How do I receive authorization confimation in real time?

[wbc]

Hi,

I am new to this process, meaning my question is pretty basic.

Objective: To have a payment processed, and receive real time approval at the website to allow the user to be forwarded to a download page for what has been purchased.

It may be that this is so obvious an operation that the question appears more complex than it is.  I just don't understand the terminology used with this API to understand for certain what I need to code to integrate a real time authorization confirmation.

If there is a specific place for me to read, that's great, I'll read it and come back later with any questions I might have.

Best Regards,

Alan

[wbc]

Addendum to the post:

Regarding "Objective: To have a payment processed, and receive real time approval at the website to allow the user to be forwarded to a download page for what has been purchased."

I mean that the web app where the customer makes the purchase is an asp.net MVC5 site, and it needs to process the authorization confirmation automatically so that unattended sales and downloads can take place.

Best Regards,

Alan

[RichardH]

Hello @wbc 

Welcome to the community.  I would start with our getting started guides.  They include both text and video explainations of how payments and introduces you to the terminology you'll need to complete your integration.

Richard

[wbc]

Thank you for your response, Richard.

I had already visited the page you linked to but hadn't been able to view the starting guides previously.  I figured it was some kind of 'beta' type problem since 'beta' is prominently displayed on the page; I tried 2 different pc's using IE10.  So I tried Mozilla and I could view them.  Perhaps you may want to relay to have the IE10 issue looked into or put some instruction for IE10 settings required to view the guides.

Never the less, as I scanned those guides, I find that I have already been through this material.  So my answer is not there.

Am I asking a difficult question or am I just phrasing my question so poorly that it's not clear what I'm looking for?  Or am I seeing the answer to my question but not recognizing that's the answer.  I'm not aggravated, just confused why I can't seem to find an answer to what has to be a very common process and/or requirement.

Thanks for your help

Best Regards,

Alan

[RichardH]

Hello Alan,

In very simple terms, when you perform a createTransactionRequest, the response will include details for success or failure.  If you follow the link above, you can try a transaction yourself using your sandbox API Login and Transaction Key.

Richard

[wbc]

Hi Richard,

That was great! Thanks. 

I executed the 'Try it' panel at the link you sent (which was the Charge a Credit Card, or 'authCaptureTransaction' format).  This raised 2 questions for me, one regarding the overall process, and one regarding the 'Try it' operation on that page.

1) While I know I have to study all of this much more, in general, is the 'createTransactionRequest' API compatible with the SIM API, or instead of?

2) When I added my credentials at the top of the page, it setup all the 'Try it' locations.  And while I received a response, the transaction was 'Unsuccessful' because of error 27, because of an AVS mismatch.  Is the 'Try it' just supposed to give a general idea of how things work, or can we set it up so that it actually gives a 'Successful' transaction?

Thanks.

Best Regards,

Alan

[RichardH]

Alan,

Great questions.  Each API method offers developers and their clients choices that balance control over the user experience and PCI scope.  SIM uses a hosted payment form but sacrifices control over the user experience.  With createTransactionRequest, you have complete control over the experience but greater PCI scope for the merchant.

The API Reference guide and Try It console simply sends XML requests to the sandbox using the parameters you specify.  The sandbox also applies the settings set within the Merchant Interface.  The response will depend on the data in your request and the settings in the merchant inteface.

Richard

[wbc]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for following through with me to the end on this.

So I understand you to be saying (1) if I use the SIM API, I don't have the functionality of the response transmission from authorize.net.  And (2) if I want that specific response transmission from authorize.net by using the createTransactionRequest API, I'll have to code things significantly different on the merchant end and I won't be using the SIM API, I'll be setting up my own SSL at the merchant location, and constructing things such that they lead up to a createTransactionRequest that will then receive the response you showed me on that API Reference Guide web page.

Do I have that correct?

So, going back to the SIM API for a moment, is there no API that allows me to perform a 'read' from the database that reports the results of a previous request payment form POST such as I might have made using the SIM API?

Thanks.

Best Regards,

Alan

[wbc · Accepted solution]

So I am responding to my own post in order to provide what was the answer for me as the previous posts didn't really answer my question.

I wanted to know how I receive a real time response to a given transaction, and what I needed to focus my study on.

The answer is Chapter 4 of the SIM Guide, Receipt Options.  More specifically, Receipt Method.  In my opinion, the best method is POST for security reasons, but GET would also work.  These two methods send the transaction results immediately after the customer clicks on the link to return your website.

If they don't click, I'm not yet sure what happens, but Silent Post is also an option that evidently works for SIM, but the documentation in various places on the Authorize.net website suggest it doesn't.

Best Regards,

Alan