Here's my IPN code taken straight off their website:
I'm using a query (already tested separately) to record a 1 in my database if there's a success.
<?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", 0);
// Set to 0 once you're ready to go live
define("USE_SANDBOX", 0);
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 ($res, "VERIFIED") == 0) {
// check whether the payment_status is Completed
// check that txn_id has not been previously processed
// check that receiver_email is your PayPal email
// check that payment_amount/payment_currency are correct
// process payment and mark item as paid.
// assign posted variables to local variables
//$item_name = $_POST['item_name'];
//$item_number = $_POST['item_number'];
//$payment_status = $_POST['payment_status'];
//$payment_amount = $_POST['mc_gross'];
//$payment_currency = $_POST['mc_currency'];
//$txn_id = $_POST['txn_id'];
//$receiver_email = $_POST['receiver_email'];
//$payer_email = $_POST['payer_email'];
//THIS IS WHERE I'M RECORDING A SUCCESS OR NOT
//JUST FOR TESTING
require_once 'init.php';
$query = "INSERT IGNORE INTO payments (payment_flag) VALUES (1)";
if ($statement = $mysqli->prepare($query))
{
$statement->execute();
$statement->close();
}
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);
}
}
?>
And here's my simple buy now button:
<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="HMDVBKR94K59N">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_GB/i/btn/btn_buynow_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal – The safer, easier way to pay online.">
<input name="return_url" value="http://www.example.com/developers" type="hidden">
<input name="ipn_notification_url" value="http://www.example.com/api/callbacks/paypal" type="hidden">
<img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_GB/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
</form>
Why doesn't the IPN record the flag in my database as one would expect?
Ah, one thing I'm noticing is that it looks like you have the wrong name for the IPN variable in your button code. Instead of...
<input name="ipn_notification_url" value="http://www.example.com/api/callbacks/paypal" type="hidden">
It should be...
<input name="notify_url" value="http://www.example.com/api/callbacks/paypal" type="hidden">
If that still doesn't work then it could be that you're using a hosted button. With a hosted button not all params that you add directly to the HTML will work. Instead, you would need to add it to the Advanced section of the button creation wizard that PayPal has for creating the button. Under Step 3 you'll see a box for Advanced Variables where you can add extra variables like notify_url to the hosted button.