# UPS Shipping Tools XML Integration

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ups-shipping-tools-xml-integration/110892>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [July 31, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ups-shipping-tools-xml-integration/110892 "2007-07-31T21:16:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kyle](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/848f3c/32.png) [@kyle](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kyle)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ups-shipping-tools-xml-integration/110892/1 "2007-07-31T21:16:33Z")

</div>

Hello! I’m relatively new to Rails and in over my head…

I’d like to integrate the XML UPS Shipping tools into an online cart  
so that a user can select a shipping method based on availability and  
price. I understand what UPS wants and what I should get back from  
them…but I’m failing at the most basic level. How can I do the  
following:

1. send UPS an XML Post request,
2. parse the XML that they send back, and
3. use their response in my next view template?

It seems like this should be so basic, but I’ve searched with no  
luck. Any help is greatly appreciated.

-Kyle

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kyle](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/848f3c/32.png) [@kyle](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kyle)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ups-shipping-tools-xml-integration/110892/2 "2007-08-27T16:09:39Z")

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Kyle,  
This may be something that is along the lines of what you are looking  
for. It’s a rubygem that handles both UPS and FedEx shipping rates.

[http://shipping.rubyforge.org/](http://shipping.rubyforge.org/)

-Will

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kyle](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/848f3c/32.png) [@kyle](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kyle)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ups-shipping-tools-xml-integration/110892/3 "2007-08-23T22:23:58Z")

</div>

Well, I finally got it. I’m not sure that this is the best way, but  
here’s what I did:

* * *

require ‘net/http’  
require ‘net/https’

def get\_ups\_rates  
url = “[wwwcie.ups.com](http://wwwcie.ups.com)” # for testing  
path = “/ups.app/xml/Rate”  
headers = {“Content-Type” =\> “text/xml”}

```
h = Net::HTTP.new(url, 443)
h.use_ssl = true

xmlrequest = "<?xml version='1.0' ?>
<AccessRequest xml:lang='en-US'>
    <AccessLicenseNumber>xxxxxxxx</AccessLicenseNumber>
    <UserId>xxxxxxxx</UserId>
    <Password>xxxxxxxxx</Password>
</AccessRequest>
<?xml version='1.0' ?>
<RatingServiceSelectionRequest>
    <Request>
         <RequestAction>rate</RequestAction>
         <RequestOption>Shop</RequestOption>
    </Request>
    <PickupType>
         <Code>01</Code>
    </PickupType>
    <Shipment>
         <Shipper>
              <Name>Mass Street Music</Name>
              <PhoneNumber>7858433535</PhoneNumber>
              <FaxNumber>7858434999</FaxNumber>
              <ShipperNumber>xxxxxx</ShipperNumber>
              <Address>
                  <AddressLine1>1347 Massachusetts Street</

```

AddressLine1\>  
Lawrence  
KS  
66044  
US  
  
  
  
  
#{@ship\_street\_1 ||  
@bill\_street\_1}  
#{@ship\_street\_2 ||  
@bill\_street\_2}  
#{@ship\_city || @bill\_city}  
#{@ship\_state ||  
@bill\_state}  
#{@ship\_zip || @bill\_zip}\</  
PostalCode\>  
US  
Yes\</  
ResidentialAddressIndicator\>  
  
  
  
  
`LBS`  
  
#{@cart.total\_weight}  
  
  
  
xxxxxx\</  
AccountNumber\>  
  
  
  
  
`02`  
  
  
  
`LBS`  
  
#{@cart.total\_weight}  
  
  
  
"

```
@resp, @data = h.post(path, xmlrequest, headers)

doc = REXML::Document.new(@data)
  REXML::XPath.each(doc, "/RatingServiceSelectionResponse/

```

RatedShipment"){ |service|  
@code = service.elements[“Service”].elements[“Code”]  
if @code.text == “03”  
@upsg =  
@code.parent.parent.elements[“TotalCharges”].elements[“MonetaryValue”].text  
end  
if @code.text == “12”  
@ups3 =  
@code.parent.parent.elements[“TotalCharges”].elements[“MonetaryValue”].text  
end  
if @code.text == “02”  
@ups2 =  
@code.parent.parent.elements[“TotalCharges”].elements[“MonetaryValue”].text  
end  
if @code.text == “01”  
@ups1 =  
@code.parent.parent.elements[“TotalCharges”].elements[“MonetaryValue”].text  
end  
}

```
session[:upsg] = @upsg if @upsg
session[:ups3] = @ups3 if @ups3
session[:ups2] = @ups2 if @ups2
session[:ups1] = @ups1 if @ups1

```

end

* * *

I use this to find the rates for UPS Ground, 3-Day, 2-Day, and Next-  
Day. The view (template) then takes these rates and plops them into a  
selection list. It’s not exactly pretty, but it seems to work.

I hope that somebody might find this useful! I know that I could have  
used it when I was trying things out…

-Kyle

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kyle](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/848f3c/32.png) [@kyle](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kyle)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ups-shipping-tools-xml-integration/110892/4 "2007-08-28T00:02:37Z")

</div>

Thanks for the link. I had looked at the shipping gem, but it appears  
that it hasn’t been maintained since 2005. I’m also not quite savvy  
enough to implement a gem like this by looking only at the source.  
Hopefully the solution I came up with will continue to work. I  
haven’t looked at the FedEx tools yet, but UPS (technically speaking)  
won’t allow a programmer to use their API and display a competitor’s  
rates side by side.

-Kyle