Google Checkout

[Dave Fisher]

There have been 1,719 views of this thread so far, which is the most in this wishlist forum, I don't think Actinic need to email their database these figures speak for themselves...

If you want Google Checkout or just feel you should have the same options as everybody else who doesn't use Actinic please put your vote here.

I believe Actinic are working hard trying to keep us all happy and make their cart the best in the business, that makes them richer and us too, they need our feedback to steer them in the right direction.

Keep voting.

This is why I suggested they e-mail the userbase to get their feedback. There may well have been 1,719 views but as malcolm says in an earlier post there has only been 60 votes and there is somewhere in the region of 10,000 sites out there.

yes they need our feedback which is another reason I suggested they email us.

[brightlight]

Ok... here's what we've done. Use at your own risk. This is for V8.

Go to Settings > Business Settings > Payment anmd Security.

Add another Payment processor, I chose Net4You, and entered values of 123 in both Merchant Key and Password field - these keys are not required with the haphazard technique I used.

In the CommonOCC folder within the site, Act_OCCNet4YouTemplate.html looks like this. (change the Merchant ID to your own).

<!-- Template for Netbanx OCC HTML template -->
</FORM><!-- Terminate the parent template form -->


<form name="formOCC" method="POST" action="https://checkout.google.com/cws/v2/Merchant/132490985518263/checkoutForm" accept-charset="utf-8">

NETQUOTEVAR:OCC_VALUES

</form>

<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="NETQUOTEVAR:OCC_URL"><!-- Create a bogus form to keep the parent template happy -->
<!-- End of template for Netbanx OCC --> 

And OCCNet4YouScriptTemplate.pl looks like this (where it says "TV Wall Brackets", change the descriptions accordingly)...

#---------------------------------------------------------------
#
# OCCScriptTemplate.pl    - code part of OCC script
#
# Copyright (c) Actinic Software Ltd 2001 All rights reserved
#
# *** Do not change this code unless you know what you are doing ***
#
# Written by George Menyhert
#
# This script is called by an eval() function and it will already
# have the following variables set up:
#
#    Expects:        $::sOrderNumber        - the alphanumeric order number for this order
#                    $::nOrderTotal            - the total for this order (stored in based currency format e.g. 1000 = $10.00)
#                    %::PriceFormatBlob   - the price format data
#                    %::InvoiceContact        - the customer invoice contact information
#                    $::sCallBackURLAuth    - the URL of the authorization callback script
#                    $::sCallBackURLBack    - the URL of the backup script
#                    $::sCallBackURLUser    - the URL of the receipt script
#                    $::sPath                    - the path to the Catalog directory
#                    $::sWebSiteUrl            - the Catalog web site URL
#                    $::sContentUrl            - the content URL
#
#    Affects:        $::eStatus             - the status of the transaction:
#                        $::FAILURE     - Failure
#                        $::ACCEPTED - Accepted
#                        $::REJECTED - Rejected
#                        $::PENDING  - Pending
#                    $::sErrorMessage        - error message if any
#                    $::sHTML                    - the HTML to display
#
#  $Revision: 1 $
#
#---------------------------------------------------------------

use strict;

$::eStatus = $::PENDING;                                # The OCC plug-in runs in pending mode.  This script does not
                                                                # perform the transaction.  Rather, it forwards the customer to
                                                                # the OCC site for completion.
my (%VarTable);

## Shared Script, different HTML templates;

$VarTable{$::VARPREFIX . 'OCC_URL'} =                # insert the OCC web site URL into the HTML template
    $sProcessScriptURL;
#
# build up a string of all of the values that must be passed to OCC
#


#
# amount is translated to decimal places
#
my $nNumDigits = $::PriceFormatBlob{"ICURRDIGITS"};    # read the currency format values
my ($nAmount, $nFactor, $sAmount);
if(defined $nNumDigits)
    {
    $nFactor = (10 ** $nNumDigits);
    }
else
    {
    $nFactor = 100;
    }
$sAmount = sprintf("%d.%02d", $::nOrderTotal / $nFactor, $::nOrderTotal % $nFactor);



my $sHiddenValues;
$sHiddenValues .= "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"ordernumber\" value=\"" . $::sOrderNumber . "\">\n";
$sHiddenValues .= "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"item_name_1\" value=\"TV Wall Brackets\">\n";
$sHiddenValues .= "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"item_description_1\" value=\"Your goods purchased from TV Wall Brackets\">\n";
$sHiddenValues .= "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"item_quantity_1\" value=\"1\">\n";
$sHiddenValues .= "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"item_price_1\" value=\"" . $sAmount . "\">\n";
$sHiddenValues .= "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"item_currency_1\" value=\"GBP\">\n";
$sHiddenValues .= "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"_charset_\">\n";
$sHiddenValues .= "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"checkout-flow-support.merchant-checkout-flow-support.continue-shopping-url\" value=\"https://www.tv-wall-brackets.co.uk/cgi-bin/os000003.pl?SEQUENCE=3&ACTION=Finish&ORDERNUMBER=$::sOrderNumber\">\n";


#

if (!$bAuthorize)                                            # if in pre-authorize mode, set the flag
    {

    }

if ($bTestMode)                                            # only include the test mode flag if it is on
    {
    $sHiddenValues .= "<input type=HIDDEN NAME=\"TESTMODE\" value=\"1\">\n";
    }
#

$VarTable{$::VARPREFIX . 'OCC_VALUES'} =            # add the OCC values to the template
    $sHiddenValues;

my $sLinkHTML = 'occlink.html';
if(defined $::g_pPaymentList)
    {
    $sLinkHTML = $$::g_pPaymentList{ActinicOrder::PaymentStringToEnum($::g_PaymentInfo{'METHOD'})}{BOUNCE_HTML};
    }
@Response = ACTINIC::TemplateFile($::sPath . $sLinkHTML, \%VarTable); # build the file

if ($Response[0] != $::SUCCESS)
    {
    $::eStatus = $::FAILURE;                            # return a plug-in error
    $::sErrorMessage = $Response[1];
    return ($::SUCCESS);                                    # always return success if the script runs
    }

@Response = ACTINIC::MakeLinksAbsolute($Response[2], $::sWebSiteUrl, $::sContentUrl);
if ($Response[0] != $::SUCCESS)
    {
    $::eStatus = $::FAILURE;                            # return a plug-in error
    $::sErrorMessage = $Response[1];
    return ($::SUCCESS);                                    # always return success if the script runs
    }

$::sHTML = $Response[2];                                # grab the resulting HTML
#
# process the test mode warning
#
my ($sDelimiter) = $::DELPREFIX . 'TESTMODE';
if ($bTestMode)                                            # only include the test mode block if we are in test mode
    {
    $::sHTML =~ s/$sDelimiter//g;                        # remove the delimiter text
    }
else                                                            # not in test mode - remove the block
    {
    $::sHTML =~ s/$sDelimiter(.*?)$sDelimiter//gs;    # remove the test mode warning blob (/s removes the \n limitation of .)
    }

return ($::SUCCESS);

#
# End of OCCScriptTemplate.pl
# 

Note this is the HTML API integration, not the XML API integration.

The above could well cause issues for your site, and similarly, ALL payments go into PSP pending, whether or not they have paid.

Unfortunately we're having problems getting our £10 for every £30 spent setup, so we're on the phone to our rep now trying to get this sorted, as it's extremely handy for both us and the customer.

Anyway, there you go.

If I can do this in literally one day, with no real knowledge of howe Actinic works, surely the people who actually make the software can do something for it. They're effectively putting a closed sign on their shop door, because Google Checkout is going to be massive, but the buzz has started already. Would be a shame for them to miss out on some new customers for the sake of a few days work.

[Bruce]

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I should point out that Google Checkout works by replacing the Actinic Checkout. The above would at best do what it is doing right now as the suggestion is to use Google Checkout as a 'Payment Service Provider'.

Kind regards,

[Mark H]

Gosh this gets even better - do you mean that Google Checkout would replace the five Actinic pages my customers have to wade through!!

Actinic could use Google Checkout integration to help with the over-long Actinic checkout process so many have complained about over the last three years - two birds with one stone!

[eighteentee]

LOL!

Bruce - I'm confused here. Are you saying that the entire checkout process should be handed over to Google when you click Checkout?

[Bruce]

v8.5.1 has PayPal Pro which works in very much the same fashion, you can download the beta to test it.

Kind regards,

[pinbrook]

Just thought I should point out that Google Checkout works by replacing the Actinic Checkout.

I have to admit thats how I read it initially, but I kept quiet as I thought I may have misunderstood as everyone was clamouring for it to be integrated.

So if people use google checkout you wouldn't get to download the order into actinic?

This could cause all sorts of admin issues.

I'm going to return to sitting on the fence

[printerbase]

Bruce is correct.

A true implementation of Google checkout would be to have two buttons on the shopping cart, one for checkout with Actinic and one for checkout with Google.

The hard part of the implementation would be to pass the contents of the shopping cart to Google.

I am looking at implementing Google checkout as a PSP but this does mean more steps than the normal checkout.

Peter

[Mark H]

No problem for us - we're about to supply Amazon and there will be the same issue there. Bring it on - true implementation please

[Duncan Rounding]

...So if people use google checkout you wouldn't get to download the order into actinic?...

You should still be able to download the order but it would Pending payment whether paid or not.

[pinbrook]

You should still be able to download the order but it would Pending payment whether paid or not.

so for every order you take you have to check back with your acct with google whether you've got the money and add the payment manually to actinic order processing

[buspassjohn]

No problem for us - we're about to supply Amazon and there will be the same issue there. Bring it on - true implementation please

No Mark,
there's no issue with Amazon, they list it, they collect the money, they pay your meagre share once a fortnight. I don't understand where Actinic comes into it.

[Mark H]

No John - that's exactly my point, in response to the suggestion that a Google Checkout would cause admin problems (although a "true implementation" would pass the orders to Actinic no problem) - at worst these admin problems would be no worse than Ebay, Amazon etc for companies like ours, and we cope just fine with those.

Bruce has mentioned PayPal Pro, which has been integrated with V8 and which replaces the Actinic checkout (as would Google Checkout) - presumably this system works well with Actinic's "back end", and should not have been any more difficult to integrate that Google Checkout would be.

[cbarling]

Hi there,

Thanks for all your keen interest in this, and for taking the time to post your requests. We have been closely following all of them, and internally discussing the issue of Google Checkout, increasing in urgency with the amount of interest it has engendered on the community.

It's clear that Google are offering strong incentives to merchants to sign up to use Google Checkout. Although these will obviously not last, and Google's objective is to try to gather some momentum, they are very important at the moment.

Looking at the US market, where Google Checkout launched some time ago, it might be expected that 2% of sales will go through Google Checkout after about a year, a third or less than that of Paypal. Obviously today there are tens of millions of people in the UK with Paypal accounts, but very few with Google Checkout accounts.

We have taken the request on board and although we have previously investigated a "full" Google Checkout integration (it's a huge amount of work), we are now looking to see if there is a quicker way of getting Google Checkout going.

Chris

[Duncan Rounding]

Thanks for the feedback Chris - we look forward to feedback on developments.