ISO FileMaker Magazine: FileMaker Video Tutorials, Templates, Help & More

FileMaker Pro & Credit Card Authorization
By Matt Petrowsky (matt@filemakermagazine.com)

BONUS FILE: CREDIT_VERIFY.FP3
PLATFORM: Macintosh & Windows
RATING: General

    Even as I write this article, the internet and the onset of "e-commerce" is revolutionizing how we do business. Personally, I have made most of my software purchases from the Internet since 1998. It's just too easy to throw in the digits of your credit card and have the package show up on your doorstep the next day. It's important, as a FileMaker user or developer, to know how credit cards and the authorization process fit into the whole picture.

The Way Things Work

When it comes to credit card authorization, there are only a few steps to making things work in FileMaker; you can either use the help of a plug-in or work with another software package. The following is the sequence of events that takes place when a customer decides to purchase a product, in virtual or real time, and uses a credit card.

First, the customer's credit card information is entered by either swiping the card through an authorization terminal attached to a phone line or to a computer with a modem. The magnetic stripe on the back of the card contains the card number and other information on the card.

If you are in need of tools to read bar codes and magnetic stripes, then POS Direct is a good place to find the hardware necessary for doing this (http://www.posdirect.com/). There are also many other providers of bar code and magnetic stripe readers. Searching the Internet will result in companies such as Symbol (http://www.symbol.com/), Bear Rock Technologies (http://bearrock.com/), SNX (http://www.snx.com/) and Raco Industries (http://www.racoindustries.com/). These companies are either resellers or manufacturers of hardware you can use.

    Quick tip: If you're really looking to understand bar codes and how you can implement them into your FileMaker Pro solutions, then here are a few sources on the Internet that are excellent to learn from. Use the following URLs.

Vision Shape Bar Code FAQ
http://www.visionshape.com/introbar.html

Azalea Bar Code FAQ
http://www.azalea.com/mainfaq.html

A Bar Code Business, Inc.
http://www.digital.net/barcoder/barcode.html

The second step in the process is for the terminal or computer to contact a "processing network". It's at this stage that an "authorization to capture funds" is requested for the amount of the purchase. There are many of these processing networks around and the one you end up using is predetermined according to who you have your merchant account set up with.

Technically, part of submitting the request to capture funds is how the processing network is contacted. In the past, this would happen through a phone connection either to the terminal or via a modem connected to the computer. However, in the new Internet age you'll find a host of services popping up on the Internet. A few services we've looked at are Authorize.net (http://www.authorizenet.com/) - the service used by the new Credit Card Authorization plug-in offered by Waves in Motion, Cybercash.com (http://www.cybercash.com/), one of the original Internet based financial services for transactions and ClearCommerce (http://www.clearcommerce.com/) - which is used by the iCat.com web site.

iCat is a popular Internet based service that allows you to put your Internet store on the web and accepts credit card transactions via your merchant account. You must have a merchant account in order to accept credit cards. Your credit still counts, not the fact that you have an Internet account.

After a reply is sent back from the processing network which communicates with the customer's credit card holder to see if the funds are available, an authorization code is supplied or a reason for decline is provided. For each order placed where a credit card is used, the "transaction" is stored in what is referred to as a "batch". This daily batch is then "closed out" at the end of the business day. The last part of the process is called "settlement" or "settling the batch", when you are ensured a transfer of funds from the various credit card issuers to your bank account - usually in 36 to 72 hours. The funds which were "authorized for capture" are not actually transferred until the batch is settled. This is so any transaction in that day's batch can be voided so the funds are not actually taken from the customer's credit card account (items such as returns or incorrectly entered amounts can be voided).

Within any given day any number of batches can be opened and closed out. The typical number for most all businesses, however, is one batch per day. At the end of each business month you receive statements from the credit providers of the "net deposits" made into your bank account. The "net deposits" are the amounts minus any charges made for the authorization. The charges you incur are a discount rate you pay, usually anywhere from a wonderfully low 2% to as high as 10% or more for each transaction handled. You also may or may not have a transactions charge or processing fee. This all depends on the specifics of your merchant account.

In this next section, I will integrate FileMaker Pro into this entire process.

Fitting FileMaker In

Since we are using FileMaker as a front end to processing credit cards, it can be used to verify the validity of the credit card number provided. This can be done in one of two ways. Either FileMaker Pro can check the card number using a ScriptMaker script or you can use a plug-in. The plug-in by JCS will verify a credit card number but does not provide any functionality for authorization. You can find the plug-in at the following URL http://www.jcsdev.com/jcs-us/CreditCard.htm. Please note that currently the plug-in is only available for Macintosh.

The solution we prefer to use at ISO is to have FileMaker Pro perform the validation itself. This can be done using the same type of routines found in other software, including plug-ins. Remember; FileMaker Pro has as much mathematical functionality as the next software package. Found in the BONUS file accompanying this article, is the credit card validation script and fields. Copying them into your own solution is easy to do. The file also watches to see that the number is not changed and, if so, then the operator is notified.

Approach #1: Integrating with Authorization Software

    Until recently the only options for processing credit cards on a computer was to use software which used the modem to dial up a processing network. There are a number of Windows based software packages for performing credit card authorizations. A short list is included after this paragraph. On the Macintosh, however, there was only one option available for many years. It still is the only option we know of which is a stand-alone software package. The software is MacAuthorize from Tellan Software Inc. (http://www.tellan.com/). The Windows version of this software is PCAuthorize.

Tellan Software, Inc. (Macintosh & Windows)
http://www.tellan.com/

IC Verify (Windows)
http://www.stevekaras.com/icverify.htm

Super Charge (Windows)
http://www.super-charge.com/

PC-Charge/Win-Charge (Windows)
http://www.gosoftinc.com/

Datacap Systems, Inc. (Windows)
http://www.dcap.com/

Atomic Software (Windows)
http://www.atomic-software.com/

The way FileMaker Pro is used in conjunction with a stand-alone software package such as MacAuthorize or PCAuthorize is through events passed between FileMaker and the software. On the Macintosh, AppleScript and AppleEvents are used. With the introduction of the plug-in capability of FileMaker 4, Tellan released a plug-in for their Windows version of PCAuthorize. This plug-in ties PCAuthorize to FileMaker in Windows. For the Macintosh the AppleEvents or AppleScripts are still the best way to communicate with MacAuthorize. The demo and commercial package of MacAuthorize is still shipping a FileMaker 2.0 database as an example of connecting FileMaker to MacAuthorize via AppleEvents.

In particular, MacAuthorize receives an authorization request from FileMaker then processing the individual transaction. Single transactions receive a response from a single AppleEvent call. Sending a number of transactions at one time does not allow you to get an individual response for each transaction. One of the nice features of using AppleScript is being able to send many transactions over to MacAuthorize at one time. There is, however, the limitation that a response for each transaction is not generated and captured back into FileMaker. The problem is each transaction that is declined must be manually deleted from the FileMaker database or specified as "not authorized". There is still manual work that must be performed and things can't be fully automated by using AppleEvents/AppleScript with the Tellan Authorize products.

Plug-in Based Solutions

Recently Waves in Motion released a new plug-in called oAzium CC Authorize. This plug-in is currently available only for Macintosh and requires version 8.6 of the current Mac OS. Aside from those requirements, the plug-in appears to work quite well and quickly - at least in demo mode. It takes advantage of one of the services we mentioned above. It negotiates with the Authorize.net authorization service. This means the computer you are authorizing on requires an Internet connection. As with most Internet based authorization services, the modem is connected to the Internet instead of dialing a phone number to get authorization.

Web-based Commerce

    This is an area where you can explore your options and connect with one of those Internet services discussed above and you can write your own CGI to work with one of these Internet services. Another option is to use the Waves in Motion CC Authorize plug-in as part of your FileMaker based server to process transactions.

One of the easiest ways to get started with web based credit card e-commerce is to take advantage of a solution which has already been created. Ch-Ching from Imacination Software (http://www.imacination.com/) is a FileMaker Pro based solution designed to handle web commerce. Blue World, the makers of Lasso the most popular CGI for serving FileMaker Pro database files, has recently announced a partnership Imacination to promote the powers of this web commerce solution for FileMaker Pro

So what are the drawbacks to using FileMaker Pro as your web commerce application? Very few. Unless you are processing many thousands of transactions, such as a mail order software house, then FileMaker Pro will work perfectly for handling your credit card commerce needs. The biggest advantage of using FileMaker Pro is the ability to modify templates to fit your specific needs. This includes both your own and those you may purchase.

The e-commerce revolution is here to stay. Luckily, FileMaker Pro users have the tools necessary to successfully navigate their businesses through these exciting changes.

Happy FileMaking!
Matt Petrowsky

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