how to add Paypal buy buttons to items in aspx page

Question

hi guys iam a newbie to paypal. i got a sandbox test item onpaypal and created an item Buy button which is embedded html code.. now whenever i insert the html code in aspx p

Answer 1

The problem is that ASP.NET pages define a form within which all the controls are placed (especially if you are using a master page) and HTML does not allow nested form tags.

There are several ways around this including using a normal ASP image button as described here.

You can also use an anchor link as described in this blog. However as noted by the author, the user can save the page source, edit it (e.g. change the price) and then reload it and click the link.

In fact any method that stores the information in the source of the webpage has potential to be abused. Therefore the approach I like, is to use a combination of an ASP image button and the anchor link approach but to implement this on the sever within the button click event:

1) In your ASP page define an image button where you want the PayPal button to go. You can set the ImageURL to the preferred button type provided by PayPal.

2) Use the Click event of the button to generate the required information on the server side and then redirect the browser to the PayPal site.

protected void PayPalBtn_Click(object sender, ImageClickEventArgs e)
{
    string business = "";
    string itemName = "";
    double itemAmount = 123.451;
    string currencyCode = "GBP";

    StringBuilder ppHref = new StringBuilder();

    ppHref.Append("https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick");
    ppHref.Append("&business=" + business);
    ppHref.Append("&item_name=" + itemName);
    ppHref.Append("&amount=" + itemAmount.ToString("#.00"));
    ppHref.Append("¤cy_code=" + currencyCode);

    Response.Redirect(ppHref.ToString(), true);
}

Disclaimer: It may still be possible for users to abuse this approach (although it is now a bit harder) so it is always best to check what has been paid before dispatching goods.