There are a number of SubscriptionBoss short codes that you can use on the site where you have SubscriptionBoss installed.
- subb-button – PayPal Buy Button
- subb-confirm – Confirm Order Button
- subb-errors – PayPal error message
- subb-status – PayPal diagnostics (only use for testing – not when live)
How To Display a SubscriptionBoss Payment Link/Button
The subb-button short code displays either a text link, a link with a PayPal image button or a form containing just a PayPal button. Clicking the link/button takes the user to PayPal to either “Agree and Pay” or to “Agree and Continue” if order confirmation is requested.
| Item | Values | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Short Code: | subb-button | Remember to place the entire short code between square brackets |
| Parameters: | subscription | Subscription ID on SB |
| type | form(default setting) or button(anchor link with button image) or text (anchor link with subscription description as the link text) | |
| button | URL of the PayPal button to display – if none supplied then the default button chosen on the SB settings page is used | |
| affiliate | affiliate code or $_GET or $_POST | |
| confirm_url | URL of page where payment is confirmed – if none is supplied then the confirmation URL chosen on the SB subscription page is used – typically you would only override this value when doing split testing | |
| cancel_url | URL to return to if user abandons sale on PayPal – if none is supplied then the cancellation URL chosen on the SB subscription page is used – typically you would only override this value when doing split testing< |
For example, to display a PayPal hosted button for your Gold subscription where the affiliate code in on the querystring of the URL of the page then you code use:
[ subb-button subscription="gold" button="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_xpressCheckout.gif" affiliate="$_GET"]
Note that a space has been added above to stop the short code being translated – remove the space after the square bracket when you use short codes
How To Display a SubscriptionBoss Order Confirmation Button
The subb-confirm short code displays an order summary that shows a line by line breakdown of charges including any tax and then displays an “Order Confirm” button. When the user clicks the button the plugin takes any immediate payment and sets up an Recurring Payment Profile on PayPal, sets up the contact and order on Infusionsoft including any affiliate information, runs any required action set and then sends the user to the thank you page.
| Item | Values | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Short Code: | subb-confirm | Remember to place the entire short code between square brackets [] |
| Parameters: | button | URL of the “Confirm Order” button to display – if none supplied then the default button chosen on the SB settings page is used |
For example, to display your own big yellow confirmation button then you code use:
[ subb-confirm button="http://www.mysite.com/images/big-yellow-order-confirm.png"]
Note that a space has been added above to stop the short code being translated – remove the space after the square bracket when you use short codes
For more on order confirmation pages see click here
Handling PayPal Errors
When installing the SB plugin you should create a new page and call it “PayPal Transaction Error” or something similar. Then on the SB settings page you select this page as your PayPal error page. The user will be sent to this page if your PayPal credentials are set up incorrectly or in the very unlikely event that PayPal was unavailable. .
On this page you should place a message such as “Apologies. We are unable to take payment via PayPal right now.” Underneath this message you can use the short code. The subb-errors shortcode will display a short version of the error returned by PayPal.
| Item | Values | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Short Code: | subb-errors | Remember to place the entire short code between square brackets |
| Parameters: | none |
Debugging PayPal Errors
Use the subb-status shortcode on the page you set up called “PayPal Transaction Error” or something similar. The user will be sent to this page when a PayPal error occurs. This is similar to the subb-errors message above except that it gives you lots of details of what information is being exchanged between SubscriptionBoss and PayPal. It therefore should never be used when you are running with live transactions: you should only use this when testing. When your testing is complete replace the subb-status shortcode by subb-errors
| Item | Values | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Short Code: | subb-status | Remember to place the entire short code between square brackets |
| Parameters: | none | Place the short code under a paragraph of text that reads Debug Information: PayPal transaction messages.” |