Integration Suggestion (and Workaround)

It seems to me that what's missing from the Google Checkout
API, that
would solve many integration issues, is a "user data
field".  In other
words, it should be possible for you to encode a data field
with
arbitrary text in your shopping cart, such as:

<user-data>
Any text ...
</user-data>

... and then the API should pass this user data back to your
own server
at various appropriate points in the "callback
sequence".  Most other
payment services have a user data field of some kind, this
is not a
"new concept".

There is a possible "workaround": Encode the user
data (such as your
customer's site-specific data) as a zero-cost purchase item.
 For
example:

<item>
<item-name>Account Number</item-name>
<item-description>123456789</item-description>
<unit-price currency='USD'>0.00</unit-price>
<quantity>1</quantity>
</item>

Bill

Hi Bill,

Including arbitrary XML in the shopping cart is doable via
<merchant-private-item-data> and
<merchant-private-data> elements.
These XML will be sent back to the merchant's server:

<merchant-private-item-data>:
http://code.google.com/a
pis/checkout/developer/index.html#tag_merchant-private-item-
data

<merchant-private-data>:
http://code.google.com/apis/c
heckout/developer/index.html#tag_merchant-private-data


Hope this helps,
Jacob

GoogleCheckoutDevPro wrote:
> Including arbitrary XML in the shopping cart is doable
via
> <merchant-private-item-data> and
<merchant-private-data> elements.
> These XML will be sent back to the merchant's server:

Hi Jacob,

Well, you got me there, with a genuine "RTFM"!  In
my defense, I will
point out that I *DID* look for such a facility in your
documentation
and could not find it (mainly because I searched on various
combinations of "user" and "data", which
are the traditional names for
this kind of thing).

Your documentation is "way above average" in
clarity and completeness.
But some things are just not "called out" as well
as they could be ...
and this is one of them.

Bill

So where do i actually get to see this private data?
Im preety new to this, and have been testing out the Google
provided
.net sample code :
im adding item like so:
        Req.AddItem("KL T-Shirt KL01", "KL
T-Shirt<br>Model:
1234<br>Size: M<br>Color:White", 1.25, 1,
"<sku>dmf_1242</sku>")

last parameters should be a merchant-private-item-data.

It submits fine, i post the shoping cart, make the actuall
payment.
So when i login to my GCheckount account and I am looking at
the NEW
pending payment, where can i see this custom/hidden item
data?
what am i missing


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