This section of pixi Web is currently available as a BETA feature. To enable access, please contact Descartes pixi Support to have it activated for your database.

Shipping Station in pixi Web allows centralized control over document printing and invoice automation. It enables automatic invoice creation, dynamic template selection through printing rules and printer preferences via pixi Connector. Whether you're using Scan-In or Ship-Out, this section ensures that the correct documents are generated and printed based on your configuration.

Control Panel

On this page, you can control whether invoices are automatically created and printed by the system, via the web-based service. Settings apply globally to the entire database. This feature currently supports only normal invoices. Direct and fulfillment invoices are not handled by this setting.

Automatic Invoice Creation and Printing

This feature is currently available for normal invoices in a defined box range and not yet for direct invoices and fulfillment. The setting applies to the entire database. The setting can either be enabled/disabled in Control Center by the pixi master user or by an admin user in pixi Web.

Disabled: Everything works as before. Invoices will be created and printed through the desktop client Invoices.
Enabled: Automatic invoice creation and printing will be done via pixi Web. When the setting is enabled, invoices will be created and printed for orders whose items are scanned into a box. Additionally, if this setting is enabled, printing via the desktop client, Shipping is not working anymore. The creation and printing process is executed every five minutes. The five-minute interval can be bypassed when the pixi Messaging event pixiEXScanInBoxFull is activated.

Please note:
Before Automatic invoice creation and printing is enabled, it is recommended to define printers and printing options for all (!) shipping stations. Only then, the setting should be activated for pixi to assign box ranges to shipping stations/printers. When Automatic invoice creation and printing is enabled for the first time, the settings on that page are empty and the printing functionality will not work. To use the functionality:
- Define (at least) the default shipping station
- Define the box range so that all boxes are assigned to one or more stations.

By default, automatic invoice creation and printing is disabled. Invoice creation and printing are by default handled by the Invoice desktop client. If printing is activated in pixi Web, the desktop client cannot be used. If the desktop client is activated for printing, the web client cannot be used. You can only use one of the options at a time for printing with pixi.

Box Selection

Under this section, you'll find:

• Automation Settings: Enable or disable the Automatic document creation and printing.

• Box Selection: When Automatic document creation and printing is

  • Enabled: The read-only field provides information on which box range the displayed shipping station is assigned to. note that the box range is configured under Settings.

  • Disabled: You can enter boxes, picklists or ranges manually for invoice printing:

    • for a single box, enter e.g. "box5"

    • for a range of boxes, enter e.g. "box5-20"

    • for a picklist, enter e.g. "pic1234"
      
      

Printing Logs

This overview displays all events that are connected to invoice printing on the current Shipping Station. Available fields are: Document Type

Event, Shipping Station, Timestamp, Status, Document Link, Box number

User Permission

The permission pixi Invoices needs to be enabled for a user to use the feature.

Printing Rules

The Printing Rules page enables automatic selection of document templates based on order and customer attributes. It ensures that the correct layout is used for printing documents. Printing Rules determine: which templates are used for printing (invoices, credits, etc.).

How Printing Rules Work

pixi printing rules allow you to automatically select different document designs or templates based on specific criteria related to an order. This is useful for tailoring invoices to different customer segments, countries or payment methods. The idea is that you define Printing Rules, each with specific conditions (e.g., for Shop "DEM" and Country "Germany"). When an invoice needs to be printed, pixi checks these rules against the invoice's actual parameters.

User Permission

The permission Printing Rules needs to be enabled for a user to use the feature.

Create a Printing Rule

To create a printing rule:

1. Click Add in the navigation bar.

2. Fill out the fields:

   1. Name*: Custom Name for the rule

   2. Shop: Select from the list of shops within your DB

   3. Country: Select a country to which the rule should apply to (ie. important for your own translated templates)

   4. Shipping Vendor: Select from the list of connected vendors

   5. Location: Select the location

   6. Order Type: B2C or B2B

   7. Template Type: Determine the type of document that should be printed

   8. Template*: Select from the list of your templates
      
      

3. Click Create.

Edit a Printing Rule

To edit a printing rule:

1. Select a rule and click Edit in the navigation bar.

2. A popup window opens with current rule. Make edits as needed.

3. Click Save to save your changes.

Duplicate a Printing Rule

To duplicate a rule:

1. Select a rule and click Duplicate in the navigation bar.

2. Popup opens with all fields pre-filled from the selected rule.

3. The Name field is automatically updated with "_Copy".

4. You can modify the rule before saving.

5. Save your newly duplicated printing rule.

Delete a Printing Rule

To delete a printing rule, follow these steps:

1. Select a rule and click Delete in the navigation bar.

2. Confirm to delete the rule.

3. The rule was deleted.

How the Printing Rule Hierarchy Works

The Parameter Hierarchy can be used when multiple printing rules could potentially apply when you want to create/print an invoice. Instead of picking the first one or being ambiguous, pixi uses a predefined priority list to decide which rule is the "best fit" and should be used. How it works:

1. Rule Matching: When an invoice is generated, pixi first looks at all defined printing rules and sees which ones have parameters that match the invoice's details.

   • Example: An invoice for "Shop A", "Country France", "Payment Type Credit Card" will match any rule that specifies "Shop A", or "Country France", or "Payment Type Credit Card", or any combination.

2. Hierarchy: If more than one rule matches some of the invoice's parameters, pixi uses the following hierarchy to determine which rule takes precedence (default):

   1. Location (Highest Priority)

   2. Shop

   3. Shipping Vendor

   4. Country

   5. Payment Type

   6. Order Type (B2B/B2C) (Lowest Priority)

Explanation: pixi looks for the rule that matches a parameter that is highest on this priority list. If Rule X matches "Shop" and Rule Y matches "Country", Rule X will win because "Shop" has a higher priority than "Country".

"Undefined parameters do not influence the printing of the invoice." means if a rule only specifies "Shop" and leaves "Country" blank, it doesn't count against that rule for the "Country" parameter; it simply doesn't use "Country" as a condition for that specific rule.

Example

Imagine an online store that sells electronics worldwide and needs to generate invoices based on specific conditions. For Order A1234, the details are as follows: it was placed in the

• EU-Store (their European branch),

• shipped to Germany,

• paid by credit card,

• sent with DHL Standard,

• and categorized as a B2C order for an individual customer.

The seller has defined three different printing rules. The first, German Invoice (Standard), applies whenever the country is Germany and uses the German_Standard_Invoice.pdf template, which contains German text and standard terms. The second rule, EU-Store Credit Card, applies to orders from the EU-Store paid by credit card. Its template, EU_CreditCard_Invoice.pdf, is in English, includes shorter payment terms, and adds loyalty-points information. The third rule, DHL Shipments (B2C), is triggered when the shipping vendor is DHL Standard and the order type is B2C; it uses the DHL_B2C_Invoice.pdf template, which provides tracking information and a customs disclaimer.

When determining which rule should apply to Order A1234, each rule is checked against the invoice details. The “German Invoice (Standard)” rule matches based on the country. The “EU-Store Credit Card” rule matches two parameters: the shop and the payment type. The “DHL Shipments (B2C)” rule also matches two parameters: the shipping vendor and the order type. However, the system uses a parameter hierarchy to decide which rule wins. Among all matched parameters, Shop has the highest priority (Priority 2), and this is matched only by the “EU-Store Credit Card” rule. The next priorities—Shipping Vendor and Country—are matched by the other rules but rank lower.

Because the EU-Store Credit Card rule contains the highest-priority match, it becomes the selected rule. As a result, the invoice for Order A1234 will be generated using the EU_CreditCard_Invoice.pdf template, even though other rules matched different details. This hierarchy ensures a clear and predictable rule selection.

Set a Printing Rule Hierarchy

To set a hierarchy:

1. Open the Printing Rules page.

2. Click on the Parameter Hierarchy symbol on the right side of the navigation bar.

3. Drag and drop the hierarchy based on your preferences.

4. Click Save.

Settings

This section is divided into Current Shipping Station and All Shipping Stations. The availability of printing functionality in the Shipping Station depends on whether the pixi Connector is installed and actively connected. When the pixi Connector full printing functionality is enabled:

Current Shipping Station

In this tab, a user that is logged in to pixi Connector can set a box range, printing options and printers for their shipping station.

Settings and changes to settings are only applied when Save is pressed.

All Shipping Stations

Admin users can access this page. Non-admin users get denied access.

Please note: In order to make changes to other shipping stations as an administrator, these shipping stations must be logged in to pixi Connector at the time of the change. If not logged in, these shipping stations will not be displayed in the list.

Default Printing Station

Only one shipping station per location can be defined as the default printing station. The default printing station will be responsible for creating and printing invoices for boxes that aren't included in box ranges defined for other shipping stations. To define a default shipping station, set the location first. As a next step, click the button in the column header () while the printing station is still highlighted to define the station as default. Afterwards, the default symbol will display in the first column.

How To Define The Default Printing Station

Follow these steps to define a default printing station:

1. Select the shipping station. The box will change to orange.

2. Click the symbol in the first table header () to set selected printing station as default.

3. The changes are automatically saved.

4. The symbol to indicate the default shipping station is shown in the first column.

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