TSYSBenefit Control

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The TSYSBenefit component is an advanced tool used to authorize Electronic Benefits (EBT) cards in a Retail environment, where the customer is purchasing products or services in person. This component makes authorizing EBT Food Stamp and Cash Benefit transactions (with a customer PIN) very easy. Supported Industry Types include retail stores, restaurants, and grocery stores.

Syntax

TSYSBenefit

Remarks

This control allows for simple, direct, secure connection to the Vital/TSYS TLS/SSL gateway through a standard Internet connection. Because all TLS/SSL communications are handled inside the control, any application or web page can be deployed without the need for expensive dedicated TLS/SSL servers.

The TSYSBenefit control makes authorizing EBT card transactions (where the customer's card is swiped through a card reader and a PIN is supplied) very easy by adding an additional layer of abstraction between the programmer and the protocol. There is no need to deal with raw sockets, TLS/SSL handshakes, or data packet formatting. The steps to setting up the control and authorizing a transaction are outlined below:

First, set the merchant properties with setup information acquired from your member bank or processor. For instance:

  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantBankId = "999995"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantNumber = "888000002447"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantName = "TEST MERCHANT"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantTerminalNumber = "1515"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantStoreNumber = "5999"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantCategoryCode = "5999"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantCity = "Durham"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantState = "NC"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantZip = "27713"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantTimeZone = "705"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantABANumber = "123456789"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantSettlementAgent = "V123"
  TSYSBenefit1.MerchantFCSId = "1234567"
  TSYSBenefit1.AgentBankNumber = "000000"
  TSYSBenefit1.AgentChainNumber = "111111"
  TSYSBenefit1.IndustryType = itRetail

Next, set properties that contain details about the transaction. The TransactionNumber is a sequence number, and should be incremented for each transaction you send. TransactionAmount is the amount of sale, formatted with an implicit decimal place. The CardMagneticStripe is read from the magnetic stripe on the back of the card, (Track 2 for EBT transactions) and the DebitPIN and DebitKSN are retrieved from a standard DUKPT Pin Pad device.

  TSYSBenefit1.TransactionNumber = 1
  TSYSBenefit1.TransactionAmount = "1000"
  TSYSBenefit1.CardMagneticStripe = "9999999800002773=09121015432112345678"
  TSYSBenefit1.CardPIN = "83C33384650827F6"
  TSYSBenefit1.CardKSN = "4A00310459400004"

The TSYSBenefit control supports both Food Stamp and Cash Benefit programs on the same card. Make sure to choose the correct TransactionType for the benefit program you wish to use, and then call the Authorize method. For example:

  TSYSBenefit1.TransactionType = ttFoodStampPurchase
  TSYSBenefit1.Authorize()

When the control receives a response from the Vital/TSYS servers, the result of the authorization will be displayed in several Response properties. The ResponseCode indicates whether the transaction was approved, and the remaining properties provide additional information about the transaction.

Once an EBT authorization is approved, the transaction must go through the batch settlement process in order for the merchant to receive the funds in his merchant account. This is done by passing the XML aggregate returned from the GetDetailAggregate method to the TSYSSettle control. Usually, a Batch Settlement of all authorized transactions is done at the end of each business day. Note that ttFoodStampBalanceInquiry and ttCashBenefitBalanceInquiry TransactionTypes cannot be settled.