It seems Microsoft has become the Santa Claus for the developers much before Christmas Eve. With Windows 10 Creators Update and latest Windows Insider Preview builds, Microsoft brought several new updates; exclusively for the developers. Recently, i.e. on December 15th, the software giant introduced a preview implementation of the Payment Request API in Microsoft Edge. The Payment Request will enable simpler checkout and payments on the web on Windows 10 PCs and Phones. Microsoft’s team also mentioned that the support for Payment Request in stable builds will be coming to EdgeHTML 15 in the Creators Update early next year.
How does Payment Request API work
The Payment Request API works with Microsoft Wallet. This digital wallet and mobile payment service from Microsoft works on Windows 10 PCs and phones. It makes e-commerce faster and simpler for the customers as well as merchants.
Microsoft mentions how the Payment Request works:
“In Microsoft Edge, the Payment Request API connects to Microsoft Wallet (with the user’s permission), allowing easy access to payment information associated with the user’s Microsoft Account. Because payment information is securely saved in a digital wallet, shoppers don’t have to navigate through traditional checkout flows and repeatedly enter the same payment and shipping address information repeatedly. The wallet can provide a faster and more consistent experience across websites, which saves shoppers time and effort by allowing them to securely share saved payment information.”
In other words, Microsoft Wallet provides the payment information using Payment Request API. Usually, this information is collected via a checkout form on the website. With Wallet and Payment Request, the browser mediates all the information passed between the wallet and the merchant.
Once the PaymentRequest object is created, developers can trigger the browser to display the wallet with request.show(). The Microsoft Wallet Dialog looks as follows in Microsoft Edge:
The Payment Request API comes with several other features. Developers can listen to the changes in shipping address or shipping options with shipping address change and shipping option change events. Sites can also feature detect for the Payment Request API, forward the user to a legacy, form-based experience if it is not available.
Microsoft suggests developers begin to develop for the Payment Request API in Microsoft Edge on preview builds, starting with Windows Insider Preview build 14986. The Payment Request API is on by default starting with the most recent Windows Insider Preview release (14986 or higher) on the phone and desktop.
To know more details about Payment Request API, go to Windows Blogs.
