What does type mean under carriers/shipping_code (default/carrier/shipping_code/type)?

Question

Does it have any additional meaning in addition to being an identifier? Any grouping? I checked UPS and it seems to be using it to determine whether and cgi(direct) or and xml request is coming through.

Answer 1

Yes, you are right it is only used to determine the type of request:

To get the quotes:

protected function _getQuotes()
{
    switch ($this->getConfigData('type')) {
        case 'UPS':
            return $this->_getCgiQuotes();
        case 'UPS_XML':
            return $this->_getXmlQuotes();
        default:
            break;
    }

    return null;
}

To get the tracking:

public function getTracking($trackings)
{
    if (!is_array($trackings)) {
        $trackings = [$trackings];
    }

    if ($this->getConfigData('type') == 'UPS') {
        $this->_getCgiTracking($trackings);
    } elseif ($this->getConfigData('type') == 'UPS_XML') {
        $this->setXMLAccessRequest();
        $this->_getXmlTracking($trackings);
    }

    return $this->_result;
}

And to get the allowed methods:

public function getAllowedMethods()
{
    $allowed = explode(',', $this->getConfigData('allowed_methods'));
    $arr = [];
    $isByCode = $this->getConfigData('type') == 'UPS_XML';
    foreach ($allowed as $code) {
        $arr[$code] = $isByCode ? $this->getShipmentByCode($code) : $this->configHelper->getCode('method', $code);
    }

    return $arr;
}