Problems with PayPal Pro payment

Hi everyone,

1) I've got a Pay Now button leading to a PayPal page where it's possible to pay either with a PP account or with Credit Card. After successful CC payment with a PayPal Pro Sandbox account I arrive to a page with a link to return to my site, but I'm not redirected automatically although I activated the "Auto Return" option. Why am I not redirected ?

2) Also I'd like to know since CC details are not exchanged between PayPal and my site, is SSL still necessary ?

3) Finally after user gets back to my site I need to validate his registration in my PHP code: how can I connect his successful payment with his registration details? Is there a way to transmit variables along the PP payment process?