Payments API Changes for CA assembly bill 488

Mark Groseth

I have added transaction_category to the request object for Post Transactions and Post Checkout Transaction endpoints as instructed here https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/69/9246?utmcampaign=website&utmmedium=email&utmsource=community.blackbaud.com. even though the BB documentation says that transaction_category is a property of the response NOT the request which makes no sense.
I have verified that we are including country, state and zip.
Now I need a way to test it. What parameters can I supply to make it fail with this error 812?

Thanks, also any more insight into how this works is appreciated.

Mark G

Cherrie Yuen

@Mark Groseth, can you share the test account you are trying to test with?

p.s. this functionality won't be live until Jan 2024

Mark Groseth

@Cherrie Yuen the configuration is BBMS Test, the account is for NPact (formerly Fusion Labs). the client id is 6a5d5f28-4e1c-4f1a-946c-f16b6754bc76. I can provide the subscription key if needed.

hashir shabbir

@Mark Groseth
It seems there might be a misunderstanding in the Blackbaud (BB) documentation regarding the "transaction_category" property being part of the response instead of the request. To test the Payments API changes for CA Assembly Bill 488 and intentionally trigger error 812, you can try providing incorrect or invalid values for the "transaction_category" parameter in the request object when using the Post Transactions and Post Checkout Transaction endpoints.

Moreover, ensure that the required parameters such as country, state, and zip are included correctly. For further clarification and insights into the API functionality, it's advisable to reach out to Blackbaud support or consult their documentation for any updates or corrections. For more information click here.

Mark Groseth

@hashir shabbir I tried passing a bogus category and it worked fine. Do people from BB comment on this forum?

Mina Mistry

Hi @Mark Groseth

Thanks for the question and for being proactive about the upcoming change with CA AB488. We wanted to provide notice so that SKY applications can be prepared in January when this change will take affect.

The actual change will be applied to our Production environment in early January and we'll make another announcement once that date is final. At this current time there is no way to test the change or simulate an 812 response.

Please share a link to where you see documentation about only the response object changing - I am unable to locate it and would like to make sure it's accurate.

Thank you.

Mark Groseth

@Mina Mistry if you check this link you will see that it specifies a transaction_category for the response but not for the request

Mina Mistry

@Mark Groseth
Got it. The POST Checkout Transaction endpoint is used to capture a transaction that was already authorized with Blackbaud Checkout. The workflow is:

1. Blackbaud Checkout is launched and transaction_category is passed in as a parameter
2. Blackbaud Checkout applies the transaction_category parameter when authorizing the transaction; a transaction ID is assigned and the modal is closed
3. The Checkout Transaction endpoint is called to capture (finalize) the transaction using the transaction ID. We do not require or allow the transaction_category at this stage because we already gathered it earlier, however we still return it in the response for reference purposes.

Hope that helps clarify the workflow and why it is not required for that endpoint.

Thanks!

Mark Groseth

@Mina Mistry How is the transaction_category applied when “checkout is launched”. we are using bbCheckout.js

Mark Groseth

@Mark Groseth This link makes no mention of transaction_category.

Mina Mistry

@Mark Groseth

Yes - the transaction_category is a parameter in the function used to launch Checkout, such as Blackbaud_OpenPaymentForm.

Mark Groseth

@Mark Groseth Nevermind. I found it

Mark Groseth

@Mina Mistry I see that the OpenCardNotPresentForm takes the transaction_category, but when we are setting up recurring payments we use OpenStoreCardForm and that does not take a transaction_category nor any address info. How does this change affect that process?

Mina Mistry

@Mark Groseth

The transaction_category and address will be collected at the time of payment when you use the stored payment method to process the recurring gift.