Using Shippo and PHP to produce shipping labels - php

Question

I almost got it working perfectly, except for generating the labels.
I have this code to generate the rates, which works great:
//Wait for rates to be generated
$attempts = 0;
while (($shipment["object_status"] == "QUEUED" || $shipment["object_status"] == "WAITING") && $attempts < 10)
{
$shipment = Shippo_Shipment::retrieve($shipment["object_id"]);
$attempts +=1;
}
//Get all rates for shipment.
$rates = Shippo_Shipment::get_shipping_rates(array('id'=> $shipment["object_id"]));
$json = json_decode($rates, true);
foreach ($json["results"] as $key)
{
$amount = $key["amount"];
$servicelevel = $key["servicelevel_name"];
$objid = $key["object_id"];
}
As I go through each of the results, I assign them to variables for the different service levels and allow the user to select which shipping method they want to use. I pass the $objid to the next page to produce the label using the following code:
//Write the object_id to a variable
$var = $shiparray[1];
$transaction = Shippo_Transaction::create(array('rate'=>$var));
echo $transaction["object_status"] ."<br>";
// Wait for carrier to create shipping label
$attempts = 0;
while (($transaction["object_status"] == "QUEUED" || $transaction["object_status"] == "WAITING") && $attempts < 10)
{
$transaction = Shippo_Transaction::retrieve($transaction["object_id"]);
$attempts += 1;
}
echo $transaction["object_status"] ."<br>";
// Retrieve label url and tracking number or error message
if ($transaction["object_status"] == "SUCCESS")
{
echo($transaction["label_url"]);
echo("\n");
echo($transaction["tracking_number"]);
}
else
{
echo( $transaction["messages"] );
}
This just produces an error, though. Am I passing the wrong value to produce the label? Should I be using a value produced for the shipment rather then the rate?

Answer 1

this is Simon from Shippo. The link you've posted is actually the Rates response, not the Transaction (it's an array of many Rates, thus the length).
I've quickly checked your account and for your most recent transaction attempts, there's an error message "Rate can't be purchased because the Shippo account doesn't have valid billing settings.". This is because your Shippo user account doesn't have any credit card information, but you're trying to purchase labels in production.
You can enter a valid credit card here https://goshippo.com/user/billing/. The request should work fine as soon as your credit card has been saved!
Let me know if you have any further questions, always happy to help!