ozpost shipping module

[gmturner]

I understand that when it only have postcode to work with it uses a guess, being the first postcode auspost suggests for that postcode. But when the customer specifically enters and different suburb why doesnt it use that?

example:

customer from Singleton NSW 2330, even when logged in with suburb entered, it estimates for Appletree Flat 2330.

The parcel is too big for Auspost so it suggests nothing for it, which is good.

But for Fastway it should suggest a orange ticket for Singleton, instead it goes off appletree flat which is a grey ticket and therefore disables it and shows no postage. Luckily the customer emailed us, otherwise may have lost the sale.

[RodG]

But when the customer specifically enters and different suburb why doesnt it use that?

It would be easier to ask 'when will this functionality be added'?, because the answer would be 'The next release following the first reported incident of it being an actual problem'

OK, now the long answer:
One of the aims of any code I develop is to keep it is simple and as foolproof as possible, so, with this in mind, the first renditions of ozpost only supported Australia Post rates, and since AP base their prices entirely on their postcodes it made no sense for the ozpost module to gather the suburb information. In fact, the modified ozpost template file was created specifically to remove the then superflious dropdown menu(s)

Of the other Couriers, the first of which was added earlier this year, some need postcode only, some need suburb only, and the remaining requires both a suburb and a postcode. Anyway, it has only been 'recently' that the 'need' for suburb names has emerged, and you are the first to report it as being an 'actual' problem rather then a theoretical problem.

This is/was important for me to know, because the act of re-introducing what are essentially 'user inputted' suburb names raises what could be bigger concerns due to suburb names not matching the 'official' names because of mis-spelling, upper/lower case differences, abbreviations ("McKoy" vs "McKoy" vs "Macoy", etc)

This also requires more input validation, and decisions on how to behave on non fatal errors, eg, user inputs postcode "1234" and Suburb "St Ives", and the 'official' suburb name is "Saint Ives", but the first official name for the postcode '1234' is 'Devils advocate' - Should the module return an error (invalid suburb) or the quote to Devils advocate? Does this need to be a user selectable option? (so much for KISS)

Anyway, as I said, that's the long answer. The short answer is probably more to your liking. :-)

Cheers
Rod

[RodG]

customer from Singleton NSW 2330, even when logged in with suburb entered, it estimates for Appletree Flat 2330.

If it looks as though this is going to be a regular occurance (ie, a regular customer that's gunna be peeved at having to contact you for quotes every time), I'd be happy to set the server so that it returns Singleton as the default suburb for 2330 rather than Appletree Flat.

Of course, this will have repurcussions for anyone @Appletree Flat but for all I know "Appletree Flat" could be nothing more than a stump in the road :-)

Cheers
Rod

[orien]

I'm sure this has probably come up quite a bit, but after so many pages looking for it in this thread I gave up, so if anyone else knows the exact page, feel free to redirect me :)

My questions is related to the flat rate feature the Ozpost addon has, This addon works out better for me because it includes insurance, and most other addons I've tried for shipping insurance don't seem to work for me.

Basically quite often I get the "Flat Rate" appear as the shipping method, is this an issue with my servers ability to use cURL? or something I've missed? This is the only reason I continue to use the other Auspost addon.

Thanks for any light on this subject.

[RodG]

I'm sure this has probably come up quite a bit,

Actually, you are wrong. It rarely ever comes up.

Basically quite often I get the "Flat Rate" appear as the shipping method, is this an issue with my servers ability to use cURL? or something I've missed?

How often is 'quite often'? (once a year? once a week? Every quote? one quote in 50 ?

Have you found anyway to constantly replicate the problem?
Have you found anyway to constantly avoid the problem?

Could you possibly supply a URL where I can see for myself and perform a few tests?

What version of ozpost are you using? (2.0.9 is the latest)
What version zencart?

Thanks
Rod

[orien]

Actually, you are wrong. It rarely ever comes up.


How often is 'quite often'? (once a year? once a week? Every quote? one quote in 50 ?

Have you found anyway to constantly replicate the problem?
Have you found anyway to constantly avoid the problem?

Could you possibly supply a URL where I can see for myself and perform a few tests?

What version of ozpost are you using? (2.0.9 is the latest)
What version zencart?

Thanks
Rod

That's good that it's a rare issue, That leads me to believe it could possibly be server related, as 'flat rate' is designed to only come up when there are issues with client/server communication right?

The issue comes up about every maybe 4th-5th refresh/check out.

I have not been able to recreate the issue as of yet other than refreshing and having it appear randomly, no real timing to it. I came here first to see if it was a common problem or rare so I had something to go by.

I'm using The latest version of ozpost and version 1.3.9 of Zen Cart.

I currently do not have a URL to have it tested as I have uninstalled it for testing other shipping modules, I just wanted a basic idea if it was a problem only I was experiencing or others were having issues with as well. I'm so far leading to believe it's quite possibily a cURL issue with my web host.

I'm looking into alternative methods for Australia shipping and insurance however considering it's a rare issue I've been having with Ozpost, I may look into it a bit more. Thanks for the helpful info Rod.

~Orien

[RodG]

That's good that it's a rare issue, That leads me to believe it could possibly be server related,

Could be, but I'm not prepared to jump to this conclusion.

as 'flat rate' is designed to only come up when there are issues with client/server communication right?

Correct. (as well as if valid methods cannot be obtained for other reasons)

The issue comes up about every maybe 4th-5th refresh/check out.

I think if this were a common problem a lot more people would be screaming about it.

I have not been able to recreate the issue as of yet other than refreshing and having it appear randomly, no real timing to it.

Did you enable the debug option for any clues?

I'm using The latest version of ozpost

That's what everyone says. On the odd occasion it has even been true, but mostly it isn't.

I currently do not have a URL to have it tested

Not much I can do for you then (I sold my crystal ball when I gave up the TV/VCR repairs).

as I have uninstalled it for testing other shipping modules,

You do realise that zencart is designed so that more than one shipping module can be used at any given time, don't you?

I just wanted a basic idea if it was a problem only I was experiencing or others were having issues with as well.

But nonetherless, you assumed it was a common problem that "has probably come up quite a bit".

I'm so far leading to believe it's quite possibily a cURL issue with my web host.

Is this just another wild guess, or have you some other reason to think it would be a cURL issue?

In my experience, cURL is either enabled and working, or it isn't, the fact that 4 out of 5 times you get a valid result would suggest to me that your cURL is fine.

I'm looking into alternative methods for Australia shipping and insurance however considering it's a rare issue I've been having with Ozpost,

This forum is for ozpost support only. If looking for alternative methods you would be better served using a different forum.

I may look into it a bit more.

I think you exaggerate... "a bit more" implies that you've already looked into it... The contents of your postings would suggest that this the first step of 'looking into it' that you have actually taken.

Thanks for the helpful info Rod.

Other than 'correcting' your assumption that the problem "has probably come up quite a bit" I have said and done nothing helpful at all, and your 'thanks' is premature.. if you really want my help please avoid assumptions and exaggerations, stick with facts, and most importantly, give me something to work with, because only then can I be of any help.

Cheers
Rod

[ALiepinieks]

In my experience, cURL is either enabled and working, or it isn't, the fact that 4 out of 5 times you get a valid result would suggest to me that your cURL is fine.

In my ever so humble (and very recent) experience, I could forgive someone for thinking this. I recently had an issue where cURL seemed to be installed and working fine. Although not Auspost, ozpost or any other variation, one out every 5-10 of my cURL requests would lead to my script exceeding a server time out restriction, and no amount of debugging, logging, php error reporting, catch throw or ANYTHING (that I know of) seemed to let me know what the problem was (having said this I didn't have access to some of the server log files).

Anyway, I actually suspected it was Apache timing out, and finished up working around the problem by using multi cURL functions instead, but...

I mention this because:

a) Orien - even if you think it's cURL, then think you know it's cURL, the problem might simply appear to be occurring while processing a cURL request, and in fact not be cURL at all...

b) RodG - I can understand why someone might think cURL is the problem, as at times the lack of response from PHP error reporting can simply lead us up the garden path...

Andrejs

[gmturner]

I think the trying to match the user input first and then if it cant be matched returning a error that says such may be best.. or just make it then jump to the first suggested by Auspost. That way at least it has a chance of getting it right.

[RodG]

.. or just make it then jump to the first suggested by Auspost. That way at least it has a chance of getting it right.

This tends to be the way I'm thinking... OTOH I have been looking at a few AJAX scripts that'll offer suburb name suggestions based on postcode, and they'll do this in 'real time' as needed... research indicates that this seems to be the current rage for this situation, but having never integrated AJAX with zencart before I have a bit of experimenting and learning to do (and still not enough time to do it).

Cheers
Rod