quite obviously sending 1 large carton + the little bit of overflow there might be in a prepaid satchel is a better method. if i were to consider it (no wonder you left this little chestnut alone) i would imagine that i could return multiple quotes through a loop using a callback function to wait for each quote to return successfully, and once complete, the quote would then be merged with the parcel types itemised simply for clarity on the vendors behalf. unfortunately this would bring with it the caveat that multiple quotes use the same transport method (e.g. express, insured etc.), and this i haven't really got a clue on yet.
i'm also not sure the end-user needs to know the how (they don't really care about whether it's in a satchel or a box, they only care if its registered, insured, express etc. and of course, how much it's going to cost). this then brings another problem, regarding display. i had some really nice looking pics for each delivery method, and if i was to look into this they would have to be revised as there are simply too many possibilities to cater for every scenario. perhaps they could just be trimmed to parcel post, registerd, insured etc. with appropriate pics, but with no comment on the physical container.
to be honest, i'm not even at that point yet anyway; i'm still dumping variables onto screen and debugging, and considering i've spent about 8hrs on this already i will prbably have to leave it for other work that is beckoning right now.
perhaps i'll be able to revisit it in a few days.
in any case, in the event i do embark on parcel splitting (i'm still not sure i'll persist, it's driving me crazy already) i may take the easy road initially and simply split the parcels using the first parcel size encountered (which will obviously be the largest option selected through admin).
presently i'm storing the information in two arrays:
the first keeps info on every product id, weights dimensions etc. this array however has an additional field called 'boxid', which if set to '0' (the default before packing starts) means the item was not able to be packed. if set to 1,2,3... it simply menas this is which box the product is in.
the second is a summary array generated while packing, and this one stores parcel information cumulatively for each of the boxid's mentioned earlier. info recorded is id (of course!) dead weight, cubic weight and no. units.
so i don't think i'll have a problem getting the info there, it's really just a case of customising it to suit every application and then deciding what should be user customisable and what should not.
as i originally stated, i will more than likely implement this for my client initially, and spend some time tweaking it, seeing what works and what doesn't before committing to a 'published solution'. seeing as i hadn't given the varying parcel sizes much thought, any other ideas you may have on potential issues are welcomed (albeit with some disgust when i realise how much more work is needed!).
thanks again
andy
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