shipping triggers

Is there a tutorial or manual to show how to use the different shipping triggers and configurations in eCart?

There is no tutorial on that specific topic, but if you tell us what you are trying to do, we may be able to point you in the right direction.

I'm probably looking at something impossible but here is the scenario:

I am building a website where there are a multitude of items for sale from small cards to large items such as mugs, etc. I want to be able to set up postal charges in the UK, Europe and USA for these items. On the other sites I have used eCart I have been able to set the shopping up as to the number of items as all the items are of the same type (posters, programs, etc) However, due to the differing in nature of the items on this site I am wondering what the best way of setting this up would be. Would it be weight? If so, is that done through the configuration process?

Yes this is best achieved based on weight. Best way I have found is set up a table in your database with all your shippingcountries

CREATE TABLE `shippingcountry` (
`shippingcountryid` int(11) NOT NULL,
`country` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
`shipping_country_code` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
`language` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`shippingcountryid`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

then create your shipping rates

CREATE TABLE `shippingrates` (
`shippingrateid` int(11) NOT NULL,
`shippingrate` double DEFAULT NULL,
`shippingtype` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`shippingcountry` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`shippingincrement` double DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`shippingrateid`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

the bring them all together in a view and then use this view in your checkout

VIEW `view_shipping_and_sales_tax` AS
SELECT
`shippingrates`.`shippingrateid` AS `shippingrateID`,
`shippingrates`.`shippingrate` AS `shippingrate`,
`shippingrates`.`shippingtype` AS `shippingtype`,
`shippingrates`.`shippingcountry` AS `shippingcountry`,
`shippingrates`.`shippingincrement` AS `shippingincrement`,
`shippingtype`.`shippingtypeid` AS `shippingtypeID`,
`shippingtype`.`shippingtypename` AS `shippingtypename`,
`shippingcountry`.`shippingcountryid` AS `shippingcountryID`,
`shippingcountry`.`shipping_country_code` AS `shipping_country_code`,
`shippingcountry`.`country` AS `country`,
`shippingcountry`.`language` AS `language`
FROM
((`shippingtype`
JOIN `shippingrates` ON ((`shippingtype`.`shippingtypeid` = `shippingrates`.`shippingtype`)))
JOIN `shippingcountry` ON ((`shippingrates`.`shippingcountry` = `shippingcountry`.`shippingcountryid`)))

set up ecart so you have a BaseRate for shipping and then an IncrementRate for every extra kg

Hope this helps.

Oops you also need shippingtypes

CREATE TABLE `shippingtype` (
`shippingtypeid` int(11) NOT NULL,
`shippingtypename` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`shippingtypeid`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;

Mark is correct. When shipping gets complicated it is usually best resolved by doing tables and looking up rates from the database.

Then you store the shipping amount in the Session and just use that session variable in the eCart shipping rule as the amount when it exists.

If weights aren't enough you could store the item type in the database and have different shipping charges based on both type and weight when necessary.

This is something we could help with in a premier support ticket.

Thank you both very much. I will certainly have a think about this. Am away for a week but will get back to you if looking to go premier route. Again, many thanks Nick