Submitting to Cart

In the checkout flow, the user is typically asked to provide information – e.g. and address – and make some selections and then submit the cart to become an order.

The cart can handle the following:

• Billing details
• Delivery details
• Creating a user during checkout
• Selecting a payment method
• Selecting a shipping method
• Applying vouchers
• Paying with loyalty points
• Using a gift card
• Creating a recurring order
• Paying with a saved card
• Opt-ins
• Custom fields

To submit something to cart you submit a form with the id ordersubmit and the features you want to implement:

In order for the cart to receive this information the input fields being submitted must have specific IDs, names & values. You can read more about each feature below.

Billing details are submitted using input fields with IDs listed below. Most of these can be matched with a specific user field, but a few are for billing-specific information like an EAN number or a VAT number. There’s also a comment field.

Delivery details are submitted to cart in the same way as billing details – and are in fact almost identical to billing details.

The 'Copy customer info to delivery info fields if empty'-checkbox under Settings > Ecommerce > Advanced Configuration > Shopping cart allows you to copy billing address field values to the delivery address fields if no part of the delivery address has been filled out.

To create a user or update an existing user during checkout, submit a field with the name and ID EcomUserCreateNewOrUpdate alongside fields specifying a user name and a password.

Payment methods are submitted to cart using input elements with the name EcomCartPaymethodID and an id of the type EcomCartPaymethodID_{PaymentMethodID}, with PaymentMethodID replaced by a valid id.

Some payment methods support inline payment in which case the payment form can be rendered directly in the cart template. The contents of the payment form is payment method-specific and typically comes from a template on the payment method.

Shipping methods are submitted to cart using input elements with the name EcomCartShippingMethodId and an id of the type EcomCartShippingMethodId_{ShippingMethodID} with ShippingMethodID being replaced by a valid id.

Some shipping providers can provide you with more content – e.g. a list of parcel shops or parcel types – which must also be submitted to cart. This information is shipping method specific, and typically comes from a template set on the shipping method.

Vouchers are applied to an order by submitting a valid voucher code in a field with the ID EcomOrderCustomerVoucher.

To apply loyalty points to an order you submit a field with the ID EcomOrderPointsToUse and a value in loyalty points

In this example I first check of the current user is logged in – if she is, I retrieve her points balance and check if she can pay with points.

Gift Cards are applied to an order by submitting a valid gift card code to a field with the ID EcomOrderGiftCardCode.

To create a recurring order you must first check of the payment method supports recurring orders. If it does, you must submit a boolean field with the id & name EcomRecurringOrderCreate alongside an interval, an interval unit, and a start and end date.

Saved cards – which are actually saved payment methods – are saved by submitting a boolean field with the id EcomOrderSavedCardCreate_{PaymethodID} alongside a field specifying the name of the saved card. You should ensure that the payment method supports saved cards - at the time of writing this is:

• Stripe
• ChargeLogic Connect
• Quickpay Payment Window

To use a saved card you submit a field with the ID EcomCartSavedCardID_{SavedCardId}, with SavedCardId being the id of a saved card. Make sure you clear any previously selected payment method when a saved card is submitted.

Please note that it’s usually a good idea to let customers see and edit/remove the cards they have saved – like most self-service operations, this is done via the Customer Center.

From the cart you can change the value of the Email permission field on the logged in user, and the user can be asked to accept the Terms & Conditions.

In your template, you can check if the shopping cart has Use email subscription checked in the cart settings:

Custom fields – such as order fields or a coupon field– are posted to the cart using input elements which take the system name as the field name. No ID is necessary.

Finally, a small set of order fields are used on integrated solutions. Although they can also be submitted from frontend, this is not a typical use-case.