Deep Linking
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Deep link feature allows a third-party (in further text referred to as a Developer) to use a predefined URL to open up the pre-installed Cardknox mobile application in order to process a transaction.
The Developer provides a number of required query parameters alongside any optional query parameters.
The Cardknox app will use xRedirectURL with the required parameter to deliver the results of the processed transaction back to the caller. Results are provided as query parameters, appended onto the value provided by the xRedirectURL parameter. This is a GET request.
A list of phrases, words, and synonyms that appear in this document; along with their meaning
Cardknox API
Refers to the Cardknox Transaction API, which can be found at .
Command
A combination of a Payment type and a Transaction type, delimited by a semicolon. For example, cc:sale denotes a Credit Card Payment type and a sale transaction type.
Payment type
A type of payment, such as Credit Card (further abbreviated as “cc”), Check (further abbreviated as “check”). More payment types can be found on the Cardknox API site.
Transaction type
A type of transaction; such as Sale, AuthOnly, Capture etc. More transaction types can be found on the Cardknox API site.
Bare minimum, to integrate a mobile application capable of reacting to deep links with a website, is that the website should implement the logic that does the following:
Checks whether the application is installed on the mobile device or not.
If it’s not installed, the user is taken to the respective app store (AppStore for iOS or Google Play Store for Android).
if the software is installed, the target application is started.
Points 2 and 3 differ in the URLs that need to be invoked in order to achieve the described result (take the user to an app store or open the target application). Mobile browsers don’t offer an out-of-the-box API to detect if an application is installed on the device or not. As such, point 1 is the responsibility of the Developer to implement. This document assumes that the Cardknox app is preinstalled on a mobile device during the integration.
The Cardknox mobile app can be installed here:
The Cardknox app predefined URL is:
dck://app.cardknox.com/transaction
A Developer can use the predefined URL to open the Cardknox app in 2 ways:
Manually, by navigating to a predefined URL through a browser on a mobile device.
By having a website with an HTML element that can handle URLs and specifying the predefined URL on that HTML element.
Android only -
adbtool can be used to deep link into the app with the following code:
A developer is required to pass in a couple of required parameters. These required parameters are first URL decoded and then validated by the application. Optionally, a number of optional parameters can be passed in in order to prefil the transaction process form:
Example URL with all the required parameters and no optional parameters
Validation is performed on the required and optional arguments. A failing required parameters validation results in an error screen displaying which one of the required arguments is missing or is invalid.
Optional arguments are also validated, but the application will not present an error screen describing which optional parameter failed the validation. For example, the app expects the xCVV optional parameter to be an int. The app will read a query parameter named xCVV and try to convert its value to an int. Passing a double might break the conversion to an int, in which case 0 is used as the int default value.
Validation is done in 3 steps, where each step yields a different user interface:
The xRedirectURL is invalid - User is presented with a UI that indicates that the xRedirectURL is missing or the provided value is not a valid URL.
At least one of the required parameters is invalid - User is presented with a UI that indicates which parameter failed validation.
All required parameters are valid - User is presented with a UI to process a transaction.
Response URL invoked by the app when only the xRedirectURL required parameter is supplied.
Response URL invoked by the app when the xRedirectURL and xKey required parameters are supplied. Note that supplying the xCommandparameter here will not make the app validate the xCommand parameter as it’s being validated after xAmount.
Response URL invoked by the app when the xRedirectURL, xKey and xAmount required parameters are supplied.
Cardknox app supports two user interfaces for transaction processing - one form interface (further abbreviated as “keyed screen”) and one card reader interface (further abbreviated as “swipe screen”).
Keyed screen allows processing with a card number, expiration date, cvv and other card specific information.
Swipe screen allows bluetooth pairing to a physical VP3300 card reader device, and transaction processing with card reader data readings; either with a card swipe (MSR / magnetic stripe cards) or by using the card with a chip (EMV card). The EMV card can be either tapped onto (“contactless”) or inserted into (“contact”) the VP3300 reader.
The app supports two optional query parameters to control which one, or both, of the two interfaces will be available once the app is invoked with a deep link:
EnableDeviceInsertSwipeTap
controls the availability of the swipe screen
value type: boolean
possible values: true, false
example: EnableDeviceInsertSwipeTap=true
EnableKeyedEntry - controls the availability of the keyed screen
controls the availability of the keyed screen
value type: boolean
possible values: true, false
example: EnableKeyedEntry=true
When the parameter values are not parseable to an expected value type, the app treats the parameter as not being provided at all
Presence of query parameters in the deep link URL and their value controls which user interfaces should be presented, as per the following mapping:
EnableDeviceInsertSwipeTap
EnableKeyedEntry
Keyed UI available
Swipe UI available
-
-
x
true
-
x
x
false
-
x
-
true
x
-
false
x
true
true
x
x
true
false
x
false
true
x
false
false
x
Mapping between the presence and value of EnableDeviceInsertSwipeTap and EnableKeyedEntry query parameters. Note that “-” symbol means “the parameter was not present in the URL”. Symbol “x” means that the UI is available.
When both keyed and swipe user interfaces are available, each one contains an UI element to navigate to the other interface
The user interface provides a button to process a transaction. The required parameters on the UI are the card number, expiration date, and the amount. The amount parameter is passed in through the URL. Expiration date defaults to the current month in the current year. The card number has to be typed in or provided as an optional argument with the xCardNum query parameter.
After the transaction is processed, two things can happen:
Transaction is approved - User will see a summary of the processed transaction. User has an option to click “Done” or “Signature.” Clicking on the “Done” button opens the mobile device browser with the URL specified by the xRedirectURL parameter. Transaction details are converted into key/value pairs and appended as a query string onto the xRedirectURL value. This is a GET request.
Transaction resulted in an error - User will not see the processed transaction summary. User will see the error message about what went wrong in a popup. User has an option to send the response back to xRedirectURL by clicking on any of the 2 Send buttons.
A successful transaction URL encoded response sent to the xRedirectURL
A erroneous transaction URL encoded response sent to the xRedirectURL
After the app sends the response back to the caller (by opening up the xRedirectURL in the mobile browser), the app’s UI is replaced with a full screen image displaying the Cardknox logo:
When the user taps Cancel in the application, a DeepLink cancellation is processed.
Response
Value
xError
DeepLink Cancelled
xResult
E
xStatus
Error
Name
Type
Description
Sample data
Additional notes
xKey
string
Cardknox account key
CardknoxSupport_Test
Has to be a non-empty, non-pure-whitespace string.
xCommand
string
Cardknox transaction type
cc:sale
Has to be lowercase.
Supported values are all values supported by the Cardknox API.
xAmount
double
Total amount of the transaction, including tax and tip, if applicable.
3.0
xRedirectURL
URL
A URL where the Cardknox app delivers the results of processing a transaction.
URL needs to have a schema/protocol alongside the domain name.
Results are delivered by the app, appending the Cardknox API response to this value and opening the URL on the mobile device’s browser.
This is a GET request.
https://www.test.com/
Name
Type
Description
Sample data
xAllowDuplicate
bool
By default, Cardknox rejects duplicate transactions within 10 minutes of the original transaction. This command overrides that safeguard. True/False allowed.
False
xExp
string
The card expiration number. Format: MMYY
1249
xCardNum
string
The customer card number.
4444333322221111
xCustReceipt
bool
True/False value indicating if the email address specified in xemail should receive a receipt containing the transaction details.
False
xEmail
string
The customer’s email address.
xCVV
string
3-digit code from the back of the card (for Amex, 4-digit code from the front of the card).
123
xName
string
The cardholder’s name.
John Doe
xInvoice
string
The merchant’s invoice number for the transaction. xInvoice is recommended when available for improved duplicate handling.
123456A
xPoNum
int
The merchant’s purchase order number for the transaction.
123485
xDescription
string
Additional data optionally passed along for reporting.
This is a description
xUserName
string
User’s name
John
xZip
string
The billing zip code of the cardholder.
11111
xStreet
string
The billing street address of the cardholder.
123 Any Street
xRefNum
double
Used to reference a previous transaction when doing a follow-up transaction, typically a refund, void, or capture.
Note: xRefnum can be a 64-bit number.
81234568
xCustom01
string
3 custom fields are available for custom data, such as customer comments, etc. Use xCustom01 through xCustom03.
xAuthCode
double
xAuthCode is a verification number provided by the issuing bank to be used with the cc:postauth command.
T4321A
xBillCity
string
The customer’s city for their billing profile.
Anytown
xBillCompany
string
The customer’s company name for their billing profile.
Acme
xBillCountry
string
The customer’s country for their billing profile.
USA
xBillFirstName
string
The customer’s first name for their billing profile.
John
xBillLastName
string
The customer’s last/family name for their billing profile.
Doe
xBillState
string
The customer’s state for their billing profile.
NY
xBillStreet
string
The customer’s street address for their billing profile.
123 Any Street
xBillPhone
string
The customer’s phone number for their billing profile.
8005551212
xBillZip
string
The customer’s zip code for their billing profile.
12345
xShipCity
string
The customer’s city for their shipping profile.
Anytown
xShipCompany
string
The customer’s company name for their shipping profile.
Acme
xShipFirstName
string
The customer’s first name for their shipping profile.
John
xShipLastName
string
The customer’s last/family name for their shipping profile.
Doe
xShipState
string
The customer’s state for their shipping profile.
NY
xShipStreet
string
The customer’s street address for their shipping profile.
123 Any Street
xShipPhone
string
The customer’s phone number for their shipping profile.
8005551212
xShipZip
string
The customer’s zip code for their shipping profile.
11111
a) Android:
b) iOS:
