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DHL Shipping & Magento - Composition of Packages | PART 4

DHL Shipping for Magento 2: Compositions of packages

Composition of Packages

While we experimented with multi-module extensions already on the Magento 1 platform, evolution of technology granted us two significant changes which allowed to thoroughly utilize a modular architecture. First of all, the Composer dependency manager was introduced to the PHP world. Composer does not only allow to define the package requirements of a project, but also makes it possible to separate a package into smaller modules, using the metapackage package type. Secondly, the Magento 2 platform architecture puts strong emphasis on a clearly defined module API. That is, how individual modules are supposed to interact with each other. Based on these factors, the architectural vision was to create a central, abstract DHL shipping framework that on the one hand connects to the Magento core’s shipping module and on the other hand comes with the ability to plug in carrier modules (representing DHL business units) one after the other. Any other common (carrier-agnostic) functionality not offered by Magento core would be provided by further, independent modules.

Package structure - DHL Shipping by Netresearch

Another step towards a modular extension architecture was to extract any web service communication into plain standalone PHP SDK libraries. One advantage is that possible use of the SDKs is not limited to the Magento platform. Another one is that web services can easily be exchanged without modifying the consuming application: The Location Finder API, used to fetch parcel pickup locations in checkout, was already replaced in the second release (v1.1.0) of the metapackage with no issues.

The modular approach paid off soon when DHL Express requested a Magento 2 extension for offering their shipping methods in checkout, paired with the ability to fulfill shipping in external software. The DHL Express Rates at Checkout module can be considered as a lightweight composition from the pool of available DHL packages.

Leaving technical aspects behind, the upcoming posts will focus on features and usability improvements. The next part highlights how merchants are guided through the label creation process by the new DHL packaging popup.