NAME

Business::Shipping - API for shipping-related tasks

REQUIRED MODULES

Archive::Zip (any)
Bundle::DBD::CSV (any)
Cache::FileCache (any)
Class::MethodMaker (any)
Config::IniFiles (any)
Crypt::SSLeay (any)
Data::Dumper (any)
Devel::Required (0.03)
Error (any)
LWP::UserAgent (any)
Math::BaseCnv (any)
XML::DOM (any)
XML::Simple (2.05)

SYNOPSIS

Example usage for a rating request:

use Business::Shipping;

my $rate_request = Business::Shipping->rate_request(
	shipper 		=> 'Offline::UPS',
	service 		=> 'GNDRES',
	from_zip		=> '98682',
	to_zip			=> '98270',
	weight			=> 5.00,
);

$rate_request->submit() or die $rate_request->error();

print $rate_request->total_charges();

ABSTRACT

Business::Shipping is an API for shipping-related tasks.

Shipping Tasks Implemented at this time

* Shipping cost calculation
* Tracking, availability, and other services are planned for future addition.

Shipping Vendors Implemented at this time

* Online UPS (using the Internet and UPS servers)
* Offline UPS (using tables stored locally)
* Online USPS
* Offline FedEX and USPS are planned for support in the future.

An object is returned if the operation is successful, or 'undef' otherwise.

MULTI-PACKAGE API

Online::UPS Example

 use Business::Shipping;
 use Business::Shipping::Shipment::UPS;
 
 my $shipment = Business::Shipping::Shipment::UPS->new();
 
 $shipment->init(
	from_zip	=> '98682',
	to_zip		=> '98270',
	service		=> 'GNDRES',
	#
	# user_id, etc. needed here.
	#
 );

 $shipment->add_package(
	id		=> '0',
	weight		=> 5,
 );

 $shipment->add_package(
	id		=> '1',
	weight		=> 3,
 );
 
 my $rate_request = Business::Shipping::rate_request( shipper => 'Online::UPS' );
 #
 # Add the shipment to the rate request.
 #
 $rate_request->shipment( $shipment );
 $rate_request->submit() or ie $rate_request->error();

 print $rate_request->package('0')->get_charges( 'GNDRES' );
 print $rate_request->package('1')->get_charges( 'GNDRES' );
 print $rate_request->get_total_price( 'GNDRES' );

ERROR/DEBUG HANDLING

The 'event_handlers' argument takes a hashref telling Business::Shipping what to do for error, debug, trace, and the like. The value can be one of four options:

* 'STDERR'
* 'STDOUT'
* 'carp'
* 'croak'

For example:

 $rate_request->event_handlers(
 	{ 
		'error' => 'STDERR',
		'debug' => 'STDERR',
		'trace' => undef,
		'debug3' => undef,
	}
 );
 

The default is 'STDERR' for error handling, and nothing for debug/trace handling. The option 'debug3' adds additional debugging messages that are not included in the normal 'debug'. Note that you can still access error messages even without an 'error' handler, by accessing the return values of methods. For example:

 $rate_request->init( %values ) or print $rate_request->error();
	

However, if you don't save the error value before the next call, it could be overwritten by a new error.

CLASS METHODS

rate_request()

This method is used to request shipping rate information from online providers or offline tables. A hash is accepted as input with the following key values:

• shipper

  The name of the shipper to use. Must correspond to a module by the name of: Business::Shipping::RateRequest::SHIPPER. For example, "Offline::UPS".

• user_id

  A user_id, if required by the provider. Online::USPS and Online::UPS require this, while Offline::UPS does not.

• password

  A password, if required by the provider. Online::USPS and Online::UPS require this, while Offline::UPS does not.

• service

  A valid service name for the provider. See the corresponding module documentation for a list of services compatible with the shipper.

• from_zip

  The origin zipcode.

• from_state

  The origin state. Required for Offline::UPS.

• to_zip

  The destination zipcode.

• to_country

  The destination country. Required for international shipments only.

• weight

  Weight of the shipment, in pounds, as a decimal number.

• config_to_hash( $ary, $del )

  $ary	Key/value pairs
  $del	Delimiter for the above array (tab is default)

  Builds a hash from an array of lines containing key / value pairs, like so:

  key1 value1 key2 value2 key3 value3