Ruby and Mpesa API : How to integrate daraja API using ruby

So sometimes tech languages can be the most unpredictable place to find yourself as a new techie. Recently I tried using daraja for one of my projects and was unable to get a guide on how to use it the ones that were present were outdated and couldn't apply to the new version of ruby. Safaricom is a huge enterprise they also do not have the time to guide you through the whole process luckily I am, I faced this challenge and found a solution for it.

First the setup

Set up the file and make imports for dependencies that are required like excon.

That dependency will be necessary as we proceed in the tutorial

gem 'excon', '~> 0.97.1'

Setup for the base64 encoding for the application authorization from the Safaricom sandbox to allow you to use the API

 require 'base64'
require 'httparty'
require "excon"



 consumer_secret = '[your_consumer_secret]'
 consumer_key = '[your_consumer_key]'


 def base64Encoded key,secret
    data = Base64.encode64(key + ':' + secret).gsub(/\n/, '')
    return data
 end


token = "Basic "+   base64Encoded(consumer_key,consumer_secret)

Once the base64Encode is set the application has to send a request to confirm that the credentials are correct to let's handle that

url = 'https://sandbox.safaricom.co.ke/oauth/v1/generate?grant_type=client_credentials'
headers = {
  Authorization: token
}

response = HTTParty.get(url, headers: headers)
puts response.code

accessToken = JSON.parse(response.body)["access_token"]

Every Mpesa transaction, happens in real-time for the merchant to validate that you made the payment at that particular time of purchase. For that case let's create a function that will generate the time as the transaction occurs.

def createTimestamp


  year = Time.now

  date = year.to_s.split(' ')[0].split('-').join('')

  date_two = year.to_s.split(' ')[1].split(':').join('')
  return "#{date}#{date_two}"

end

time = createTimestamp

Now that we have all that let's bring up the last part of the JSON. The Daraja API has a set of objects that are required and they must all be included. Generate the response that is parsed and you're all done.

 password = Base64.strict_encode64("174379" + "[your_passKey_mpesa_express]" + time)

 puts password

body = {
    "BusinessShortCode"=> 174379,
    "Password"=> password,
    "Timestamp"=> time,
    "TransactionType"=> "CustomerPayBillOnline",
    "Amount"=> 1,
    "PartyA"=> 254704999704,
    "PartyB"=> 174379,
    "PhoneNumber": 254704999704,
    "CallBackURL"=> "https://mydomain.com/path",
    "AccountReference"=> "BusinessName",
    "TransactionDesc"=> "Payment of X" 
  }

headers = {
  "Authorization"=> "Bearer " + accessToken,
  "Content-Type" => "application/json"
}

response=Excon.post("https://sandbox.safaricom.co.ke/mpesa/stkpush/v1/processrequest",:body=>JSON.generate(body),headers:{'Content-Type': 'application/json','Authorization': "Bearer #{accessToken}"})
 data=JSON.parse(response.body)

puts data

Hope that you found this article helpful. You find the full code snippet on my GitHub Till the next.