PTechBenefit Component
Properties Methods Events Configuration Settings Errors
The PTechBenefit component is used to authorize Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) transactions with the Paymentech NetConnect system on the Tampa platform. An EBT transaction is similar to a Debit transaction, using a PIN and Trace number, but is used for Food Stamp or Cash Benefit programs. This component allows for simple, direct, secure communication to the Paymentech TLS/SSL gateway through a standard Internet connection.
Syntax
nsoftware.InPayDirect.Ptechbenefit
Remarks
An EBT Card (also known as Cash Benefit Card or Food Stamps) works similar to a bank debit card. EBT is a special application of electronic funds transfer (EFT), or debit card technology, which takes money directly from one account and transfers it to another (credit cards, by comparison, simply record a sale for payment later).
There are just a few steps to setting up the component and sending transactions. First, set the MerchantNumber, TerminalNumber, ClientNumber, UserId, and Password with the information given to you when you signed up for Paymentech service.
After the merchant information is setup, you may enter transaction data. Under normal circumstances, Track2 data should be read from the credit card and placed in the MagneticStripe. The EntryDataSource should be set to dsTrack2, and the CardPIN and CardKSN should be filled with the encrypted PIN and key sequence number returned by your PIN pad. If the card reader is unable to read the magnetic stripe, card info may be manually added in the Number, ExpMonth, and ExpYear fields. In this case, the EntryDataSource must be set to dsManuallyKeyed. These are the only two EntryDataSources supported for EBT cards.
Now simply set the TransactionAmount and call the Sale method to charge the card. You may also Credit funds back to the card (Food Stamp BenefitType only), as well as send a BalanceInquiry. Voice authorizations may be sent using the Force method.
The status of any of the above transactions will be stored in the Code field, with human-readable text appearing in Text. Like the PTechCharge component, there are several other Response fields which will contain data that should be logged.
EBT regulations require that all customer receipts include the last 4 digits of the Number and the Trace number, as well as the available balance for the account accessed. Balances are returned in the AvailableBalance and CashAvailableBalance fields. Additional Response balance fields contain extra information which the merchant may optionally include.
EBT Card transactions are instant funds transfers. There is no block placed on the debit card, funds are immediately removed and sent to the merchant. Therefore, only the Host Capture settlement mode is supported. At the end of the day you should release the current batch using the PTechHostSettle component (the batch may contain other authorizations that were made using different components from this product. See the documentation for the other components you are using for more information).
Property List
The following is the full list of the properties of the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| BenefitType | Indicates whether the EBT card is a Food Stamps card or Cash Benefits card. |
| Card | Contains the customer's credit card information. |
| CardKSN | Clear-text Key Sequence Number that is associated with the CardPIN . |
| CardPIN | DUKPT DES encrypted PIN block. |
| CashBack | Optional cash back amount for debit transactions. |
| ClientNumber | Merchant configuration property, assigned by Paymentech. |
| DuplicateChecking | Indicates whether duplicate checking is enabled. |
| IndustryType | Determines the merchant's industry type. |
| MerchantNumber | A unique number used to identify the merchant, assigned by Paymentech. |
| Password | Password for authentication with the NetConnect Server . |
| Proxy | A set of properties related to proxy access. |
| Response | Contains the response to the authorization. |
| SequenceNumber | Sequence number of the transaction. |
| Server | The URL for the PaymenTech NetConnect server. |
| SSLAcceptServerCert | Instructs the component to unconditionally accept the server certificate that matches the supplied certificate. |
| SSLCert | The certificate to be used during SSL negotiation. |
| SSLServerCert | The server certificate for the last established connection. |
| TerminalNumber | Terminal number assigned by Paymentech. |
| Timeout | A timeout for the component. |
| TransactionAmount | Purchase amount for an authorization. |
| UserId | UserId for authentication with the NetConnect Server . |
Method List
The following is the full list of the methods of the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| BalanceInquiry | Retrieves the balance remaining on an EBT card. |
| Config | Sets or retrieves a configuration setting . |
| Credit | Credits a cardholder's account. |
| Force | Sends a Force (Prior) transaction to the PaymenTech server. |
| Interrupt | Interrupt the current method. |
| Reset | Clears all properties to their default values. |
| Sale | Sends a Sale transaction to the host. |
Event List
The following is the full list of the events fired by the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| DataPacketIn | Fired when receiving a data packet from the transaction server. |
| DataPacketOut | Fired when sending a data packet to the transaction server. |
| Error | Information about errors during data delivery. |
| SSLServerAuthentication | Fired after the server presents its certificate to the client. |
| SSLStatus | Shows the progress of the secure connection. |
Configuration Settings
The following is a list of configuration settings for the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
| CustomerDefinedData | Additional transaction identification data. |
| SystemInformation | System Information field for Batch Inquiry and Release transactions. |
| SettlementMode | Indicates whether the component uses Paymentech's Host Capture or Terminal Capture system. |
| ResponsePOSRetrievalNumber | POS Retrieval Number sent in the request, echoed back in the response. |
| AcceptEncoding | Used to tell the server which types of content encodings the client supports. |
| AllowHTTPCompression | This property enables HTTP compression for receiving data. |
| AllowIdenticalRedirectURL | Allow redirects to the same URL. |
| Append | Whether to append data to LocalFile. |
| Authorization | The Authorization string to be sent to the server. |
| BytesTransferred | Contains the number of bytes transferred in the response data. |
| EncodeURL | If set to true the URL will be encoded by the component. |
| FollowRedirects | Determines what happens when the server issues a redirect. |
| GetOn302Redirect | If set to true the component will perform a GET on the new location. |
| HTTPVersion | The version of HTTP used by the component. |
| IfModifiedSince | A date determining the maximum age of the desired document. |
| KeepAlive | Determines whether the HTTP connection is closed after completion of the request. |
| MaxRedirectAttempts | Limits the number of redirects that are followed in a request. |
| OtherHeaders | Other headers as determined by the user (optional). |
| ProxyAuthorization | The authorization string to be sent to the proxy server. |
| ProxyAuthScheme | The authorization scheme to be used for the proxy. |
| ProxyPassword | A password if authentication is to be used for the proxy. |
| ProxyPort | Port for the proxy server (default 80). |
| ProxyServer | Name or IP address of a proxy server (optional). |
| ProxyUser | A user name if authentication is to be used for the proxy. |
| TransferredDataLimit | The maximum number of incoming bytes to be stored by the component. |
| TransferredHeaders | The full set of headers as received from the server. |
| UseChunkedEncoding | Enables or Disables HTTP chunked encoding for transfers. |
| ChunkSize | Specifies the chunk size in bytes when using chunked encoding. |
| UserAgent | Information about the user agent (browser). |
| KerberosSPN | The Service Principal Name for the Kerberos Domain Controller. |
| ConnectionTimeout | Sets a separate timeout value for establishing a connection. |
| FirewallAutoDetect | Tells the component whether or not to automatically detect and use firewall system settings, if available. |
| FirewallHost | Name or IP address of firewall (optional). |
| FirewallPassword | Password to be used if authentication is to be used when connecting through the firewall. |
| FirewallPort | The TCP port for the FirewallHost;. |
| FirewallType | Determines the type of firewall to connect through. |
| FirewallUser | A user name if authentication is to be used connecting through a firewall. |
| KeepAliveTime | The inactivity time in milliseconds before a TCP keep-alive packet is sent. |
| KeepAliveInterval | The retry interval, in milliseconds, to be used when a TCP keep-alive packet is sent and no response is received. |
| Linger | When set to True, connections are terminated gracefully. |
| LingerTime | Time in seconds to have the connection linger. |
| LocalHost | The name of the local host through which connections are initiated or accepted. |
| LocalPort | The TCP port in the local host where the component binds. |
| MaxLineLength | The maximum amount of data to accumulate when no EOL is found. |
| MaxTransferRate | The transfer rate limit in bytes per second. |
| RecordLength | The length of received data records. |
| TCPKeepAlive | Determines whether or not the keep alive socket option is enabled. |
| UseIPv6 | Whether to use IPv6. |
| TcpNoDelay | Whether or not to delay when sending packets. |
| TLS12SignatureAlgorithms | Defines the allowed TLS 1.2 signature algorithms when UseManagedSecurityAPI is True. |
| ReuseSSLSession | Determines if the SSL session is reused. |
| SSLCipherStrength | The minimum cipher strength used for bulk encryption. |
| SSLEnabledProtocols | Used to enable/disable the supported security protocols. |
| SSLProvider | The name of the security provider to use. |
| SSLSecurityFlags | Flags that control certificate verification. |
| OpenSSLCADir | The path to a directory containing CA certificates. |
| OpenSSLCAFile | Name of the file containing the list of CA's trusted by your application. |
| OpenSSLCipherList | A string that controls the ciphers to be used by SSL. |
| OpenSSLPrngSeedData | The data to seed the pseudo random number generator (PRNG). |
| AbsoluteTimeout | Determines whether timeouts are inactivity timeouts or absolute timeouts. |
| FirewallData | Used to send extra data to the firewall. |
| InBufferSize | The size in bytes of the incoming queue of the socket. |
| OutBufferSize | The size in bytes of the outgoing queue of the socket. |
| CodePage | The system code page used for Unicode to Multibyte translations. |