Simulating a "public" url on a localhost server?

[jqcotten]

Computer System:
Processor: Intel Core i7 860@2.80GHz
RAM: 8GB
System type: 64-bit Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1

ApacheFriends XAMPP version 1.7.7
+ Apache 2.2.21
+ MySQL 5.5.16 (Community Server)
+ PHP 5.3.8 (VC9 X86 32bit thread safe) + PEAR
+ XAMPP Control Panel Version 2.5 from www.nat32.com
+ (BETA) XAMPP Control Panel Version 3.0.2 by Steffen Strueber (not in the USB & lite version)
see http://community.apachefriends.org/f/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=46743
+ XAMPP Security
+ OpenSSL 1.0.0e
+ phpMyAdmin 3.4.5
+ ADOdb 5.14
+ Mercury Mail Transport System v4.62 (not in the USB & lite version)
+ FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.39 (not in the USB & lite version)
+ Webalizer 2.23-04 (not in the USB & lite version)
+ Perl 5.10.1 (not in the USB & lite version)
+ Mod_perl 2.0.4 (not in the USB & lite version)
+ Tomcat 7.0.21 (not in the USB & lite version)

PROBLEM:
I'm trying to integrate a PayPal Digital Goods - Express Checkout payment facility into my Flash webpage to sell and stream documentary videos. Unfortunately, the Paypal payment process apparently requires a "public" url in order to direct the user back to the payment confirmation/thank you page on my website. In effect, PayPal redirects the buyer’s browser to the return URL specified in the SetExpressCheckout API operation’s request message.

In the SetExpressCheckout Request Message the RETURNURL field is Required and is the URL to which the buyer’s browser is returned after choosing to pay with PayPal. For digital goods, you must add JavaScript to this page to close the in-context experience. PayPal recommends that the value be the final review page on which the buyer confirms the order and payment or billing agreement.

I want to test and resolve any PayPal issues, before I launch my webpage, but I'm using an http://localhost address as my test site, not a www.domain.com type address.

QUESTION: Is there any way to "simulate" a "public" URL in my test code which PayPal would recognize as a legitimate RETURNURL? The alternative is to go live, which defeats the purpose of the test environment for which xampp is designed. Thanks for any help.

[JonB]

Ever heard of the 'hosts' file?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)

http://www.sepago.de/d/helge/2009/06/04 ... indows-x64


Good Luck



ycf