Question

I know I can send a custom field using IPN with $_POST[‘custom’]
But can I do that with an uploaded file? More specifically an uploaded image?

And what if I have two custom fields? I previously used something like this:

<input type="hidden" name="custom" value="<?php echo $a.'|'.$b ?>"/>

But that was just text! Now I want to upload a file and I also have custom text, then I want to get it.

Is this possible and how would that look like?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I don’t think it’s possible to do it the way you’re describing, but here’s an alternative that I have used in the past.

1. Instead of having the form that contains the file upload post to PayPal, have it post to your site, and then store that uploaded file and any other custom data in a database (or any other way you choose to store it). Assign that data an id.

2. Now redirect the user to a page that contains basically the same form, except that the input fields should be hidden, and the form will post to PayPal. Fill in that form programmatically with the data from the previous post, and fill the ‘custom’ field with the id that you assigned to the custom data. This page would also contain a JavaScript statement like this (at the bottom after the form, to ensure that it doesn’t execute until the form is loaded)…

   <script type="text/javascript">
       document.forms["paypalform"].submit();
   </script>
   

   …to automatically submit the form when the page is loaded. It’s still a good idea to leave a submit button (you could style it as a link, if you want) in case the user has JavaScript disabled. It could say something like “Click here if you are not redirected to PayPal within 10 seconds.” You could also add another message on the page such as “Redirecting to PayPal.”

3. Now when you get your PDT or IPN information back from PayPal for that transaction, the ‘custom’ field will contain the id you assigned to the data earlier. It’s just a matter of retrieving the data from wherever you stored it.

I’ve done this in ASP.NET before, and I assume it would work just as well in PHP (the server-side parts), but I can’t say for sure.

Note: The ‘custom’ field can only contain up to 256 characters.