Paypal express confusion of integration and files provided by paypal do not work

Question

I used the PayPal integration wizard to create the files that I need to integrate PayPal into a custom shopping cart, and on the paypalfunctions.php page I added the api credentials. I downloaded the expresscheckout.php file provided by the wizard and received this error

SetExpressCheckout API call failed. Detailed Error Message: Security header is not validShort Error Message: Security errorError Code: 10002Error Severity Code: Error 

what does it mean?

this is just the page I uploaded. I haven’t attached these pages to the commerce site at the moment, and I only check the PayPal data files to see if it works before doing any integration.

 require_once ("paypalfunctions.php"); // ================================== // PayPal Express Checkout Module // ================================== //'------------------------------------ //' The paymentAmount is the total value of //' the shopping cart, that was set //' earlier in a session variable //' by the shopping cart page //'------------------------------------ $paymentAmount = "10.45"; //'------------------------------------ //' The currencyCodeType and paymentType //' are set to the selections made on the Integration Assistant //'------------------------------------ $currencyCodeType = "USD"; $paymentType = "Sale"; //'------------------------------------ //' The returnURL is the location where buyers return to when a //' payment has been succesfully authorized. //' //' This is set to the value entered on the Integration Assistant //'------------------------------------ $returnURL = "http://www.mysite.com/orderConfirm.php"; //'------------------------------------ //' The cancelURL is the location buyers are sent to when they hit the //' cancel button during authorization of payment during the PayPal flow //' //' This is set to the value entered on the Integration Assistant //'------------------------------------ $cancelURL = "http://www.mysite.com/cancelOrder.php"; //'------------------------------------ //' Calls the SetExpressCheckout API call //' //' The CallShortcutExpressCheckout function is defined in the file PayPalFunctions.php, //' it is included at the top of this file. //'------------------------------------------------- $resArray = CallShortcutExpressCheckout ($paymentAmount, $currencyCodeType, $paymentType, $returnURL, $cancelURL); $ack = strtoupper($resArray["ACK"]); if($ack=="SUCCESS" || $ack=="SUCCESSWITHWARNING") { RedirectToPayPal ( $resArray["TOKEN"] ); } else { //Display a user friendly Error on the page using any of the following error information returned by PayPal $ErrorCode = urldecode($resArray["L_ERRORCODE0"]); $ErrorShortMsg = urldecode($resArray["L_SHORTMESSAGE0"]); $ErrorLongMsg = urldecode($resArray["L_LONGMESSAGE0"]); $ErrorSeverityCode = urldecode($resArray["L_SEVERITYCODE0"]); echo "SetExpressCheckout API call failed. "; echo "Detailed Error Message: " . $ErrorLongMsg; echo "Short Error Message: " . $ErrorShortMsg; echo "Error Code: " . $ErrorCode; echo "Error Severity Code: " . $ErrorSeverityCode; } 

Answer 1

 Detailed Error Message: Security header is not valid 

what does it mean?

This means your security header is invalid.

The 39,000 Google results for your specific error message suggest that the username and password of the API you are using are incorrect for the particular endpoint you are using. Either your credentials for the sandbox and you use them live, or your credentials for live use and you use them for the sandbox. Or there is a typo.

Answer 2

try

paypalfunctions.php

 $SandboxFlag = false; 

Answer 3

Tried the above solution and it did not work. My Sandbox flag was set correctly and all my credentials.

The solution was to delete the accounts in the sandbox (perhaps leave them), and create and use new ones. Worked like a charm. Sometimes the credentials from Paypal Sandbox just kick back and you have to start all over again.