India Post consignments for GoCommerce

What it does

Configuration

One setting, and nothing required. Because it needs no credentials, the module starts switched on as soon as it is installed; the setting lives in Config or under Settings › Shipping providers.

The module reads its Config struct, not the environment. The variable names are the ones the package’s own example or the reference binary uses; in your own main() you choose where each value comes from. Where a setting has a panel label, the admin’s settings drawer can hold it too, and a value typed there wins over Config.

Setting it up

1. Book at the counterHand the parcel over at a post office, or book it in the Department of Posts’ own portal, and keep the consignment number from the receipt.
2. Install the moduleImport it and pass indiapost.New to gocommerce.New, as below — or run the reference binary with -carriers. It needs no keys, so it starts switched on.
3. Record the parcelChoose India Post in the admin’s ship dialog and type the number, or POST /api/admin/create-fulfillment with "provider": "india-post" and the tracking number.
4. Let the check workA number that is not an S10 article number — EE123456789IN for Speed Post — is refused, and the order stays unshipped until the right one is entered.

import (
	"github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/core"
	indiapost "github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/ext/fulfill-indiapost"
)

app, err := gocommerce.New(cfg, indiapost.New(indiapost.Config{}))

How it works

• Cleaned, then checked

  Spaces, hyphens and lower case are stripped from what was typed, then the number is matched against the UPU S10 pattern India Post issues under: two letters, nine digits, IN.

• Refused before it ships

  A missing number, or one that fails the check, is an error returned before the engine records anything, so the order is not marked shipped.

• The carrier is stated

  The shipment is recorded with the carrier india-post rather than leaving the engine to work it out from the number.

• The engine’s own rule

  The S10 pattern is the one the engine’s carrier detection uses to recognise an India Post number, so a number this module accepts is one the engine will recognise too.

• Speed Post and the rest

  EE… for Speed Post, RX… for registered and CX… for business parcels all fit the pattern. A product outside S10 needs AcceptAnyNumber.

• No calls, no tables

  The module makes no network calls and keeps no state of its own. It logs each consignment it records; the engine stores the shipment.

What it does not do

Read these before an order depends on it. No store is known to run GoCommerce in production yet, so these come from the code, not from anyone’s experience.

• It books nothingNo label, no waybill, no pickup. The booking is made at the counter or in the Department of Posts’ portal; this module records it.
• No tracking updatesNo webhook and no polling. Marking an order delivered is a separate step, in the admin or through the API.
• Shape, not existenceThe check confirms a number looks like one India Post issues. It cannot confirm that the article was actually booked.
• Unchecked with AcceptAnyNumberWith the check off, any number is recorded as typed, cleaned of spaces and hyphens. The typo it exists to catch is caught no longer.
• Better than manual, narrowlyThe package doc’s own verdict: it is better than the built-in manual provider only in that it refuses a number India Post did not issue.
• An agreement needs its own moduleA store with a Department of Posts integration agreement should, the doc says, write a module against the endpoints in that agreement.