Is this really how you do a one-time payment? - paypal

Question

I've completed the monthly subscription payment which looks something like this in a simple way...
paypal.Buttons({
createSubscription: function(data, actions) {
return actions.subscription.create({
'plan_id': 'P-2UF78835G6983425GLSM44MA'
});
},
onApprove: function(data, actions) {
alert('You have successfully created subscription ' + data.subscriptionID);
}
}).render('#paypal-button-container');
As you can see above you make a plan first through postman and pass in the plan_id. With the plans you can patch and what not.
Now since I'm onto a one-time payment this is the way I guess you're supposed to do it?
paypal.Buttons({
createOrder: function(data, actions) {
// This function sets up the details of the transaction, including the amount and line item details.
return actions.order.create({
purchase_units: [{
amount: {
value: '0.01'
}
}]
});
}
}).render('#paypal-button-container');
Is there an order_id or something I can pass in, because you can use postman to create orders correct? So you can patch the amount or whatever if you want.
The paypal docs are a little bit all over the place and it's not very clear. I'm using the smart buttons, not the SDK.

Answer 1

Your code shows the client-side version of creating an order. You can find a full demo pattern of the same here: https://developer.paypal.com/demo/checkout/#/pattern/client
If you want to create an order_id on your server, then you would instead use the server-side demo pattern to fetch that order_id: https://developer.paypal.com/demo/checkout/#/pattern/server
The server-side pattern is better and more secure, if you're capable of implementing it. The only caveat I would add is, once you get everything working for the happy path, don't neglect to handle funding source failures -- so that if the capture fails on the server end when e.g. a payer's first card is declined, this is propagated back to the UI and they can just select a different one.