Test Mode On Production Server

[JonathanB]

One of the items we used frequently in the AIM integration was the “x_test_request” toggle for the production server.  We're updating our integration for the new API and unfortunately, I am not seeing that option.  In the forums as well as through the Sandbox support, I've just been told to use an “authenticateTestRequest", which simply does an "authenticate credentials".  However, this is insufficient for onboarding and provisioning of new clients and I would like to see an actual "test mode" flag brought forward to the new API.  

The use of this flag to change into test mode on the production server does several things for us:
1.       It allows us to do full end-to-end testing of our setup (outside of the actual API integration).  While we can use sandbox credentials for this, this becomes a QA issue for setup/provisioning.  Using this flag allows us to set up everything exactly as needed and then simply flip a switch to "go live" on our end, as a service provider.
2.       Having the ability to use live server credentials in test mode for our customers is important for those who are transitioning their service to us and may not be able to set their whole account into test mode.  There are other customers with which we may just not be able to control the test mode status of their account for various reasons, so having this control at the API level (for individual transactions) is very important.
3.       It is important even in test mode to be able to get the same “accept/decline” responses as we formerly could in AIM, and not just do “authenticate credentials”.  How a given merchant may use the transaction data with us will vary based on their application and we need to be able to do full QA testing.

By the way, even if it did what we needed, I do not see an option in your API to just do an “authenticateTestRequest”.  There is no code sample in that section of the API reference, so I’m guessing it’s not included as a formal part of the API?