I have been hired by a local (small) company that wants a web site that has an online booking system for its customers. The system would work by validating a credit card, and if they did not show up for their appointment, either the web site would charge them automatically, or the employees can see the number and make a manual transaction.
My question is, what needs to be done to implement this in PHP. I know there are several libraries available for doing this, but I don't know if hosting companies provide them or not.
Basically, is this whole process something that relies on having additional software installed on the server, or is there a way of "outsorcing" it (via HTTP POST/GET or even with HTTPS) to another company via PHP function calls? (does that make any sense?)
I dont actually have to implement BILLING on this site, just VALIDATION.
I have never had to program anything requiring the use of credit cards (I am a college student doing part time consulting), so any help would be appreciated.