You can enhance your QuickBooks Solutions With the help of custom apps, tools, and reports, you can address the specific pain points of your business. By leveraging programming and development, you can add new functionalities, features, reports, automation, and sync tools to enhance your QuickBooks software, ultimately increasing its value and delivering a better return on investment (ROI).

All of this may seem complex at first, but the great thing is that QuickBooks offers an inbuilt online accounting API that enables you to create innovative solutions for your business operations. Sounds exciting, right? This blog will walk you through every detail of QuickBooks custom app development. So, without further delay, let’s dive right in!

What is QuickBooks Online Accounting API?

QuickBooks is written in C++ language used in QuickBooks Online Accounting API is based on modern web technologies, and it uses Sybase as its backend database. Before jumping into app design, let's first take a moment to understand the QuickBooks Online Accounting API and its core functionality.

QuickBooks Online Accounting API utilizes the REST framework, standard HTTP methods, and JSON for both inputs and outputs. This allows your applications to seamlessly interact with and leverage key features and data within QuickBooks Online, enabling more efficient and customized business operations.

The API includes various entities such as forms, lists, and other tools found in the QuickBooks Online UI. These entities can be used to automate business operations. For example, you can create, send, and read invoices using the API entity, streamlining tasks and improving efficiency in your business processes.

As mentioned earlier, you can build your own app with QuickBooks. However, it's crucial to have a solid understanding of API entities. This knowledge will help you easily identify which entities to use for specific functions, ensuring that your app performs efficiently and meets your business needs.

If you're not familiar with it, here are some key points to help you get started:

Bank Account Entity: This entity lets to create and update bank account objects in your app.

Card Entity: This QB API entity lets customers create and store debit and credit card objects. It can also set up payment processing.

Charges Entity: This entity lets you process, authorize, and record payment transactions. It can also set up invoices and send them to the customers.

eChecks Entity: This entity lets you create and store eChecks objects. You can use the bank account as a payment method for payment processing via the charges entity.

Token Entity: This entity lets you create a container for storing customers’ credit card and bank account information. The token can be used in your app to make API calls and process payments without exposing personal data.

Now that you’ve got the idea of QuickBooks online accounting API, let’s go ahead and learn about QuickBooks Custom app development.

How to Build a Demo App with QuickBooks?

QuickBooks is an excellent software platform for creating an app for your business, thanks to its intuitive and user-friendly interface. However, before you begin building applications from scratch, the first step is to create an Intuit Developer account. This will give you access to the necessary tools and resources to integrate your app with QuickBooks.

Here are the steps to create an Intuit developer account:

• Go to Intuit’s official website.
• Here, you’ll see the set-up develop account box.
• Enter the following info in the given field:
  Email address
  Your first name
  Your last name
  A strong password
  Phone number
• Lastly, tap on Create an account.

Once the process is complete, you'll receive a confirmation email. After that, you can proceed to create a demo app for your business, using the resources and tools provided through your Intuit Developer account.

To develop your app:

• Log in to the developer portal.
• Select the dashboard tab in the toolbar.
• Now go to the Apps section.
• Click on +Create an app.
• Lastly, follow the instructions given on your screen to complete the process.

After building a demo app, you can test an API call and select the appropriate API entities for your app. To choose API entities, follow these steps:

• Review Your Requirements: Understand the specific business functions your app will perform (e.g., invoicing, payments, reporting).
• Identify the Entities: Based on your requirements, identify the API entities that align with the features you need (e.g., Invoice, Customer, Payment, etc.).
• Use API Documentation: Refer to the QuickBooks Online API documentation to find detailed information about each entity, including how to use and interact with them.
• Test API Calls: Use the demo app to test API calls for each entity to ensure they work as expected for your specific use case
• Adjust as Needed: Make adjustments to your app’s functionality by selecting additional entities or modifying existing ones based on the testing results.
• By following these steps, you'll be able to pick the right API entities for your app and ensure seamless integration with QuickBooks.

You can build the QuickBooks demo app in .NET, Java, and PHP. The demo app can send requests and get live data with QuickBooks online.

QuickBooks Demo App in .NET, Java, and PHP

You can write the demo app code in .NET, Java, and PHP. After doing so, go to the dashboard link in the toolbar, name it Demo App, click on Select a scope dropdown, and select Accounting.

After that, you can create an online sandbox company to get the demo app credentials. If you haven’t already created the sandbox company, follow the steps given below:

• Log in to the developer account.
• Tap on the API docs and tools tab.
• Click on Add a sandbox company.
• You will be given two options, you can either choose QuickBooks online plus or QuickBooks Online Advanced.
• Select the company or region from the drop-down menu. (Please note that the Sandbox is region-specific and can’t be changed later on.)
• Lastly, tap on Add button and it’s done. Your Sandbox online company is valid for two years.

So now you have created your online sandbox company which will help you to generate your demo app credentials. Let’s learn more about it in the coming section.

How to Get Your Custom App Credentials?

You need the credentials to access your custom app, and for that follow the steps we have listed below:

• Log in to your developer account.
• Go to the toolbox tab in the dashboard link.
• Tap to launch the application.
• In case you are connecting a sandbox company, go to the development section, then select Keys and OAuth.
• In case you are setting up a production app, go to the production section, then select Keys and OAuth.
• Here, you’ll see the Client ID and Client Secret. Copy the credentials.

You can use these credentials to access your app anytime you want. So this is how you can build a custom app from scratch with the help of QuickBooks Custom App development features. We hope this blog will make the process simpler and time-saving. However, you can always get assistance from the QuickBooks support team whenever you are stuck. Go through the official website to contact them. And if in case, you don’t want to do all this by yourself, take the help of any expert QuickBooks technician who can build the app for you.

Frequently Asked Questions