CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpquickbooks
Summer Developer
Summer Developer

Reputation: 2086

Quickbooks PHP API Generating Invoices On Order Submission

I have a client that wants to take orders via an online form, with the idea being that an order can be submitted and stored in a database via my application while simultaneously generating an invoice on submission in QuickBooks.

How do I do this in PHP when the person entering in the order is not the client but a client of the client? It seems like Quickbooks uses Oauth tokens and a javascript library to generate them to connect a company to an app, but I'm simply writing a backend for one company and want that backend to create invoices when saving an order. How do I think about this?

I'm not interested in anyone having to hit a button that says "connect to quickbooks" especially not the person filling the order because again, that person is a customer and doesn't need to know about the internals of the customer's invoicing system.

I just really want to use the Accounting API to generate invoices. Is there no way to simply link my backend to my one company directly in the Quickbooks SDK configuration and achieve this, or do they need to use a javascript library to get tokens. I'm unclear about what direction I should be going in and don't want to waste time with a client-side library if I don't need it to do backend logic.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 945

Answers (1)

Keith Palmer Jr.
Keith Palmer Jr.

Reputation: 27952

Here's some example code that does exactly what you're looking for:

Along with a quick-start guide:

Also see notes about your comments below -- you're on the right track, you're just misunderstanding how OAuth works:

It seems like Quickbooks uses Oauth tokens and a javascript library to generate them to connect a company to an app, but I'm simply writing a backend for one company and want that backend to create invoices when saving an order.

Correct, Intuit uses OAuth, and a little Javascript thing to kick off the OAuth process.

I'm not interested in anyone having to hit a button that says "connect to quickbooks"

Someone needs to hit this button... BUT only ONE PERSON needs to hit the button ONCE, EVER, and then NEVER again.

The owner of the company (e.g. your boss) needs to click the button ONCE, which gives the OAuth creds (and the realm ID) to you. Once your boss has done this ONCE, then you have the creds to use forever, for all of the actual customers.

Your customers (e.g. the people actually checking out/placing orders) DO NOT click any buttons, nor do they see or have any idea at all that you're even using QuickBooks.

just really want to use the Accounting API to generate invoices.

Cool, you can totally do that!

Is there no way to simply link my backend to my one company directly in > the Quickbooks SDK configuration and achieve this, or do they need to use a javascript library to get tokens.

Follow the quick-start above. It should take you about 15 minutes to get a working OAuth connection, and then you never need to use the client-side stuff ever again.

You only need to authenticate every 180 days btw.

If you use the reconnect script, you only need to authenticate ONCE, and can automatically renew the tokens every 180 days, no user-interaction required.

Well with the realm_id for example, I don't understand how that relates to ouath.

The realm ID is just a unique identifier for the particular QuickBooks Online company you're trying to connect to. Yes, you need to store it. If you use our libs, this is done for you automatically.

I guess I don't understand if I'm developing for one client why can't I just get their realm_id from them and then keep using it rather than making them do some form of authentication?

Again, they only have to authenticate ONCE. That's Intuit's way of giving you the realm ID and credentials you need to connect. Once you've done it ONCE, you never need to do it again. It takes all of about 30 seconds.

If they were to just give you OAuth creds without any authentication, it would be a gigantic security hole. If you read the Wikipedia article on OAuth it talks in depth about this, and the goals of OAuth.

Okay I think I get it, so they have to authenticate once every 180 days?

Once every 180 days, UNLESS you use a reconnect script, in which case they just authenticate once and then never ever have to worry about it again.

So I can store the token and the realm_id in a database before it expires and just use that?

Yes.

In this way my client can authenticate and then my scripts can generate invoices for them when their customers visit our website?

Yes!

Upvotes: 3

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