Archive for category FileMaker Shipping

NRG Software is excited to announced that the current release of all NRGship products are compatible with the FileMaker Pro v17 platform. Internal pre-release testing has not uncovered any issues. As with any upgrade, we suggest customers test their integration before upgrading production systems. Customers using NRG Ship Connect should email sales@nrgsoft.com for upgrade information.

More information on upgrading NRGship for FileMaker can be found here.

With the release of FileMaker Pro v16, new web service capabilities could be utilized to integrate shipping directly with UPS, FedEx and USPS APIs into your FileMaker apps. However, doing so isn’t always the most cost-effective option.

Utilizing Carrier APIs

In order to use the carrier APIs you must first obtain credentials for their test environment and review the documentation. FileMaker v16 makes it easy to integrate with JSON services however the carriers are not buzzword compliant and still utilize XML and SOAP for communcations. Creating basic shipments is a fairly straight-forward process but complex shipments like multiple packages, third-party shipping and ancillary services require additional logic. Providing the full suite of carrier functionality also requires implmentation of various APIs – rating, address validation, shipping, tracking and pickup requests. Building out these requests could take a week of development effort, you will need to be well-versed in building XML requests and parsing responses. Ongoing maintenance is also required – several times a year the carriers will post updates for new services or additional offerings. Label output to thermal printers and capturing weights off digital scales will also be an issue which require special coding.

NRGShip Makes it Easier

NRGship is built in FileMaker Pro and is Carrier Certified. We have gone thru extensive testing to make sure that data is properly passed to the carriers. If you can set a field via FileMaker Scripting then you can integrate shipping into your database in no time at all. Our apps are also compatible for use with WebDirect and FileMaker Go. Thermal printers and digital scales are directly supported. While we recommend using FileMaker v15 or above with our apps, we still support older FileMaker Pro versions with legacy offerings. NRG provides full support and updates to it’s customers. FileMaker shipping is our core business.

Ready to Go

NRGship is proven by thousands of installs. Depending on volume, some shippers can even qualify for carrier subsidies which will provide up to three years of support and maintenance. Spend less time troubleshooting and get shipping today!