Kryptronic Software Support Forum

You are viewing this forum as a guest. Login to an existing account, or create a new account, to reply to topics and to create new topics.

#1 12-20-2018 05:34:56

sdn
Member
From: UK
Registered: 05-29-2007
Posts: 882

Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

From 1st Jan we need to provide electronic customs data and print barcoded labels for airmail parcels sent to all non-EU countries. Royal Mail has a system called Click & Drop that allows us to do that (along with a £200 printer we have had to buy for doing the labels).

These airmail parcels will in effect be like booking on a courier delivery. The idea is to ease the pressure on the international mail system and (hopefully) expedite items through customs and security so the customer receives the item faster.

They accept the required data using a CSV and I see there are also integrations for Amazon, eBay and other carts like Magento, etc.

Is there anything in the pipeline for this and if not how can we export an appropriately formatted CSV file?

Some info on the requirements can be found at https://business.help.royalmail.com/app … a_id/11716

Last edited by sdn (12-20-2018 07:50:53)


Simon

Offline

 

#2 12-20-2018 08:38:57

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

What is the process here?  Export a CSV file of order information for orders you need to ship based on this spec:

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default … ations.pdf

Then you use that CSV with Click&Drop software to print labels, ship items, etc, then manually mark the items as shipped in K9 once you get the tracking info?  Please confirm, or correct. Thanks.


Nick Hendler

Offline

 

#3 12-20-2018 09:01:05

sdn
Member
From: UK
Registered: 05-29-2007
Posts: 882

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

Yes, that is one option although probably a bit labour intensive. How can we export a csv in suitable format?

Quite a few shopping carts are mentioned at https://business.help.royalmail.com/app … a_id/11716 that offer a connector for more streamlined processing. I expect it would be fairly similar to the current USPS connector that already exists in K9 but tweaked to meet the data needed by Royal Mail.

Click & Drop can be used to process all Royal Mail items (domestic and Int'l) so eventually I can see we would want to process all their items that way.

Last edited by sdn (12-20-2018 09:02:10)


Simon

Offline

 

#4 12-21-2018 09:24:59

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

I'm thinking along the same lines.

The current methodology (the software you have now) would have you using Batch Shipping Manager, but instead of batching to UPS, FedEx or USPS/Stamps you end up batching to an Other queue.  This allows you to download a CSV file with all the data you need when you create a batch, and then import tracking numbers using a template file which is also created when create the batch.  The CSV export/import is the solution for non-UPS/FedEx/USPS services like Royal Mail. 

The Royal Mail documentation I reviewed indicated that you can use your own CSV file and map fields for the import.  So I would assume what we have (K9+BSM) would work for you now.  I would also be interested in working with you to expand BSM to work with ClickNDrop.  I'm wondering if they have an ODBC interface (as that's what we use for the other modules).

Can you open a support ticket on this and we can look into it deeper?


Nick Hendler

Offline

 

#5 12-21-2018 09:56:14

zanart
Member
From: bedford
Registered: 04-02-2008
Posts: 1706

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

I have already got a k9 link/namespace that just creates a csv file of addresses,etc for orders pending shipment.
We upload it daily to the click & drop site.
You do need to map out the csv file when you initially set up click & drop but don't think it was too much hassle.

I probably stole the code from the built in K9 csv file generator


Rob

Offline

 

#6 12-21-2018 10:48:33

zanart
Member
From: bedford
Registered: 04-02-2008
Posts: 1706

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

Looks like Click and Drop can be more streamlined than my current set up as they offer a desktop intergration app.
When the csv file is saved to a pre defined folder, Click and Drop automatically receives all the new data.


Rob

Offline

 

#7 06-05-2019 09:03:34

nigel
Member
From: Peterborough, UK
Registered: 04-27-2008
Posts: 418
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

is there an include somewhere that dictates which columns are downloaded in the csv file (OTHER-xxxxxx-packing-lists.csv). All the information I need is in the csv file but there is a lot of information I don't need. I also want to change the name of the column headings and the order in which they are displayed.
thanks in advance

Offline

 

#8 06-06-2019 07:35:36

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

We are working on an extension currently for Batch Shipping Manager that produces Royal Mail formatted CSVs for output/input.  Expecting to have it ready in mid-July.  It's a custom shop job for a client that's been queued and the job is on schedule.  If you can wait for that, I'd recommend it.  Otherwise, take a look at {private}/apps/ecom/XMOD_BatchShipMan.php and mod the CSV in/out functions there to do what you require.


Nick Hendler

Offline

 

#9 06-06-2019 09:00:55

nigel
Member
From: Peterborough, UK
Registered: 04-27-2008
Posts: 418
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

thanks Nick,
I think I will wait for the extension

Offline

 

#10 06-12-2019 06:26:17

nigel
Member
From: Peterborough, UK
Registered: 04-27-2008
Posts: 418
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

I'm confused!! The shipweight in the csv file is different to the actual Inventory Item weight. For example: inventory item 30016 weighs 0.1kg (100 grams) but on the csv file it shows the shipweight for this item as 0.553kg (553 grams), a difference of 453 grams. It is exactly the same with other items showing on the csv file 453 grams heavier than they actually are.
Am I missing something really obvious? Where is the shipweight pulled from for the csv file?

Offline

 

#11 06-12-2019 06:35:04

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

The shipweight is pulled from the ecom_orderitems table for each item ordered.  So it's the weight of the item as entered at the time of the order - which may have been changed since the order was placed.


Nick Hendler

Offline

 

#12 06-12-2019 06:41:27

nigel
Member
From: Peterborough, UK
Registered: 04-27-2008
Posts: 418
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

It actually does it with every single item. I just checked the csv file again and it seems the weight in lbs is correct but it is converting it incorrectly to kgs. For example: item 30016 weighs 100 grams which converts to 0.22lbs. The csv shows the shipmentweightlbs as 0.22 (which is correct) and the shipmentweightkg as 0.553 (which is wrong).
I checked the orderitems for this particular order and it shows the weight as 0.1kg (100 grams) yet it shows as 0.553kg (553 grams) in the csv file.

Last edited by nigel (06-12-2019 06:46:39)

Offline

 

#13 06-12-2019 07:37:19

nigel
Member
From: Peterborough, UK
Registered: 04-27-2008
Posts: 418
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

{private}/apps/ecom/XMOD_BatchShipMan.php
part of the array included:

'shipmentweightlbs'           => '1.000',
'shipmentweightkg'            => '0.453',

I changed '0.453' to '0.000', placed a test order and downloaded the csv file which showed shipmentweightlbs 0.22 and shipmentweightkg 0.1 which is correct. Any idea what the 0.453 in the array is suppoed to do? I will run some more checks to make sure my changed haven't affected anything else.

Offline

 

#14 06-13-2019 13:21:11

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: Royal Mail Click & Drop Requirement

I see what you're running into now.  BSM integrates with UPS, FedEx and USPS via ODBC.  The weights you're seeing are your kg weights being converted into lbs due to the fact that all those systems use lbs as a unit of measurement.  If you really want the weights unaltered, you can comment out this:

Code:

          if ($this->globals('core_settings.core.baseweight') == 'LBS') {

               $saveshipments[$shipmentid]['shipmentweightlbs'] += $packages[0]['weight'];
               $saveshipments[$shipmentid]['shipmentweightkg']  += ($packages[0]['weight'] / 2.2);

          } else {

               $saveshipments[$shipmentid]['shipmentweightlbs'] += ($packages[0]['weight'] * 2.2);
               $saveshipments[$shipmentid]['shipmentweightkg']  += $packages[0]['weight'];

          } // End of if statement.

You're seeing all your weights multiplied by 2.2, I'm assuming, which would be the kg to lbs conversion rate.  As we're adding Royal Mail into the mix, that is going to be adjusted.


Nick Hendler

Offline

 

Board footer