Flexicharge allows a lot of customisation via custom.inc provider files, but it requires multiple product types for applying different charges to products. Duplication of product modules to create new product types seems like a hack just to be able to assign a different Flexicharge rate based on the product type. It also makes updating difficult if you have many copies of the same basic product type.
Adding new postal rates isn't possible for 'site administrators' who don't know Drupal module coding, and only want to set a new shipping rate for products.
The proposal
I think it would be cleaner to provide a method for selecting a particular Flexicharge preset on the node/edit form. This can be included with the current weight option in the Flexicharge options on product node forms.
This also means products can have the charges changed to a different rate, since the charge is not specific to the type of product.
I am writing changes to the Flexicharge module (for EC v3.4 the current stable release) and a custom.inc and would like some opinions on whether this is useful?
Does anyone involved with Flexicharge.module think this is a bad idea?
I'm trying to decide on the precedence of this new option, since it would mean that one product type can have multiple charges assigned to it in flexicharge settings, but only the preset assigned to the product should be applied.
The default option in the Flexicharge settings of no selected product type would cause the charge to be applied even if it is not set in the node product.
Does this make sense?
Example
One product type - shippable product (tangible product), can be more than one type.
The following Flexicharges applied to the above product type :
- "By Weight"
- Weight based shipping rate - (Simple shipping type) - "Incrementing"
- Custom Shipping charge 1 (My custom type allows a base rate + additional fee per item) - "Flat rate shipping"
- Custom Shipping charge 2 (another custom charge)
The user gets a select list of the above charges whenever they add or edit a product. eg
select shipping :
- By Weight
- Incrementing
- Flat rate shipping
PS I suspect people will require this patch to make the multiple charges for multiple product types appear correctly in the cart for the current EC Flexichage Module.
Please leave comments if this seems useful.