Shipping Problem

[Nick1973]

I hope someone can answer this.

I am using table rate shipping when adding products to the shopping cart. I have two tables, one set up for First Class Post and one set up for Royal Mail Track and Trace. For most products it is ok to show both shipping options, however we have just discovered that certain items require special insurance as they are flammable products. The insurance has already been added onto the prices of these products so not a problem there and it doesn't affect the shipping price. But on items where insurance has been applied to the price I need to be able to display Royal Mail Track and Trace only as a shipping option. All other products will display both First Class Post and Royal Mail Track and Trace, it is only the flammable items where I need to disable the First Class Post. So how would I go about doing this?

I have seen similar posts but none of them really fit.

This one is close

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175429


But ideally I would like to be able to control it from the admin as not all products are listed yet so I don't know what the product ID's or Category ID's will be for each flammable product so I don't know which one's need to have First Class Post Disabled on.

[Ajeh]

You could use something like this code, for example say you were customizing the:
/includes/modules/shipping/flat.php

      // disable only when entire cart is free shipping
      if (zen_get_shipping_enabled($this->code)) {
        $this->enabled = ((MODULE_SHIPPING_FLAT_STATUS == 'True') ? true : false);
      }

// bof: skip certain products_id and disable they are in the cart
      if (IS_ADMIN_FLAG == false) {
        global $cart;
        $chk_skip_products = 0;
        $chk_skip_products += $_SESSION['cart']->in_cart_check('products_id','1');
        $chk_skip_products += $_SESSION['cart']->in_cart_check('products_id','38');
        $chk_skip_products += $_SESSION['cart']->in_cart_check('products_id','39');
        if ($chk_skip_products > 0) {
          $this->enabled = false;
        }
      }
// eof: skip certain products_id and disable they are in the cart

You can add more or less products_id by copying the pattern ...

[Nick1973]

Thanks Linda, could this be developed to work from the admin?

So that instead of hard coding we could choose the postage type from something like a dropdown menu?

[Ajeh]

Yes ... this could be written to add a new field such as:
products_shipping

and then that could be tested for the value to see how many are in the cart of a given value to then be used to control the shipping modules ...

All you have to do is add the new field to the products table and then customize the code in the Admin to access that field to aa/edit etc. and then customize the shipping modules to test for it ...

Easy smeazy, eh?

[Nick1973]

Er yes I guess so, but how would I write the code to do this? I know the zen code but will be honest and say I'd struggle on this to write from scratch. But could do this as a Mod for other users if I could get it to work with your help?

[Nick1973]

Hi Linda, how would I go about writing the code to connect this up to the admin, what files would I need to edit and do you have any idea of the code I would need to do this?

Thank You

Nick

[Ajeh]

I would have to write the whole set of code to be able to tell you everything from adding the new field to using it in the shipping modules as the test ...

For adding a new field, find one such as the field:
product_is_always_free_shipping

and trace its use in the Admin with the Tools ... Developers Tool Kit ... to see how it is used for all of the modules on a Product for adding/editing ...

[Nick1973]

ok, not sure I have time to develop something like that at the moment. But been having a think about a way to do this quick and easy.

If I had a category with two sub categories like this

Chemicals > Flammable

Chemicals > Non Flammable

Could I use the code you gave me earlier in this thread to assign the correct postage to the correct category > sub category?

Nick

[Ajeh]

You can test the cart based on either products_id or based on master_categories_id in an easy manner ...

Do the Products in the Flammable Category all use that categories_id as their master_categories_id value?

[Nick1973]

That would be correct, the categories would be broken down like this:

Chemicals (master category) > Flammable (sub category)

Chemicals > Non Flammable

Controllers (master category) > Flammable (sub category)

Controllers > Non Flammable

Dosing Systems (master category) > Flammable (sub category)

Dosing Systems > Non Flammable

Pumps (master category) > Flammable (sub category)

Pumps > Non Flammable

Tanks, Bunds and Accessories (master category) > Flammable (sub category)

Tanks, Bunds and Accessories > Flammable

Water Testing (master category) > Flammable (sub category)

Water Testing > Non Flammable

General Spares (master category) > Flammable (sub category)

General Spares > Non Flammable

Safety Equipment (master category) > Flammable (sub category)

Safety Equipment > Non Flammable


So in effect the sub category would be the master category for those products beneath the top level master category if that makes sense.


Non-Flammable would be first class post

Flammable would be Royal Mail Track and Trace

This is the website http://www.jakwater.co.uk for reference bearing in mind I haven't made up the above sub categories yet.

Something else, if a customer comes along and purchases a product that is Non flammable and then another item that is flammable then the cart would need to be intelligent enough to realise that the non flammable product would go at the flammable postage rate which would be royal mail track and trace.