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Here you will learn how to write a working program to utilize part of the FedEx API. Although the program we will write looks short, it represents hours of trial and error, 5 support requests, and a lively discussion on the Python mailing list! So make sure you savor this advice thouroughly

Firstly, go read part 1 of this guide if you haven’t already. You’ll need to have done everything listed there before any of this will work.

So what I am going to show you is how to write some Python code that will return an estimated shipping cost from the FedEx server depending on your parameters.
Here is what the final function will look like and how it is used:

print rate_request(service='FEDEXGROUND',origin_state='MD',origin_zip='20878',origin_country='US',
       dest_state='MD',dest_zip='20905',dest_country='US',
       packaging='YOURPACKAGING',weight='2.0',declared_value='100.00')
#it simply prints the price such as u'8.00'.

So without further suspense, here is the code. There are a few comments in there and I go over a few things at the end of this post.

"""
A Simple FedEx API script for Python
-Greg Pinero, February, 2006

"""
import sys
import urllib2
import urllib
import xml.dom.minidom

#You fill in the 4 variables below to make this code work.
FedEx_API_URL="https://example.fedex.com:443/GatewayDC" #email websupport@fedex.com for the correct URL
#to their testing server.
MeterNumber='1111111'  #continue reading, you'll have your own soon enough!
FedExAccountNumber='111111111'
YourCompanyName='Hatson'

#We send the string below to the FedEx server just once ever in order to
#get our meter number.  NOTE: remember to fill in your own information
#below.
xml_subscription_request="""<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<FDXSubscriptionRequest xmlns:api="http://www.fedex.com/fsmapi" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="FDXSubscriptionRequest.xsd">
<RequestHeader>
<CustomerTransactionIdentifier>String</CustomerTransactionIdentifier>
<AccountNumber>111111111</AccountNumber>
</RequestHeader>
<Contact>
<PersonName>Jim Smith</PersonName>
<CompanyName>Company</CompanyName>
<Department>Shipping</Department>
<PhoneNumber>3019871110</PhoneNumber>
</Contact>
<Address>
<Line1>9121 Washington Blvd.</Line1>
<Line2>Suite 220</Line2>
<City>Gaithersburg</City>
<StateOrProvinceCode>MD</StateOrProvinceCode>
<PostalCode>20878</PostalCode>
<CountryCode>US</CountryCode>
</Address>
</FDXSubscriptionRequest>"""

def rate_request(service,origin_state,origin_zip,origin_country,dest_state,dest_zip,dest_country,
                 packaging='YOURPACKAGING',weight='10.0',declared_value='100.00'):
    """
    Handles all your rate requesting needs.
    """
    ValidServices=[
        'PRIORITYOVERNIGHT',
        'STANDARDOVERNIGHT',
        'FIRSTOVERNIGHT',
        'FEDEX2DAY',
        'FEDEXEXPRESSSAVER',
        'INTERNATIONALPRIORITY',
        'INTERNATIONALECONOMY',
        'INTERNATIONALFIRST',
        'FEDEX1DAYFREIGHT',
        'FEDEX2DAYFREIGHT',
        'FEDEX3DAYFREIGHT',
        'FEDEXGROUND',
        'GROUNDHOMEDELIVERY',
        'INTERNATIONALPRIORITY FREIGHT',
        'INTERNATIONALECONOMY FREIGHT',
        'EUROPEFIRSTINTERNATIONALPRIORITY',
    ]
    ValidPackaging=[
        'FEDEXENVELOPE',
        'FEDEXPAK',
        'FEDEXBOX',
        'FEDEXTUBE',
        'FEDEX10KGBOX',
        'FEDEX25KGBOX',
        'YOURPACKAGING',
    ]
    if not service in ValidServices:print service,'not in',ValidServices
    if not packaging in ValidPackaging:print packaging,'not in',ValidPackaging
    if service in ['FEDEXGROUND']:carrier_code='FDXG'
    else:carrier_code='FDXE'
    xml_rate_request="""<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
    <FDXRateRequest xmlns:api="http://www.fedex.com/fsmapi" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="FDXRateRequest.xsd">
    <RequestHeader>
    <CustomerTransactionIdentifier>CTIString</CustomerTransactionIdentifier>
    <AccountNumber>%s</AccountNumber>
    <MeterNumber>%s</MeterNumber>
    <CarrierCode>%s</CarrierCode>
    </RequestHeader>
    <DropoffType>REGULARPICKUP</DropoffType>
    <Service>%s</Service>
    <Packaging>%s</Packaging>
    <WeightUnits>LBS</WeightUnits>
    <Weight>%s</Weight>
    <OriginAddress>
    <StateOrProvinceCode>%s</StateOrProvinceCode>
    <PostalCode>%s</PostalCode>
    <CountryCode>%s</CountryCode>
    </OriginAddress>
    <DestinationAddress>
    <StateOrProvinceCode>%s</StateOrProvinceCode>
    <PostalCode>%s</PostalCode>
    <CountryCode>%s</CountryCode>
    </DestinationAddress>
    <Payment>
    <PayorType>SENDER</PayorType>
    </Payment>
    <DeclaredValue>
    <Value>%s</Value>
    <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode>
    </DeclaredValue>
    <PackageCount>1</PackageCount>
    </FDXRateRequest>""" % (FedExAccountNumber,MeterNumber,carrier_code,
                            service,packaging,weight,origin_state,origin_zip,
                            origin_country,dest_state,dest_zip,dest_country,
                            declared_value)
    xml_result=make_FedEx_Request(xml_rate_request)
    result=parse_FedEx_Reply(xml_result)
    return result

def parse_FedEx_Reply(xml_result):
    """A quick function to get my shipping charge"""
    d = xml.dom.minidom.parseString(xml_result)
    if len(d.getElementsByTagName('BaseCharge'))>0:
        base_charge=d.getElementsByTagName('BaseCharge')[0].firstChild.data
    else:
        #base_charge="FedEx Error"
        if len(d.getElementsByTagName('Message'))>0:
            base_charge=d.getElementsByTagName('Message')[0].firstChild.data
        else:
            base_charge=d.toprettyxml()
    return base_charge

def make_FedEx_Request(xml_request):
    """Make your XML request and send it through here"""
    headers = { 'Referer' : YourCompanyName,
                'Accept':'image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, text/plain, text/html, */*',
                'Content-Type':'image/gif'
                }
    req = urllib2.Request(FedEx_API_URL,xml_request, headers)
    try:
        handle = urllib2.urlopen(req)
    except IOError, e:
        if hasattr(e, 'reason'):
            print 'We failed to reach a server.'
            print 'Reason: ', e.reason
            print e.info()
        elif hasattr(e, 'code'):
            print 'The server couldn't fulfill the request.'
            print 'Error code: ', e.code
            print e.info()
        raise IOError
    else:
        the_page = handle.read()
        return the_page

if __name__=='__main__':
    #Let's make our first subscription request and print the entire result.
    #Find your meter number somewhere in the result.
    print make_FedEx_Request(xml_subscription_request)

As the comments in the code mention, the first thing you’ll need before any code will work is a meter number. You get this by sending the FedEx API server a special subscription request. You can see my code doing this in the if __name__=='__main__': section. You only need to do this once ever, then you just plug in your meter number into the code.

After that, everything should be pretty self-explanatory. The wonderful Python library urllib2 handles all of the SSL encryption stuff for us automatically. Once you have your code working, I believe there is a reasonably painless FedEx approval process, and then they move you over to their production server. I haven’t gotten to that point yet so I can’t shed much light there.

Let me know how it goes for you. If you improve upon this code or just want to critique it, feel free to do it here. And if you want to post any new Python code for the FedEx API in this website, that is welcome as well.