FDMSBenefit Bean

Properties Methods Events Configuration Settings Errors

The FDMSBenefit component is used to authorize Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) transactions with the FDMS system on the North platform. An EBT transaction is similar to a Debit transaction, using a PIN and KSN, but is used for Food Stamp or Cash Benefit programs. This component allows for simple, direct, secure communication to the First Data platform through a standard Internet connection.

Syntax

InPayDirect.Fdmsbenefit

Remarks

This component connects to the First Data Merchant Services (FDMS) processor, by way of the Datawire VXN transaction transport network. Transactions originating with these components go through Datawire, to the FDMS processor where the transaction is authorized. The result is then returned back through Datawire and received by the component. This component can be integrated into web pages or stand-alone Point Of Sale applications. Because all SSL communications are handled inside the component, any application or web page can be deployed without the need for expensive dedicated SSL servers.

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). The steps to setting up the component and sending transactions are outlined below: First, you must register and activate your account with Datawire. Datawire will provide you with a MerchantNumber and MerchantTerminalNumber, but you'll need to use the FDMSRegister component to activate the merchant and receive a DatawireId. Once you acquire the DatawireId and receive your transaction URLs through Service Discovery, you may begin to authorize transactions.

To authorize a credit card, set the MerchantNumber and MerchantTerminalNumber with the values supplied by FDMS and Datawire, and the DatawireId with the value retrieved by the FDMSRegister component after activating your merchant account. Set the URL property with one of the URLs you retrieved during Service Discovery.

FDMSBenefit.MerchantNumber = "000000999990";          	 //Supplied by FDMS/Datawire
FDMSBenefit.MerchantTerminalNumber = "555555";          //Supplied by FDMS/Datawire
FDMSBenefit.DatawireId = "0000B47FFFFFFFFFFFFF";        //Retrieved with the FDMSRegister component.  
FDMSBenefit.URL = "https://staging1.datawire.net/sd/";  //Retrieved with the FDMSRegister component.

Next, set properties that contain details about the transaction. The TransactionNumber should be incremented for every transaction you send. The TransactionAmount must be set, and it should contain the amount to be charged, with an implied decimal point (ie: $1.00 is "100"). Like the FDMSDebit component, there is no IndustryType property for FDMSBenefit.The format of the transmitted data does not change for different industry types. Do note that the FDMSBenefit component can only be used in a retail (or restaurant, grocery store, etc) environment, where the card and customer are present. The card must be swiped and track2 data must be specified in the MagneticStripe field. Cash Benefit transactions may never be manually-keyed, but Food Stamp transactions may be. EBT transactions also require the customer to input his or her PIN into a certified PIN Pad device, which will return an encrypted PIN and a Key Sequence Number to the merchant. These must be submitted with the transaction in the EncryptedPIN and KSN properties. A unique ReceiptNumber number used to identify the transaction on the merchant's system is also required for all transactions. This number must also be printed on the customer's receipt.

EBT transactions differ from credit card authorizations in that they are real-time -- Funds are immediately removed from (or added to) the customer's cash benefit or food stamp account. However, even though EBT transactions are real-time, FDMS requires they be settled at the end of the day just like credit card transactions.

The following transaction set is available for the Cash Benefit BenefitType:


Sale with or without CashBack	A simple sale transaction. The customer may request CashBack.
CashWithdrawal	The customer makes no purchase, but instead withdraws funds directly from his or her cash benefit account.
BalanceInquiry	Retrieves all balances available on the EBT card.
ReverseLastTransaction	Sends a "Timeout Reversal" transaction. This is used when the merchant does not receive a response to the Sale or CashWithdrawal, and ensures that the EBT card will not be charged twice if the merchant then makes a subsequent transaction.

The following transaction set is available for the Food Stamp BenefitType:


Sale without CashBack	A simple sale transaction. The customer may NOT receive CashBack.
Credit	Returns funds to the customer's EBT card.
BalanceInquiry	Retrieves all balances available on the EBT card.
ReverseLastTransaction	Sends a "Timeout Reversal" transaction. This is used when the merchant does not receive a response to the Credit or Sale, and ensures that the EBT card will not be charged twice if the merchant then makes a subsequent transaction.

In addition to the above transactions, if any aspect of the EBT system is down, the merchant may call the issuing state's processor for a voice authorization for Food Stamp transactions only. The merchant must complete a Manual Voucher form (provided by FDMS or state EBT contractor) to obtain the authorization number, the voucher number and the client's signature. This puts a hold on the funds in the client's account for the amount of the voice authorization. To receive payment for the transaction, the merchant must process a Voucher Clear transaction within ten days of the voice authorization. To send a voucher clear, just send a normal Sale or Credit transaction with the VoucherAuthCode and VoucherNumber properties set.

Note that only food stamp transactions may be voice-authorized, attempting to send a VoucherAuthCode or VoucherNumber in a Sale transaction when the BenefitType is set to Cash Benefits will result in an error.

The example below shows how to submit a simple food stamp sale transaction.

  FDMSBenefit.TransactionNumber = 1;
  FDMSBenefit.TransactionAmount = "2500";
  FDMSBenefit.Card.MagneticStripe = "5076800000001355=120412000000000123";  
  FDMSBenefit.Card.EntryDataSource = edsTrack2;  
  FDMSBenefit.EncryptedPIN = "7B8491A1007E82B0";
  FDMSBenefit.KSN = "876543210900300000C";
  FDMSBenefit.ReceiptNumber = "123456";
  FDMSBenefit1.BenefitType = btFoodStamps;
  FDMSBenefit.Sale();

When the component receives a response, the result of the authorization will be available in several Response properties. The DatawireStatus and DatawireReturnCode indicate whether any errors occurred while passing the transaction through the Datawire VXN system. These two properties alone do not indicate a successful transaction, they only tell whether or not there were any problems transporting the authorization request and response through the Datawire system. If the transaction was successfully authorized by FDMS, then the CaptureFlag will be True, and the ApprovalCode will contain an approval code that beings with "AP". (or "AL" for components that support partially-approved/split-tender transactions). The remaining response properties provide additional information about the transaction, including cash benefit and food stamp account balances (for supported cards).

Once an authorization request is approved, the money in the customer's account is blocked and tagged for the merchant. This transaction must go through the Batch Settlement process in order for the blocked money to be transferred to the merchant account. This is done by passing the XML aggregate returned from the GetDetailAggregate method to the FDMSSettle component. Usually, a Batch Settlement of all authorized transactions is done at the end of each business day.

Important Note: You must ping your list of service provider URLs and update the URL property to the service provider with the shortest response time every 100 transactions, as well as when your application initially starts. This is not a normal ICMP ping - to determine the fastest transaction URL you must use the special Ping method inside the FDMSRegister component. (You may update your list of service provider URLs with the FDMSRegister component's ServiceDiscovery method).

Property List

The following is the full list of the properties of the bean with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.


ApplicationId	Identifies the merchant application to the Datawire System.
BenefitType	Indicates whether the EBT card is a Food Stamps card or Cash Benefits card.
Card	Contains the customer's credit card information.
CashBack	Optional cash back amount to return to the customer.
DatawireId	Identifies the merchant to the Datawire System.
EncryptedPIN	DUKPT DES encrypted pin block, retrieved from a PIN pad.
FDMSPlatform	Specifies the FDMS platform that the transactions will be processed on.
KSN	Clear-text Key Sequence Number retrieved from a PIN pad.
MerchantFNSNumber	Government-issued number identifying a food-stamp-participating merchant location.
MerchantNumber	A unique number used to identify the merchant within the FDMS and Datawire systems.
MerchantTerminalNumber	Used to identify a unique terminal within a merchant location.
Proxy	A set of properties related to proxy access.
ReceiptNumber	Merchant generated number used to identify the transaction.
Response	Contains the response to an EBT transaction.
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.
Timeout	A timeout for the component.
TransactionAmount	Purchase amount to be authorized.
TransactionNumber	Uniquely identifies the transaction.
URL	Location of the Datawire server to which transactions are sent.
VoucherAuthCode	Used to clear (force) a food stamp voucher that was previously voice-authorized.
VoucherNumber	Used to clear (force) a food stamp voucher that was previously voice-authorized.

Method List

The following is the full list of the methods of the bean with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.


balanceInquiry	Retrieves the current balances of Food Stamp and Cash Benefit accounts on an EBT card.
cashWithdrawal	Withdraws cash from a cash benefits account.
config	Sets or retrieves a configuration setting .
credit	Submits a food stamp credit transaction, returning funds to an EBT card.
getDetailAggregate	Returns an aggregate containing details of this transaction, which is then used for settlement.
interrupt	Interrupts the current action.
reset	Clears all properties to their default values.
reverseLastTransaction	Used to reverse/void a previous transaction.
sale	Submits a sale transaction for an Electronic Benefits (EBT) card.

Event List

The following is the full list of the events fired by the bean with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.


Connected	Fired immediately after a connection completes (or fails).
Disconnected	Fired when a connection is closed.
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.
Status	Shows the progress of the FDMS/Datawire connection.

Configuration Settings

The following is a list of configuration settings for the bean with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.


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.