Re: [mv] minivend and sql, it is not true

[mikeh@minivend.com]

Quoting mike@minivend.com (mike@minivend.com):
> 
> Quoting Raj Goel (frostbit@brainlink.com):
> >     Only the shipping monstrosities & locale remain as gdbm tables.  And
> > I expect to rectify that when MV 4.0 comes out.
> 
> I resemble that remark!
> 
> But seriously, I have posted multiple times requests for someone to come
> up with a coherent framework that bests MiniVend's shipping. No one has
> come up with anything close, nor have I seen anything anywhere else that
> comes close.

OK, so it is a monstrosity, or used to be. Since no one came up with any
suggestions that I could live with, I decided to take a close look at
it. I redid virtually everything but maintain almost complete backwards
compatibility. The only thing that goes away is the incredibly ridiculous
subroutine interface.

Now this:

upsg    UPS Ground  weight  0   0   e Nothing to ship!
upsg    UPS Ground  weight  0   150 u Ground [default zip 98366] 3.00 min5.00
upsg    UPS Ground  weight  150 999999  e @@TOTAL@@ lbs too heavy for UPS

is the same as:

    upsg: UPS Ground

        criteria    weight

        min         0
        max         0
        type        error
        message     Nothing to ship!
        
        min         0
        max         150
        type        ups
        table       2ndDayAir
        geo         zip
        default_geo 98366
        adder       3
        at_least    5.00

        min         150
        max         999999
        type        error
        message     @@TOTAL@@ lbs too heavy for UPS

You can also do things like:

    upsg: UPS Ground
		perl     1
        criteria <<EOF
my $crit = 0;
$Tmp->{heavy_items} = $Tmp->{bulky_items} = 0;
foreach $item (@{$Carts->{main}}) {
    $crit += $Tag->data('products', 'weight', $item->{code});
    $Tmp->{heavy_items}++ if $item->{heavy};
    $Tmp->{bulky_items}++ if $item->{bulky};
}

    $Shipping->[OPT]->{additional} .= ' heavy ';
        if $Tmp->{heavy_items};
    $Shipping->[OPT]->{additional} .= ' bulky ';
        if $Tmp->{bulky_items};

return $crit;
EOF
 
    heavy: Surcharge for heavy items
		perl       1
        criteria   $Tmp->{heavy_items}
        min        1
        max        10
        type       x
        multiplier 20
 
    heavy: Surcharge for heavy items
		# This returns 1 if there are bulky items
        criteria   $Tmp->{bulky_items} > 0;
		perl       1
        min        1
        max        10
        type       f
        formula    <<EOF
foreach $item (@{$Carts->{main}}) {
	next unless $item->{bulky};
    $inches += $Tag->data('products', 'dimension', $item->{code});
	etc();
	etc();
}
return $total_charge;
EOF

You get the idea.

There are multiple other things you can do with the new setup.

    1. Add shipping modes on the fly
    2. Select shipping with a database query
    3. Build in-line subroutines to determine criteria
    4. Build shipping labels automatically, ignoring modes
       that show up at zero cost
    5. Add UPS origin zones on the fly
    6. Look up shipping via UPS.com
    7. More....like specifying individual shipmodes
       for individual products, scanning multiple applicable
       ship modes, specifying multiple ship modes, etc.

-- 
Mike Heins                          http://www.minivend.com/  ___ 
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the Dark Ages. -- unknown           <mikeh@minivend.com>     |___|  _ <
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