Integration Guide

Table Of Contents

PayPal Payments Standard Integration Guide June 2012 411

HTML Form Basics for PayPal Payments Standard

Using HTML Variables With Saved Payment Buttons

When you create payment buttons on the PayPal website and save them in your PayPal

account, PayPal generates HTML code for the saved button. You must add this generated code

to your website. Otherwise, buyers have nothing to click on.

Most features of the button, such as item name and amount, are saved with the button in the

PayPal account. Therefore, PayPal generates much simpler code for saved buttons than for

other buttons, as the following example shows.

<input type="image" name="submit" border="0"

src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_buynow_LG.gif"

alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online">

<img alt="" border="0" width="1" height="1"

src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" >

</form>

IMPORTANT: Do not write HTML button code for saved payment buttons yourself. The

value for the hosted_button_id variable is generated solely by PayPal.

Results are unpredictable if you use your own value.

You should not write HTML button code for saved buttons. Always use the code that PayPal

generates. However, you can enhance the generated code for saved buttons by adding hidden

HTML variables that do not affect the transaction amount. For example, you can enhance

saved buttons with automatic fill-out variables, as described in “Filling Out FORMs

Automatically with HTML Variables” on page 411.

Filling Out FORMs Automatically with HTML Variables

With PayPal Account Optional turned on in your Account Profile, you can accept payments

from buyers without PayPal accounts. However, checking out by paying with PayPal is often

faster for buyers because they do not re-enter information that is stored by them on PayPal. For

repeat buyers, it is to your advantage to encourage them to sign up for PayPal accounts.