Posted by Paul Furman on 03/02/07 23:56

Shelly wrote:

> I am looking for some advice on the design of a transaction processing
> sequence. As I xcurrently have it, the sequence is as follows:
>
> 1 - Gather all the information from the user other than the actual charging
> information.
> 2 - Present the user with a summary of what he is about to purchase
> 3 - Give him the choice of card (via PayPal) or by check.
> 4 - If by check, go to a screen that he has to click the "Pay" button.
> 5 - After the button is clicked, the data are entered into the database and
> emails are sent to the customer and the seller.
> 6 - If by Paypal, he is taken to the PayPal screen where charge information
> is collected and processed. A successful return comes back to a thank you
> screen on my server where the data are entered into the database. PayPal
> handles sending the emails to the customer and the seller.

I set up something similar with the CC server and my server sending
emails on confirmation, at least send yourself an email so you can see
them come in pairs & know it all worked.

I suppose the other thing would be to log something in your system, that
would also catch a situation where someone's credit card wasn't approved
or they had too much hassle with paypal & gave up.


> My problem is this: What happens if there is a failure in connecting to the
> database after paying via PayPal? I use the same code (an included file)
> for the connection and the same code ( a different included file) for the
> insertion.
>
> Last night the seller tested a transaction and got:
>
> *Warning*: mysql_pconnect(): Can't connect to MySQL server on
> 'dbet.valueweb.net' (115) in
> */nfs/cust/0/43/11/711340/web/dbConnect.php* on line *6*
> Can't connect to MySQL server on 'dbet.valueweb.net' (115)

Ack, yes, as mentioned, turn off all error reporting. I once got an
error similar to that where it spit out the admin password in the error
message!


> He sent me an email and then when I tried I succeeded. Not connecting when
> paying by check is bad enough, tbut what about AFTER the customer has
> already paid? That would be terrible.

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