PayPal IPN integration in PHP with values to database - php

Question

I've got 3 textbox inputs and the paypal button in one paypal form.
<form action="https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
<input type="text" name="a_name" id="name" placeholder="Artist name" />
<input type="email" name="email" id="name" placeholder="Email" />
<input type="text" name="url" id="email" placeholder="Url of your soundcloud track" />
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="NUYMPHY8BXZGN">
<input type="image" src="https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/nl_NL/NL/i/btn/btn_buynowCC_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal, de veilige en complete manier van online betalen.">
<img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/nl_NL/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
</form>
Once everything is filled in, we will be redirected to paypal.
my Paypal IPN Listener:
<?php
// CONFIG: Enable debug mode. This means we'll log requests into 'ipn.log' in the same directory.
// Especially useful if you encounter network errors or other intermittent problems with IPN (validation).
// Set this to 0 once you go live or don't require logging.
define("DEBUG", 1);
// Set to 0 once you're ready to go live
define("USE_SANDBOX", 1);
define("LOG_FILE", "./ipn.log");
// Read POST data
// reading posted data directly from $_POST causes serialization
// issues with array data in POST. Reading raw POST data from input stream instead.
$raw_post_data = file_get_contents('php://input');
$raw_post_array = explode('&', $raw_post_data);
$myPost = array();
foreach ($raw_post_array as $keyval) {
$keyval = explode ('=', $keyval);
if (count($keyval) == 2)
$myPost[$keyval[0]] = urldecode($keyval[1]);
}
// read the post from PayPal system and add 'cmd'
$req = 'cmd=_notify-validate';
if(function_exists('get_magic_quotes_gpc')) {
$get_magic_quotes_exists = true;
}
foreach ($myPost as $key => $value) {
if($get_magic_quotes_exists == true && get_magic_quotes_gpc() == 1) {
$value = urlencode(stripslashes($value));
} else {
$value = urlencode($value);
}
$req .= "&$key=$value";
}
// Post IPN data back to PayPal to validate the IPN data is genuine
// Without this step anyone can fake IPN data
if(USE_SANDBOX == true) {
$paypal_url = "https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr";
} else {
$paypal_url = "https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr";
}
$ch = curl_init($paypal_url);
if ($ch == FALSE) {
return FALSE;
}
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION, CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $req);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 2);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FORBID_REUSE, 1);
if(DEBUG == true) {
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_OUT, 1);
}
// CONFIG: Optional proxy configuration
//curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_PROXY, $proxy);
//curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPPROXYTUNNEL, 1);
// Set TCP timeout to 30 seconds
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 30);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('Connection: Close'));
// CONFIG: Please download 'cacert.pem' from "http://curl.haxx.se/docs/caextract.html" and set the directory path
// of the certificate as shown below. Ensure the file is readable by the webserver.
// This is mandatory for some environments.
//$cert = __DIR__ . "./cacert.pem";
//curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CAINFO, $cert);
$res = curl_exec($ch);
if (curl_errno($ch) != 0) // cURL error
{
if(DEBUG == true) {
error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "Can't connect to PayPal to validate IPN message: " . curl_error($ch) . PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
}
curl_close($ch);
exit;
} else {
// Log the entire HTTP response if debug is switched on.
if(DEBUG == true) {
error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "HTTP request of validation request:". curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_OUT) ." for IPN payload: $req" . PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "HTTP response of validation request: $res" . PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
}
curl_close($ch);
}
// Inspect IPN validation result and act accordingly
// Split response headers and payload, a better way for strcmp
$tokens = explode("\r\n\r\n", trim($res));
$res = trim(end($tokens));
if (strcmp ($res, "VERIFIED") == 0) {
$a_name = $_POST['a_name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$url = $_POST['url'];
// Insert your actions here
require('connect.php');
$sql = "INSERT INTO reposts (a_name, url, email) VALUES ('".$a_name."','".$email."','".$url."')";
mysqli_query($conn, $sql);
if(DEBUG == true) {
error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "Verified IPN: $req ". PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
}
} else if (strcmp ($res, "INVALID") == 0) {
// log for manual investigation
// Add business logic here which deals with invalid IPN messages
if(DEBUG == true) {
error_log(date('[Y-m-d H:i e] '). "Invalid IPN: $req" . PHP_EOL, 3, LOG_FILE);
}
}
?>
When I simulate the IPN listener it is working, I get values inserted (empty, ofcourse because we dont have the $a_name $email etc.) in database so it passes the payment.
This will happen too when I take the steps on the website.
The values from the textboxes gone lost. I can't retrieve them in my payment.php (listener).
What should I do in order to get the values and insert them in the database after a payment successes? I just get empty values inserted into the database.
Solved!:
What I did was I sent the $_POST values after the payment to my email via the IPN Listener.
What I received was something like this:
:11:"verify_sign";s:56:"AnNMT7nRteKS2auTkxdsRz9rRvvPAWwWAsbZm21nF1AGuSAtUwoLbcd.";s:11:"payer_email";s:20:"stan-buyer#stwebs.nl";s:12:"option_name1";s:8:"segujejg";s:12:"option_name2";s:16:"stan#hotmail.com";s:12:"option_name3";s:9:"jsipegjie";s:6:"txn_id";s:17:"61S77153EE2897129";s:12:"payment_type
It successfully received the values, so the only thing I had to do was replace the $_POST['a_name'] with $_POST['option_name1'] As it returns from Paypal.
It works now.

Answer 1

Paypal IPN has a custom variable that you can use to send custom values to Paypal and Paypal will send it back to you. But it's only one field and it is limited to 255 characters. https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/ipn/integration-guide/IPNandPDTVariables/
So in your case, maybe you can try having the form on one page. After user submits "name", "email" and "url", insert those into DB, get the row's id, then on the next screen, you insert the paypal button, populate the "custom" hidden input field with the row's id and your IPN listener will receive the id back (in the custom var), so you can check the database.

Answer 2

Solved!:
What I did was I sent the $_POST values after the payment to my email via the IPN Listener. What I received was something like this:
:11:"verify_sign";s:56:"AnNMT7nRteKS2auTkxdsRz9rRvvPAWwWAsbZm21nF1AGuSAtUwoLbcd.";s:11:"payer_email";s:20:"stan-buyer#stwebs.nl";s:12:"option_name1";s:8:"segujejg";s:12:"option_name2";s:16:"stan#hotmail.com";s:12:"option_name3";s:9:"jsipegjie";s:6:"txn_id";s:17:"61S77153EE2897129";s:12:"payment_type
It successfully received the values, so the only thing I had to do was replace the $_POST['a_name'] with $_POST['option_name1'] As it returns from Paypal. It works now.