breakthrough design

Creating “Buy Now” Links in Google Calendar

April 3rd, 2008

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This tutorial will walk through the steps in adding a “Buy Now” link within your Google Calendar. Using this method, you can then embed your Google Calendar on your website, and display scheduled classes, or events that users can sign up for online.

Requirements:

A Google Checkout account
A Google Calendar account

1. Login to Google Checkout.

2. Goto “Tools” -> “Send an Invoice through Email”

3. Enter Invoice Information, Send

Enter the information below. (Pay special attention to the amount, and the ‘for’ fields. The “To”, “Dear”, and “Message” are required for Google Checkout, but won’t be used later on)

To:
Dear:
Message:
Amount:
for:

Click “Send Invoice” when finished.

4. Check your Email

5. Copy the hyperlink

Right click on the hyperlink that reads “Pay Now Through Google Checkout…” and click “Copy Shortcut” (if using Internet Explorer) or “Copy Link Location” (if using Firefox).

6. Create the Buy Now Link

You will now create the code for your Buy Now link. The final code will look something like the code below with “PASTELINKHERE” replaced with your copied link above.

<a href="PASTELINKHERE">Click to Buy Now</a>

So, your final code snippet would look like (you might have to scroll to view everything):

<a href="https://checkout.google.com/cws/v2/Merchant/135665867904047/invoiceCheckout?cart=PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz4NCjxjaGVja291dC1zaG9wcGluZy1jYXJ0IHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vY2hlY2tvdXQuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS9zY2hlbWEvMiI%2BDQogIDxzaG9wcGluZy1jYXJ0Pg0KICAgIDxpdGVtcz4NCiAgICAgIDxpdGVtPg0KICAgICAgICA8aXRlbS1uYW1lPlBheW1lbnQgcmVxdWVzdCBmcm9tIEJyZWFrdGhyb3VnaCBEZXNpZ24gR3JvdXA8L2l0ZW0tbmFtZT4NCiAgICAgICAgPGl0ZW0tZGVzY3JpcHRpb24%2BRVBBIEFiYXRlbWVudCBTdXBlcnZpc29yIFJlZnJlc2hlcjwvaXRlbS1kZXNjcmlwdGlvbj4NCiAgICAgICAgPHF1YW50aXR5PjE8L3F1YW50aXR5Pg0KICAgICAgICA8dW5pdC1wcmljZSBjdXJyZW5jeT0iVVNEIj4xNTAuMDwvdW5pdC1wcmljZT4NCiAgICAgIDwvaXRlbT4NCiAgICA8L2l0ZW1zPg0KICA8L3Nob3BwaW5nLWNhcnQ%2BDQogIDxjaGVja291dC1mbG93LXN1cHBvcnQ%2BDQogICAgPG1lcmNoYW50LWNoZWNrb3V0LWZsb3ctc3VwcG9ydCAvPg0KICA8L2NoZWNrb3V0LWZsb3ctc3VwcG9ydD4NCjwvY2hlY2tvdXQtc2hvcHBpbmctY2FydD4NCg0K&signature=cARU6RDq7uiGEyi264OETTQTkrI%3D">Click to Buy Now</a>

6. Login to Google Calendar

7. Create an event under the appropriate date & time

Click on the calendar day under which the class/event occurs. Then click “edit event details”.

8. Paste your final snippet under the “Description” field

Paste your final snippet (that we’ve compiled above; it should open with “<a href” and close with “<a>”) with the full class/event description within the description field.