ad-hoc freight descriptions

[pricerc]

I've got a freight plugin working well for talking to NZ Post's API.

I am now just considering options for streamlining the user experience.

The customer uses branded courier bags supplied by the courier company - A4, A5, A4 with bubbles, etc. And currently, they have these as "obsolete" parts in their inventory - they don't show up on price lists, but they can still buy them and hold the stock.

We've got the logic working that if a part number is added to the S/O that matches a Freight Description, that we add a Freight item, complete with volume.

So my question is: do we have to use a pre-defined freight descriptions, or can I synthesise them "on the fly"?

This would allow them to just add new courier packaging to inventory, and use that as the "freight description", instead of having to enter the same thing in multiple places.

[SBarnes]

Where does the volume come from and is "freight item" a completely seperate part?

[pricerc]

Inventory items already have volume.

For now, we've hard-coded dimensions in a dictionary in the plugin - NZ Post have a small, finite set of standard packages, so it was easy enough to just load them into a switch/case statement.

I have added some logic, which appears to be working ok, but it feels wrong.

We've added a "Freight" product group. If the item in this product group is added to an S/O, but its name doesn't exist as a "Freight Description" (for the only carrier we have in the system), it is adding the item to the "Freight Description" list (directly using SQL, because the S/O version of the Carrier doesn't implement "Save" on its FreightDesciptionCollection).

If the item doesn't have volume and mass (which we're using as a default/maximum) then they will need to supply the dimensions directly on the freight tab.

[SBarnes]

because the S/O version of the Carrier doesn't implement "Save" on its FreightDesciptionCollection).

The full version of the carrier and the freight items and its collection are in JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaCarrierMaint that will actually do updates and inserts, then calling read on the FreightDescriptions collection on the sales order would make them show up.

As for the descriptions on the fly would UOM on inventory be able to be adapted for what you are trying to achieve?

[pricerc]

The full version of the carrier and the freight items and its collection are in JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaCarrierMaint that will actually do updates and inserts, then calling read on the FreightDescriptions collection on the sales order would make them show up.

I figured that out in ILspy, but decided that it was a lot of overhead for a fairly trivial process at the tail end of entering an order, so just went with adding it with a sneaky SQL command. Which I mostly nicked from ILspy. (*)

I'm also adding it to the 'active' S/O FreightDescriptions collection so that the Freight Tab works until the S/O is next saved, at which point it will be refreshed and pick up the new entry.

As for the descriptions on the fly would UOM on inventory be able to be adapted for what you are trying to achieve?

I don't think so. I'm talking about the "Freight Descriptions" in the Carrier Maintenance screen?

And on the "Freight Tab" on the S/O. Where I was hoping I'd be able to just use "ad-hoc" values for the "Freight Descriptions". I now realise that they are actually lookups into the relevant Carrier's "FreightDescriptionsCollection".... so ad-hoc isn't (currently) an option.


(*) yes, I know it might break in a future version of Jiwa. But I expect it will be one of the simpler problems I face when upgrading this customer from 7 to 8....

[SBarnes]

Hi Ryan,

Below is code that will do what you want just create a new plugin and add the sales order forms under the forms tab and add Carrier maintenance under the business logic for some reason trying to add an attachment is having a problem on the forums.

Code: Select all

using Microsoft.VisualBasic;
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Diagnostics;
using JiwaFinancials.Jiwa;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Drawing;
using ServiceStack;
using ServiceStack.DataAnnotations;
using ServiceStack.Model;
using FarPoint.Win.Spread;
using FarPoint.Win.Spread.CellType;
using JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication;
using JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication.Controls;
using JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication.JiwaManageGrid;
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices;
using System.ComponentModel;
using Microsoft.VisualBasic;
using JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication.Entities;
using JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaCarrierMaint;

using Infragistics.Win.UltraWinToolbars;

#region "FormPlugin"
public class FormPlugin : System.MarshalByRefObject, JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication.IJiwaFormPlugin
{

    public override object InitializeLifetimeService()
    {
        // returning null here will prevent the lease manager
        // from deleting the Object.
        return null;
    }

    public void SetupBeforeHandlers(JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication.IJiwaForm JiwaForm, JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication.Plugin.Plugin Plugin)
    {
    }

    public void Setup(JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication.IJiwaForm JiwaForm, JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaApplication.Plugin.Plugin Plugin)
    {
      if(JiwaForm is JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaSalesUI.SalesOrder.BaseSalesOrderEntryForm)
      {
         JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaSalesUI.SalesOrder.BaseSalesOrderEntryForm sForm = (JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaSalesUI.SalesOrder.BaseSalesOrderEntryForm)JiwaForm;
         
         var cellType = new FarPoint.Win.Spread.CellType.ButtonCellType();
            cellType.Text = "New Description";
            sForm.grdFreightItems.AddColumn("NewDesc", cellType, "New Description", 5, false, true, false, false, 255, false, false, 2, false, false);
         sForm.grdFreightItems.ButtonClicked += delegate(object sender, EditorNotifyEventArgs e)
         {
              JiwaGrid jiwaGrid = (JiwaGrid)sender;
              string str = Conversions.ToString(jiwaGrid.get_GridText("Key", e.Row)).Trim();
              object tag = jiwaGrid.ActiveSheet.Columns[e.Column].Tag;
              if (Operators.ConditionalCompareObjectEqual(tag, "NewDesc", false))
              {
               JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaSales.SalesOrder.SalesOrderHistory hist = sForm.SalesOrder.SalesOrderHistorys[sForm.SalesOrder.CurrentHistoryNo];
               if(hist.Carrier == null || hist.Carrier.RecID == "")
               {
                  System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Choose a Carrier first");
                  return;
               }
                  string newDescription = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.InputBox("Enter the new description", "New Description");
               if(newDescription != null && newDescription.Trim() != "")
               {
                  Carrier carrier = sForm.Manager.BusinessLogicFactory.CreateBusinessLogic<Carrier>(null);
                  
                  
                  carrier.Read(hist.Carrier.RecID);

                  FreightDescription description = sForm.Manager.CollectionItemFactory.CreateCollectionItem<FreightDescription>();
                  description.Description = newDescription;
                  description.Enabled = "True";
                  carrier.FreightDescriptions.Add(description);
                  carrier.Save();
                  hist.Carrier.FreightDescriptionCollection.Clear();
                  hist.Carrier.FreightDescriptionCollection.Read();
                  sForm.DisplayFreightItems();
               }
              }            
         };
      }
    }
   
   


}
#endregion



[SBarnes]

Plugin now attached.