How to create QuickBooks Online federated tables in MySQL



Use the SQL Gateway and the ODBC Driver to set up federated tables for QuickBooks Online data in MySQL .

You can use the SQL Gateway to configure a MySQL remoting service and set up federated tables for QuickBooks Online data. The service is a daemon process that provides a MySQL interface to the CData ODBC Driver for QuickBooks Online: After you have started the service, you can create a server and tables using the FEDERATED Storage Engine in MySQL. You can then work with QuickBooks Online data just as you would local MySQL tables.

About QuickBooks Online Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from QuickBooks Online. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Realize high-performance data reads thanks to push-down query optimization for complex operations like filters and aggregations.
  • Read, write, update, and delete QuickBooks Online data.
  • Run reports, download attachments, and send or void invoices directly from code using SQL stored procedures.
  • Connect securely using OAuth and modern cryptography, including TLS 1.2, SHA-256, and ECC.

Many users access live QuickBooks Online data from preferred analytics tools like Power BI and Excel, directly from databases with federated access, and use CData solutions to easily integrate QuickBooks Online data with automated workflows for business-to-business communications.

For more information on how customers are solving problems with CData's QuickBooks Online solutions, refer to our blog: https://www.cdata.com/blog/360-view-of-your-customers.


Getting Started


Connect to QuickBooks Online Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

QuickBooks Online uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to log in through the browser. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Intuit. Additionally, if you want to connect to sandbox data, set UseSandbox to true.

See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

Configure the SQL Gateway

See the SQL Gateway Overview to set up connectivity to QuickBooks Online data as a virtual MySQL database. You will configure a MySQL remoting service that listens for MySQL requests from clients. The service can be configured in the SQL Gateway UI.

Creating a MySQL Remoting Service in SQL Gateway (Salesforce is shown)

Create a FEDERATED Server and Tables for QuickBooks Online Data

After you have configured and started the service, create a FEDERATED server to simplify the process of creating FEDERATED tables:

Create a FEDERATED Server

The following statement will create a FEDERATED server based on the ODBC Driver for QuickBooks Online. Note that the username and password of the FEDERATED server must match a user account you defined on the Users tab of the SQL Gateway.

CREATE SERVER fedQuickBooksOnline
FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER mysql
OPTIONS (USER 'sql_gateway_user', PASSWORD 'sql_gateway_passwd', HOST 'sql_gateway_host', PORT ####, DATABASE 'CData QuickBooksOnline Sys');

Create a FEDERATED Table

To create a FEDERATED table using our newly created server, use the CONNECTION keyword and pass the name of the FEDERATED server and the remote table (Customers). Refer to the following template for the statement to create a FEDERATED table:

CREATE TABLE fed_customers (
  ...,
  displayname  TYPE(LEN),
  balance  TYPE(LEN),
  ...,
)
ENGINE=FEDERATED
DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
CONNECTION='fedQuickBooksOnline/customers';

NOTE: The table schema for the FEDERATED table must match the remote table schema exactly. You can always connect directly to the MySQL remoting service using any MySQL client and run a SHOW CREATE TABLE query to get the table schema.

Execute Queries

You can now execute queries to the QuickBooks Online FEDERATED tables from any tool that can connect to MySQL, which is particularly useful if you need to JOIN data from a local table with data from QuickBooks Online. Refer to the following example:

SELECT 
  fed_customers.displayname, 
  local_table.custom_field 
FROM 
  local_table 
JOIN 
  fed_customers 
ON 
  local_table.foreign_displayname = fed_customers.displayname;

Ready to get started?

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QuickBooks Online Icon QuickBooks Online ODBC Driver

The QuickBooks Online ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from QuickBooks Online, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access QuickBooks Online data like you would a database - read, write, and update Customers, Transactions, Invoices, Sales Receipts, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.