Can one retrieve virtual terminal transactions with PayPal REST API? - rest

I have built a tool that uses REST API to pull all payments and create various reports. However, I do not see any of the transactions completed via the Virtual Terminal.
The person that used the virtual terminal printed out the approved page, so I know that transactions were done on the 2015-11-19 yet these don't show up in my query results.

I don't think those will come back in the REST API, no. You can use the Classic API to get them, though. Specifically, TransactionSearch would return the list of transactions, and then you can use GetTransactionDetails to pull more details for any given transaction.
If you're working with PHP you can use this PayPal PHP SDK to make those calls very quick and easy for you.

Related

PayPal Node SDKs: difference between paypal-rest-sdk and #paypal/checkout-server-sdk for webhooks?

I have this question regarding 2 npm PayPal packages, what is the difference between
paypal-rest-sdk and #paypal/checkout-server-sdk ? And can you implement webhooks using #paypal/checkout-server-sdk or there is no need for webhooks for this package ?
paypal-rest-sdk
checkout-server-sdk
var paypal = require('paypal-rest-sdk');
const paypal = require('#paypal/checkout-server-sdk');
All PayPal-*-SDK for every language have been deprecated for a long time and should not be used for anything. This includes the one for node that's in npm as #paypal/paypal-rest-sdk.
The Checkout-*-SDK for every language, in npm for node as #paypal/checkout-server-sdk, implements the v2/checkout/orders API (and only that API). It can still be used if desired, although I've heard it will be deprecated soon as well. Currently all developer.paypal.com documentation only references doing direct HTTPS REST API integrations, using a client id and secret to first obtain an access_token. For node in particular, there is a full stack example in the PayPal Checkout integration guide that serves as a useful starting point, although I recommend the client side onApprove function in this approval flow since that sample includes client-side error handling of the capture response (restarting or showing an error as appropriate)
As for webhooks, they are a separate matter. There is no current SDK for them. The server-side capture API response is already sufficient for normal orders API payments so you may not need webhooks for what you're doing, but if there are specific events you're interested in listening for (such as refunds or disputes that occur on PayPal.com ) you'll need to subscribe to the event(s) you want -- either in the REST app or using webhook API calls.

GetTransactionDetails and permissions in the new REST API world

I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this, so my apologies if I've made a mistake, but it seems like the old NVP apps that are now unable to be registered as of December 1st had some features available that can't be replicated in the new REST world order...
Here's what I want/need: I need to be able to translate buyer-side transaction IDs into my seller-side transaction IDs, and I want to be able to do this on a webserver that is secure but I don't want it to have full access to my account, so I'd like fine-grained authz for this server.
It seems like I am a couple days too late to actually get what I want/need. Basically, GetTransactionDetails does exactly what I want (convert buyer to seller transaction IDs, and returns the rest of the transaction information for good measure). And, although I haven't gotten it working, it looks like the Permissions SDK plus an NVP AppID would allow me to have just the TRANSACTION_DETAILS permission on this service which is exactly what I want.
However, as of Friday apparently I can't get an AppID for the classic NVP API? If so, my timing is impeccable.
Trying to figure out how to do this in the REST API has proven difficult. This thread talks about the sale record, which does indeed take a buyer-side transaction ID, but it does not actually translate it into a seller-side one. It does have the custom field, which helps me a little, but I really need the seller-side transaction ID. It looks like maybe the parent_payment URL in the return from the sale might help, but the API started returning PERMISSION_DENIED on me even on previously successful queries so I can't exactly test this right now. And, even if that did work, it seems like the permissions on the REST API are incredibly coarse compared to the Permissions SDK, for example the sale endpoint is under /v1/payments which seems to also include refunds and all kinds of other stuff I don't want exposed. It looks like there's a Transaction Search permission but it's marked beta and it didn't work for querying a sale for me. But maybe it means they're working on it?
What are my options here?
Thanks,
Chris
Okay, so I played around with this for a while, and it seems like the PayPal REST API is just not very good. So, I worked around the limitations here using AWS Lambda and its fine-grained IAM permissions. I created a Lambda function that took my PayPal NVP credentials as encrypted env vars, and an IAM account that could only call my Lambda function, and so now I've got a microservice that will translate transaction IDs and return some extra info (custom and email) from the transaction to boot.
I wish I didn't have to use AWS to work around PayPal's limitations (which seem to be getting worse with the REST API, the NVP api would have been fine if I could have gotten and AppID and used the Permissions SDK), but oh well.
Chris

PayPal Rest API Get Sale - REQUIRED_SCOPE_MISSING

Today I have been trying to implement the rest API into my application to look up transaction information from a transaction ID (GET /v1/payments/sale/)
I have implemented everything correctly on my end and set the mode to "live" and I can't seem to get details from a transaction.
Here is the full error code:
{"name":"REQUIRED_SCOPE_MISSING","message":"Access token does not have required scope","information_link":"https://developer.paypal.com/webapps/developer/docs/api/#REQUIRED_SCOPE_MISSING"}
And here is documentation on what I am trying to do: https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/#look-up-a-sale
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
There are few things you could do to make sure your configurations are set right.
If the mode is set to live, are you using the live credentials instead of sandbox. You can select the sandbox app and copy the live credentials from there. See bottom part of this image.
Make sure Payments are enabled on live. PayPal has a dashboard page, where you could see all the services that you have enabled to work with Live environment. This prevents accidents on unknowingly using an API on live. You can check the status here
Is the sale that you are looking for created by the same clientId that you are using for making a GET call ? Only the app who creates the sale, can view the sale.
In the mean time, PayPal has created SDKs for many languages to support REST APIs. They are actively developed, and maintained, and could help you mitigate issues in handling tokens, credentials, etc, and allows you to quickly use APIs faster and in a way that could be upgraded easily. Also, few SDKs come packaged with Sample codes, and wiki documentations. Few are still under development, but you can feel free to contribute back to these open source SDKs.
When I had this issue, the problem was that I was making REST requests using the Identity API token. Basically, I was logging users into my website with Paypal then using that token for REST requests when another token from the REST API service should have been used. "
Here is the support ticket from Paypal SDK deveoper Randy who helped answer my question even though I do not use the SDK. Thanks Randy:
https://github.com/paypal/PayPal-PHP-SDK/issues/785#issuecomment-282749095

access all paypal transaction data

If I did not store the transaction ID on my server, how can I go about getting all of my transaction IDs? I plan on using them to get all of the information for all of my transactions. It would be great if this can all be done programatically and the solution is available to the public on github or somewhere else.
You can get a list of your transactions using the TransactionSearch API. Then you can get more details about any individual transaction using GetTransactionDetails.
If you happen to be using PHP you may want to look at my class library for PayPal. It will make these API calls very quick and easy for you. In fact, here's a sample of what the TransactionSearch result looks like from my library.
Scroll down and you'll see a SEARCHRESULTS section, which has all of the results parsed into an array nice and neat for you to work with.

PayPal statement via API

I have just reviewed REST API and Classic API references and there doesn't seem to be a method which would allow to obtain transactions statement? Essentially I am looking for what can be found in PayPal admin panel under History -> Download History -> Balance Affecting Payment.
Any suggestions how to obtain PayPal statement via API very much appreciated.
There isn't an API for this. However, a couple of options would be to use IPN and have all of the data written to your own database, and then you can query your own database for the information. Another option would be to sign up for SFTP reporting on your account. Then you can connect via SFTP and retrieve reports.