How to control whether the customer can enter a comment

[P_J_M]

According to the document https://developer.paypal.com/api/nvp-soap/ipn/IPNandPDTVariables/ there is an IPN-PDT variable called "memo", which contains the data "as entered by your customer in PayPal Website Payments note field". According to the document https://developer.paypal.com/api/nvp-soap/paypal-payments-standard/integration-guide/Appx-websitesta... there was an HTML variable called "no-note", which controlled whether the customer is presented with a text box to enter a comment (0 = show the text box, 1 = hide it). But according to the document this field was deprecated in September 2016. I have two questions.
1. Since the HTML variable was deprecated, does this mean that the text box should now always be shown to the customer (irrespective of whether the no-note variable is present)?
2. In the sandbox, the text box for entering a comment is only shown if the no-note variable is present and has a value of 0. In other words, it does not appear to have been deprecated in the sandbox. Why is this? Surely the whole point of the sandbox is that it should have exactly the same functionality as the live Paypal environment.

[MTS_Justin]

Hello,

"1. Since the HTML variable was deprecated, does this mean that the text box should now always be shown to the customer (irrespective of whether the no-note variable is present)?"

The ability to provide a note to the merchant during checkout was removed some time ago.

"2. In the sandbox, the text box for entering a comment is only shown if the no-note variable is present and has a value of 0. In other words, it does not appear to have been deprecated in the sandbox. Why is this? Surely the whole point of the sandbox is that it should have exactly the same functionality as the live Paypal environment"

The "no_note" variable is depreciated and should no longer display a text box to the customer. I've tested this today with a buy now & subscription button (no_note=0) and a note field is not shown to the user.

Thanks !

[P_J_M]

Justin,

Thanks for looking into this. 

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I was dealing with a Donation (passing an HTML value of cmd="_donations").  In this case it definitely displays a text box to the customer when I pass no_note="0" (and its label is the value that I am passing for the cn variable).  I've just tried it again now.  This is in the sandbox.  I haven't tried it in the live environment.

So do I understand that the "memo" IPN/PDT variable is also deprecated?  The doc https://developer.paypal.com/api/nvp-soap/ipn/IPNandPDTVariables/ does not say that it is deprecated.

[MTS_Justin · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Thanks for your update.

Testing a donation and the variable (no_note) appears to still work for this button type and if a note is added into this field, it is also returned within an IPN message for the donation through the "memo" variable which you also mentioned. The "cn" variable also appears to still work for this button type.

The depreciation of specific variables just means that they will no longer be improved upon. In the specific case of the "no_note" variable, this also used to be available for other button types such as buy now / subscriptions, but was removed.

Thanks !