topic Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post in Integration and Testing

Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

HDLLC — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:16:01 GMT

Is there anything I can do to eliminate a blank screen when I post the order to: https://secure.authorize.net/gateway/transact.dll

???

It goes from my site, to blank white screen at that address, then back to my result page. Problem occurs when connection is slow, it stays white screen for a while. Getting customer complaint calls.

Perhaps I'm handling something wrong?

Thanks in advance!

--Jeff

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

stymiee — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:20:04 GMT

Does this happen consistently? Does it happen when posting to Authorize.Net? Or when returning from Authorize.Net? Can you duplicate it when using their development server?

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

HDLLC — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:29:42 GMT

It's happening with every submit... If you have a fast connection - it flashes white for a quick second, then back to my result screen. If slow connection, it's multiplied (time spent on white Anet screen).

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

TJPride — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:51:17 GMT

What happens is the customer is submitted to a page on Authorize.net, then Authorize.net contacts a page on your server, that page determines if the transaction was successful or not, then a snippet of Javascript is sent back to forward the customer to the receipt page. So if the connection between Authorize.net and the page on your server is slow, or if it takes a while for the customer to load your receipt page, they're going to sit there for a bit staring at a white screen. How is your hosting in general? Does it always respond instantly? If not, then that's one thing you can fix. If it does, then you could try increasing the refresh time on your DNS from the usual 1 hour to something much larger, like 7 days, and see if that helps. But there may stil be a few customers on connections with really lousy nameservers that lag while ordering. The default nameserver for my Southwestern Bell DSL lagged horribly starting back some months ago, I finally figured out that I could switch to the nameserver from a different city, and apparently the one I went with isn't as overloaded, since I haven't had the problem since. But if I were still using that, I'd get 5-10 seconds of lag loading the Authorize.net page, then maybe another 5-10 seconds loading the receipt page if it's on a different domain from the order form.

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

HDLLC — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:55:32 GMT

Thanks TJ - I think that is what is happening now that you mention it...

The site is on Network Solutions - and I've had a few projects running on them - and performance has been terrible to horrible. I'm going to watch and see if this persists... It wasn't this way last night - or even this morning.

And, with no code or site changes at all in last 24 hours - this just popped-up in the last hour.

Frustrating...

=^)

Thanks for the help! - I'll see what happens.

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

TJPride — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:05:19 GMT

The single best way to lose traffic is to have a site that lags. My guess is you're on shared hosting, probably cheap stuff, and if you have several sites you should really switch to virtual dedicated. At Network Solutions, that costs $40/mo, and at Godaddy, something like $30. I can't say as I really like Godaddy for their shared hosting, but I've used their virtual dedicated servers and those work just fine.

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

HDLLC — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:10:56 GMT

Hi TJ-

Well - it's not my choice. I do run a larger block of virtual dedicated and I'm really happy with it.

Needless to say - it's not with NetSol. This customer, and a couple of others, insisted that they had to have it.

I went into it with the disclaimer that the speed sucks as does their customer service.

To no avail - here we are, fighting it. All three have issues - but this one is enough that if I can get a test site up on my other hosting now, and show the lag on netsol - they'll move by end of day.

Thanks again!

--Jeff

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

HDLLC — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:57:09 GMT

Well - I'm thinking this is something else (after I've finger pointed to hosting).

I ran a fresh install of everything, imported DB, set it all up on another server. Getting same issue.

Is it supposed to actually direct to the authorize.net page and then bounce back?

I was under the impression it all happened "behind the scenes"...?

Thanks in advance!

--Jeff

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

HDLLC — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:39:55 GMT

Okay - so, my biggest question is:

Is there supposed to be a blank white screen appear when the request is sent to authorize.net for processing?

Need to know whether I'm fighting something that can't be fixed... (and is supposed to work this way)

Thanks much!

--Jeff

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

TJPride — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:02:44 GMT

The form submits to Authorize.net. That page is not supposed to display anything, it just contacts your site back and asks for a piece of Javascript to use in forwarding customers to either a receipt or error page. Until that piece of Javascript arrives, you're stuck in the white screen. As I said before, if your receipt page is on a different domain from the one your order form is on, or if they've sat on the order page for a while and hit the refresh time, then their ISP's nameserver will need to look up the DNS, and if the nameserver happens to be lagged, that may take some seconds. If relay response page's hosting lags and the Javascript takes longer than normal to arrive, same problem.

You could always give up and use AIM. No back and forth, just a single internal call to Authorize.net and the customer never leaves your site.

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

HDLLC — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:08:27 GMT

Hi TJ-

Was actually just testing with AIM... I think I like how that works much better.

Their sample was more of what I am looking for.

I'm taking this over and have very little knowledge of how to integrate either.

Is it as simple as changing the method (declaring AIM vs DPM)...?

The samples was just a switch in settings.

Thanks again - appreciate the insight.

--Jeff

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

TJPride — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:12:18 GMT

AIM is the simplest API to integrate. Assuming you're using PHP, you can get excellent examples of how to use it by looking in the doc folder of your SDK for a file called AIM.markdown.

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

HDLLC — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:16:42 GMT

10-4 - thanks a ton, TJ!

Much appreciated!

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

danbergan — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:44:43 GMT

I'm having the same issue, but it's only periodically, when my server is under a lot of load.

We are in the process of getting a new, more powerfull server. But, it would be nice if there was a message for the customer, rather than just a blank screen.

"Please wait while we process your order." or something like that.

Dan

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

danbergan — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:42:17 GMT

It looks like my previous post may be incorrect. I have talked to a couple customers that said that the "blank page" remained on their browsers for a few minutes. When I look at my logs, I see that my site responded with the redirect within a couple of seconds.

Has anyone else had this issue? It seems to only have happened to a handful of our users, but it is still troubling. The transaction goes through at Authorize.net, but the order is never finalized on our site.

Are there any browser settings that may be stopping the redirect?

Thanks -

Dan Bergan

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

TJPride — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:37:31 GMT

It's possible your nameserver is slow, in which case every time Authorize.net tries to look up your domain, it takes more than the required amount of time. How frequently that happens would depend on your DNS refresh rate.

It's also possible your site was lagging too badly during those particular periods. What kind of hosting do you have?

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

danbergan — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:41:01 GMT

Our DNS is hosted by Rackspace. We have a dedicated server -- however, we are in the processing of upgrading to a newer, more powerful server.

This does seem to happen slightly more often when our server is busy, but in this case, I can see in the logs that my server responded to the Authorize.net callback within one second. However, the customer said that screen remained blank for a couple of minutes before he used the back button and resubmitted the payment.

Re: Authorize.net DPM blank screen on post

TJPride — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:16:09 GMT

If the response time is more than a few seconds, Authorize.net will sever the connection, meaning they could sit there for an infinite amount of time and still get the blank screen. A few seconds is a LONG time in computing terms, though.