Frustration to Functionality: How ChatGPT Fixed My Payment Gateway

This is another instance of how AI tools like ChatGPT can help quickly debug issues and increase developer productivity. It also shows how clearly instructed and well-articulated prompts can help in quickly resolving coding problems. In this case, I turned to ChatGPT for an uncommon problem related to an Payment Gateway SDK published by Square, a financial services platform.

I was experimenting with the Square Web Payment SDK available on GitHub. After downloading the SDK, I completed the basic configuration in the .env file using NodeJS, including setting the ACCESS_TOKEN. When I executed the code for card_payment.html on port 3000, I encountered an authentication error. This issue puzzled me because running the code seemed straightforward, and I expected it to work without any issues.

Determined to resolve the problem, I, being a novice NodeJS developer, spent almost an hour troubleshooting the issue on my own. I double-checked the configuration settings, server.js file, ensured that the APPLICATION_ID and LOCATION_ID were correctly set to my project, and verified that the SQUARE_ACCESS_TOKEN was accurately updated in the .env file. Despite these efforts, I continued to receive the "Payment failed" error. The detailed error message in the console indicated an AUTHENTICATION_ERROR with the code UNAUTHORIZED, suggesting that the request could not be authorized.

Feeling perplexed, I turned to ChatGPT for assistance. I explained my issue to ChatGPT using the following prompt:

Prompt: I am using the SQUARE web-payments-quickstart SDK available on this GitHub URL "https://github.com/square/web-payments-quickstart.git". In the SDK, there is an example code for different modes of payments available in this folder "web-payments-quickstart/public/examples". I am using card-payment.html to make the card payment. I have changed the APPLICATION_ID and LOCATION_ID in my project. I have also created a .env file and updated "SQUARE_ACCESS_TOKEN" in the file. However, when I am running "card-payment.html" on port 3000, I am getting a "Payment failed" error when clicking "Pay $1.00". Please suggest what can be the issue. I guess it may be an issue with "SQUARE_ACCESS_TOKEN" not being used anywhere in the "server.js" file.

This is the detailed error message in the console: [ [Object: null prototype] { category: 'AUTHENTICATION_ERROR', code: 'UNAUTHORIZED', detail: 'This request could not be authorized.' } ]

This is the server.js file code [server.js code was provided here]

ChatGPT diagnosed the issue in the first instance and suggested that the problem might be related to the SQUARE_ACCESS_TOKEN not being used correctly in the server.js file. ChatGPT generated an updated server.js file. I didn't even review the code and replaced the existing server.js code with the newly generated code. With these changes, I was able to successfully test the Square Web Payment SDK, resolving the authentication error and completing the card payment process smoothly.

GitHub Link: https://github.com/rajpachori/SquarePaymentSDK