Protx VSP Direct v2.0.0

Hi,

It gives us great pleasure to release version 2.0.0 of the Protx VSP Direct payment module for Zen Cart!

As of June 2006, the merchant accounts supported by Protx include those provided by the following companies:

• Royal Bank Of Scotland
• Barclaycard
• Streamline
• Lloyds TSB
• HSBC
• American Express
• Diners Club International
• JCB Cards

Full details about the contribution are available at its website:

Information and Downloads - http://dev.ceon.net/web/zen-cart/protx_direct

I recommend that you take a look at the above site but for those who want more information first (lazy you :) ), here is the feature list:


Features

This Payment Module has been written to be as comprehensive as possible. The current feature list follows. Features new for version 2.0 have been marked as new...

Support for every Card Type handled by Protx.

Each card type can be enabled or disabled at the click of a button inside the admin. Cards supported:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• Switch/UK Maestro
• Delta
• Solo
• American Express
• Visa Electron - UKE
• Diners Club International
• JCB

Full support of all essential parts of Protx VSP Direct's 2.22 Protocol.

This includes support for the three different Transaction Types: Pre-authorization, Deferred and Immediate Charge. It also includes support for the various AVS (Address Verification) Options. Configuration of these features is accomplished using simple radio buttons in the Module's Admin Configuration.


Allows gathering of the following information:

o Card Holder Name
o Card Type
o Card Number
o Expiry Date
o CVV Code
o Start Date (Switch/UK Maestro/Solo/American Express Only)
o Issue Number (Switch/UK Maestro/Solo Only)


Retains entered Card Details right throughout the checkout process.

If a user goes back to change their Shipping Address, or realises at the Confirmation Stage of the checkout procedure that they have entered some incorrect information, when they return to the Payment Page the card details they entered previously will be automatically restored. This prevents any frustration with customers having to re-type details and should help prevent customers leaving at the last hurdle! Please note: If your server has PEAR:Crypt_Blowfish installed, this information is kept encrypted in the session so as to protect the confidentiality of the details!


Visual Validation Feedback using JavascriptVisual Feedback of Javascript Validation.

In order to catch any problems with Card Details entered by the customer as quickly and easily as possible, this module will not only alert the user to any incorrect information when they attempt to submit the form, it will actually highlight the form fields which require their attention. Again this should help to reduce customers getting frustrated and leaving at the last hurdle!


[New for 2.0] Icons for each Credit Card accepted.

If you enable the option in the admin, icons are displayed for each credit card accepted (see picture at right). Maybe not an essential feature, but it does look more professional for your shop!


Support for a Single Merchant Account Currency or Multiple Merchant Account Currencies.

Each currency that you want to accept payment in requires you to have a separate merchant account for that currency. This payment module supports the sending of payment information to Protx in any number of currencies, according to the settings you specify in the Module's Admin Configuration.


Storage and Display of Completed Transaction Information.

The Transaction Information for any order processed using this module is available directly for viewing on the Order Details page for that order in the Zen Cart Admin.


Support for Protx's VSP Simulator testing services.

This module allows you to test its operation and configuration in conjunction with Protx's extremely handy VSP Simulator service so you don't have to worry about putting through lots of bogus details. Once you are satisfied with your configuration of the module you can switch the checkout to being live at the click of a radio button!


[New for 2.0] Ability to disable Autocomplete.

Some browsers store credit card numbers entered and automatically insert them in a credit card field when a user returns to a website. This can be quite disconcerting to customers so the option to have this browser feature disabled is offered (and set by default) by the Protx Direct payment module.


[New for 2.0] Dynamic Start Date and Issue Number support.

Certain cards (Switch/UK Maestro/Solo/American Express) require a Start Date to be supplied for authorisation to take place, while certain cards (Switch/UK Maestro/Solo) also require an Issue Date to be supplied. Version 2.0.x of this module now dynamically displays the necessary form gadgets to capture this information from the user based on the cards types enabled in the admin (I.e. You don't have to do this manually any longer!). The Visual Javascript Validation has also been extended so that, if a user has selected a card that requires a Start Date or Issue Number, the checks apply to those fields also!


[New for 2.0] Debug Support.

Sometimes there can be problems sending and receiving information to/from Protx. The new debug mode allows you to see what information was sent and received so you can check your settings. Most people should never need this though and it is subsequently disabled by default.


[New for 2.0] Complete support for Zen Cart 1.3.x's Observer/Notification System.

Previous versions of this module worked with both Zen Cart 1.2.x and 1.3.x using the same code but now there are two versions, one of which makes full use of Zen Cart 1.3.x's handy new notification system to make installation even more of a breeze!


Enjoy! :thumbsup:

Please read the documentation before posting any questions in this thread so that we can hopefully keep the number of posts here down to a minimum!

Download NOW!

If you like this contribution and get a lot of use out of it, please consider making a donation!

All the best...

Conor
ceon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by conor

[New for 2.0] Ability to disable Autocomplete.

Some browsers store credit card numbers entered and automatically insert them in a credit card field when a user returns to a website. This can be quite disconcerting to customers so the option to have this browser feature disabled is offered (and set by default) by the Protx Direct payment module.

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Thanks, didn't know you were working on that. Thought you missed my other post. :D

...... and a big thank you for the new PEAR:Crypt/Blowfish check. Installing your new version has highlighted I've got problems there. :(

Brent

Hi Brent,

You're welcome! :)

I'm sorry to hear that your host doesn't have the Crypt_Blowfish PEAR module installed... it is very easy for them to add it. All they have to do is run the following from their command line:

pear install Crypt_Blowfish

If you, or anyone else, is having problems getting your webhost to add this simple PEAR package, you could always create a folder called "Crypt" in your shop's root directory and get the Crypt_Blowfish files from:

http://pear.php.net/get/Crypt_Blowfish-1.0.1.tgz

and copy them into that folder (so that you end up with the main file using the path: Crypt/Blowfish.php). I.e: your file structure would end up as follows:

admin
cache
Crypt/Blowfish.php
Crypt/Blowfish/DefaultKey.php
docs
...
includes
...

The warning in the admin will still show as it is output from the languages file. The code that checks if Blowfish support is installed only looks at the include paths on your server and this language file is loaded from within the "admin" folder, so it wouldn't see that you have added the necessary files. You will however be using the encryption functionality of our Protx Direct module if you have added the files as above.

To disable the warning in the admin as well, you could also copy the Crypt folder created above into your admin/ folder... it will then be seen by the languages file. This is not advised though as the better solution overall is to get the Crypt_Blowfish module installed properly (as in via the pear command)! ;)

If you require any other help or advice on this particular issue please PM or e-mail me... I don't want to clog up this thread.

Maybe a FAQ might be worth adding to the documentation though... hmmm.. more work! :P

All the best...

Conor
ceon

Hi Conor,

My Host immediately installed the Crypt_Blowfish PEAR module for me so I'm now secure thanks.

Been testing the session saving feature and there is one further place it would be very useful. My customers have to accept our terms of trading at stage 2 and if they forget to do it the CC details are lost on a screen refresh as the session doesn't appear to be saved yet.

Obviously if they come back to this page after getting to stage 3 the session is now saved and this can't be replicated. As the tick-box is very easy to miss I think this will annoy many customers. I know when testing I have a 50/50 chance of forgetting and I know I need to tick them.

Last small request :D It would be good to add the Auto complete code to the CVV Number field as well.

Regards

Brent

Hi,

A slightly updated version of the module has been released due to user feature requests! :)

Here's the snippet from the Version History:


[ADDED] Option added to disable browsers' Autocomplete functionality for the CVV field (if this field is being used).

[UPDATED] Documentation updated with information about (and fix for) Known Issue when Terms & Conditions checkbox is being used.

[BUGFIX] Extraneous comma removed from HTML for CVV field.


So not a lot different, but, the documentation describes how to fix an issue with Zen Cart's checkout logic when your shop makes use of Terms & Conditions functionality which is well worth reading (and is extremely easy to implement)!

Again, you can always find the latest versions at the contribution's site:

http://dev.ceon.net/web/zen-cart/protx_direct

Enjoy!

All the best...

Conor
ceon

Have just installed the latest version on our test site with blowfish installed (so no warning message in Admin). Have just checked with the plaintext snippet in protx_direct file and it is not showing any encrypted text. Double checked by putting a similar line in the next else statement which did print indicating that encryption has not taken place. Made sure had suitable encryption phrase less than 56 characters etc.

Previous version has worked faultlessly by the way - so many thanks for that

Hi

I've just installed this module and came across this little problem in the checkout form.

Credit Card Start Date (Solo/Switch/UK Maestro Only):

At first I though it was an installation mistake by myself but looking at this article it seems that this feature is deliberate.

Quote:

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Start Date (Switch/UK Maestro/Solo/American Express Only)

---

Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't Switch/Maestro always have a issue number but never a start date?

Hi there,

Thanks for downloading and installing our Module, it's good to see it getting used more and more! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frostystoo

Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't Switch/Maestro always have a issue number but never a start date?

---

Straight from the Protx VSP Direct Protocol Guide (Pages 25 and 26):

"The Start date (required for Switch, Solo and Amex) in MMYY format"

"The card Issue Number (Switch and Solo cards only)"

...I was very careful to write this module so that it supported every card properly... that's why users have to select their credit card type as opposed to the module trying to calculate a bin code to identify it (these change too frequently to be 100% reliable unfortunately and we've gone for 100% reliability with this module!) :thumbsup:

Hope that puts your mind at rest... you won't get any disillusioned customers unable to use a valid credit card with this module! :)


Regarding the previous post... just to let you all know I'm in contact with TPHoare about his problem privately. As it turns out, there's a problem with the include path settings on his server, the encryption works perfectly if the Blowfish package is available on the catalog's side.

All the best...

Conor
ceon

Hi Conor - great work with the module. Fantastic job you are doing there.

Maybe the Protx VSP documentation is wrong then. I have two fairly recent Maestro/Switch cards; neither have a start date and both have an issue number. I have never been asked for a start date when purchasing items on the Internet with these cards. I also have 3 credit cards (2 VISA and 1 Mastercard) and all 3 have a start date for which I am always prompted for when purchasing online. None of the credit cards have an issue number.

As it is I can't use my two switch cards using Protx. One is First Direct and the other is HSBC so they are both mainstream cards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frostystoo

Hi Conor - great work with the module. Fantastic job you are doing there.

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Appreciate the support - thanks! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frostystoo

As it is I can't use my two switch cards using Protx. One is First Direct and the other is HSBC so they are both mainstream cards.

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I've just checked out Protx's site once more and right enough they have updated their VSP Direct information page to indicate that the start date may not always be necessary for Switch/UK Maestro/Solo and that not all Switch/UK Maestro and Solo cards need an issue number.

However, their Protocol documentation still requires both for Switch/UK Maestro and Solo!

I'll get on the phone to them tomorrow and hopefully encourage them to sort this out... it's quite ridiculous that they've let their protocols go out of date - what are we paying them for?!! :)

I'll also update the module to not require start dates and issue numbers but to "suggest" that one or both might be necessary for Switch/Maestro/Solo/Amex.

Thanks for the heads up on this then.

In return, I can tell you for certain that you don't need to enter the start date for Visa or Mastercard on any occasion... I've 20 of the things and have always skipped the start date (no protocol requires it - we have experience with other payment providers/gateways also through other clients of ours). So I've saved you a little bit of time there hopefully! :P

All the best...

Conor
ceon