Paystack Android

This is a library for easy integration of Paystack with your Android application. Use this library in your Android app so we shoulder the burden of PCI compliance by helping you avoid the need to send card data directly to your server. Instead, this library sends credit card data directly to our servers.

Summarized flow

1. Collect user's card details

2. Initialize the transaction

   • App prompts your backend to initialize a transaction
   • Your backend returns access_code we return when it calls the Initialize Transaction endpoint
   • App provides the access_code and card details to our SDK's chargeCard function via Charge object

3. SDK prompts user for PIN, OTP or Bank authentication as required

4. Once successful, we'll send an event to your webhook URL and call onSuccess callback. You should give value via webhook.

Requirements

• Android SDKv16 (Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean") - This is the first SDK version that includes TLSv1.2 which is required by our servers. Native app support for user devices older than API 16 will not be available.

Installation

Android Studio (using Gradle)

You do not need to clone this repository or download the files. The latest build is available on Maven Central Add the following lines to your app's build.gradle:

dependencies {
    implementation 'co.paystack.android:paystack:3.1.3'
}

From version 3.0.18, the Pinpad library comes as part of this library and does not need to be explicitly included in your dependencies.

You should also add Java 8 support in your build.gradle:

android { 
    // ... Other configuration code 
    compileOptions {   
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8 
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8 
    } 

    // For kotlin codebases, include
    kotlinOptions {
         jvmTarget = "1.8" 
    }
}

Eclipse

To use this library with Eclipse, you need to:

1. Clone the repository.
2. Import the paystack folder into your Eclipse project
3. In your project settings, add the paystack project under the Libraries section of the Android category.

Usage

0) Prepare for use

To prepare for use, you must ensure that your app has internet permissions by making sure the uses-permission line below is present in the AndroidManifest.xml.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

1) Initialize SDK

To use the Paystack Android SDK, you need to first initialize it using the PaystackSdk class.

public class App extends Application{
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        PaystackSdk.initialize(getApplicationContext());
    }
}

Make sure to call this method in the onCreate method of your Fragment or Activity or Application.

2) Set your Public Key

Before you can charge a card with the PaystackSdk class, you need to set your public key. The library provides two approaches:

a) Add the following lines to the <application></application> tag of your AndroidManifest.xml

<meta-data
    android:name="co.paystack.android.PublicKey"
    android:value="pk_your_public_key"/>

You can obtain your public key from your Paystack dashboard.

b) Set the public key by code

This can be done anytime in your code. Just be sure to initialize before calling chargeCard.

class Bootstrap {
    public static void setPaystackKey(String publicKey) {
        PaystackSdk.setPublicKey(publicKey);
    }
}

3) Collect and validate card details

At this time, we expect you to provide fields on your activity that collect the card details. Our Card class allows you collect and verify these. The library provides validation methods to validate the fields of the card.

card.validNumber

This method helps to perform a check if the card number is valid.

card.validCVC

Method that checks if the card security code is valid.

card.validExpiryDate

Method checks if the expiry date (combination of year and month) is valid.

card.isValid

Method to check if the card is valid. Always do this check, before charging the card.

card.getType

This method returns an estimate of the string representation of the card type.

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

  // This sets up the card and check for validity
  // This is a test card from paystack
   String cardNumber = "4084084084084081";
   int expiryMonth = 11; //any month in the future
   int expiryYear = 18; // any year in the future. '2018' would work also! 
   String cvv = "408";  // cvv of the test card
   
   Card card = new Card(cardNumber, expiryMonth, expiryYear, cvv);
    if (card.isValid()) {
       // charge card
    } else {
      //do something
    }
}

4) Charge Card

Charging with the PaystackSdk is quite straightforward.

Parameters for the chargeCard function

• Activity - The first argument to the PaystackSdk.chargeCard is the calling Activity object. Always give an Activity that will stay open till the end of the transaction. The currently open Activity is just fine.

• Charge - This object allows you provide information about the transaction to be made. Before calling chargeCard, you should do a charge.setCard(card). The charge can then be used in either of 2 ways

  • Resume an initialized transaction: If employing this flow, you would send all required parameters for the transaction from your backend to the Paystack API via the transaction/initialize call - documented here. The response of the call includes an access_code. This can be used to charge the card by doing charge.setAccessCode({value from backend}). Once an access code is set, the only other parameter relevant to the transaction is the card. Others will be ignored.
  • Initiate a fresh transaction on Paystack: Using the functions: setCurrency, setPlan, setSubaccount, setTransactionCharge, setAmount, setEmail, setReference, setBearer, putMetadata, putCustomField, you can set up a fresh transaction directly from the SDK. Documentation for these parameters are same as for transaction/initialize.

• Transaction Callback - When an error occurs or transaction concludes successfully, we will call the methods available in the callback you provided.

  • OnSuccess will be called once the charge succeeds.
  • beforeValidate is called every time the SDK needs to request user input. This function currently only allows the app know that the SDK is requesting further user input.
  • OnError is called if an error occurred during processing. Some Exception types that you should watch include
    • ExpiredAccessCodeException: This would be thrown if the access code has already been used to attempt a charge.
    • ChargeException: This would be thrown if the charge failed. It would hold the message from the server.

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {


  // This is the subroutine you will call after creating the charge
  // adding a card and setting the access_code
   public void performCharge(){
         //create a Charge object
         Charge charge = new Charge(); 
         charge.setCard(card); //sets the card to charge
   
       PaystackSdk.chargeCard(MainActivity.this, charge, new Paystack.TransactionCallback() {
           @Override
           public void onSuccess(Transaction transaction) {
               // This is called only after transaction is deemed successful.
               // Retrieve the transaction, and send its reference to your server
               // for verification.
           }

           @Override
           public void beforeValidate(Transaction transaction) {
               // This is called only before requesting OTP.
               // Save reference so you may send to server. If
               // error occurs with OTP, you should still verify on server.
           }
           
           @Override
           public void showLoading(Boolean isProcessing) {
               // This is called whenever the SDK makes network requests.
               // Use this to display loading indicators in your application UI
           }

           @Override
           public void onError(Throwable error, Transaction transaction) {
             //handle error here
           }

       });
   }
}

Note that once chargeCard is called, the SDK may prompt the user to provide their PIN, an OTP or conclude Bank Authentication. These are currently being managed entirely by the SDK. Your app will only be notified via the beforeValidate function of the callback when OTP or Bank Authentication is about to start.

5) Verifying the transaction

Send the reference to your backend and verify by calling our REST API. An authorization will be returned which will let you know if its code is reusable. You can learn more about our Verify Transaction endpoint.

Below is a sample authorization object returned along with the transaction details:

   {
     "status": true,
     "message": "Verification successful",
     "data": {
       "amount": 10000,
       "currency": "NGN",
       "transaction_date": "2017-04-06T21:28:41.000Z",
       "status": "success",
       "reference": "d68rbovh4a",
       "domain": "live",
       "metadata": {
         "custom_fields": [
           {
             "display_name": "Started From",
             "variable_name": "started_from",
             "value": "sample charge card backend"
           },
           {
             "display_name": "Requested by",
             "variable_name": "requested_by",
             "value": "some person"
           },
           {
             "display_name": "Server",
             "variable_name": "server",
             "value": "some.herokuapp.com"
           }
         ]
       },
       "gateway_response": "Approved",
       "message": "Approved",
       "channel": "card",
       "ip_address": "41.31.21.11",
       "log": null,
       "fees": 150,
       "authorization": {
         "authorization_code": "AUTH_blahblah",
         "bin": "412345",
         "last4": "6789",
         "exp_month": "10",
         "exp_year": "2345",
         "channel": "card",
         "card_type": "mastercard debit",
         "bank": "Some Bank",
         "country_code": "NG",
         "brand": "mastercard",
         "reusable": true,
         "signature": "SIG_IJOJidkpd0293undjd"
       },
       "customer": {
         "id": 22421,
         "first_name": "Guava",
         "last_name": "Juice",
         "email": "[email protected]",
         "customer_code": "CUS_6t6che6w8hmt",
         "phone": "",
         "metadata": {},
         "risk_action": "default"
       },
       "plan": null
     }
   }

To reuse the authorization gotten from charging this customer in future, you need to do 2 tests:

1. In the sample JSON above, you can conclude that the transaction was successful because data.status="success". This means the authorization is active.
2. Confirm that the authorization is reusable by checking data.authorization.reusable which is true in this case. Once both pass, you can save the authorization code against the customer's email.

6) Charging a card authorization from your server in future

To charge an authorization saved from concluding chargeCard, you need its authorization code and the customer's email. Our Recurring Charge documentation provides more information about charging an authorization.

Testing your implementation

You can (and should) test your implementation of the Paystack Android library in your Android app. You need the details of an actual debit/credit card to do this, so we provide ##test cards## for your use instead of using your own debit/credit cards. Kindly reference our Test Payments documentation for test cards.

To try out the OTP flow, we have provided a test "verve" card:

50606 66666 66666 6666
CVV: 123
PIN: 1234
TOKEN: 123456

Remember to use all test cards only with test keys. Also note that all bank issued cards will be declined in test mode.

Building the example project

1. Clone the repository.
2. Import the project either using Android Studio or Eclipse
3. Deploy a sample backend from PaystackJS-Sample-Backend (PHP) or Sample charge card backend (NodeJS heroku single click deploy)
4. Copy the endpoints from the deployed backend to your MainActivity.java file. In the case of verify, only copy up to the / before the :
5. Add your public key to your MainActivity.java file
   • Note that the public key must match the secret key, else none of the transactions will be attempted
6. Build and run the project on your device or emulator

FAQs

Is authorization_code (https://developers.paystack.co/reference#charging-returning-customers) the same as the access_code)?

No

Where do I get an access_code?

Initialize a transaction : https://developers.paystack.co/reference#initialize-a-transaction

Where do I get an authorization_code?

Verify a successful transaction : https://developers.paystack.co/reference#verify-transaction

If I’m trying to use the Android SDK to charge someone who we’ve previously charged, can I use the authorization_code?

You don't need the SDK to charge an authorization code. It doesn't even know of its existence. Rather, use our charge endpoint: https://developers.paystack.co/reference#charge-authorization

Security

If you discover any security related issues, please email [email protected] instead of using the issue tracker.

Contact

For more enquiries and technical questions regarding the Android PaystackSdk, please post on our issue tracker: https://github.com/PaystackHQ/paystack-android/issues.

Change log

Please see CHANGELOG for more information what has changed recently.