How to Send Multiple Variables Through PayPal IPN

Question

This is the flow of customers:

Visit Website -> Fill Out Form With Their Info -> Click "Buy Now" and Checkout with PayPal -> Be Returned Back To The Website -> Use Information Passed From Checkout From to Run PHP script on server via ajax (assuming the checkout was successful). Well, that's the plan anyways. The problem I am having is figuring out how to actually pass the variables (there are 8 total... array???. I currently have a quick checkout button on the website, which redirects the user away to PayPal to complete the transaction. I've been searching for a good tutorial on YouTube or here at S.O., but have been unsuccessful. Any ideas how I may accomplish this?

Thanks

Answer 1

In your PayPal form, simply use something like the following for your custom field..

Example:

<input type="hidden" name="custom" value="<?php echo $custom1.','.$custom2.','.$custom3; ?>">

or;

<input type="hidden" name="custom" value="custom1,custom2,custom3">

In short the custom name is accepted by PayPal, and you would use commas to separate the variables.

PayPal will pass the custom field back to you, in the IPN.

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EDIT:

Here's an example of what you might do with custom:

  $custom = $_POST['custom'];
  $pattern = ",";
  $pieces = explode($pattern,$custom, 3);
  // 3 is how many custom fields there are
  $custom1 = $pieces[0];
  $custom2 = $pieces[1];
  if (isset($pieces[2])) {
      //an example checking to see if there is a third custom variable
      $custom3 = $pieces[2];
  }