PTechBenefit Class
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
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 class 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 CardMagneticStripe. The CardEntryDataSource 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 CardNumber, CardExpMonth, and CardExpYear properties. In this case, the CardEntryDataSource must be set to dsManuallyKeyed. These are the only two CardEntryDataSources 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 ResponseCode property, with human-readable text appearing in ResponseText. Like the PTechCharge class, there are several other Response properties which will contain data that should be logged.
EBT regulations require that all customer receipts include the last 4 digits of the CardNumber and the ResponseTrace number, as well as the available balance for the account accessed. Balances are returned in the ResponseAvailableBalance and ResponseCashAvailableBalance properties. Additional Response balance properties 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 class (the batch may contain other authorizations that were made using different classs from this product. See the documentation for the other classs you are using for more information).
Property List
The following is the full list of the properties of the class 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. |
CardCVVData | Three digit security code on back of card (optional). |
CardCVVPresence | Indicates the presence of the card verification value. |
CardEntryDataSource | This property contains a 1-character code identifying the source of the customer data. |
CardExpMonth | Expiration month of the credit card specified in Number . |
CardExpYear | Expiration year of the credit card specified in Number . |
CardMagneticStripe | Track data read off of the card's magnetic stripe. |
CardNumber | Customer's credit card number for the transaction. |
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 . |
ProxyAuthScheme | This property is used to tell the component which type of authorization to perform when connecting to the proxy. |
ProxyAutoDetect | This property tells the component whether or not to automatically detect and use proxy system settings, if available. |
ProxyPassword | This property contains a password if authentication is to be used for the proxy. |
ProxyPort | This property contains the TCP port for the proxy Server (default 80). |
ProxyServer | If a proxy Server is given, then the HTTP request is sent to the proxy instead of the server otherwise specified. |
ProxySSL | This property determines when to use SSL for the connection to the proxy. |
ProxyUser | This property contains a user name, if authentication is to be used for the proxy. |
ResponseAvailableBalance | Current card balance, including all pending transactions. |
ResponseBeginningBalance | Beginning balance of the EBT account. |
ResponseCashAvailableBalance | Available cash balance on the EBT card. |
ResponseCashBeginningBalance | Beginning cash balance on the EBT card. |
ResponseCashLedgerBalance | Ledger (Current) cash balance on the EBT card. |
ResponseLedgerBalance | Current balance of the EBT card, not including pending authorizations. |
ResponseApprovalCode | Contains an authorization code when a transaction has been approved, or an error code. |
ResponseBatchNumber | Current open batch number This property is returned after sending a BatchInquiry or BatchRelease transaction with the PTECHHOSTSETTLE component, or after a SendSettlement sent using the PTECHMANUALSETTLE component. |
ResponseCode | Indicates the status of the authorization request. |
ResponseRetrievalNumber | Reference number returned from the Paymentech host. |
ResponseSequenceNumber | SequenceNumber echoed from the authorization. |
ResponseText | Approval/Decline/Error text message information This property contains a response or display text message, and is used by the terminal to display the authorization result. |
ResponseTrace | Trace number returned for EBT transactions. |
SequenceNumber | Sequence number of the transaction. |
Server | The URL for the PaymenTech NetConnect server. |
SSLAcceptServerCertEncoded | The certificate (PEM/base64 encoded). |
SSLCertEncoded | The certificate (PEM/base64 encoded). |
SSLCertStore | The name of the certificate store for the client certificate. |
SSLCertStorePassword | If the certificate store is of a type that requires a password, this property is used to specify that password in order to open the certificate store. |
SSLCertStoreType | The type of certificate store for this certificate. |
SSLCertSubject | The subject of the certificate used for client authentication. |
SSLServerCertEncoded | The certificate (PEM/base64 encoded). |
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 class 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 class 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 class 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. |