2007

Table Of Contents
1
Name-Value Pair API Developer Guide and Reference April 2007 9
Overview
This chapter describes the PayPal Name-Value Pair (NVP) API at a high level and contains the
following sections:
z Introducing the PayPal NVP API
z Basic Steps
z Taking Your Application Live
z Technical Details
Introducing the PayPal NVP API
The PayPal NVP API is a simple programmatic interface that allows you, the merchant, to
access PayPal’s business functionality to:
z Accept PayPal in checkout on your website using Express Checkout.
z Pay one or more recipients using Mass Payment.
z Issue full refunds or multiple partial refunds.
z Search transactions using a start date or other criteria.
z View details of a specific transaction.
The PayPal NVP API makes it easy to add PayPal to your web application. You construct an
NVP string and post it to the PayPal server using HTTPS. PayPal posts back a reponse in NVP
format.
Integrating with the PayPal API
You can develop with the PayPal NVP API using two different approaches:
Integrate Directly
You can integrate directly with the PayPal NVP API using the programming language of your
choice. This is the most straightforward and flexible approach. You can download web
samples that show how to integrate directly using PHP, Classic ASP, and ColdFusion.
For more information, see Appendix C, “NVP API Web Samples.”
Integrate Using an SDK
You can integrate with the NVP API using a software development kit (SDK). SDKs are
provided for Java and ASP.NET. The SDKs provide simple functions for integrating with the
NVP API.