Donations API Test Mode

Hi folks,

There is another thread regarding this issue, but it's kind of old and still unanswered, so I thought I'd ask it again.

Many credit card processors have a test mode so that developers can test, troubleshoot, and demonstrate custom applications built with their APIs. When passed any valid card number, they will return an approval so that the whole process can be gone through without actually charging someones card. The Authorize.Net API even lets the developer submit certain card number and expiration date combinations in test mode that force the system to return different types of errors, so that how those errors are dealt with on the application side can be debugged or demonstrated. There is an option in the Authorize.Net admin interface that will treat all incoming requests as tests, or a parameter can be set in the request to enable it from the application.

I would imagine that anyone working with credit card processing would want to test things out before putting a new application into production. Unfortnately, there is no obvious way to do this with the Convio donations API. It is really not acceptable to have to charge a real card and then refund the money for every single test. If it costs money to charge the card, then it would cost us money to test our application.

Does this feature exist? Is it just undocumented? Please, please - let us know. I know that I couldn't be the only developer wondering if it's in there somewhere. Testing is a vital part of the development process, and we simply must be able to generate test cases to ensure that our donations applications and pages work properly.

Thank you!