United States Postal Service (USPS) Web Tools Wrapper

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Introduction

UPDATE: I am working on a FedEx, UPS and DHL version of this tool. The DHL version should be the next one I release. I will post them here on The Code Project when I am finished, but you can check this Web site until then for updates and to contact me directly.

I was in need of a library that would integrate the USPS Web Tools into my Windows form application. (This library will work in ASP.NET Web applications also.) The USPS Web tools are fairly easy to integrate, but I wanted to create a reusable component that I could use in future projects. Please keep in mind that this is my first CodeProject article, so go easy! :)

USPS Web Tools

Before you can use this library, you will need to get a USPS Web Tools ID. You can do this by filling out this form. Note: If you are using the USPS Test servers, then the data in the examples below are the only data that will work. If you change the address or anything else, you will get an error. Once you have tested your application, you can request your profile to be updated by USPS to access the production environment, where you can use any appropriate data.

Validate an Address

///Create a new instance of the USPS Manager class
///The constructor takes 2 arguments, the first is
///your USPS Web Tools User ID and the second is 
///true if you want to use the USPS Test Servers.
USPSManager m = new USPSManager("YOUR_USER_ID", true);
Address a = new Address();
a.Address2 = "6406 Ivy Lane";
a.City = "Greenbelt";
a.State = "MD";

///By calling ValidateAddress on the USPSManager object,
///you get an Address object that has been validated by the
///USPS servers
Address validatedAddress = m.ValidateAddress(a);

Get Zipcode

///Create a new instance of the USPS Manager class
///The constructor takes 2 arguments, the first is
///your USPS Web Tools User ID and the second is 
///true if you want to use the USPS Test Servers.
USPSManager m = new USPSManager("YOUR_USER_ID", true);
Address a = new Address();
a.Address2 = "6406 Ivy Lane";
a.City = "Greenbelt";
a.State = "MD";
Address addressWithZip = m.GetZipcode(a);
string zip = addressWithZip.Zip;

Get City State from Zip

///Create a new instance of the USPS Manager class
///The constructor takes 2 arguments, the first is
///your USPS Web Tools User ID and the second is 
///true if you want to use the USPS Test Servers.
USPSManager m = new USPSManager("YOUR_USER_ID", true);
Address a = m.GetCityState("90210");
string city = a.City;
string state = a.State;

Track a Package

///Create a new instance of the USPS Manager class
///The constructor takes 2 arguments, the first is
///your USPS Web Tools User ID and the second is 
///true if you want to use the USPS Test Servers.
USPSManager m = new USPSManager("YOUR_USER_ID", true);
TrackingInfo t = m.GetTrackingInfo("EJ958083578US");

Get Shipping Labels

///Create a new instance of the USPS Manager class
///The constructor takes 2 arguments, the first is
///your USPS Web Tools User ID and the second is 
///true if you want to use the USPS Test Servers.
USPSManager m = new USPSManager("YOUR_USER_ID", true);
Package p = new Package();
p.FromAddress.Contact = "John Smith";
p.FromAddress.Address2 = "475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW";
p.FromAddress.City = "Washington";
p.FromAddress.State = "DC";
p.FromAddress.Zip = "20260";
p.ToAddress.Contact = "Tom Customer";
p.ToAddress.Address1 = "STE 201";
p.ToAddress.Address2 = "6060 PRIMACY PKWY";
p.ToAddress.City = "Memphis";
p.ToAddress.State = "TN";
p.WeightInOunces = 2;
p.ServiceType = ServiceType.Priority;
p.SeparateReceiptPage = false;
p.LabelImageType = LabelImageType.TIF;
p.PackageSize = PackageSize.Regular;
p.PackageType = PackageType.Flat_Rate_Box;
p = m.GetDeliveryConfirmationLabel(p);

Note: If you want to test the other label methods, you will need to download the Guides from the USPS Web Tools site and use the sample data they provide.

It appears that USPS may have changed some of the behaviour of their Web services. I will look into this and make changes to the code accordingly.

I have updated the source code to include the XML Parser version of the FromXML method on the Address object. The code was provided by viperguynaz. Thank you.

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)