Online Stores have a couple of specific requirements that many other Web applications don't - the need to determine available shipping services and related shipping costs, and the need to process credit card transactions. Shipping costs are often determined by sending specific shipment information to a shipper's Web site and using the response to calculate costs. Credit card processing, while commonplace these days, also requires some specific custom programming that may not be immediately obvious. This paper covers both of these topics.
Getting Service and Rate Info from Shipper Websites
- Intro - if you're going to sell physical goods, you need to ship. But do you need to provide cust ship info or just build it in? Considerations:
-- Deciding on Shipping Strategies and Mechanisms
---- Do you need to offer shipping options to your customer at all?
---- Shipping issues to consider
------ Distance to destination issues?
------ Location of destination issues
------ Do you need to provide variety of delivery options?
------ Type of goods issues
------ Production mechanisms
------ Origin of shipping issues
---- How popular shippers stack up
------ Criteria
------ USPS
------ UPS
------ FedEx
------ Choosing a shipper
-- Functional description of sample routine requirements
---- Destination
---- Services available
---- Shipment distribution
---- Discounts and surcharges
-- The big picture of how to connect wtih UPS
---- The basic process
---- P-code, explained step by step
-- A complete routine to connect with UPS
---- Data requirements
---- Initializing the data
---- Making the connection
---- Sending data
---- Trapping errors
---- Evaluating the response
---- Parsing a good response
---- What to do with the parsed results
The Nuts and Bolts of Credit Card Processing
Intro - why this paper
-- The two pieces
---- How the credit card infrastructure works
---- Merchant accounts
---- Internet cc processing service (as opposed to a zip-zap or swiper)
------ Their web front end
------ Their store-in-a-box service
------ Integrating the service into your WC app
-- My experiences over the years
-- How credit card processing works
---- Data
------ Merchant
------ Card
------ Card holder
------ Transaction
------ Transaction response
-- Sample scenario
---- Assumptions
---- Description of required data inputs
------ Merchant
------ Card
------ Card holder
------ Transactions
------ Response
---- End user requirements
---- Testing requirements
-- The big picture of how to connect with a CC processor API
---- The basic process
---- P-code, explained step by step
-- The big picture of CC processing user interface issues
-- A complete routine to connect with a generic CC processor API
---- Initialize data values
---- Set up the failed connection emulation
---- Making the connection
---- Create merchant name-value pairs
---- Create card parameters name-value pairs
---- Create cardholder name-value pairs
---- Create transaction name-value pairs
---- Sending data
---- Evaluating the response
---- A successful connection and a successful transaction
---- A successful connection but a failed transaction
---- A failed connection
---- Clean up at the end
---- Handling the result data
---- Proceeding with the response data
------ Belt and suspenders philosophy
------ Writing transaction processor data to disk
------ Providing feedback to the customer
-- Source code
-- Updates and corrections
* eof
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