How to Export Invoices Generated Through Quickbooks SDK to PDF

Question

We have a scenario where we need to use the Quickbooks SDK to create invoices from an external application and then return a PDF copy of that invoice to the calling application.

Creating an invoice is very easy to do with the Quickbooks SDK, so there is no problem with this first step.

However, I am unsure how to actually print or return the invoice (as a PDF) through the external calling application.

Here are a few questions I have relating to this objective.

1. Does the Quickbooks SDK provide the capability to directly request and return a visual representation (e.g. a PDF) of a document (e.g. an invoice)?
2. Does the Quickbooks SDK provide the capability to directly print a document (e.g. an invoice)?

Most of these questions come from my general lack of familiarity with the Quickbooks SDK.

Assuming that number 1 above is not possible, some possible alternate strategies for accomplishing our objective are as follows.

Strategy A - Print and Export to PDF Using Predetermined Filename

If supported, we would request Quickbooks to print an invoice to a PDF with a name of our choosing. Using a Filewatcher, we would monitor the directory and retrieve the printed invoice programmatically.

Strategy B - Create Own Invoice Report Outside of Quickbooks

We know that we can receive all the data for the invoice back via the Quickbooks SDK. We could generate our own invoice report and print it completely outside of Quickbooks. This is a lot of work and we would prefer to avoid this if possible.

I very much welcome any comments on these strategies. Better yet, a workable solution would be great.

FYI, Our technology Stack uses C#/ASP.NET, QBFC, Web Connector, and Quickbooks 2010.

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

The answers to your questions are...:

Does the Quickbooks SDK provide the capability to directly request and return a visual representation (e.g. a PDF) of a document (e.g. an invoice)?

No, it doesn't.

Does the Quickbooks SDK provide the capability to directly print a document (e.g. an invoice)?

No, it doesn't.

Your Strategy B is the correct strategy. Grab the invoice data via the SDK, and use that to create your own invoices.

Answer 2

whenever u create any invoice in quickbook using SDK, in response u will get invoice data

find below code to save invoice value in datatable

u can convert that datatable to pdf or any format

Dim response As IResponse
                    response = responseList.GetAt(i)
                    If (response.StatusCode >= 0) Then
                        'the request-specific response is in the details, make sure we have some
                        If (Not response.Detail Is Nothing) Then
                            'make sure the response is the type we're expecting
                            Dim responseType As ENResponseType
                            responseType = CType(response.Type.GetValue(), ENResponseType)
                            If (responseType = ENResponseType.rtInvoiceQueryRs) Then
                                '//upcast to more specific type here, this is safe because we checked with response.Type check above
                                Dim InvoiceRet As IInvoiceRetList
                                InvoiceRet = CType(response.Detail, IInvoiceRetList)
                                Dim row As DataRow
                                row = Dt.NewRow
                                row.Item("InvoiceNo") = InvoiceRet.GetAt(i).RefNumber.GetValue.ToString()
                                row.Item("ListID") = InvoiceRet.GetAt(i).TxnID.GetValue.ToString()
                                row.Item("EditSequence") = InvoiceRet.GetAt(i).EditSequence.GetValue.ToString()
                                Dt.Rows.Add(row)
                            End If
                        End If

in ur case i is 0