Version: 2.1
Release: Aug 8, 2006
Compatibility: QC v1.0+
Languages: en
Author: Wizzud
Contact: rb@wizzud.com

Banded Couriers

Plugin module for Quick.Cart by OpenSolution.org

Synopsis

The Banded Couriers plugin allows Couriers to be set up with banded charges depending upon the number of items in the basket or the value of the basket (NEW in v2.1!). The number of bands available is currently set to a maximum of 10.
* Please note the Prerequisites for running this plugin. For ease of installation it is necessary to use the facilities provided by the Plugin Manager, and if this causes any problems I apologise in advance.
Warning: Banded Couriers is based on the principle of diminishing costs, ie. the larger the order the lower the courier charges. If you have courier charges that increase with order size this plugin WILL NOT WORK for you!

Compatibility

Quick.Cart versions prior to v1.0 : Not compatible.
Quick.Cart versions 1.0 upward : Compatible at the time of writing.
Other Plugins : At the time of release, this plugin has no compatibility problems with any other known plugin.
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Prerequisites

Plugin Manager v2.0+ : Uses the Plugin Manager's 'extendTplParser' class extension.
None other, assuming that the Compatibility requirements have been met.
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Upgrade

There is an upgrade path starting with version 2.0 of this plugin. Lower versions are not upgradable.
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Upgrading v2.0 to v2.1

The files that have changed are
  • /plugins/bandedCouriers/AboutThisPlugin.html
  • /plugins/bandedCouriers/bandedCouriers.php
  • /plugins/bandedCouriers/lang-en.php
  • /plugins/bandedCouriers/setup.php
  • /templates/admin/bandedCouriers.tpl
so you can, if you wish, simply unzip the v2.1 release file, find these files, and overwrite the v2.0 versions with the updates. Then you only need to complete step (b) below; otherwise, you should follow the full upgrade instructions below.
  1. Follow steps 1 and 2 of the Installation instructions below, replacing old files/folders with the new versions. If you have made your own modifications to previous v2.0 files, re-apply changes as necessary!
  2. Go to the Configuration - Plugins option on the Admin menu. You will see a warning that the Banded Couriers plugin version number has changed. If Plugin Manager has been configured for Version Checking then the plugin will also have been disabled.
    • Click the Reload Setup button for the Banded Couriers plugin
    • Re-enable the plugin, and Save
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Install

Where possible, the release folder is laid out in the correct folder structure to aid installation.
  1. Copy the entire bandedCouriers folder from the release/plugins/ folder into your Quick.Cart plugins/ folder.
  2. Copy the contents of the release/templates/admin folder to your Quick.Cart templates/admin folder (1 new file: bandedCouriers.tpl).
  3. Go to the Configuration - Plugins option on the Admin menu, and enable the bandedCouriers plugin.
  4. Go to the Couriers list on the Admin menu, and edit and save each Courier regardless of whether they have changed.
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User Guide

There are no plugin-specific configuration settings for this plugin, but you do need to (re)configure the charges for any existing Couriers already set up on your system.
The Couriers list has been modified to show the Bands that have been set up, in the format '(1) 5.00 (5) 10.00' or '(1) 5.00 (10,100.00) 4.50 (200.00) 4.00' where the number in brackets is the Number of Items for the Band, or the Basket Value for the Band. In cases where both criteria have been specified - eg. '(10,100.00) 4.50' - then they are separated with a comma (Number of Items followed by Basket Value). The number following the brackets is the Price for that Band.
As an example, '(1) 10.00 (20,200.00) 8.00' means that the courier charge will be £10, unless the order consists or 10 items or more AND has a value equal to or greater than £200, in which case the charge drops to £8.
The Courier add/edit form has changed to allow the input of up to 10 Bands, the first of which is required and has the Number of Items fixed at 1, with no Basket Value. This first Band effectively sets the 'base' or 'default' rate for the courier's charges. The number of items in the basket must be greater than or equal to the Number of Items set for the Band, and the value of the products in the basket must be greater than the Basket Value set for the Band, for the related Price to take effect. The frontend code will assign the lowest Price found from all qualifying Bands, based on testing the Bands' criteria against the basket at the time.
Free delivery can be achieved by simply supplying a Price of '0.00', with the required criteria. For example, if orders of £500 or more get free delivery (regardless of the number of items being purchased) then leave Number of Items unset, set Basket Value to '500.00' and Price to '0.00'. If everything is free delivery just set the Price in the first row to '0.00' and don't enter data in any other rows.
WARNING: This plugin works on the basis of diminishing charges, ie. the courier charges will decrease as the size of the order increases. If your courier charging structure has any Prices that increase with larger orders, then this plugin WILL NOT WORK for you!.
NOTE: If you disable (or re-enable) this plugin you must repeat step (4) of the Installation instructions.
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Language

By default this plugin is only supplied with an English language file - /plugins/bandedCouriers/lang-en.php.
If you wish to provide translations for your own language, copy lang-en.php to lang-[2-char-code].php (within the same folder), where [2-char-code] is the recognised code for your language. For example, a Polish language file would be /plugins/bandedCouriers/lang-pl.php.
The plugin will automatically load the English file first, and then look for the language file in the Shop's configured language, so that the English text is always there as a backup.
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Change Log

Version 2.1

  • Code : Updated the Admin backend to provide maintenance of Courier charges with an associated Basket Value parameter (in addition to the current Number of Items parameter). Also modified the frontend decision-making on which band to apply - now based on the lowest price of any band that meets the specified criteria.
  • Templates : Modified the templates for the Form and List for Courier maintenance in Admin to enable display and input of the additional Basket Value parameters.
  • Language : Updated to include full instructions text on the Admin form for Courier maintenance.
  • Setup : upped version number.
  • Documentation : updated to v2.1.
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