Developer's Guide

Payflow Header Parameters
Posting Transactions Directly Without the Payflow SDK
C
156 07 January 2014 Gateway Developer Guide and Reference
Posting Transactions Directly Without the Payflow SDK
The Payflow SDK is recommended for .NET and Java users, to simplify the Payflow
integration. Developers who prefer to write code in other programming languages can go to
the PayPal Labs integration wizard web site (
https://devtools-paypal.com/integrationwizard/.). The
wizard generates customizable code samples in languages such as PHP.
Developers also have the option to post transactions directly to the Payflow servers using the
Payflow message protocol, without the need to install an SDK. This section describes the
HTTP headers that are required to post transactions directly to the Payflow servers.
The Payflow Message Protocol
What is the Payflow message protocol and what are its advantages?
PayPal’s Payflow message protocol is an HTTP-compatible protocol for transactions. The
HTTP-compliant implementation of this protocol has the following goals:
 It enhances flexibility to developers integrating with the Payflow Service. Merchants can
use the protocol in either of these ways:
– Using a Payflow SDK such as .NET or Java that uses this protocol.
– Integrating this protocol directly into your own client application without using an SDK.
– It increases reliability through adherence to open standards.
– Built-in tools to prevent duplicate transactions and authorizations.
 The Payflow message protocol provides the underlying transport for application-level
transactions, using either the Payflow name-value pair or XMLPay 2.0 format. All
transaction data as documented in this guide is embedded in the body of a standard HTTPS
POST and POSTed to the URLs specified.
What is the disadvantage of building your own integration?
Since you are building your own integration, you will need to add your own error handling,
retry logic and duplicate transaction handling within your code.
NOTE: If you prefer not to write your own client, you can use the .NET SDK, which can also
be used with classic ASP, or the Java SDK if appropriate. See
“Payflow SDK” on
page 51 for more information about the SDKs.
What code changes are required when migrating from a previous Payflow SDKs to this
service?
The Payflow HTTPS service uses the same name-value-pair parameters or XMLPay schema
as found in the current SDKs. The the only code change needed is the way you communicate
with the Payflow servers. Instead of using an SDK to send the data, you will use the methods
available in your programming language of choice to send the data via HTTPS. For example,
if you use PHP, you might choose to use cURL.