shipping (was Re: [mv] minivend and sql, it is not true)

[Kyle Hayes <kyle540@quicknet.net>]

On Wed, 03 Nov 1999, you wrote:
> ******    message to minivend-users from mikeh@minivend.com     ******
> 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
                 ^^^^^^

What is this?

>         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

This is nice!  Much cleaner than the ideas I was looking at a while ago. 
Is this code compiled when the catalog is brought up, or when the shipping
mode is called?  One thing I like about the old subroutine system is that
the code is precompiled.  I have complex shipping calculations and the
resultant routine is several pages of code.  If it is compiled each
time a shipping calculation is needed, it will add to the overall latency
significantly.

>     heavy: Surcharge for heavy items
> 		perl       1

Something missing here?

>         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.

Very nice!

Is this going to be in 4.0 or 4.1?

Best,
Kyle (KH)