Free Paypal Pro US ,Recurring, and PayPal Pro UK moudle for virtuemart

[JamesH]

Hi cowboy - thanks so much for your quick and detailed response - great work and much appreciated !!!!

Have followed the instructions precisely for configuring the payment method but it's still returning the same error message.

I noted you comments about logging in to paypal manager via that url but that is not the way it seems to be happening here in the UK.

The login is via https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run which   then takes you into https://paypalmanager.paypal.com/login.do

There is no mention of the term PARTNER in any of this process and if for instance I try to login via https://manager.paypal.com. it will not recognise the account - but, as far as I can see, that doesn't mean  that I don't have a Website Payments Pro UK account as the account is fully active and ready to roll via those other login details.

Any further advice would be deeply appreciated. Many thanks.

[JamesH]

Hooray!!! having been back through this methodically I have finally got to the point where the site is returning a "Your order has been successfully placed!" message. I've yet to see the corresponding details appearing in my Paypal account console but presume there is some delay in this?

Thanks for your help and quick response earlier. I can certainly say at the moment that the Paypal Pro UK module works with Joomla 1.5.7 and VM 1.1.2 when using the Paypal Website Payments Pro account details as defined in the posted documentation.

Thanks again

[JamesH]

OK - that will teach me - spoke way too soon here

It now seems I can only get this to function by updating the configuration details in the VM payments section mid transaction - which doesn't seem right. Also, no information is being passed through to the Paypal account so I feel I'm back at square one again after the elation of seeing that green tick and successful transaction message

Other than another cry for help, I have a specific question - Each time I go back into the 'configuration' section of the PayPal Pro payment option in VM, the fields are blank again and the 'test mode' drop down has reverted to 'Yes' again. Is this expected behaviour for this function?

Any and all help would be much appreciated - thanks

[cowboy1989]

OK - that will teach me - spoke way too soon here
It now seems I can only get this to function by updating the configuration details in the VM payments section mid transaction - which doesn't seem right. Also, no information is being passed through to the Paypal account so I feel I'm back at square one again after the elation of seeing that green tick and successful transaction message
Other than another cry for help, I have a specific question - Each time I go back into the 'configuration' section of the PayPal Pro payment option in VM, the fields are blank again and the 'test mode' drop down has reverted to 'Yes' again. Is this expected behaviour for this function?
Any and all help would be much appreciated - thanks

Greetings,
If your test mode reset to 'yes' and other field show blank every time ,please make sure you press the save button after you fill the blanks and the configure file ps_paypalprouk.cfg(in the administrator\components\com_virtuemart\classes\payment) has the write permission.
About other
It now seems I can only get this to function by updating the configuration details in the VM payments section mid transaction - which doesn't seem right. Also, no information is being passed through to the Paypal account so I feel I'm back at square one again after the elation of seeing that green tick and successful transaction message
can you give me more information?

[JamesH]

Hi cowboy - thanks for the new advice. I have managed to get the configuration settings to remain set by completing the 'test' dropdown, merchant login and user login and then saving these inputs. I have then gone back into the configuration setting to set the password. If I do all of these things at the same time then the settings are not saved for some reason. I have checked the config file and can confirm that the correct details are written to it.

With all of this in place seemingly correctly, I am still now getting the same error message as before...
Error: Invalid vendor account
Error: Failure in Processing the Payment (ps_paypalprouk)

On a couple of ocassions today I got a longer error message containing some 5 points about why the transaction could not complete. I can't seem to replicate that longer message again.

The process I was going through that appeared to work was to input all the details to transact on the webpage and then at the error message go into the payment method configuration and re-enter the details - save those - then went back to 'confirm payment' and on clicking was achieving a 'successful transaction' message. Made me feel good about it for a while but sadly that bubble has burst now

Any more ideas? - thanks

[JamesH]

I'm non-technical (as you might have guessed) but I've just been seeing if I could understand something of the code sitting behind this Paypal Pro module, primarily in 'ps_paypalprouk.php'. I'm intrigued to see the similarity to the Payflow Pro code within a module already available in Virtuemart. Is it relevant or correct for instance that both payment methods share identical CLIENT_CERTIFICATION_IDs? The top section of the code seems to differ largely in 'PFP' being swapped for 'PPU'and then seems to become purely PayFlow Pro related. I'll get back to the day job now but my desperation to get this module working is probably showing through now

[cowboy1989]

I'm non-technical (as you might have guessed) but I've just been seeing if I could understand something of the code sitting behind this Paypal Pro module, primarily in 'ps_paypalprouk.php'. I'm intrigued to see the similarity to the Payflow Pro code within a module already available in Virtuemart. Is it relevant or correct for instance that both payment methods share identical CLIENT_CERTIFICATION_IDs? The top section of the code seems to differ largely in 'PFP' being swapped for 'PPU'and then seems to become purely PayFlow Pro related. I'll get back to the day job now but my desperation to get this module working is probably showing through now

greetings,
if your test mode still set yes,then definitly,you will receive the invaild vender message.because in test mode server,no vendor information which is on live server i have no idea why your test mode still 'yes' after you modified it. here no this kind of message.
but you can modify the file ps_paypalprouk.cfg(in the administrator\components\com_virtuemart\classes\payment):
replace
define ('PPU_TEST_REQUEST', 'FALSE'); 
with
define ('PPU_TEST_REQUEST', 'TRUE');

one more thing, the paypal pro uk use the payflow service. so the code is related to payflow.

[JamesH]

Hi there - I can confirm that the information in the 'ps_paypalprouk.cfg' file has the correct information from the configuration input including the test field set to 'false'. The 'partner' field looks pre-populated with 'paypaluk'.

I did notice in the instructions you posted earlier about the precise information for these fields that it said the 'partner' field should be 'PayPalUK' and is case-sensitive. I did however change this in the cfg. file to see if it made any difference but it had no effect?

At a real loss on this now as I'm sure the correct information is being pushed to Paypal. Any other ideas?

Many thanks for your continued replies and time on this - much appreciated.

[cowboy1989]

sorry,
i can not image what  the problem is because it  works well on my test server.
i am a little strange that why https://manager.paypal.com could not recognize your account.if you have paypal pro uk account ,the partner should be PayPalUK.

so we have to post this question to other readers.maybe there is better paypal pro uk module or anyone know how to resolve your problem.
thanks using my module and giving me feedback. feel free to contact me.

[JamesH]

Hi cowboy - as mentioned in a previous post there would appear to be no reference to  https://manager.paypal.com with regard to the Website Payments Pro service we are accessing here the UK.

The login is via https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run which then takes you into https://paypalmanager.paypal.com/login.do

A long shot (without a full understanding of the processes here) but could this be the root cause of the problems here? Obviously if the correct information is being sent from the Virtuemart module but to the wrong Paypal location then logic suggests it will be rejected. As I mentioned previously, I tried logging in to https://manager.paypal.com with my Website Payment Pro account details and they weren't recognised so if the website is trying the same process then I guess it will also be rejected - hence the 'invalid vendor account' message?

The information you posted from the pdncommunity was over a year old so have Paypal perhaps changed the login process for Website Payments Pro UK and are no longer using https://manager.paypal.com ? If so is this a simple config change in the code somewhere to point the transaction details to https://paypalmanager.paypal.com ?

Many thanks

[cowboy1989]

sorry,
i can not help you because i even do not have test account in paypal pro uk. it seems difficult for me to apply one.
if it is a paypal pro us , i can help you.

[shoulders]

Noobie question!

will the recurring module work for the UK?

thanks

shoulders

[cowboy1989]

no, it works for paypal pro us only.

Noobie question!
will the recurring module work for the UK?
thanks
shoulders

[JamesH]

My experiences with building out a new website on Joomla 1.5.7 and a product catalog on Virtuemart 1.1.2 have been excellent with both tools surpassing my expectations. However, when it came to integrating Paypal Pro UK or Websites Payment Pro UK (as the service itself is known) the result was several days of intense frustration and some long nights. 

I've noticed that others have been in similar positions with this so I thought I'd document my experiences here in case they are useful to someone also wrestling with this.

Firstly, there isn't much choice when it comes to a simple, non-technical method to integrate Paypal Pro UK as it is distinctly different from the US version.

The ones I came across via Google and the forums are...

http://www.e-commerce-solution.co.uk
A UK based organisation. They have had problems with their website and email systems recently and my early experience with trying to buy from them put me off. However, as you'll see later in my post, I returned to this option.

http://www.virtuemartshop.co.uk/PayPal-Pro-UK-Virtuemart-payment-module.html
This is a very competent looking operation and I'm sure will deliver 100% on what they say but as I am on a very tight budget of virtually nothing then £245 is a lot of money – (although after the hours I've burned on this, paying the money looks a more attractive option).

http://www.myjoomlaextensions.com/
There is comment in this forum about how these guys commissioned the UK module they offer to be built but then didn't pay the developer. On that basis I didn't go near this one.

http://www.webresolve.net/joomla/index.php
This is from the developer (cowboy1989 on here) who wasn't paid for the work mentioned above. He released his work as open source the day after I started looking for a solution. An associated piece of work that enables Maestro and Switch cards to be incorporated can be found here... http://www.jmds.eu/virtuemart-addons-and-modifications/view-category.html

http://www.chuckra.co.uk/software/
This is an older attempt to open source a Paypal Pro UK solution. It comes with plenty of warnings about how stuff doesn't work and no support is provided. The last updates were a year ago. I stayed clear of this one for those reasons alone.

So, my starting point was cowboy1989's work via http://www.webresolve.net/joomla/index.php . Easy enough to install manually once you get the hang of identifying which files should be copied where. (I use the excellent ninjaexplorer http://ninjaforge.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=146&Itemid=228 for all upload/download activity). Had an initial problem with getting all the text to show in the 'add payment method' configuration dialog but that was only because I had installed the Virtuemart language pack and hadn't put the 'english.php' file in the correct location. Also had a problem getting the configuration settings to save properly but got over this by adding in the required vendor and username details, saving those and then adding the password details.

So, having got the component to function as expected, the challenge was then to make it work with Paypal. In the whole process this has been the most frustrating experience and the blame lies with Paypal themselves in not making it clear how and where the UK version of Websites Payment Pro differs from the US solution. 

Firstly, the 'HTTPS' process that Website Payments Pro UK uses requires the usage of four key field PARTNER, VENDOR, USER, PASSWORD

For the UK version of Website Payments Pro, PayPal do not make it straightforward to identify what should go in these fields and much of the information in the forums is US specific and/or misleading. To find the account details for these fields, UK users need to...
1. log-in to their PayPal accounts, go to their 'profile' page
2. select 'Request API credentials' (the fact that in many areas it is said that the HTTPS process does not require 'API credentials' makes this confusing in its own right).
3. You will then see two options. Select the one on the right 'Option 2- Payflow Pro and the second option 'Set up Payflow Pro API access' (The mixture of PayPal and PayFlow terminology is again confusing and apparently the legacy of PayPal's Verisign/Payflow acquisition a couple of years ago)
4. You will then see a table entitled 'User Access' with exactly the information required for the integration process listed as User, Partner, Vendor and Password.

Aside from PayPal not making it clear for UK users where to find this information I think part of the confusion comes from the PayPal community information where you will often see the statement "if you can't log-in to https://manager.paypal.com then you don't have a Website Payments Pro UK account." This is untrue and PayPal should update this misleading information. Even using the correct (user/partner/vendor/password) information for the integration process, I still cannot log-in to https://manager.paypal.com and it seems completely irrelevant to the process from a UK user's perspective.

So... if you've got as far as tracking down the right information in the Payflow Pro API Credentials section that is good progress – but, in my case didn't seem to provide the answer. Having copied the information from the table into the Virtuemart 'payment method configuration' section I was still getting Error 1 and Error 26 messages (these are the ones that tell you the information you are sending to PayPal is wrong in some way). Just as I was about to give up and pay the money for someone else to do it all for me I remembered a comment in one of the many forum posts I've now read on this topic that suggested using the 'Create User' button in the Payflow Pro credentials section to generate a new set of USER and PASSWORD details. I did this, wacked it into the configuration dialog and bingo!!! – my first successful transaction.

Lesson one for UK users – Find the right integration account information – in >> profile>> API Credentials Request>> Payflow Pro (Option 2) – do this and your experience with the integration modules will be a smoother one. Note:- If the first set of credentials don't work, click the 'create user' button and use those.

Although I didn't get a successful transaction with the open source module from http://www.webresolve.net/joomla/index.php I am sure this is more to do with me not having PayPal information that worked and being misinformed by the PayPal forum advice. I was very impressed with 'cowboy1989's quick responses to my forum requests for help. I probably won't go back through testing this module with the working PayPal details as I don't want to tempt fate but would be interested to know if others are successful, as I'm sure would 'cowboy 1989'.

Having parted with a bit of cash and re-visited the http://www.e-commerce-solution.co.uk , there are a few advantages to this one. Firstly it is an installable component with a non-technical control interface (although had problems with the licence key process and ended up adding it in manually). Secondly it includes support for Maestro and Switch cards as part of the solution rather than yet another add on to wrestle with. The company clearly has had some issues with their website and email systems but I have had my support questions answered directly and relatively quickly.

Lesson two for UK users – Probably best to go with a solution that is UK focused as you will get Maestro/Switch support out of the box and hopefully an understanding that the Website Payments Pro UK is significantly different from its US counterpart. Even than, the Ecom solution that I've now got running successfully tells you in the interface to use the details that you log-in to https://manager.paypal.com and I maintain from my experience that this is no longer correct (even if it was previously).

A long post but I hope it has something of use depending on where you are in the process of integrating PayPal Pro UK and Virtuemart. 

[nickshaw]

he he,i am the lucky boy. i am successful to install this open source module . it is now running right on my server