You can use Rainforest's payment component to save a payment method without immediately taking a payment.

1. Create a PaymentMethodConfig in the Rainforest API to send information in advance about the payment method (user billing contact, metadata, etc.)
2. Embed the payment component and configure it to save a payment method
3. Add an event listener on the payment component to store the payment method identifier

Create the payment method config

First, create the payment method config to set up a payment method with information such as billing details and metadata before collecting the sensitive payment method details (i.e the card number) via the payment component.

A payment method config can only be associated to one active payment method. If the payment method fails to store, the same payment method config can be used to retry storing the payment method.

Billing contact

Rainforest requires certain billing contact fields to process a payin in the future. The requirements are dependent on the payment method. For a Card payin, the postal code is required. For an ACH payin, the name is required.

If the billing contact is provided in the payment method config, then billing contact fields in the payment component will be omitted.

If the billing contact is not provided in the payment method config, then the payment component will ask for the required fields to process a Card or ACH payin in the future.

Metadata

You can define arbitrary metadata in the payment method config to save on the payment method. The method metadata will be associated to all payins processed on the saved payment method.

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Do not pass sensitive information (e.g. social security numbers, protected health information, etc.) in metadata.

Embed the payment component

The next step is to show Rainforest's payment component for the user to input their payment method details and store the payment method.

Session authentication

The page where you host the component should be secure and authenticated, so that you are sure the current user is authorized to process the payin.

Create a session to grant the payment component permissions to store a payment method and pass the session_key into the payment component. The session should include at least the following statement:

curl --location 'https://api.rainforestpay.com/v1/sessions' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {{api_key}}' \
--data '{
    "ttl": 86400,
    "statements": [
        {
            "permissions": ["group#payment_component"],
            "constraints": {
                "merchant: {
                    "merchant_id": "REPLACE_ME"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}'

Session constraints

The payment component should be constrained to take payments on the merchant specified in the create payment method config request.

JavaScript bundle

Load the Rainforest payment JavaScript bundle onto your page so that you can render the payment component.

<script type="module" src="https://static.rainforestpay.com/sandbox.payment.js"></script>

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Developing locally?

If you're testing your integration on an environment that does not use localhost as the origin, you will need to first configure your browser to allow Rainforest to use secure web APIs, like cryptography, which are normally disallowed over an insecure connection. See our instructions for more detail.

Then render the payment component as HTML, providing the previously-created session_key and payment_method_config_id as attributes:

<rainforest-payment
    session-key="REPLACE_ME"
    payment-method-config-id="REPLACE_ME"
></rainforest-payment>

Customize the component

Head over to the Payment Component Studio for more attributes you can provide to customize the component's appearance and behavior.

Event listeners

Next, the payment component will emit one of three events after attempting to store the payment method.

Events

Listen for the result

You should add an event listener to the following events:

• approved
• declined
• error

One of the above events will be emitted after the User clicks the "store details" button and the payment method attempts to be stored.

The approved event will include the payment_method_id and all the details returned on the get payment method endpoint. You should store the payment_method_id in your system for future payments.

var component = document.querySelector('rainforest-payment');
component.addEventListener('approved', function (data) {
    // Save the payment_method_id from the data and redirect your user
});

Sandbox simulation

On Sandbox, the payment method will always successfully store. The payment method from the test ACH accounts and cards will then simulate as approval or decline when processing a payin, depending on the test card used.