Courier Package Tracker

[cevert73]

Hello,

I wish to construct a VI in LabVIEW which tracks packages sent by a global courier (FedEx) and then reports back the latest status of the shipment.  Unfortunately after entering the shipment number their website reverts to an https protocol which I'm not sure how to workaround in LabVIEW since I get a protocol not recognised error when I try to retrieve the webpage.  When I drop down to http I don't retrieve the shipment information.  Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[JÞB]

This might be one you want to work on by first contacting FedEX

Let me explain why I would take that approach myself:

1. They might just have a solution in a can- you cannot be the only person who would want to automate tracking of shipments.
2. The public web-site anticipates human interaction.  An Automated connection with heavy usage might just trigger some "Anti-bot" flag that mistakes your requests as a denial of service attack and be refused
3. The web-interface might change without notice- a solution from the owner of the interface would probably either get an update or be unaffected.

[GregFreeman]

Often googling "<XYZ> API" for things like this will get you what you're looking for. 

Here is the link for FedEx. You should be able to use Web Services/HTTP VIs from within LabVIEW to get the functionality you need. There are examples in the example finder for this as well.

[cevert73]

The attached is the source code for the tracker I produced.  It's only able to track DHL packages and it does so unsatisfactorily but, as of the moment, I'm not sure how to improve the manner in which I extract the information because I'm a relative newbie when it comes to web development.

When I download the website is there a way I can better parse the information from the tables on the DHL page?  A valid (German - .de) DHL tracking number has been included in the vi by default such that meaningful information can be retrieved.

I guess what I'm trying to achieve is to extract functional aspects (e.g. XML data) from the webpage, rather than downloading the whole page and then picking up the useful bits at the end, which is bound to work only on occasions and will fail, for example, when the page is rendered in a language other than German at the moment.

Thanks.