0$ invoices

[Jeff Finucane]

ivan <ivan at 420.am> wrote on Fri, 1 Feb 2002 18:14:23 -0800....

+----------
| Message-ID: <20020201181422.A31134 at cleanwhisker.420.am>
| References: <011301c1aac4$e6638bc0$2b60c818 at STEVE> <20020201200606.EB36732E47 at cmheleu.cmh.net>
| In-Reply-To: <20020201200606.EB36732E47 at cmheleu.cmh.net>; from jeff at cmh.net on Fri, Feb 01, 2002 at 03:06:06PM -0500
| Subject: Re: [freeside] Troubles with cust_pay_batch
| 
| On Fri, Feb 01, 2002 at 03:06:06PM -0500, Jeff Finucane wrote:
| > 
| >   I use the cust_pay_batch table regularly and have not experienced this.
| > Often I see $0 invoices created by freeside-bill,
| 
| With $0 line items?  That doesn't seem right.  Tell me more.
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  Yes.  With my 1.3.xpre code :/  it appears that cust_pkg records with
related setup and recur of 0 and frequency > 0  inspire FS::cust_main::bill
to generate correpsonding cust_bill_pkg records of zero value.  If on each 
of this customer's cust_pkg record with an appropriate 'bill' value the
related package is zero dollar and more frequent than zero, then the result
is that FS::cust_main::bill also generates a cust_bill record with a value
of zero.

  I believe that zero dollar invoices are largely avoidable by ensuring that
no package has both no cost and recurrance.  I have not pursued this
through the code, however.

  The collect routines appropriately ignore these as not worth attempting
to collect (or already paid), but more interesting is that the
FS::cust_bill::print_text routine also ignores the $0 items.  Instead
printing them could be an interesting feature, and less surprising.

  Some customers may very well enjoy seeing $0 items on their bill.

-- 
jeff at cmh.net

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does
 not want merely because you think it would be good for him." 

 Professor Bernardo de le Paz
  [ R.A. Heinlein -- "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" ]