PayPal Donations

Comments

1. 

   FrederickMay 14, 2009

   Hi,

   how can I change the curreny from USD to EUR?
   Thanks!

   cheers.

   ( Reply )
   1. 

      JohanMay 14, 2009

      Currently you can’t.
      But that’s something that will be included in the next update, so you can select your default currency, together with a few other useful options. So stay tuned and I’ll soon have it released.

      ( Reply )
   2. 

      JohanMay 23, 2009

      I just released version 1.1 which now supports selecting and changing between all PayPal supported currencies.

      Cheers!

      ( Reply )
2. 

   InanMay 18, 2009

   I cant ablke to put this on the page can u pls help me about this., I want to put this n my page and posting

   ( Reply )
   1. 

      JohanMay 20, 2009

      Hi,

      You have to type the short-code [paypal-donation] where you want the button to appear in your post or page.

      I will probably add a TinyMCE button to do this for you in coming version, so one doesn’t have to keep track of so many short-codes.

      ( Reply )
3. 

   JustinMay 24, 2009

   How would i put this into my template? like on the sidebar?

   ( Reply )
   1. 

      JohanMay 25, 2009

      You can use shortcodes in your sidebar in WordPress by adding the following line of code to the functions.php file in your theme:

      add_filter(‘widget_text’, ‘do_shortcode’);

      Then you can enter the PayPal Donations shortcode in a text widget for instance.

      If you don’t want to edit your theme, I’ll soon release an update for this plugin with a built in sidebar widget. I am just waiting for WordPress 2.8 to be finalized (as I’ve used the new 2.8 widget API) and then I’ll release the next version of the plugin with a PayPal Donation Widget included.

      ( Reply )
      1. 

         fetaMay 27, 2009

         Could you elaborate some more on the widget shorthand? I’m not sure where exactly to put the line of code you mentioned in the functions.php file.

         Basically I copied the line noted above into the functions.php file assuming it can go near the top of the file. Then follow the steps mentioned at the top of the page like usual. Is that the correct procedure?

         You did mention something about the theme, and am not sure why that is an issue.

         ( Reply )
      2. 

         JohanMay 31, 2009

         Anywhere in the functions.php file is fine, so putting it near the top should be good, you could place it just below the register sidebar function for instance.

         After you have done that, you can use the standard text widget and use the paypal donations shortcode in that widget.

         It shouldn’t be any more you have to do than that, otherwise WP2.8 should be out really soon now, and then you’ll get a dedicated widget for the donations in my next plugin update.

         Cheers!

         ( Reply )
4. 

   LibertyReduxJune 27, 2009

   Hi, I am not good with HTML and stuff like that. I can’t figure out how to make the button thinner. It stretches across my website. You can look and see what i’m talking about. Could you give me some in-depth instruction?

   ( Reply )
   1. 

      JohanJune 27, 2009

      Hi,

      I checked your website, and noticed in your CSS file that all input entities are globally set to a defined width and height, and that’s why your input button for the PayPal donations get stretched.

      Go to the bottom of your CSS file for your theme and add these lines

      1 2 3 4

      .paypal-donations input { height: auto; width: auto; }

      and the button will appear as expected. (The above lines overrides the globally set width and height for inputs in your theme’s CSS back to normal for the PayPal button)

      ( Reply )
5. 

   LibertyReduxJune 27, 2009

   Worked perfectly! Thanks Johan. I like the plugin.

   ( Reply )
6. 

   JoeJuly 7, 2009

   Hi
   I would like to make the donation a fixed amount such as 9.95 USD
   Is that possible
   Thanks
   Joe

   ( Reply )
   1. 

      JohanJuly 8, 2009

      Hey Joe,

      I just updated the plugin to version 1.3, where I’ve added an optional setting to set a default donation amount.

      Cheers!
      Johan

      ( Reply )
7. 

   Matthew TommasiJuly 9, 2009

   Great plugin.. I have just installed this.

   For the next release could you please include functionality whereby the PayPal page (or the option to) opens in a new page/tab?

   target=”_blank”

   ( Reply )
   1. 

      JohanJuly 10, 2009

      Hey Matthew,

      That shouldn’t be any problems to add, I’ve put down a note for it and will add some option for this in the next version. :)

      Johan

      ( Reply )
8. 

   EricJuly 10, 2009

   Here is the php code to insert the donate button directly into your php file (like sidebar.php) without using the shortcode. This code has to go inside the php tags.

   1 2 3

   $paypal = new paypal_donations(); $atts=''; echo $paypal->paypal_shortcode($atts);

   ( Reply )
   1. 

      DaroldJuly 10, 2009

      Hi there. Thanks for the code to insert this into the php directly. I get an error about an unexpected “&”. Wondering if you could help. Thanks!

      Darold

      ( Reply )
   2. 

      DaroldJuly 10, 2009

      Woo! That fixed it! Thanks!

      ( Reply )
   3. 

      Gene SteinbergAugust 16, 2009

      Which PHP tags? Did this on a theme page and saw nothing but raw code.

      Peace,
      Gene

      ( Reply )
      1. 

         Gene SteinbergAugust 16, 2009

         Anyone have an answer?

         Peace,
         Gene

         ( Reply )
      2. 

         JohanAugust 16, 2009

         He refers to the PHP enclosing tags <?php and ?> which must start and end all snippets of PHP code on a web page.

         ie.

         1 2 3

         <?php ...PHP Code goes here... ?>

         Cheers!

         ( Reply )
9. 

   Jonnie KingJuly 10, 2009

   Is there anyway to use this plugin with 2.7.1? I havent upgraded to 2.8.1 yet and wanted to wait a while because I heard there were still some bugs. I installed this on 2.7.1 but I see since i don’t have 2.8 that I cannot configure the “settings” tab and have no idea how to work around it.

   Help is much appreciated!

   ( Reply )
10. 

    Jonnie KingJuly 11, 2009

    Disregard my last comment, i got it working and found the settings, but now when i place the code in my sidebar i get a message saying “PayPal Donations requires WordPress version 2.7 or later!” actually posted on my site above the donate button. I am running 2.7.1 !! This shouldn’t be popping up.
    The button works fine, but it is just ridiculous to have that message above the button and i want to know how i can remove this message.
    Also, is there anyway to add a little spacing between this donate button and my next widget underneath? they are very much clustered right on top of each other.
    Thanks so much for your help!!

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanJuly 11, 2009

       About the version warning, I tried it on my 2.7.1 wp install and everything works fine without any warnings, but you mentioned that you used it on your sidebar. The plugin is not really designed to be used on the sidebar in WordPress versions before WP 2.8. In WP 2.8 or newer the plugin gives you a standard widget.

       Anyway, I guess you get the warning because when calling the plugin from the sidebar in WP2.7.1 it might not get provided with the WP version string and therefore believes it’s in an older environment. What you could do, is to make a small edit to the plugin file, track up a line that says

       1 2 3

       } else { $this->version_warning(); }

       which is around line 71, and just comment it out so it doesn’t get used, like this:

       1 2 3

       } else { // $this->version_warning(); }

       and you shouldn’t see any version warnings anymore even when using it in the sidebar. When you later on upgrade to a newer WP version everything will work smooth for you with the plugin as an ordinary widget for the sidebar.

       About getting more space below your button you can add these lines of code to your stylesheet:

       1 2 3

       .paypal-donations { margin-bottom: 40px; }

       Or using a different px value that suits you. The same goes here, when you upgrade to WP 2.8 or newer you will get the default widget distance below the button.

       Cheers!

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          Jonnie KingJuly 11, 2009

          Thank you Johan! You are a Prince! Everything worked perfectly. Now you just need to make this great theme you have available :)

          ( Reply )
11. 

    AnthonyJuly 18, 2009

    Hi!

    How could I go about centering this button? I have it in my sidebar widget fine…but its left align

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanJuly 20, 2009

       Hello,

       The easiest way to center the button is to add these lines in your style.css file.

       1 2 3

       .paypal-donations { text-align: center; }

       Just put them at the bottom of the style.css for instance and you should be ready to go.

       Cheers!

       ( Reply )
12. 

    PhilAugust 8, 2009

    Thank you for this nice plug in!

    ( Reply )
13. 

    CraigAugust 20, 2009

    I’ve been researching donate plug-ins, and came upon this one. Reading through the comments above – I am extremely impressed – you know your stuff – and are extremely helpful in answering all sorts of questions (some that would test some people’s patience ;)).

    So I wanted to let you know that your communicative customer service attitude, detailed information and helpful replies, are what have helped me decide that yours is the way to go.

    It’s great to come across this. Many thanks and keep up the excellent work! :)

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanAugust 20, 2009

       Hi Craig,

       Thanks for your nice comment. It’s much appreciated! :)

       Cheers!

       ( Reply )
14. 

    FeifeiAugust 20, 2009

    Hi, I like your plugin, simple and powerful. I’m just wondering if you can make some options in the donation button for people to make donations in your future versions. For example, some quick options like $1, $5, $10, if not then people can enter their own amount to donate.

    Cheers!
    Feifei

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanAugust 25, 2009

       Hi Feifei,

       Thanks for your suggestion, it was a nice idea. I’ll add it to my list of things to do the next major update, I plan to set aside some time to do it quite soon. :)

       Johan

       ( Reply )
15. 

    ICEAugust 21, 2009

    Hey, tank you very much for the very handy plugin.

    I installed it on m Arabic blog. I get this message whenever I am forwarded to paypal’s website after clicking the “donate” button:

    Data does not match input character set or default encoding. For more information, please contact the merchant.

    I get it in both cases when the button is added to the sidebar via the built in widget, or by manually adding the php code in the sidebar’s php file.

    Whaat solution can be to this ?

    Thanx !

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanAugust 25, 2009

       Hi,

       I guess it can be caused by the arabic character set on your site. I remember that character set can be defined through the PayPal button, I’ll look into adding such an option.

       Johan

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          MouadAugust 26, 2009

          Thanx, ill be waiting

          ( Reply )
16. 

    FrankAugust 25, 2009

    Hello,

    Thank you for this plug-in. So far it works pretty well. I need to change the color of the “text” from black to white. I am not sure where I do that. I could not find anything in the CSS file that I could change. Your help would be appreciated.

    Frank

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanAugust 25, 2009

       Hi Frank,

       Do you have an URL where I can take a look of how it looks at the moment? Then I can see what you need to do change the text color.

       Cheers!
       Johan

       ( Reply )
17. 

    CarlSeptember 21, 2009

    I would like to create a donate text link instead of a button. Any suggestions? Great plugin!

    ( Reply )
18. 

    guntisSeptember 24, 2009

    is there any way of showing certain amount of money that have to be gathered and changes in that sum after donation, if not maybe it could be included in next versions

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanSeptember 24, 2009

       Hi,

       Well, no, there isn’t such a feature at the moment in the plugin. But thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look into if I could add something like that for a coming version.

       Johan

       ( Reply )
19. 

    RomeoOctober 12, 2009

    Hi,

    Great plugin, i have translate it in the Albanian language. It will be nice from you to add this language too.

    Pls contact me in order to send you the .po and .mo files.

    Regards

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanOctober 13, 2009

       Thanks for the translation files, much appreciated. :)
       I’ve updated the plugin to include your translation.

       Cheers!

       ( Reply )
20. 

    GeorgWPOctober 14, 2009

    Hi,

    I have localized your plugin for the happy Danes: PayPal Donations

    Usually, I keep my translations updated, so you are welcome to check now and then, if I forget to notify you. :-)

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanOctober 14, 2009

       Georg,

       Awesome! I appreciate your work with this. :)
       I’ve added your translation to the plugin and to the credits.

       Thanks again.
       Cheers!

       ( Reply )
21. 

    Matt MowerOctober 14, 2009

    In my last test of the plugin, the return page entry did not work. Can anyone else check this?

    ( Reply )
22. 

    Rich BrownOctober 16, 2009

    Excellent plug-in! One question: how can I include a small amount of text below the “donate” button? I was thinking something like, “If you have been blessed by the ministry and would like to participate, please consider a donation!”

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanOctober 19, 2009

       Currently the paypal widget only allows you to add text above the button. I could add an option to move it below the button though.

       Another way if you want this right away, you could add a text widget right below the paypal widget, and write your text there. If you leave the title field empty in the text widget, the text will appear close below the paypal button.

       ( Reply )
23. 

    SeanOctober 18, 2009

    Saw in an earlier response that you were going to add the ability for users to put in their own amount. I would just like to put in a second for this feature. Add this, and this plugin in perfect.

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanOctober 19, 2009

       By leaving the amount field empty in the admin for the plugin the user can put in their own amount in the current version. Or where you referring to having a set of predefined amounts to choose between for the user?

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          SeanOctober 19, 2009

          Was thinking of letting the user put in their amount BEFORE they get to PayPal. So I would have an option to add an input field to the widget itself.

          ( Reply )
    2. 

       JohanOctober 21, 2009

       Alright, now I’m with you. :)
       That’s a feature I’ve thought of myself, I’ll try to get it added into the next update.

       ( Reply )
24. 

    XHIBITOctober 19, 2009

    I love the plug in widget, however I use a custom donate button and cant get rid of the little bordering white lines.
    Any suggestions ?

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanOctober 21, 2009

       Hi,

       I should probably add a class selector when using custom images for easier styling. But you can fix that right now as well.

       Just add these lines in your CSS stylesheet and the border should be gone:

       1 2 3

       .paypal-donations input[type="image"] { border: none; }

       /Johan

       ( Reply )
25. 

    gabsOctober 21, 2009

    Hello,
    how use the Page Style property ?

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanOctober 21, 2009

       Hi,

       When you have logged in to your PayPal account, go to:
       Profile -> Selling Preferences -> Custom Payment Pages

       And you can create your own custom pagestyle for the payment page and give it a name. Use that name in the Page Style property to use that design for the donation page.

       Cheers!

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          GabsOctober 22, 2009

          Hi Johan,

          Thanks for your answer. :-)
          But, what name should I give ? css style with absolute url ?

          ( Reply )
    2. 

       JohanOctober 22, 2009

       You don’t use any CSS styles for the PayPal page style function.
       I made a couple of screenshots for you to see how to setup your own PayPal style.

       

       Screen 1: Goto your profile page and then to Custom Payment Pages.
       Screen 2: That brings you to screen 2, where you can Add a new Page Style.
       Screen 3: And here you can give your new Page Style a name, which is the name you tell the plugin that you want to use for a page style. Also here is the (somewhat limited) styling options PayPal allows you to set for your custom look of the payment page.

       Hope this helps. :)

       Cheers!

       ( Reply )
26. 

    AlexGOctober 21, 2009

    Hey there, I’ve been attempting to install a Paypal donation plugin to my wordpress blog, but I’m not able to. I can’t find the Pluggin section. I’m thinking it may be because I’m using a free wordpress blog. Is that the problem? Here it is…. (I actually am running 3, 2 actively) http://www.allaboutdbz.wordpress.com

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanOctober 21, 2009

       Hi there,

       You are correct, I am pretty sure the wordpress.com hosted blogs doesn’t allow users to install plugins on their own. You need to run a self-hosted version of Wordpress to do that.

       Cheers,
       Johan

       ( Reply )
27. 

    Olivier BruchezNovember 16, 2009

    Hello,

    I’m using WP 2.8.6. I’ve installed Paypal Donations 1.4.4, added the widget to the sidebar, filled in the fields, but nothing actually shows up in the sidebar of my blog.

    Is there a compatibility problem between Paypal Donations 1.4.4 and WP 2.8.6 or am I doing something wrong?

    Thanks,
    Olivier

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanNovember 16, 2009

       It should work fine with 2.8.6 (and the 2.9 beta), so that seems strange. Have you also filled in the fields in the WordPress Dashboard -> Settings -> PayPal Donations?

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          Olivier BruchezNovember 16, 2009

          I’ve filled in the 3 “defaults” fields (Amount, Purpose, and Reference) in the Settings page, but not the Page Style and Return Page optional settings. I’ve also filled in the 4 fields in the widget (Title, Text, Purpose, and Reference). I use Mandigo 1.38 as a theme. That’s the problem, I think. It seems to work with other themes…

          ( Reply )
    2. 

       JohanNovember 16, 2009

       I just tried the Mandigo theme to see if I could find some problem with it, but it seemed to work fine. The version I found of the theme was v1.41, so perhaps updating the theme to the newest version will solve your problem?

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          Olivier BruchezNovember 17, 2009

          I think I forgot about WP Super Cache. Again.

          Sorry about that… :-(

          ( Reply )
28. 

    Bob KingNovember 26, 2009

    Excellent plugin. Thank you very much for creating it.

    Since I have multiple donate page for different purpose, it’d be nice to provide different Thank-you page. The plugin currently only allow one default Return Page.

    I had a look at your code (brilliantly structure!) and added the ‘return_page” short code. However, I don’t quite know how I can test it without making a payment.

    If you could let me know to do the testing, please complete the patch and send it back to you. You can also see my patch at: http://wealthynetizen.com/paypal-donations-return-page.zip

    Kind regards,
    Bob

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanNovember 28, 2009

       Thanks for the patch, I’ll take a look at it and see if I can update the plugin with it. :)

       To test paypal without making a payment, you can use PayPal’s Sandbox feature, it’s available here http://sandbox.paypal.com/ where you can setup a test account and test users and make test payments without using any real money.

       ( Reply )
    2. 

       JohanNovember 28, 2009

       Your addition for the return_page shortcode worked aces. I’ve included your code in the plugin and updated the version number to 1.4.5. I added your name and url to your site in the changelog here and at wordpress.org.

       Thanks for the addition. :)
       Cheers!
       Johan

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          Bob KingNovember 28, 2009

          Wonderful! thank you for your fast response.

          Kind regards,
          Bob

          ( Reply )
       2. 

          Bob KingJanuary 8, 2010

          Hi Johan,

          I installed version 1.4.5 with return_page shortcode. I now have 3 donations (after a month). With the return_page URL, the donor should be taken to the download page directly. However from the interactions, I realized they were not taken to the download page, instead to an old form page which was configured as default Return Page.

          It seems that the return_page value had no effect. The default always take over. Since I haven’t figured out how to test the plug in without keeping on contributing to Paypal, could you have a look?

          Thanks.

          ( Reply )
          1. 

             JohanJanuary 8, 2010

             Hi Bob,

             Thanks for your report.
             I made a test with the shortcode overriding the default return page value, and it seemed to work properly.
             Have you entered your shortcode like this?

             1	[paypal-donation return_page="http://domain.com/new-return/"]

             If you have, do you have the url’s to your pages so I can take a look at it, what it looks like for you? (url for a page with a button using the default return page and url for page with button with new shortcode return page).

             /Johan

          2. 

             Bob KingJanuary 9, 2010

             Johan,

             Thanks for you quick response. I realize that I can just look at the generated code to test. My problem was a mixed modified code. A clean re-install solved the problem.

             I own you a beer

29. 

    Bob KingNovember 27, 2009

    I’ve received a few donations. Paypal takes away 2.9% + $0.30 USD. For a $10 donation, this is $0.59. Pretty high. However, if this is a personal transfer, it’s free when the money comes from PayPal balance or bank account. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-fees-outside

    Is there a way to set the donation to Personal Transfer?
    Thanks again

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanNovember 28, 2009

       I’m not sure if that’s possible, but I’ll take a look at the different options PayPal provides and see if there’s a setting for it. I don’t remember seeing it, but there’s plenty of options available so I might not have paid attention to it.

       ( Reply )
30. 

    DickNovember 30, 2009

    We had the issue that with a German PayPal account the checkout page was showing in German.

    I had to add the following to the plugin to get the cart page on PayPal to show in English for all users: $paypal_btn .= ”;

    Perhaps you can add this to be connected to the language setting variable so the checkout page in PayPal always has a preset language.

    Otherwise super cool plugin!

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanDecember 2, 2009

       Thanks for the information. :)

       I’ll take a look at this and add some option for it in the next update.

       Cheers!
       Johan

       ( Reply )
    2. 

       smnJanuary 15, 2010

       Hello,

       I have the same problem.
       What is the code to put behind $paypal_btn .= ”; with $paypal_btn .= ”; it does not work

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          JohanJanuary 15, 2010

          Hi,

          I think the html code got stripped from his comment.
          Anyway, PayPal allows you to set the localization of the checkout page with the lc variable.
          So to make sure the checkout page is in english you can add this row into the plugin:

          1	$paypal_btn .= '<input type="hidden" name="lc" value="US" />';

          That line shall go in the generate_html() function, just below the comment “// Optional Settings” (line 157 I think) would work fine.

          I’ll add this as an option in a coming update, but if you want this now, this works fine to do in the meantime.

          P.S. PayPal has a list of all available country codes, if you want to default it to something other than US English. D.S.

          Cheers,
          Johan

          ( Reply )
31. 

    RyanJanuary 2, 2010

    Hi,

    Thanks for the plugin, it was useful, but i’m having problems trying to add it into my sidebar as i’m not trained in playing around with the coding etc as you can see from my blog with the Meta, Blogroll, Archieves sidebarstill there

    When you mention php files to put in the paypal code add_filter(‘widget_text’, ‘do_shortcode’);

    does it mean that I have to go into my FTP account and retreive the files to insert the code into the php files and update the files from FTP?

    Is there any way whereby I can bypass the php files thingy?

    Btw: I come across a blog yesterday that has the same Paypal Donation button but his can allow the user to choose their preferred currency, is it possible with your plugin?
    his site is: http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/

    Lastly, how do i create a thank you page with my wordpress blog? I’m still clueless on using the wordpress blog.

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanJanuary 2, 2010

       Hi Ryan,

       Okay, let’s see.

       No you shouldn’t have to edit or insert code into any php files to use the sidebar widget. In your WordPress Dashboard, if you go to Appearance -> Widgets, you’ll find all WordPress’ available widgets as well as the PayPal Donations widget which you then just have to drag into the sidebar there to activate it, and that should be all.

       About choosing the preferred currency, at the moment you can only do that in the admin, but it’s on my list to also expose that to the user if one wants to, in a coming version, so the user can select their preferred as well.

       To have a donation page, just create a simple page and call it thank-you, donated or something similar, and add the text and information you want to display to the donaters. And then in the PayPal Donations settings (Dashboard -> Settings -> PayPal Donations) add the complete URL to the thank you page in the return page field. For instance http://www.your-domain.com/thank-you/

       Hope this helps.
       Cheers!
       Johan

       ( Reply )
32. 

    qwizztestJanuary 11, 2010

    Hey Johan,

    I’m a web developer and I now use your Paypal donate plugin for any clients with donation needs.

    First I’d like to say thank you for developing such an easy to use plugin; I’ve had no problems at all with the installation and setup; and it has actually replaced a more complicated (though still very functional) event registration plugin I’ve used in the past.

    The best part of the plugin is the AMAZING support provided. Almost every single comment has been answered in a surprisingly detailed fashion (sometimes with screenshots!). Seriously, I’ve had paid for support that wasn’t as helpful.

    Finally, I do have an actual question. What does the “reference” argument do, exactly? After studying the examples, I’m guessing it’s used to group different types of donations… if so would I get those lists from paypal’s website?

    Thank you again.

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanJanuary 12, 2010

       Hi,

       I’m happy you find the plugin useful. :)

       Anyway, to answer your question.
       To quote PayPal about the reference argument: “Pass-through variable for you to track product or service purchased or the contribution made. The value you specify passed back to you upon payment completion.”

       In other words, PayPal themselves don’t use this argument for anything, so it’s solely for your own purpose if you find it useful. The text you enter there will be shown at the checkout page in smaller lighter text under the purpose which you can try by just enter some text in the reference field and press the donate button to get to PayPal’s checkout page.
       The text is also displayed in the subject of the email you receive from PayPal when you get a donation as well as in the donation details.

       So you can use it for your own personal grouping or when searching and perhaps other things I haven’t thought of. When using it with traditional products in a webshop it’s often used for the product ID. I have donation buttons for a few other things than my WordPress plugins so I personally use it to group different kind of donations together. So for all my Wordpress plugins I just use “WordPress Plugin” as reference, so I easily can sort them from other donations in my mailbox later on.

       Hope this enlightens the reference variable a bit.

       Cheers,
       Johan

       ( Reply )
33. 

    jbJanuary 16, 2010

    thanks alot.

    ( Reply )
34. 

    nsaneJanuary 19, 2010

    My text and icon keeps alligning to the left of the widget box, and it even passes the border. I tried the code to center the button in this thread, but how do I also center the text?

    ( Reply )
35. 

    QuinJanuary 20, 2010

    Hi, I want to add the button to my footer (in the footer.php file). However, it doesn’t work. I tried it on my contact page, and it still doesn’t work.
    Any ideas? (hopefully for the footer)

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanJanuary 22, 2010

       Hi,

       To add the button in the footer, the user friendliest way would be to use fact that you can have multiple sidebars in WordPress, and have another sidebar registered for the footer, so you can drag sidebar widgets into the footer as well as the traditional sidebar. Then you can just add the paypal donations widget that way (and any other widgets you might want to use in the footer).

       The other option is to add a few lines of php code to the footer to add the button that way. You’d then just have to add these 3 lines posted in this comment above: http://coding.cglounge.com/wordpress-plugins/paypal-donations/#comment-603

       Cheers,
       Johan

       ( Reply )
36. 

    KingWmFebruary 1, 2010

    Plugin appears to work well. I have a suggestion. I am not using the plugin for donations, but for payment for services. Your plugin does not have a feature to use the “saved buttons” feature from paypal. In other words, I created a personal button in PayPal for “Pay Now” with some specific options. They generated code for the button and provided me with a link URL to the code. The problem is, there is no where to enter the code or the link in your plugin. Apparently, the plugin is for Donations only, which is fine. However, if you could add the PayPal personal button feature to the plugin, it would be that much more wonderful.

    I hacked your code and it is working. First, I change the the icon to paynow:
    ‘cards’ => ‘https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_paynowCC_LG.gif’);

    Then, I change the following:
    $paypal_btn = ”;
    $paypal_btn .= ”;
    $paypal_btn .= ”;
    $paypal_btn .= ”;

    The x’s are my costum button ID.

    Making these changes allowed me to use your plugin for a “Pay Now” button that uses my custom payment screen in PayPal.

    Thanks for the plugin. It definitely works for me even though I had to hack it. I just wanted to suggest the feature for future upgrades. then, it would not be just a “Donations” plugin, but would also work for the other PayPal buttons.

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       KingWmFebruary 1, 2010

       I just noticed the lines of code were removed from my comment.

       I made the following changes:
       $paypal_btn .= input type = hidden, name = cmd, value =_s-xclick
       $paypal_btn .= input type = hidden name = hosted_button_id, value = the ID of my button generated by PayPal

       In summary, I made 3 changes:
       1) changed icon for cards to _paynow instead of _donate
       2) changed the values for the two “$paypal_btn .=” to the valued provided by paypal.

       Sorry, I am not much of a coder, so I don’t understand the vernacular.

       ( Reply )
37. 

    Jan KlapisFebruary 18, 2010

    Johan,

    I am sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but I just can´t seem to find my PayPal ID nor custom payment pages in my PayPal account. Regarding the first, the profile page displays only various links to my email, address etc but doesn´t contain my ID, and reg. the second, there is no such thing as Custom Payment Pages under Selling preferences… can you help?

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanFebruary 18, 2010

       Hey Jan,

       Check out this screenshot in the comment above http://coding.cglounge.com/wordpress-plugins/paypal-donations/#comment-1752

       At the top where the text is mosaiced, just under the Profile Summary heading, you’ll find your Secure Merchant Account ID. And then the link to custom payment pages is underlined in the same screenshot.

       Hope this helps.

       Cheers,
       Johan

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          Jan KlapisFebruary 18, 2010

          Hmm, it´s clear that my PayPal shows me that page a little bit different…

          Please look at this: http://www.uttama-bhakti.org/PaypalPicture.jpg

          Why is it different from yours?

          ( Reply )
          1. 

             JohanFebruary 18, 2010

             Ah, you probably have a personal PayPal account. To get all merchant services you need to change the account type.
             See this chart for available PayPal account types:
             https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/general/PayPalAccountTypes-outside

             You need to upgrade it to Premier account type at least to get all features. You should find the option to do that somewhere in the options after you’ve logged in to your account (I don’t remember exactly where the upgrade account link was).

38. 

    Jan KlapisFebruary 18, 2010

    Johan, you´re a great help. Thank you so much for investing your time in clearing my doubts.

    Best wishes,

    Jan

    ( Reply )
39. 

    KlockarmanFebruary 19, 2010

    When I put it on my sidebar, there is a box around the “Donate” icon. Any way of getting rid of that?

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanFebruary 19, 2010

       Yes,

       Probably the CSS for your theme has set all form buttons to have a border around them. You need to make a small addition to your CSS stylesheet to make an exception for the PayPal button. See my reply to this comment of what you need to add.
       http://coding.cglounge.com/wordpress-plugins/paypal-donations/#comment-1683

       Cheers,
       Johan

       ( Reply )
       1. 

          KlockarmanFebruary 19, 2010

          Me again. Where exactly on the CSS style sheet do I place that code? I tried pasting it to the very bottom of the style sheet but that didn’t work to solve the problem. Sorry, I’m just a blogger, not a techie.

          Also, I pasted my Pay Pal Secure ID into your Admin form as you suggest in the instructions, but when I press the Donate button on my blog’s Donate button the Pay Pal donation form window still shows my e-mail address rather than my Pay Pal secure ID.

          Can you help with that too?

          ( Reply )
          1. 

             JohanFebruary 20, 2010

             Well, it could be a number of things then, if you have an url to your site where you have set it up, I could take a look at it.

             And your second question, you mean that the email is shown when you come to the checkout screen at PayPal?
             Well, the only way to completely hide it from there is to change your PayPal account type to business, then it won’t be shown.
             If you don’t want to change to business type account you could also make a custom checkout page with your own logo to hide the email, but I still think it’s shown somewhere in the body text (not sure though).

40. 

    michaelFebruary 20, 2010

    Hi. How might I use the reference (or purpose?) to dynamically add the name of a person being sponsored?

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanFebruary 20, 2010

       Well,

       There is no such functionality built into the plugin. But with some PHP tweaking you can add such functionality pretty easy.
       You could use the paypal donations shortcode from your functions.php and make a small function that accepts a name as argument and passes it on to the plugin through the shortcode.

       Or another way is to call the generate_html() function directly in the paypal_donations class from your functions.php. The generate_html() function in the plugin accepts purpose and reference as arguments, and return the complete html code for the button. So that could be a quick and easy way to do what you want to do.

       Cheers,
       Johan

       ( Reply )
41. 

    BryanFebruary 21, 2010

    How do you customize the styling of the donation button in the widget window? I am using the .paypal-donations {} inside the stylesheet to no avail. I can change the CSS for all the widget classes and get the appropriate effect, but I only want to center the donation button in the individual window of the paypal widget. Hopefully I’m making sense.. I don’t speak good webmaster lingo.

    Thanks,

    Bryan

    ( Reply )
42. 

    JakeMarch 3, 2010

    Hi, this plugin looks really great. I do have a suggestion though. Could you make a back end page to view donations received? or at the very least allow me to input an alternate email to be emailed whenever a donation is made? I use a separate email for paypal and I rarely check it, so it would be nice to know when I get a donation.

    Thanks!

    ( Reply )
43. 

    David BurtonMarch 3, 2010

    Any chance we can pass the return page as a shortcode? Anything need to be modified to do that?

    Thanks!
    David

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanMarch 4, 2010

       David,

       Yes you can, the argument to pass on a return page in the shortcode is simply return_page.
       So using [paypal-donation return_page="your url" other_arguments...] should do the trick.

       Cheers,
       Johan

       ( Reply )
44. 

    Christine SiebelsMarch 9, 2010

    How can I output a list of people that have made donations. I was here the other day and there was a list of donors by your Pintware link. They are gone today. Are you dynamically outputting donors?

    ( Reply )
    1. 

       JohanMarch 9, 2010

       The plugin doesn’t automatically build a list of donors at this time. I’ve got a few requests about that though, so I’m thinking of adding such a feature when I get some time to finish the next larger update of the plugin.

       Cheers,
       Johan

       ( Reply )