessible.[/color]

That's the easiest way to do it. If you want to make sure it works when
Javascript is disabled, put in some code that basically says "Oops ...
submit to Paypal didn't work, please press 'Here' to try again". The
'Here' would be a button that would send the hidden form values to
Paypal.

Ken

"Ken Robinson" <kenrbnsn@rbnsn.com> wrote in message
news:1118164044.855130.116270@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...[color=blue]
> Jim Evans wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable, and I need that to
>> identify the customer in the back end stuff, so I can't check on the
>> newsletter thing after payment.[/color]
>
> What do you mean by "Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable"?
>
> Paypal has no idea how you pass the variables in your form as long as
> it uses the POST methon[/color]

The way the PayPal processing works is that you send it the information,
then it processes the payment and posts BACK to your site with a list of
variables.

The thing is, it only includes certain variables - so any data you want
passed back to your site after the payment is processed must fit within the
list of variables that are allowed. Otherwise, they're dropped.
[color=blue][color=green]
>>
>> I'm looking for a way to process the form input myself, before sending
>> the user to PayPal. How can I add POST data to a "Location" header?
>>
>> Although I could do it by sending them to a script that does the
>> processing for the newsletter, and then uses javascript to submit the
>> form values using post (e.g. <body onload="formname.submit();">) I'm
>> trying to keep it javascript free, so it'll be 100% accessible.[/color][/color]

Here's a thought: What about using a Session variable to set the value of
"subscribe" before going to PayPal (you could do that in your automatically
forwarding page without using JavaScript) and read that Session variable
back when they return?
[color=blue]
>[/color]

Hi Ken

I'm using paypal as the checkout for my cart. That means I have to send
all the cart contents alng with postage charges and any customer details
I have as a POST (although I've just found out GET also works) to their
script.

I'm hoping to avoid the "oops" method, although it seems likely to be
the one I take, if concatenating variables doesn't work. Thanks for the
suggestion.

Ken Robinson wrote:[color=blue]
> Jim Evans wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable, and I need that to
>>identify the customer in the back end stuff, so I can't check on the
>>newsletter thing after payment.[/color]
>
>
> What do you mean by "Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable"?
>
> Paypal has no idea how you pass the variables in your form as long as
> it uses the POST methon
>
>[color=green]
>>I'm looking for a way to process the form input myself, before sending
>>the user to PayPal. How can I add POST data to a "Location" header?
>>
>>Although I could do it by sending them to a script that does the
>>processing for the newsletter, and then uses javascript to submit the
>>form values using post (e.g. <body onload="formname.submit();">) I'm
>>trying to keep it javascript free, so it'll be 100% accessible.[/color]
>
>
> That's the easiest way to do it. If you want to make sure it works when
> Javascript is disabled, put in some code that basically says "Oops ...
> submit to Paypal didn't work, please press 'Here' to try again". The
> 'Here' would be a button that would send the hidden form values to
> Paypal.
>
> Ken
>[/color]

Hi Tony

Session variables would be the obvious answer - I was trying to do most
of the processing in the IPN script - which wouldn't be linked to the
session.

If I get the customer to confirm the newsletter subscription before the
postage is calculated, I can drop it into a session variable, but I was
hoping to make it a bit more logical and do it after that. To put that
into a session variable then would sill involve doing something on my
server, before directing the client over to paypal, complete with variables.

Tony wrote:[color=blue]
> "Ken Robinson" <kenrbnsn@rbnsn.com> wrote in message
> news:1118164044.855130.116270@g43g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>[color=green]
>>Jim Evans wrote:
>>
>>[color=darkred]
>>>Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable, and I need that to
>>>identify the customer in the back end stuff, so I can't check on the
>>>newsletter thing after payment.[/color]
>>
>>What do you mean by "Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable"?
>>
>>Paypal has no idea how you pass the variables in your form as long as
>>it uses the POST methon[/color]
>
>
> The way the PayPal processing works is that you send it the information,
> then it processes the payment and posts BACK to your site with a list of
> variables.
>
> The thing is, it only includes certain variables - so any data you want
> passed back to your site after the payment is processed must fit within the
> list of variables that are allowed. Otherwise, they're dropped.
>
>[color=green][color=darkred]
>>>I'm looking for a way to process the form input myself, before sending
>>>the user to PayPal. How can I add POST data to a "Location" header?
>>>
>>>Although I could do it by sending them to a script that does the
>>>processing for the newsletter, and then uses javascript to submit the
>>>form values using post (e.g. <body onload="formname.submit();">) I'm
>>>trying to keep it javascript free, so it'll be 100% accessible.[/color][/color]
>
>
> Here's a thought: What about using a Session variable to set the value of
> "subscribe" before going to PayPal (you could do that in your automatically
> forwarding page without using JavaScript) and read that Session variable
> back when they return?
>
>
>
>[/color]

Jim Evans wrote:[color=blue]
> I'm building a shopping cart that ties in with PayPal for payments.
> After working out the postage charge, I want the user to be able to
> confirm if they'll sign up to a newsletter or not, and then to be taken
> to Paypal. I'd like to do all that with just one click.[/color]
[color=blue]
> Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable, and I need that to
> identify the customer in the back end stuff, so I can't check on the
> newsletter thing after payment.[/color]
<snip>

I seriously doubt only one variable claim. Is it PayPal Single Item
Purchase system?? Also, you can use http://www.php.net/serialize
function to send serialized variables in single variable.

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com

"R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah" <ng4rrjanbiah@rediffmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118246659.112660.322330@o13g2000cwo.googlegr oups.com...[color=blue]
> Jim Evans wrote:[color=green]
>> I'm building a shopping cart that ties in with PayPal for payments.
>> After working out the postage charge, I want the user to be able to
>> confirm if they'll sign up to a newsletter or not, and then to be taken
>> to Paypal. I'd like to do all that with just one click.[/color]
>[color=green]
>> Paypal only lets you pass one hidden variable, and I need that to
>> identify the customer in the back end stuff, so I can't check on the
>> newsletter thing after payment.[/color]
> <snip>
>
> I seriously doubt only one variable claim. Is it PayPal Single Item
> Purchase system?? Also, you can use http://www.php.net/serialize
> function to send serialized variables in single variable.[/color]

PayPal limits the number of variables that get passed back to your IPN
script. You can pass PayPal as many variables as you want, they won't come
out the other end.

Jim -

I recall having a similar situation once, where I needed more information in
the IPN script than was available to be passed through the PayPal processing
system. What I did to solve this was I stored the ALL of the necessary data
in a simple text file and passed the file name as the variable to PayPal.
Then, the IPN script retrieved the data from the file, using the file name
that PayPal passed back to it.

That's the best I can offer - hope it helps!

Tony wrote:[color=blue]
> "R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah" <ng4rrjanbiah@rediffmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1118246659.112660.322330@o13g2000cwo.googlegr oups.com...[/color]
<snip>[color=blue][color=green]
> > I seriously doubt only one variable claim. Is it PayPal Single Item
> > Purchase system?? Also, you can use http://www.php.net/serialize
> > function to send serialized variables in single variable.[/color]
>
> PayPal limits the number of variables that get passed back to your IPN
> script. You can pass PayPal as many variables as you want, they won't come
> out the other end.[/color]

The later is true. But, however you check the manual.

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com

Thanks guys.

None of these will work, because my server won't know what option has
been selected on the form (and therefore won't be able to
process/serialise/store it), unless it's posted to the server, instead
of direct to PayPal. I guess I'm stuck with using a JavaScript to force
the form to post invisibly. I'll just drop in a "click here if you don't
get redirected" for non-javascript clients.

Thanks anyway everyone

R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah wrote:[color=blue]
> Tony wrote:
>[color=green]
>>"R. Rajesh Jeba Anbiah" <ng4rrjanbiah@rediffmail.com> wrote in message
>>news:1118246659.112660.322330@o13g2000cwo.google groups.com...[/color]
>
> <snip>
>[color=green][color=darkred]
>>> I seriously doubt only one variable claim. Is it PayPal Single Item
>>>Purchase system?? Also, you can use http://www.php.net/serialize
>>>function to send serialized variables in single variable.[/color]
>>
>>PayPal limits the number of variables that get passed back to your IPN
>>script. You can pass PayPal as many variables as you want, they won't come
>>out the other end.[/color]
>
>
> The later is true. But, however you check the manual.
>
> --
> <?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
> Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com
>[/color]

Jim Evans wrote:[color=blue]
> Thanks guys.
>
> None of these will work, because my server won't know what option has
> been selected on the form (and therefore won't be able to
> process/serialise/store it), unless it's posted to the server, instead
> of direct to PayPal.[/color]
<snip>

IIRC, I did send n number of variables to PayPal. So, check the
manual. Even if it is supporting just one variable, it can easily be
solved by the design:

<?php
$user_id = 189;
?>
Do you want to subscribe to Kalki? <br />
<input name="custom" type="radio" value="<?php echo
htmlspecialchars(serialize(array('user_id'=>$user_ id,
'subscribe'=>'1')));?>" checked="checked" /> Yes <br />
<input name="custom" type="radio" value="<?php echo
htmlspecialchars(serialize(array('user_id'=>$user_ id,
'subscribe'=>'0')));?>" /> No <br />
<input name="submit" type="submit" value="Go and lose your money at
PayPal" />

--
<?php echo 'Just another PHP saint'; ?>
Email: rrjanbiah-at-Y!com Blog: http://rajeshanbiah.blogspot.com

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