Royal Mail Basic UK Shipping Modules

Don't feel bad, it's not thick at all. I'd say just about every person who has ever installed Zen Cart has made that mistake. Just means you'll never make it again.
I've done it at least three times, it's just a lot quicker to fix after the first time

:smile:

Rgds,

Chuck

Chuck, if I use this PD4 software, from what I've read on their website, you retrieve the orders on your on-line store via a link within your PD4 admin account. I presume when this happens the customer's won't be able to see on my website the shipping cost for their order nor know at the moment which courier will be handling their delivery.

No idea I'm afraid, it was just a suggestion as to what might be possible for multiple Couriers. There's also this module in the downloads section

http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1389

that seems to do similar things. I don't know if they are active in the UK however. Sorry I can't be of more help, but I've never has a need for courier services. Perhaps one of the other UK users will chip in with a better overview

Rgds,

Chuck

Errors found in the pricing in 2 of the updated modules - Airmail and Airsure.
Airsure was 1 price, Airmail several from 0.5kg upwards.
Amended copies in the attached zip file.
Thanks to Kim for the alert & for flagging the Airmail error.

Chuck

Hi
Noticed Surface Mail has no icon.... looks a little messy on checkout.

Which .php holds the pointer to an image that does not exist?

Finding this mod ver usefull.. thanks

Hi Rizla,

Well spotted, It's just a copy of the shipping_rmuk.jpg icon, renamed to shipping_rmsurface.jpg in the images/icons/ folder.

It's defined in /includes/modules/shipping/rmsurface.php in line 47, so you equally change the name there to rmuk.

Zipped copy attached.

Rgds,

Chuck

A star sir... Thanks for that!!

Rizla

Hi can you tell me how & what I need to install, I have just downloaded the module & now not sure what to do with it, do I upload the whole file into my file manager? thank you for your help

Hi Chuckl,
I hope this is what I am looking for, as I have been struggling with shipping, I need prices to be calculated by weight, but at the same time any orders over £50 need insurance/tracking added on top for UK & global orders.

I have just downloaded the module you put together & now not sure what to do with it, do I upload the whole file into my file manager? I do not have a clue what to do, its been 2 months & still not finished my website....I'm clueless, spent hours reading on the forum & watching youtube clips, its driving me round the bend :dontgetit

thank you in advance!

Candice

Hi Candice, we all felt that way when we first started setting up our sites, so hopefully we can set some shipping working on your site.

The modules all add Insurance etc automatically where it is available, and up to max values. It can be enabled or disabled on a per module basis.

Firstly, backup your website before you make ANY changes.
Next, an overview -

if you haven't noticed already, your website is just a large collection of 'folders', or 'directories' if you prefer, containing a LOT of files, and arranged in a very specific structure or arrangement to all the other files.

So, if you unzip the Zen Cart distribution onto your local machine at home, and browse the resulting folder structure created, you' see that there are a number of 'top level' folders called 'admin', 'images', 'editors', 'includes' and so on.

If you browse the 'includes' folder, you'll see that there are files there, and lots more folders, 'auto_loaders', 'classes', 'functions', 'languages', 'modules' and so on.

And if you opened the 'modules' folder, you'd find more files and folders.

Similarly, if you unzip the basic UK Mail zip file on your local machine, you'll find a folder, called 'installation_files', you'll find two folders called 'images' and 'includes', which match two of the top-level folders above.
If you open the 'images' folder, you'll find another one called 'icons', and if you open that, you'll find some .gif and or some .jpg files.

All this means is that you have the new UK Mail shipping files, and they have to be copied to your website, to the same folder and position as they are in the distribution folders. e.g. All the gif files above, in the /images/icons/ folder, must be copied to the website to the /images/icons/ folder.
Similarly, you'll find more files waaaay down the folder structure, in the /includes/languages/english/modules/shipping/ folder. All these must be copied to the same folder position on the website.
And finally, more files in /includes/modules/shipping/ must also be copied to the website.

That's it on the copying. All of the above are new files being added to your website.

Now on many servers you need to set the permissions, owner and group on all these new files, but there is no hard and fast rule, it depends on where your website is hosted, and what operating system is being used.

You'll then need to log on to the admin section of your website, as noted in the Readme file in the Basic UK Mail distribution zipfile.
SET A POSTCODE!!
Change the Tare settings to 10:0 or similar for testing, otherwise everything will be 3 units too heavy.
Install whichever modules you require in Modules - Shipping.

Test.

And of course, shout if you get stuck.

Regards,

Chuck

Thank you Chuck, I will have a go & let you know how I get on.................

Candice x

I think I uploaded the files, correctly.........as for the admin bit I don't know where that is I have asked the live help on IPAGE this was there reply "You can change file permissions via FileManager and we use Linux 2.6 Debian Lenny (v5.0) - 32 bit operating system on our servers." I am totally lost here Chuck ;o(

alcanlove:

I think I uploaded the files, correctly.........as for the admin bit I don't know where that is I have asked the live help on IPAGE this was there reply "You can change file permissions via FileManager and we use Linux 2.6 Debian Lenny (v5.0) - 32 bit operating system on our servers." I am totally lost here Chuck ;o(

The ADMIN BIT is your administration area for your zencart webstore.

The TARE settings are under CONFIGURATION >>> SHIPPING / PACKAGING

You will see tare settings of
0:3
and
10:0

There is an explanation of what these variables mean, in the little EDIT boxes that accompany them.

Thanks schoolboy, trust you're well and enjoying the summer? :)

Candice,
If you are referring to my comments about the file permissions and setting them, don't worry about that too much.
Simply logon to the admin section of your site, and see if it works.i.e. that you can set the Tare and Postcode, and can see a list of the shipping modules in the Admin-Modules-Shipping menu. (In all this we're assuming that you have installed the basic Zen Cart system and are able to access the main page of the shop, and can access menu items and the admin section?)

As most of our products are books and other forms of printed papers, I should like to set up modules for these, by airmail and surface.

I realise that I can adjust the rates in the standard airmail and surface modules that you have provided, but I wondered whether I could alternatively set up new modules by editing the code in copies of rmairmail.php and rmsurface.php. Would it be sufficient to create a new module by, e.g. doing a global change of "rmairmail" to "rmairmailpp" and "RMAIRMAIL" to "RMAIRMAILPP", and creating a corresponding module at "includes/languages/english/modules/shipping/rmairmailpp.php" ? I would then of course have to input the appropriate weights and prices. Anything else?

Hi Enfield, the prices used in the modules are all the 'small parcel' and similar prices, which, as far as I'm aware, are the same as the printed matter prices for airmail and surface? (With the standard proviso that they are the 'counter' prices paid by the public, NOT account or franking machine prices).i.e. up to 2kg, they are the prices you would be entering anyway.
If you need the prices up to 5kg, then yes, you could do what you are suggesting, and yes, the class names and all constant names need to be changed in the files, as well as the filename itself, for both the files in the modules-shipping folder, and the languages-english-modules-shipping folder.
You could also add you new prices to the database inserts in the install method in the file.
Alternately, you could simply extend the excel spreadsheet in the distribution 'Misc' folder, and paste the extensions into the fields in admin, or in the database inserts as notedabove.
Finaly, you could simply enter them into the relevant fields manually, since they are simply weight colon price comma pairs (2.1:5.30,) means 2.1kg costs 5.30.

Hope that helps,
Regards,

Chuck

Thanks. I have successfully set up new modules for printed paper rates, though as you say the prices are the same up to 2kg.

However I was getting erroneous prices for airmail items sent to zone 2 and tracked these down to a missing comma in the pricing table in front of the 1.7kg weight point, so that it appears as "1.5:21.06,1.6:22.341.7:23.62,"; this throws out all the items and prices above this weight. There is also a missing comma in the surface mail table before the 1.6kg weight point, with similarly disastrous consequences! I have not checked all the other tables ...

Hope this helps - I'm surprised that nobody has noticed it before.

Glad you're sorted out, and thanks for the heads-up on the missing commas. They arise in the merging of the price strings from the spreadsheet, and they probably haven't been noticed because few people ship internationally or ship relatively heavy items these days. The shipping charges are simply too steep.

I was going to order a small set of shelves on-line recently, till we got to the checkout stage, and I was quoted 38 pounds for an 8.5 kilo parcel valued at 20 pounds, to go 50 miles. End of sale.

The amended files are attached for anybody who needs them

Regards,

Chuck

Another small change that I think needs to be made to display the number of boxes and the weight of each correctly is to replace:

// Display delivery weight?
if (constant('MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAILPP_DISPLAY_WEIGHT') == 'True') {
// Delivery Weight : x items of n.nnnn Kg's
$shipping_method = MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAIL_TEXT_WAY. ' : ';
if ($my_shipping_num_boxes > 1) { // Shipment split between several boxes/packets
$shipping_method = $shipping_method . $shipping_num_boxes . ' '.MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAIL_TEXT_ITEMS.' ';
}else{
$shipping_method = $shipping_method . $shipping_num_boxes . ' '.MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAIL_TEXT_ITEM.' ';
}
$shipping_method = $shipping_method . $shipping_weight. ' ' . MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAIL_TEXT_UNITS;
}

with

// Display delivery weight?
if (constant('MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAILPP_DISPLAY_WEIGHT') == 'True') {
// Delivery Weight : x items of n.nnnn kg
$shipping_method = MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAILPP_TEXT_WAY. ' : ';
if ($my_shipping_num_boxes > 1) { // Shipment split between several boxes/packets
$shipping_method = $shipping_method . $my_shipping_num_boxes . ' '.MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAILPP_TEXT_ITEMS.' ';
}else{
$shipping_method = $shipping_method . $my_shipping_num_boxes . ' '.MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAILPP_TEXT_ITEM.' ';
}
$shipping_method = $shipping_method . $my_shipping_weight. ' ' . MODULE_SHIPPING_RMAIRMAILPP_TEXT_UNITS;
}

I think it is better to round up the weight per box to the nearest 10g rather than displaying many decimal places. I did this by inserting a line after

$my_shipping_weight = ($shipping_weight * $shipping_num_boxes)/$my_shipping_num_boxes;

reading

				***$my_shipping_weight = (ceil($my_shipping_weight * 100))/100;

Finally, I might just note that the correct abbreviation for kilogrammes is "kg", and not "Kg's".

Enfield:

I think it is better to round up the weight per box to the nearest 10g rather than displaying many decimal places. I did this by inserting a line after

$my_shipping_weight = ($shipping_weight * $shipping_num_boxes)/$my_shipping_num_boxes;

reading

  			***$my_shipping_weight = (ceil($my_shipping_weight * 100))/100;

---

On looking more closely, the additional line I suggested above should be inserted further down, after two right-hand braces "}", so that the rounding applies even if the consignment has not been split into more than one package.