TOPIC: Custom Payment processor

Was wondering if there is some sort of guidance in creating a custom payment processor. My needs are simple, my client offers gift cards and would like their users to use them for classes. There is no online verification for the card number or amount so this would be similar to a pay at the door option. All they need is the card number, I figure having this as an option would be easier on the end user instead of telling them to fill this field out and then select pay at the door , etc.

There is no guidelines for adding your own payment options. However, is this the only option give to your users? If Pay Later is the only thing used and you only have one pay later option... then the user won't have to choose it. You could create a field for entering the gift card number, then complete registration. No pay option page would be presented. Now, if you have other options besides that, then they'd have to select Pay Later. You could of course change the name of Pay Later to something else in the language file... and could even replace the pay later image to a pic of the gift card. Just some ideas.

What got me on this idea was that I noticed there was a class in the lib folder entitles class.payment.php I believe. This would not be the only option though as customers will still be able to pay by credit card. I do not wish to rename the pay later option as I do believe that my client still wants to have that option as well, its essentially on how do I duplicate that options and add a custom field to that.