Running site in test mode vs live mode

Will · Post by **Will** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:09 pm

Can you explain what happens when we run the site in "test" mode vs. "live" mode?

Are transactions sent to the gateway when in test mode?

What happens if we have:

- our gateway in test mode and the storefront in test mode
- our gateway in test mode and the storefront in live mode

Thanks,

Will

Post by **sohaib** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:56 am

If your gateway is in test mode it does not matter what is the status of your storefront. No real transactions will take place. Transactions will be sent to the test environment of the payment gateway.

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:49 am

What happens when the storefront is in test mode? Are transactions still sent to the gateway?

Post by **sohaib** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:00 am

What happens when the storefront is in test mode? Are transactions still sent to the gateway?

Of course they are sent to the gateway. There is no means otherwise to test if the integration is working or not.

Post by **sohaib** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:02 am

You should set your gateway in test mode while your store is in test mode.

In fact it is all up to you to decide and call when the store is in test mode and when it is not. There is no distinction built in.

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:34 am

So when a store is in "test" mode, there's no functional difference from "live" mode?

Post by **sohaib** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:04 am

There is no functional difference. As I said earlier saying that a store is in 'Test Mode' is all merchant's call. AC does not recognize two different execution modes.

If you are talking about running the store with demo license key then there are two differences
- You can not have your store running on a public domain
- All your orders addresses are set to DEMO DEMO

AbleMods · Post by **AbleMods** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:00 am

Are there any options for putting the store in a "test mode"? I don't remember seeing any in the setup screens.

I've seen where you can put the PayPal gateway into Sandbox mode, but not the entire store site.

It'd be hard to have a store test mode if you think about it. I mean, what would test mode gain you? Not capturing payments? You can do that already by setting the gateway to authorize-only.

I just set my payment gateway to authorize-only until I (thought I) was done testing payments. That way money never actually transferred hands.