Compass Group PGSS Payslip Retriever

This is a Python script that retrieves your pay slips from Compass Group's PGSS website and sends to your email. I wrote this script so I don't have to log onto the stupid site every time I want to get my pay slips. What a stupid way to do things.

I could've just filed an OFI to tell them to just email all the pay slips just like any other normal companies do. Yup, that's gonna work because Compass Group is more than capable of doing that.

Well, sack me then.

Usage

python3 -m pgssret -f <config>

Where <config> is the path to the yaml configuration file. The sample is located at /docs/configs/sample.yaml.

Setup

Installation

Install the module using PIP.

pip install pgssret

Configuration and Cache Setup

The config format is pretty self-explanatory. I copied and pasted into this doc below for reference.

pgss-ret:
  auth:
    username: USERNAME
    password: PASSWORD
  dir:
    cache: cache
    tmp: tmp
  limits:
    eml-size: 5242880 # 5 MiB
    nb-attachments: 20
  # Initial start up behaviour
  #   0: Attach only one latest pay slip only (recommended)
  #   1: Don't email. Pay slips will be sent on the subsequent launches
  #   2: Email all the pay slips obtainable. A large quantities of pay slips
  #      will be sent in multiple mails
  init-mode: 0
  post:
    subject: Pay Slip from Compass Group
    body: See attached.
    backend: smtplib
    params:
      proto: smtp # or 'smtps' or 'lmtp'
      # from: from@example.com
      # Allow use of unencrypted session. Set to true if using localhost
      # allow-plaintext: false
      # host: smtp.example.com
      # port:
      # tlscert:
      # tlskey:
      # cred: # smtp auth credentials
      #   username:
      #   password:
    recipients:
      # - person@example.com

You won't have to worry about cache and tmp dirs as long as you set the working directory of the process correctly. I recommend preparing following paths for the working directory of the module.

• Linux
  • ~/.cache/pgssret for tmp and cache
  • ~/.config/pgssret for the config
• Windows: %appdata%\pgssret for everything

Or you can use arbitrary directories on your machine and set them using absolute paths.

Copy the sample config to a new location. Rename it to pgssret.yaml and edit it. All you will have to change should be the username and password you use to log onto the website. Then test the config by launching the module.

# Linux
cd ~/.cache/pgssret
python3 -m pgssret -f ~/.config/pgssret/pgssret.yaml

# Windows (Powershell or cmd)
cd %appdata%\pgssret
python3 -m pgssret -f %appdata%\pgssret\pgssret.yaml

If you mess up, debug the config and delete the cache file(named as YOUR_EMPLOYEE_NUMBER.json) before relaunching the module. If you manage to get the module to send an email successfully and you've confirmed that the email has reached the inbox, you can move onto setting a scheduled task.

Schedule Module Launch

On Linux, use crond or a Systemd timer to have the module poll your pay slips periodically.

Run crontab -e to edit the user crontab like so.

# To get error reports in the event of failure.
#MAILTO=

# Run pgssret every day at noon. Redirect STDOUT to the null device to get
# reports on errors only.
00 12 *  *  * cd ~/.cache/pgssret && python3 -m pgssret -f ~/.config/pgssret/pgssret.yaml > /dev/null

And make sure crond is running and you're good to go! Forget that you did all this and let your computer get the pay slips for you from now on.

Another options is to make the machine run the module every time it boots up by making a "oneshot" Systemd service or dropping a shell script in rc.d.

On Windows, Task Scheduler can do the trick.

Gmail Example

If you plan to use an external SMTP rather than a local one and set up a mail filter on your email service¹, here's the example using Gmail SMTP. You will need to create an App Password for the module.

# ...
    params:
      proto: smtps
      from: you@gmail.com
      host: smtp.gmail.com
      cred:
        username: you@gmail.com
        password: THE_APP_PASSWORD
    recipients:
	  - you@gmail.com