Documentation for Paypal Pro

Here are the settings that Darren used to get it working (in sandbox I think)
1) shared hosting
2) paypal api certificate (digital signature option is not supported in this module)
3) install api certificate in your directory
(I believe he simply put it there. I don't think he modified htaccess or anything)
4) password does not show up. check it via mysql. I filed an issue in node 69552.
5) no dedicated IP address
6) SSL is disabled in paypal pro settings.
7) set absolute, not relative, path in paypal pro settings.
on my server, this seems to start with a / and does not end with a slash.

Ian, thank you very much for your nice note. You are right. Documenting what needs to be done at the paypal end would be exceedingly helpful, especially since they move links around and their own documentation is sometimes wrong.

I don't understand why SSL can be disabled. You or I or someone else should raise this question on the ecommerce developers list.

a quick start, to help people test paypal pro (in sandbox)
I'm doing this from memory
1) get a developers account on paypal (I'll call it "devacc" below)
2) open a business account in developers account
3) click email in in devacc. confirm email address for biz acct.
4) launch business acct sandbox
5) click confirm bank account
6) click submit
7) when that's done, click profile,
7b) click api credentials,
7c) click requent api credentials
7d) click certificate
7e) print out page with your password (save password in a text editor)
7f) download the certificate
8) upload certificate to your shared host
9) install paypal pro
10) enable paypal pro and paypal pro express
11) click admin --store--settings --paypal pro
11a) set path to certificate
11b) disable ssl
11c) leave the default settings as the sandbox settings
11d) put in your api userid and password
11e) click submit. (you have to retype password every time you submit this page or the password will be blanked out)

12) back at paypal business account
13) click profile
13a) click credit card
13b) click add credit card
14c) fill in the info. write down everything on this page. this is the dummy credit card that any test user from your site will use. when the limit reaches $2000 (or so) you'll get errors. in that case, just add another credit card.

for test user at your site,
choose the pay with credit card option that is the line above paypal express check out.

you'll have to keep a window open that's logged into your developers account at all times when you are testing.

good luck.

please correct any errors above.

Nec, thank you.

Today I tried testing with info from a real credit card (in the sandbox.) got the same set of errors.

Here is the corrected info on testing with fake credit cards

Paypal sandbox
http://paypaltech.com/Patrick/testAcctOpt/ .
http://paypaldev.org/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12953
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Please follow these steps to generate a test credit card number for use in the Sandbox for either the PayPal account optional payment flow or Direct Payment API:
1. Log in to your Developer Central account at https://www.developer.paypal.com
2. Click the "Sandbox" tab.
3. Select any one of your Sandbox accounts and click the "Launch Sandbox" button.
4. Log in to this Sandbox account and go to the account Profile.
5. Click the "Credit Cards" link.
6. Click 'Add'
7. A credit card number is generated for you on this next screen.
8. Write this number down and use it for testing.
9. DO NOT ADD THE CARD or it won't work
10. when you use the number as a test buyer, the expiration date does not matter, as long as it's in the future. the verification number does not matter, but i recall reading 111 won't work.
Note: The Sandbox currently generates only Visa card numbers. This is also documented in the Sandbox User Guide located at https://www.paypal.com/en_US/pdf/PP_Sandbox_UserGuide.pdf . Also see "Step 4 Generate a test credit card number from your Sandbox account" at http://paypaltech.com/Patrick/testAcctOpt/ .
testing tip:
- Testing tip: Write down the first and last name, street address, phone number, credit card, expiration date, card verification number, etc. you use when you make your first Account Optional test payment so that you can use that exact same data in the future. Doing this will prevent you from having to potentially generate a new dummy credit card number for each test you perform. You can even go as far as to load up your code with this data as the values for the pre-population fields in the button code. This way, you only have to type in the information for the credit card when you perform subsequent tests. All the other data should be on the form already, passed in from the pre-population values.