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  Miva Merchant USPS Priority Mail Shipping Labels plugin for the Ultra Batch

MIVA®  MERCHANT:  MmUSPS
USPS Priority Mail® Shipping Labels
plugin for the Ultra Batch

by Ivo Truxa, 11/13/2001 (Change Log)

Save money with MmUSPS - print USPS Priority Labels and get Delivery ConfirmationTM service included at no charge (saving $0.40 per shipment).

USPS Priority Mail Shipping Label
  1. Feature List
  2. Screenshots
  3. MmUSPS - USPS labels
  4. USPS Instructions
  5. Compatibility
  6. MmUSPS Installation
  7. Buy the module
  8. Support
  9. Known Limitations and Bugs
  10. FAQ
  11. Troubleshooting
  12. Wish List
  13. Change Log
  14. Useful links
  15. User Comments

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Feature List

  • Automatically requests and downloads USPS Priority Mail® Shipping Labels from the USPS server
  • With a sinlge mouse click, you can display and print labels for individual orders, selected or filtered ones only, or complete batches of orders
  • NEW: shipment tracking & delivery confirmation included!
  • NEW: customer interface with tracking data of all his/her orders
  • Prints on any label sheets with one, two ot four labels
  • Allows scaling a repositioning of labels on the sheet
  • Company logo may be inserted into the USPS label
  • Supports Miva Merchant 2, 3 and 4 on Unix and Windows platforms
  • Does not require OpenUI. Works with both OUI and MMUI.
  • Very easy installation, plug&play, no coding, no programming experience necessary
  • No OUI hook conflicts - truXoft modules are 100% conform to the Miva Merchant API, they do not use OUI extensions and therefore never cause hook conflicts with other modules, otherwise common at OUI modules.


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MmUSPS Screenshots



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MmUSPS - USPS labels

MmUSPS is a plugin for the Ultra Batch Report and uses its advantages for quick navigation through orders, including many ways of sorting, filtering, searching for different criteria, selecting of individual orders and many other features. Ultra Batch integrates directly into the Miva Merchant Administration front page and allows you so to access the most used functions (processing orders, packing the store, printing labels,...) immediately after the login.

MmUSPS automatically fills online USPS forms with data from the Merchant orders, requests and downloads the Shipping Labels from the USPS server. With a sinlge mouse click, you can display and print labels for individual orders, selected or filtered ones only, or complete batches of orders.


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USPS Instructions for Using the Priority Mail® Shipping Lables

The following instruction from the USPS website are to be followed:

  1. To print, select file and then print. Please use a laser or laser quality printer.
  2. The label will print on 8 1/2 X 11 paper.
  3. Adhere shipping label to package with tape or glue - DO NOT TAPE OVER BARCODE. Be sure all edges are secure. Self-adhesive label is recommended.
  4. Place label so it does not wrap around the edge of the package.
  5. Affix Priority Mail postage. There is no extra fee for Delivery Confirmation.
  6. Stamped packages over 16 ounces should not be placed in Postal Service collection boxes. For information on pickup options, go to the Pickup Page.
  7. Each shipping label number is unique and can be used only once - DO NOT PHOTOCOPY.
  8. Please use your shipping label on the 'ship date' that you selected.

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Compatibility

  • truXoft Ultra Batch 1.24 or higher required

MmPSLP was succesfully tested with following following Miva engines:

  • Miva Empresa 3.77, 3.78
  • Miva Empresa 3.91, 3.92, 3.93
with following Miva Merchant versions:
  • Miva Merchant 2.2x, 3.xx, 4.xx
  • MMUI, OUI, any UI
and the Admin interface was tested on following browsers:
  • Microsoft® Internet Exlporer v6.0

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MmUSPS Installation

Brief installation instruction follow. If you are unfamiliar with installing Modules check out the Miva documentation at: http://www.miva.com/docs/merchant/

  1. Save the file module somewhere on your PC / Mac.
  2. Launch the Miva Merchant Admin System, usually at http://www.yourdomain.com/Merchant2/admin.mv
  3. Enter the administrator username and password
  4. Click on the Blue Expander Triangle beside the word "Modules" to open this menu tree
  5. Click on Add Module
  6. Click on the upload file icon to the right of the text field
  7. A popup window will appear. Click BROWSE and find the Module you have just saved on your local drive.
  8. Click OPEN
  9. Click UPLOAD
  10. Click ADD. Miva Merchant has now installed this module, but it is not yet assigned to a store
  11. Click on the blue Expander triangle to the left of the store name to open its menu tree.
  12. Click on 'Order Fulfillment Configuration'
  13. Check the 'truXoft USPS Priority Mail labels' and click the Update button
  14. Click on the 'truXoft USPS Priority Mail labels' tab, verify and modify parameters and customize the header and footer of the packing slip if needed
  15. Click the Update button to save the changes (even if you made no changes at all!)
  16. Launch the Ultra Batch report, select the 'USPS PM labels' mode, select batch to use, click the OK button and when a new page loads, select the real (!) shipping date and click the OK button again to download the labels from the USPS server. Depending on the connection and on the number of labels, it may take up to several minutes till the page loads fully. Please note that batches with numerous orders may cause the Miva Empresa engine or your browser to time out. You may increase the timeout in the Miva configuration file (or ask your host for doing that) or select less orders to avoid the timeout.
  17. If you want to offer the access to the order tracking info to your registered customers, you can add the following code into the "Edit Customer Account Header" in Admin » Stores » store » Headers & Footers:
    <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
     <!--
      window.open('
        4.12/modules/fulfill/mmusps.mv?Store_Code=yourCode',
        'trackInfo','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,
        status=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,
        copyhistory=no,width=350,height=440'
       ).focus();
     // -->
    </SCRIPT>

NOTE: Be sure to modify the URL so, that it matches the real path to the mmusps.mv. On MM4.00 it would begin with "4.00/modules/...", on older versions just with "modules/fulfill/...". You have to enter the real code of your store too. You may modify the size and other parameters of the window as you need. The code of the JavaScript function must be on a single line!

This code opens a small popup windows in the moment the customer accesses the Account link from the top menu in Miva Merchant. This feature is available to your registered customers only! If you know little bit JavaScript, you can modify the JS code so that it displays a link or an incon and activates the popup window only when the customer click on it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: help with the installation of the Customer Order Tracking JS interface is  not  included in the free support. All customers asking for assistance on these features will be required to pay the installation fee of $50 or will be charged by hour at more complicated requests.


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Buy it

NOTE: The MmUSPS Priority Mail® Shipping Label module is a plugin for the Ultra Batch report module and does not work standalone.

Following resellers are currently distributing the MmUSPS:


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Support

We offer a  limited free suport  within 30 days after the date of the purchase for modules bought directly at  truXoft Co. or at affiliated resellers as written above. The support is limited to platforms from our compatibility list below and does not include any help with installation or configuration of payment modules, or other general Miva Merchant problems.

Some questions may be answered in the FAQ or may be solved with the help of other more experienced users on the Miva Merchant User List. I am monitoring all Miva lists and, if possible, will help with related problems posted to the user groups.


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Known Limitations and Bugs

  • ?

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Frequently Asked Questions

Please have a look also at the FAQ of MmHTML / MmHTMLc, MmUSPS, MmPSLP and MmEXT

INSTALLATION PRINTING GENERAL QUESTIONS ORDER TRACKING / ORDER STATUS

faq

INSTALLATION

Why doesn't the module appear in my store?

I guess you have forgotten to hit the Add button after uploading the file in Modules/AddModule


faq

I don't know how to install the module and can't follow these instructions

Read the Module Installation documentation at http://www.miva.com/docs/merchant/


faq

I want to add this module to another store, what do I do?

This module requires one license per use. You won't need to repeat the installation, but you will need a different license key to assign it to your new store.


faq

How do I update the module?

Click on the update link in the header of the module's control panel in Admin. Download the updated module from the upgrade center. In Admin Go to Modules » module name » Files, click the upload icon button right to the Module input field, check "Overwrite", locate the new file on your disk, click UPLOAD and when you are back in the big window do not forget to click the UPDATE button! Click back to the Information tab and verify if the version was updated. Now enter the module's Admin screen in the Order Fulfillment. The last step is necessary at updates where the settings database structure has changed - the changes are activated only upon opening the Admin screen.

Please note that if you have bought the module at other reseller than MvCool, usually you have to use the address of the reseller as the "e-mail address assotiated with the license" (for example sales@vikingcoders.com). You should have received intstructions from the reseller when purchasing the module.


faq

PRINTING

How do I print the shipping labels one (two, four) per page?

In Admin / Order Fulfillment Configuration / truXoft USPS Labels, select the desired number of labels per page. On MSIE, push the PRINT button in the Ultra Batch screen or right-click on the main frame, select 'Print', verify that 'Only the selected frame' option is set and click OK. The printer will automatically print a single order per page, ommiting the parameter forms and the statistics. On Netscape and Opera it is very similar. If the orders are not printed correctly on separate pages, please update your browser.

Some browser that are not fully CSS Level 2.0 compatible, may have problems with pagination when printing multiple labels over several pages. If labels on each subsequent page appear to be shifted by certain offset, please adjust accordingly the Page offset parameter in the Label Sheet Format of the module configuration screen.


faq

Why does it print out an extra sheet of paper?

Unfortunately there is nothing I could do about it. This is the way the browser handles it. The orignal images are in fact bigger that they appear on the screen or on the paper. The module resizes and crops them, but some browsers still may get confused and add an extra page anyway. Just put the blank page back into the printer - that's the only advice I have :)


faq

GENERAL QUESTIONS

What ist the ideal logo size so it works well with this module?

In fact it should not matter too much, because the module will resize it so that it has a height of 0.9" (unless you use the scale logo function). The size in pixels depends on the resolution of your printer. If you have a laser printer of 300 dpi, making the logo of more then 0.9*300 pixels high would have few sense.


faq

It takes close to two minutes for miva merchant to generate a page of 4 usps labels. Do you know why it is taking so long?

Yes, unfortunately, this is a problem out of my scope - it is the USPS server that is very slow. Depending on the day time it may be faster. At peak times it is often overloaded and very slow.


faq

I am getting 500 server errors when trying to print a label.

It looks like the USPS server is down or extremely overloaded. Please verify if it is the case directly on their server at http://www.usps.com/cgi-bin/api/shipping_label.htm and if you can't display the label there too, please notify the USPS through their feedback form or by better by phone and be sure to tell them that their online Priority Mial Shipping Label is down, giving them the above URL. Unfortunately they do not monitor their server and usually do not fix such problems unless somebody explicitly notifies them (most people don't).


faq

After pressing the DISPLAY button only a blank page appears.

(see also above)

If you have checked orders to display and selected a shipping date but no labels appear, then it may be a network problem or the USPS server is down. Unfortunately it happens sometimes. You can verify if at http://www.usps.com/cgi-bin/api/shipping_label.htm and if you can't display the label there too, please notify the USPS through their feedback form or by phone. I did it in the past, they were very thankful for the notification.


faq

How do I print on the USPS 228C labels?

USPS offers the 228C labels that can greatly help you to save costs for supplies. With some tweaking of the MmUSPS parameter you could achieve that generated labels are properly printed on the sheets, but it is much easier in cooperation with the MmLABEL module, that has this label format already predefined. All you need to do, is putting the following code into the USPS 228C label definition in the MmLABEL settings. You can edit the label layout as you need, changing the sender address, logo, adding other information, etc.

<TABLE BORDER="1" WIDTH="100%">
 <TR>
  <TD WIDTH="60"> </TD>
  <TD STYLE="font-family:arial; font-size:8pt;" VALIGN="top">  
   <IMG SRC="http://www.truxoft.com/miva/pic/x.gif" BORDER="0" HSPACE="10" STYLE="height:0.4in" ALIGN="LEFT">
   truXoft<BR>
   19c, rue P.Gonnard, LYON<BR>
   France<BR>
   <BR>
   <P STYLE="font-size:10pt;">
   %ship_fname% %ship_lname%<BR>  
   <B>%ship_comp%</B><BR>  
   %ship_addr%<BR>  
   %SHIP_CITY%, %SHIP_STATE% %ship_zip%<BR>  
   %ship_cntry%</P><BR>
   <MmUSPS><P STYLE="font-size:8pt;">
     <B>USPS tracking number:</B> <SPAN STYLE="font-size:9pt;">%MmUSPS-ID%</SPAN><BR>
     You may go to 
     <A HREF="http://www.usps.com/shipping/epstrac.htm">http://usps.com/shipping/epstrac.htm</A> 
     to track your package.
   </P></MmUSPS>
  </TD><TD WIDTH="60"> </TD>
  <TD VALIGN="top" NOWRAP STYLE="font-family:arial; font-size:7pt;">
   Order #%id%<BR><BR>%MmUSPS-zoom=0.55%%MmUSPS-bar-90%
  </TD>
 </TR>
</TABLE>

Both modules, MmUSPS + MmLABEL are available in a strongly discounted bundle. You can get the very flexible MmLABEL module for just additional $30.


faq

Can I change the format of the USPS labels?

Yes, together with the MmLABEL module. In the MmLABEL module you can select not only the label format, but you can also freely compose the label layout too. For printing customer fields (name, address,...) or order data (order number, date,...) you use the tokens described at the bottom of the MmLABEL admin screen. You can insert one or more elements of the USPS labels, using the MmUSPS tokens (also described at the bottom of the page) - the complete original label, the barcode, the tracking number or even the current USPS tracking info. Some of the elements can be horizontally or vertically oriented. See also the example above at the USPS 228C label description.


faq

ORDER TRACKING / ORDER STATUS

How do I notify the customer that the shipment was sent?

With the MmHTMLc module you can re-send the notification containing the shipping info from the Ultra Batch report: in the "Customer Invoice" mode, select the orders you are going to ship and hit the SEND button (the first one below the Ultra Batch header) or send individual notifications with hitting the SEND button in the order header toolbar or the batch header toolbar for sending multiple selected notifications.


faq

I know how to resend invoices. But how will the original Invoice change to show a "status" or notice that "Your Product has been Shipped"?

If you scroll down in the truXoft Customer Email admin screen, you can see description of several MmUSPS tokens. Principally you have two possibilities: either you use the %MmUSPS-info% token alone, that prints on the notification the order status requested directly form the USPS server, or put an own message into the <MmUSPS> tags. For example like this:

<MmUSPS>Your order has been shipped!</MmUSPS>

or a more complex example:

<MmUSPS>
 <P><B STYLE="color:red">Your order has been shipped!</B></P>
 <P>
  Your USPS order tracking ID: %MmUSPS-ID%<BR>
  %MmUSPS-info%<BR>
  <B>Note:</B> you can verify the USPS tracking information 
  when you log into your account in our 
  <A HREF="http://yourdomain.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv">store</A>
  </P>
</MmUSPS>

The message will not appear in the notification until a USPS label was generated, it means it will not be sent during the checkout, but rather only when you generate the label and re-send the notification. Note that for the customer tracking interface in the Miva Merchant Customer Account, you have to add the JavaScript to the Account Header as described in the installation manual.

  • How can I modify the look and feel of the contents of the popup?
  • How can I modify the look and feel of the contents of the popup?

    You can create one or more of the following files with HTML code for pop-up window and place them in the .../modules/fulfill/ directory in the Miva Script area:

    • mmusps-http.txt - for code to be inserted within the HTML <HEAD></HEAD> block of the pop-up window
    • mmusps-header.txt - for HTML code to be inserted at the top of the window
    • mmusps-footer.txt - for HTML code to be inserted at the bottom of the window



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    Troubleshooting

    In case of troubles, before contacting the support, please be sure to:

    1. read the FAQ
    2. check the changelog and update the module to the latest version
    3. read known limitation and bugs


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    Wish List

    • Optionally associate only order using the USPS shipping method
    • Shipment tracking

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    Change Log


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    Some Useful Links

    USPS - United States Postal Service®
    USPS Priority Mail Shipping Label
    USPS Delivery Confirmation FAQ
    MmUBAT - Ultra Batch Report / Order Browser
    MmLABEL - printing shipping and address labels and envelopes

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