Properties   Methods   Events   Configuration Settings  

The CCBenefit component is an advanced tool used to authorize Electronic Benefits (EBT) cards in a Retail environment, where the customer is purchasing products or services in person. This component makes authorizing EBT Food Stamp and Cash Benefit transactions (with a customer PIN) very easy. Supported Industry Types include retail stores, restaurants, and grocery stores.

NOTE: What follows is a very short description of the component interfaces. For more information, please consult the help files that come with the respective package.

Remarks

This component allows for simple, direct, secure connection to the Vital/TSYS SSL gateway through a standard Internet connection. Because all SSL communications are handled inside the component, any application or web page can be deployed without the need for expensive dedicated SSL servers.

The CCBenefit component makes authorizing EBT card transactions (where the customer's card is swiped through a card reader and a PIN is supplied) very easy by adding an additional layer of abstraction between the programmer and the protocol. There is no need to deal with raw sockets, SSL handshakes, or data packet formatting. The steps to setting up the component and authorizing a transaction are outlined below:

First, set the merchant properties with setup information acquired from your member bank or processor. For instance:

CCBenefit1.MerchantBankId = "999995" CCBenefit1.MerchantNumber = "888000002447" CCBenefit1.MerchantName = "TEST MERCHANT" CCBenefit1.MerchantTerminalNumber = "1515" CCBenefit1.MerchantStoreNumber = "5999" CCBenefit1.MerchantCategoryCode = "5999" CCBenefit1.MerchantCity = "Durham" CCBenefit1.MerchantState = "NC" CCBenefit1.MerchantZip = "27713" CCBenefit1.MerchantTimeZone = "705" CCBenefit1.MerchantABANumber = "123456789" CCBenefit1.MerchantSettlementAgent = "V123" CCBenefit1.MerchantFCSId = "1234567" CCBenefit1.AgentBankNumber = "000000" CCBenefit1.AgentChainNumber = "111111" CCBenefit1.IndustryType = itRetail

Next, set properties that contain details about the transaction. The TransactionNumber is a sequence number, and should be incremented for each transaction you send. TransactionAmount is the amount of sale, formatted with an implicit decimal place. The Card is read from the magnetic stripe on the back of the card, (Track 2 for EBT transactions) and the DebitPIN and DebitKSN are retrieved from a standard DUKPT Pin Pad device.

CCBenefit1.TransactionNumber = 1 CCBenefit1.TransactionAmount = "1000" CCBenefit1.CardMagneticStripe = "9999999800002773=09121015432112345678" CCBenefit1.CardPIN = "83C33384650827F6" CCBenefit1.CardKSN = "4A00310459400004"

The CCBenefit component supports both Food Stamp and Cash Benefit programs on the same card. Make sure to choose the correct TransactionType for the benefit program you wish to use, and then call the Authorize method. For example:

CCBenefit1.TransactionType = ttFoodStampPurchase CCBenefit1.Authorize()

When the component receives a response from the Vital/TSYS servers, the result of the authorization will be displayed in several Response properties. The Response indicates whether the transaction was approved, and the remaining properties provide additional information about the transaction.

Once an EBT authorization is approved, the transaction must go through the batch settlement process in order for the merchant to receive the funds in his merchant account. This is done by passing the XML aggregate returned from the GetDetailAggregate method to the CCSETTLE component. Usually, a Batch Settlement of all authorized transactions is done at the end of each business day. Note that ttFoodStampBalanceInquiry and ttCashBenefitBalanceInquiry TransactionTypes cannot be settled.

/n software suggests that as a matter of good business practices all merchants and third parties that store cardholder data should be aware of the Visa Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP) and the MasterCard Site Data Protection (SDP) program. The purpose of these programs is to help protect the integrity of cardholder information via the use of outside-vendor auditing of systems security and server site security.

Property List

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The following is the full list of the properties of the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

AgentBankNumber	Identifies a specific agent entity of the member bank or processor.
AgentChainNumber	Identifies a specific chain of an agent organization.
BatchNumber	The batch number that this transaction will be included in.
Card	Contains the customer's credit card information.
CashBackAmount	Amount returned to the customer in cash.
DebitKSN	Clear-text Key Sequence Number, used for Debit and EBT transactions.
DebitPIN	DUKPT DES encrypted PIN block, used for Debit and EBT transactions.
IndustryType	Code which indicates the industry the merchant is engaged in.
Merchant	Contains the merchant's setup information.
MerchantABANumber	Merchant's routing number.
MerchantFCSId	Identifies the merchant as an approved Food Stamp merchant.
MerchantSettlementAgent	Merchant's settling agent.
Response	Contains the response to a debit authorization request.
TransactionAmount	Purchase amount to be authorized.
TransactionNumber	Sequence number of this transaction.
TransactionType	Specifies the type of EBT transaction to process.
VoucherCode	Required for Food Stamp Voucher transactions.
VoucherNumber	Required for Food Stamp Voucher transactions.

Method List

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The following is the full list of the methods of the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Authorize	Sends a Gift Card transaction.
Config	Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.
GetDetailAggregate	Returns an aggregate containing details of this transaction, which is then used for settlement.
Interrupt	Interrupts the current action.
Reset	Clears all properties to their default values.

Event List

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The following is the full list of the events fired by the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Connected	Fired immediately after a connection completes (or fails).
DataPacketIn	Fired when receiving a data packet from the transaction server.
DataPacketOut	Fired when sending a data packet to the transaction server.
Disconnected	Fired when a connection is closed.
Error	Information about errors during data delivery.
SSLServerAuthentication	Fired after the server presents its certificate to the client.
SSLStatus	Shows the progress of the secure connection.

Configuration Settings

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The following is a list of configuration settings for the component with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

DeveloperId	Number that indicates the software's origin to the TSYS network
Port	The port to which transactions are posted
Retry	Set this to retry a failed transaction
Server	The server to which transactions are posted
VersionId	Indicates the software's version to the Vital network
ResponseStoreNumber	Check this field against the original Merchant StoreNumber
ResponseTerminalNumber	Check this field against the original Merchant TerminalNumber
CodePage	The system code page used for Unicode to Multibyte translations (Windows/COM only)