payment processor creation questions

[johnmont]

I've got a decent start on things creating a verisign payment API, but had a bit of an issue discovering why certain things were missing in the html and such after creating a new class. Eventually I did a db search to fine words and figured out where everything was being used. But I'm still having some issues.

Here's what I did:

I copied the worldpay php file and changed the classname, etc. Took some time and figured most everything out. Then I discovered the templates table and basically got most of it running. One thing I did, however, was end up losing some of the custom db fields which are visible in the admin cp (password, merchant id, etc). When I renamed them in the phrases table, these fields no longer show up on the page (at least thats when I think I lost them). I'm curious what the interaction between these various files are -- I think I named them "correctly". By this I mean how does a settings item in the payment.api field end up getting displayed in the admin field? And how does this relate to phrases?

I've found the following uses in the database and in files...i don't think I'm missing any:

db: paymentapi, phrase, language, template, style
files: md5_sums_vbulletin, class_verisign.php (my file), payments.php

For future upgrade compatibility, etc....what is the "proper" way to add an API. Duplicate an exisiting one and change? Replace an existing one? Plugin creation?

Thanks for the info.