Connect to QuickBooks Data as an External Source in Dremio



Use the CData JDBC Driver to connect to QuickBooks as an External Source in Dremio.

The CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks implements JDBC Standards and allows various applications, including Dremio, to work with live QuickBooks data. Dremio is a data lakehouse platform designed to empower self-service, interactive analytics on the data lake. With the CData JDBC driver, you can include live QuickBooks data as a part of your enterprise data lake. This article describes how to connect to QuickBooks data from Dremio as an External Source.

The CData JDBC Driver enables high-speed access to live QuickBooks data in Dremio. Once you install the driver, authenticate with QuickBooks and gain immediate access to QuickBooks data within your data lake. By surfacing QuickBooks data using native data types and handling complex filters, aggregations, & other operations automatically, the CData JDBC Driver grants seamless access to QuickBooks data.

About QuickBooks Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live QuickBooks data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Access both local and remote company files.
  • Connect across editions and regions: QuickBooks Premier, Professional, Enterprise, and Simple Start edition 2002+, as well as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and UK editions from 2003+.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to perform actions like voiding or clearing transactions, merging lists, searching entities, and more.

Customers regularly integrate their QuickBooks data with preferred tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel, and integrate QuickBooks data into their database or data warehouse.


Getting Started


Prerequisites

This article assumes you are utilizing Docker to run Dremio. You can create a Docker container with the Dremio service using a command similar to the follow:

docker run -d --name dremio -p 9047:9047 -p 31010:31010 dremio/dremio-oss

Where dremio is the name of the container, 9047 is the container's port for the Dremio web interface and 31010 is the port that maps to the Dremio query service. dremio/dremio-oss specifies the image to use.

Build the ARP Connector

To use the CData JDBC Driver in Dremio, you need to build an Advanced Relation Pushdown (ARP) Connector. You can view the source code for the Connector on GitHub or download the ZIP file (GitHub.com) directly. Once you copy or extract the files, run the following command from the root directory of the connector (the directory containing the pom.xml file) to build the connector.

mvn clean install

NOTE: The CData ARP Connectors are build to be compiled with Java 11. Be sure to install Java 11 and use the correct version. You can update your Java version using a command similar to the following:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

Once the JAR file for the connector is built (in the target directory), you are ready to copy the ARP connector and JDBC Driver to your Dremio instance.

Installing the Connector and JDBC Driver

Install the ARP Connector to %DREMIO_HOME%/jars/ and the JDBC Driver for QuickBooks to %DREMIO_HOME%/jars/3rdparty. You can use commands similar to the following:

ARP Connector

docker cp PATH\TO\dremio-quickbooks-plugin-{DREMIO_VERSION}.jar dremio_image_name:/opt/dremio/jars/

JDBC Driver for QuickBooks

docker cp PATH\TO\cdata.jdbc.quickbooks.jar dremio_image_name:/opt/dremio/jars/3rdparty/

Connecting to QuickBooks

QuickBooks will now appear as an External Source option in Dremio. The ARP Connector built uses a JDBC URL to connect to QuickBooks data. The JDBC Driver has a built-in connection string designer that you can use (see below).

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the QuickBooks JDBC Driver. Double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command line.

java -jar cdata.jdbc.quickbooks.jar

Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

When you are connecting to a local QuickBooks instance, you do not need to set any connection properties.

Requests are made to QuickBooks through the Remote Connector. The Remote Connector runs on the same machine as QuickBooks and accepts connections through a lightweight, embedded Web server. The server supports SSL/TLS, enabling users to connect securely from remote machines.

The first time you connect, you will need to authorize the Remote Connector with QuickBooks. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide.

NOTE: To use the JDBC Driver in Dremio, you will need a license (full or trial) and a Runtime Key (RTK). For more information on obtaining this license (or a trial), contact our sales team.

Add the Runtime Key (RTK) to the JDBC URL. You will end up with a JDBC URL similar to the following:

jdbc:quickbooks:RTK=5246...;URL=http://remotehost:8166;User=admin;Password=admin123;

Access QuickBooks as an External Source

To add QuickBooks as an External Source, click to add a new source and select QuickBooks. Copy the JDBC URL and paste it into the New QuickBooks Source wizard.

Save the connection and you are ready to query live QuickBooks data in Dremio, easily incorporating QuickBooks data into your data lake.

More Information & Free Trial

Using the CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks in Dremio, you can incorporate live QuickBooks data into your data lake. Check out our CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks page for more information about connecting to QuickBooks. Download a free, 30 day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks and get started today.

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Complete read-write access to QuickBooks enables developers to search (Customers, Transactions, Invoices, Sales Receipts, etc.), update items, edit customers, and more, from any Java/J2EE application.