Super Orders v4.0 Support Thread for ZC v1.5.x

[DivaVocals]

Agree that they independently work, at the time of inquiry, our service was disconnected from CURL functionality of PayPal. Attempting to use Super Orders to review site purchases at that time helped identify the issue (only limited data was presented... Very limited) so went back to the instruction manual to see what was discussed about PayPal. The review of the configuration and features section of the instructions indicated that automated super orders refunds was not implemented (for PayPal and others) because of the breadth of code needed to support all of the methods. I think at the time I came to this issue because I needed to refund a portion of a payment. On screen the "typical" areas showing refund and other options was not present (now seeming to be because of the CURL disconnection because after communication was restored and PayPal Express activated again all is back to normal.) and the absence of those options concerned me about keeping the plugin installed.

So, now that everything looks like it should, I do not have that concern anymore. I am not sure what is meant by not implementing automated super orders refunds, but seeing that the options are available to provide a refund (which should be infrequent) with Super Orders installed, we're good to go. As a result, I wanted to close the loop on that portion of my question for any that happened to review the thread. I still would like to find the "solutions" posted by carlvt88 to enable automated Super orders refunds for payPal, if for no other reason than to enable whatever functionality is added by that additinal mod, but I haven't been able to find that discussion.

I thought I explained why automated refunds were NOT implemented in the readme.. So let me write about it here..

First some clarifications:
The refunds functionality in the payment notification box (the "grey box") just above the product details section of the orders.php page is DEFAULT ZEN CART functionality.. It has NOTHING to do with Super Orders. The features in the payments notifications section differ if you are using Authorize.net versus PayPal, and if you want details on how these features work, they are outside the scope of the Super Orders support thread as this is default Zen Cart functionality which Super Orders DOES NOT touch.

Now that said, as you know Super Orders has a RUDIMENTARY accounting feature which allows a shop owner to "post" payments, refunds, and purchase orders against an order.. It DOES NOT interface with the payment processors in ANY way. Super Order payments are "automatically" posted when the payment is made via credit card (manual and via Authorize.net) or via PayPal. There is separate SUPER ORDERS code that creates these Super Orders payment records when one of these payment methods is used which works because there is code that can VALIDATE when a payment was received and create the corresponding Super Orders payment record. All other payment methods require that the Super Orders payment must be posted manually.

Refunds are different because the DEFAULT ZEN CART refunds functions in the payment notification box for PayPal is DIFFERENT than the DEFAULT ZEN CART refunds functions in the payment notification box for credit card processors like Authorize.net. PayPal refunds can be validated as there is data captured in the PayPal tables, refunds for other payment processors are not captured in a similar manner. Therefore when J Theed and others were working on Super Orders, we made a DESIGN DECISION to NOT implement automated Super Order refunds unless there was a means to do it for not only PayPal, but for other credit card payment processing modules as well.. This was done for 2 reasons:

1. Super Orders should NOT be PayPal centric. It should be a tool ANY shopowner could benefit from and it seemed patently unfair that this benefit only be fully realized by PayPal shops.. PLUS there are shops who have BOTH PayPal and Authorize.net, and inconsistent functionality is NEVER a good design decision in any module.
2. The process of issuing refunds via the payment processors (PayPal or other wise) is NOT automated, and so having one last MINOR step of entering a Super Orders refund record seemed like it was not a HUGE deal.. (and given that this is so-infrequently discussed apparently it hasn't been an issue)

the "solutions" posted by carlvt88 to enable automated Super orders refunds for PayPal are likely in one of the OLD Super Orders support threads.. or PM him directly..

[mc12345678]

I thought I explained why automated refunds were NOT implemented in the readme.. So let me write about it here..

First some clarifications:
The refunds functionality in the payment notification box (the "grey box") just above the product details section of the orders.php page is DEFAULT ZEN CART functionality.. It has NOTHING to do with Super Orders. The features in the payments notifications section differ if you are using Authorize.net versus PayPal, and if you want details on how these features work, they are outside the scope of the Super Orders support thread as this is default Zen Cart functionality which Super Orders DOES NOT touch.

Now that said, as you know Super Orders has a RUDIMENTARY accounting feature which allows a shop owner to "post" payments, refunds, and purchase orders against an order.. It DOES NOT interface with the payment processors in ANY way. Super Order payments are "automatically" posted when the payment is made via credit card (manual and via Authorize.net) or via PayPal. There is separate SUPER ORDERS code that creates these Super Orders payment records when one of these payment methods is used which works because there is code that can VALIDATE when a payment was received and create the corresponding Super Orders payment record. All other payment methods require that the Super Orders payment must be posted manually.

Refunds are different because the DEFAULT ZEN CART refunds functions in the payment notification box for PayPal is DIFFERENT than the DEFAULT ZEN CART refunds functions in the payment notification box for credit card processors like Authorize.net. PayPal refunds can be validated as there is data captured in the PayPal tables, refunds for other payment processors are not captured in a similar manner. Therefore when J Theed and others were working on Super Orders, we made a DESIGN DECISION to NOT implement automated Super Order refunds unless there was a means to do it for not only PayPal, but for other credit card payment processing modules as well.. This was done for 2 reasons:

1. Super Orders should NOT be PayPal centric. It should be a tool ANY shopowner could benefit from and it seemed patently unfair that this benefit only be fully realized by PayPal shops.. PLUS there are shops who have BOTH PayPal and Authorize.net, and inconsistent functionality is NEVER a good design decision in any module.
2. The process of issuing refunds via the payment processors (PayPal or other wise) is NOT automated, and so having one last MINOR step of entering a Super Orders refund record seemed like it was not a HUGE deal.. (and given that this is so-infrequently discussed apparently it hasn't been an issue)

the "solutions" posted by carlvt88 to enable automated Super orders refunds for PayPal are likely in one of the OLD Super Orders support threads.. or PM him directly..

Yup, is/was very clearly explained why it was not implemented; however, didn't see a discussion of what it was that was "missing". Ie. something similar to:

Super Order payments are "automatically" posted when the payment is made via credit card (manual and via Authorize.net) or via PayPal. There is separate SUPER ORDERS code that creates these Super Orders payment records when one of these payment methods is used which works because there is code that can VALIDATE when a payment was received and create the corresponding Super Orders payment record. All other payment methods require that the Super Orders payment must be posted manually.

Refunds are different because the DEFAULT ZEN CART refunds functions in the payment notification box for PayPal is DIFFERENT than the DEFAULT ZEN CART refunds functions in the payment notification box for credit card processors like Authorize.net. PayPal refunds can be validated as there is data captured in the PayPal tables, refunds for other payment processors are not captured in a similar manner.

The process of issuing refunds via the payment processors (PayPal or other wise) is NOT automated, and so

one last MINOR step of manually entering a Super Orders refund record is necessary.


I think the above clarifies what is meant by automated refunds and the "difficulty"/near impossibility of implementing it across the board. I agree that the other discussion is of value to identify the thought process behind not implementing which all-in-all appears solid. But then again, incorporating the above requires another revision and the time involved to square everything away. In the mean time, the discussion clarifies things if not for others than for me. :) Thank you!

[DivaVocals]

Yup, is/was very clearly explained why it was not implemented; however, didn't see a discussion of what it was that was "missing".

I believe I said it much more succinctly in the Super Orders readme:

The method required for generating PayPal refunds is different than the refund method for Authorize.net and Linkpoint.

[Trademagic]

Was editing and merging pretty well, although currently pretty troubled. The admin shows in my browser with the new name shows to everyone on the page, so why is it secret here? I would wish some assistance to fix the offending file if I knew which ones were mission critical. Also, would compensate for knowledge to fix and move forward rather than restore 24 hours ago. Any assistance, please pm me.

[Trademagic]

I can revert to 24 hours ago, but would need to reinstall about 4 mods. If I could get a flavor for what would break me, with the parameters shared, or some assistance from you knowledgable folk, would appreciate it. Any tips rather than revert to an older version? Many thanks...

[mc12345678]

I can revert to 24 hours ago, but would need to reinstall about 4 mods. If I could get a flavor for what would break me, with the parameters shared, or some assistance from you knowledgable folk, would appreciate it. Any tips rather than revert to an older version? Many thanks...

Goto your /logs/ directory, identify an error log that is around the time that you had tried to access the admin panel, open the log, provide the content of the log without identifying your admin directory location... Guess is that fpdf.php or something similar is listed in the log. This is what Diva Vocals was referring to in post 267 http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...32#post1218332

[Trademagic]

Dear Diva,

Sorry to be unclear. Yes, blank page, and cannot figure where I get an error code from. Please advise so I can get it for your review. Using firefox for mac 23.01 and have firebug installed, though I do not know how to use it to full advantage.

Marc

[mc12345678]

I believe I said it much more succinctly in the Super Orders readme:

May succinctly describe that there is a difference in generating a refund but doesn't explain what an "Automated Super Orders Refund" is, and therefore does not explain what functionality was not implemented. Without having installed it (and provided that service is "normal" or as expected) the instructions make it nearly appear that no refund is possible with Super Orders installed. Again for those just picking up in this thread, Super Orders does not prevent refunds. Simply (and if I understood/remember correctly), for refunds to appear in the Super Orders portion of the cart, a Super Orders manual entry of the refund must be made.

[DivaVocals]

May succinctly describe that there is a difference in generating a refund but doesn't explain what an "Automated Super Orders Refund" is, and therefore does not explain what functionality was not implemented. Without having installed it (and provided that service is "normal" or as expected) the instructions make it nearly appear that no refund is possible with Super Orders installed. Again for those just picking up in this thread, Super Orders does not prevent refunds. Simply (and if I understood/remember correctly), for refunds to appear in the Super Orders portion of the cart, a Super Orders manual entry of the refund must be made.

Well we'll have to agree to disagree here.. That entire section of the readme speaks about the Super Orders payments and refunds and Automated Super Orders payments.. I would think it's clear what "Automated Super Orders Refunds" refers to..

I am open to suggestions on how to word this so this mixing of apples and oranges doesn't happen again..

[DivaVocals]

Was editing and merging pretty well, although currently pretty troubled. The admin shows in my browser with the new name shows to everyone on the page, so why is it secret here? I would wish some assistance to fix the offending file if I knew which ones were mission critical. Also, would compensate for knowledge to fix and move forward rather than restore 24 hours ago. Any assistance, please pm me.

Because unless you REALLY don't understand the purpose of giving the admin folder a unique name, you should NOT be telling the world what your admin URL is..

Goto your /logs/ directory, identify an error log that is around the time that you had tried to access the admin panel, open the log, provide the content of the log without identifying your admin directory location... Guess is that fpdf.php or something similar is listed in the log. This is what Diva Vocals was referring to in post 267 http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...32#post1218332

Dear Diva,

Sorry to be unclear. Yes, blank page, and cannot figure where I get an error code from. Please advise so I can get it for your review. Using firefox for mac 23.01 and have firebug installed, though I do not know how to use it to full advantage.

Marc

Please follow mc12345678's advice.. this is the likely source of your issue..