Intuit Partner Platform team blog

Ruby web apps and the Intuit Partner Platform

Editor's note: The following is a guest post by Zack Chandler who has been active in the Ruby on Rails and Intuit developer community for a number of years.

As recently as five years ago the majority of developers considered the Ruby programming language arcane and obscure. Then the Ruby on Rails web framework burst on the scene and seemly overnight became a must-consider choice when building web apps.

I began working with Ruby on Rails before the 1.0 release and have been amazed at the progress of the framework and growth of the community. Not long after that I began developing integrations between Ruby web apps and QuickBooks via the QuickBooks Web Connector and QuickBooks Online via the QBO API.

New to the QuickBooks ecosystem, I quickly learned there were additional benefits beyond simply adding the “QuickBooks integration” checkbox on a feature tour. Specifically the QuickBooks Marketplace quickly proved itself to be a valuable channel for lead-generation.

Fast-forward to 2010 and Ruby developers have even greater reason to be excited with Intuit’s current integration opportunities.

Ruby web apps apps targeting small to medium-sized businesses are launching daily. Humm… guess which accounting system most small to medium-sized businesses use (hint: rhymes with “fast cooks”)?

Meanwhile Intuit has re-imagined their entire developer offering and launched the ambitious Intuit Partner Platform. To a Ruby developer with no former experience with QuickBooks integration I would simply say that the most exciting parts of IPP are:

• Intuit Data Services - a cloud-based API for QuickBooks data
• Intuit Workplace App Center - an online portal where your web app can be marketed and sold to millions of Intuit customers

I recently did a deep-dive into IPP and came away thoroughly excited. I’ve posted a quickstart tutorial entitled Intuit Partner Platform for Ruby Web Applications on my Depixelate blog which will hopefully help other Rubyists get started with IPP.

The future is indeed bright for those Ruby developers wishing to both co-market and integrate with Intuit data through the cloud.

Fresh from the IPP CloudJam: PHP Tools

Last week’s IPP CloudJam in Waltham was a blast. We had a great mix of people sharing their knowledge, hacking code and competing in three tracks separate technology tracks. One of those tracks was for the best OSS IPP solution.

During the first day, a lot of energy gathered around building PHP components and Drupal Modules for IPP. There are a few PHP federated applications being developed, another developer is involved with the civiCRM project, and a longtime IDN developer, Keith Palmer of Consolibyte, has been developing Open Source PHP tools to integrate with QuickBooks for some time.

Keith cornered me the first evening to help him understand how to call IPP APIs from PHP. Using the IPP Java DevKit as a pattern, Keith started work building out a set of PHP tools to integrate with IPP. When we came in the next morning, Keith had a working demo using a subset of the API.

Long story short, Keith won the OSS track competition and has launched a PHP DevKit project on code.intuit.com. Not only have all of the PHP developers from the CloudJam joined the project, the Intuit Connect engineers at Intuit have also joined (and they were not even at the CloudJam or part of the IPP team).

If you are a PHP developer and interested in IPP, you should check out the PHP DevKit project on code.intuit.com.

Windows Azure SDK 1.0 for Intuit Partner Platform Now Available!

As part of recent joint announcement by Intuit and Microsoft, we released a beta version of the Windows Azure SDK 1.0 for Intuit Partner Platform - a set of tools, code samples and services designed to make it easy for developers of SaaS applications developed on Windows Azure to federate those SaaS apps on to IPP and sell them to millions of Intuit customers in the Intuit Workplace App Center.

So What's New?

I'm pleased to announce that version 1.0 is now available for download (if you are already a project member you can get the source code directly at code.intuit.com). So, what's new in 1.0? The main change is the support for Intuit Data Services (IDS) that makes it easy for developers to program against customers' QuickBooks within their applications. We've also included an IDS-integrated sample app to help you along.

Get Started with the Windows Azure SDK for IPP
Here developers will find documentation with the steps to host an application on Windows Azure and federate it in to the Intuit Partner Platform. The document provides step by step instructions to get the requisite accounts, create the project for the hosted service, program against IDS, and finally, to federate the web application in to Intuit Workplace. Additionally, the document also provides the steps to configure the SAML Gateway’s endpoints for SSL.

View the Azure Documentation.

Happy Coding

-Jarred

Are you near Boston and into Windows Azure?

Are you near Boston and into Windows Azure? Then you should know about the Boston Azure User Group - food, drink and lots of Azure provided! 

Tomorrow night (3/5) 3/25 I'll be joined by Jarred Keneally to discuss the Windows Azure SDK for IPP and how easy it is for developers to:

• federate Azure-hosted SaaS apps into IPP
• integrate those apps with QuickBooks data using IPP's Intuit Data Services API
• and sell those apps to millions of Intuit customers on Intuit Workplace App Center.

Hope to see you there!

Getting real with code.intuit.com

Last June when we launched code.intuit.com, we had a big vision but we really didn’t know what would happen. Open Source is new to Intuit and isn’t fully ingrained in our DNA yet. It has been a fun project and over the last couple of months we are starting to feel that we are approaching an inflection point in terms of adoption and utility.

We recently launched our Azure IPP SDK project as an Open Source project, we are seeing more contributions from Intuit teams, and we are seeing more of the components used in production (or moving their way toward production). One example in particular makes us confident that we are on the right track.

Tim Hobson and I are the primary maintainers of the IPP Java Developer Toolkit on code.intuit.com. The IPP Java toolkit provides Java client bindings to the IPP APIs. Toward the end of last year, Tim took a first cut at adding support for Intuit Data Services (IDS) support to the toolkit.  He laid out the patterns and implemented an initial IDS Sanity Test. If you don’t know, IDS is a set of REST services that integrate with QuickBooks data.

A few weeks later, on our mailing list, we see this discussion topic posted by Brian Harper of smartsheet.com. Brian is the VP of Development at Smartsheet (and yes he codes too). Smartsheet has a really cool collaboration and work management app that they were federating to the IPP cloud. Brian wanted to use our IDS integration but he thought the Exception Handling was, well, kind of weak. He also quickly realized that we really only had the basic framework for IDS support in place.

Brian could have walked away, but he didn’t. He joined the project and with some pointers and direction from Tim and I, fleshed out the initial IDS implementation. Here is a verbatim quote from Brian:

“Having access to the source code for the IPP Java Devkit enabled us to quickly identify areas of functionality that were missing or incomplete, and thanks to a good tool set and the incredible responsiveness of the IPP development team, we were able to fill in the missing pieces with a minimum of effort and schedule impact.”

Long story short, smartsheet went live on the Intuit App Center in February, the IPP Java Toolkit is more robust and the next team to use it will have a smoother path. That is the way it is supposed to work.

Announcing IPP v2.6

The IPP team is excited to announce that IPP v2.6 is now live and available for IPP partners which includes:

1. INTUIT DATA SERVICES ENHANCEMENTS
We’ve made a significant number of enhancements and improvements to Intuit Data Services.

All of the new objects and behaviors listed below work with v2 of the IDS API. Developer must use v2 of the IDS API to utilize these new services.
Previous IDS versions (e.g. v1) are supported but will not include new objects/behaviors; developers are strongly urged to migrate to the latest API version at their earliest convenience.

The following data elements and methods have been exposed via REST API as well as added to the IPP Flex framework:

New IDS Objects

• ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
  • Read access to Item Assemblies, Item Groups, and Sales Tax Groups
  • Read access to Customer Message, Customer Type, and Job Type
  • Read access to Deposit and Item Fixed Asset items
  • Read access to Credit Card Charge, Credit, and Refund transactions
  • Create methods for Sales Receipt, Terms, Payment Method, Sales Rep, and Class
• ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
  • Read access and Create methods for Item Receipt transactions
  • Read access to Bill Payment Credit Card transactions
  • Read access to Vendor Type
  • Create methods for Bills, Checks, and Class
• GENERAL LEDGER
  • Read access to Payroll item (to identify a wage item to apply to a time activity)
• LISTS
  • Read access to Other Names and Customer Message
  • Ability to reference entities by ID in addition to Names
• OTHER
  • Read, Create, and Update access to Time Tracking with Payroll Item reference

Other IDS Enhancements available with IDS v2.6:

• Custom Field Support
  Partners can define custom attributes associated with any IDS object. Partners have full Create, Read, and Update access to these attributes from within their applications.
  
• Query Optimizations
  All IDS queries have been enhanced to allow partners to specify the exact list of attributes they want returned; this enhancement improves query performance and reduces network traffic.
  
• “Draft” Flag on Updated IDS Records
  A new Draft flag has been added to IDS objects that support Update methods. Setting this attribute on a modified data element tells IDS not to sync the data to QuickBooks desktop. This attribute enables partners to allow their customers to create and revise IDS data in the cloud before committing these changes to QuickBooks desktop.
  
• Update Optimizations
  IDS now supports update methods that supply only a subset of field values. Only the supplied fields will be modified, while all other fields are untouched. This enhancement compliments the query optimizations mentioned earlier and can improve update performance.
  
• Changed Data Query
  Additional IDS capabilities have been included that allow partners to query for data changed or modified after a given timestamp. This capability can significantly improve the performance of applications that want to maintain an up-to-date list of data; allowing only new or changed data to be retrieved after the initial list is queried.
  
• Sync Error Handling
  Partners can now query for “errored” IDS objects, that is, all objects that failed during a sync with QuickBooks desktop. Objects that failed to sync can be reverted to the version last successfully synchronized with QuickBooks.
  New methods have also been added that allow developers to request that specific object instances in DRAFT state in the IDS data store be overwritten with data from QuickBooks Desktop. These methods allow partners to handle Sync failures and revisions more elegantly.
  
• Initial Sync Performance Improvements
  The performance of syncing a customer’s QuickBooks desktop company file to the IDS online data store the first time has been improved by about 50 percent.

Follow this link to more information on these and other new Intuit Data Service capabilities.

2. STREAMLINING THE APPLICATION SIGN-UP/SIGN-IN EXPERIENCE
We’ve added several minor enhancements to the IPP SUSI experience.

Note: All changes are upwardly compatible. New developer-facing enhancements are optionally configurable. The end-user changes to make the SUSI process clearer and easier will be immediately available for new users signing up for Intuit App Center applications.

Enhancements include:

• Streamlined Terms of Service Process
  When signing up for free, trial, or beta subscriptions for third party applications, customers now agree to the partner’s Terms-of-Service and Privacy Policy as an integrated part of the sign-up process; this is no longer a separate step.
  
• Preselected Business Profiles
  Users signing up for App Center applications directly from the QuickBooks Desktop browser will have the Business Profile with their QuickBooks file automatically selected.
  
• Customizable Help Links on Application Sign-In Page
  Partners who choose to customize their application login page now have the ability to customize the help links associated with that interface.
  
• Better Help for Customers Changing or Cancelling an Application Subscription
  Under certain circumstances, users may encounter problems using the App Center interface to upgrade, downgrade, or cancel their application subscriptions. Users who encounter this issue are now presented with a clear help dialog explaining the issue and directing them to call the support phone number related to the specific application team.

Get more information about these and other new IPP SUSI capabilities here.

3. INTUIT WORKPLACE APP CENTER IMPROVEMENTS
We’ve made a variety of enhancements and modifications to Intuit App Center to improve the overall shopping flow and experience.

Customer Enhancements

• Streamlined Learn More page design
  Learn More pages in Intuit App Center (aka AppCards) that describe the specific benefits, capabilities, requirements, and support policies for each IPP application have been simplified. Page elements that showed other New and Most Viewed applications have been removed. A new Support tab as been added, along with a new Requirements/Dependencies section on the Technical tab. (See below.)
  
• Enable Users to Edit Their Business Profile Names
  Application users with Admin privileges can now edit the name of their business profiles as well as update other profile attributes. This capability is included in the My Account section.
  
• Access to support for users with QuickBooks Sync issues
  The HELP option on the App Center application toolbar has been updated. For admin users accessing an application that syncs with QuickBooks desktop, a new help option has been added to submit a support incident related to QuickBooks sync.

Developer Enhancements

• New Support Tab on Learn More Pages
  A new Support tab has been added to the Learn More page (aka AppCard) for each IPP application. This tab will include the details on a particular application’s support policies as well as a link to the application’s online help services and the Support phone number for that application team.
  

• This information was previously available in App Center on the Technical tab within an application’s Learn More page. No additional work is required by partners to enable this tab.
  Note: Partners are required to provide this information before their application is published into production.

• New Technical Requirements/ Dependencies Info on Learn More Pages
  A new section has been added to the Technical Tab on the Learn More page for each IPP application. This section provides users with information regarding minimum machine requirements, supported browsers, and supported QuickBooks versions to run a particular IPP application.
  

• We urge partners whose applications have specific minimum requirements for browsers, QuickBooks connectivity, machine resources, etc. to update their AppCard data so that this info can be properly presented in App Center.Improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Help Instructions

• Additional help instructions have been added to IPP’s Publish Application interface that provide partners with suggestions on how to best tag their Learn More application pages so that search engines can index these pages in an optimal fashion. 

• Google Analytics Tracking Codes
  Google Analytics tracking codes for the Learn More pages will be modified as part of v2.6. Developers who have written reports to track data flow on the Learn More pages (i.e. “Funnel Tracking”) will need to modify their tracking codes. See documentation for Google Analytics for IPP / Workplace App Center

Follow this link for more information on these and other new App Center capabilities.

4. SOFTWARE UPDATES / FIXES
For a complete list of software updates / fixes included in IPP v2.6, please review the release notes here.

Thanks,
—The Intuit Partner Platform Team

IPP - Alterity's Story: From the Desktop to SaaS

It’s always exciting when a new app goes live on the Intuit Workplace App Center, and especially so when it is has been developed by a long-standing member of the Intuit Developer Network.

Brian Sweat of Alterity had good conversation (full recording as an mp3 here) with Redmonk’s Michael Coté to talk about the new Easy Analytics for Inventory, and why - as a 10-year-long member of IDN developing "traditional" desktop applications - Alterity is adopting IPP and the SaaS delivery model for the next generation of its products that integrate with customers' QuickBooks data.

Show Notes:

• Brian tells us about Alterity and their new offering, Easy Analytics for Inventory.
• I ask Brian to tell us how they started getting interested in using IPP and what the process was like getting up and running.
• We talk about the use of Flex and how the IPP platform integrates with the UI layer.
• Brian tells us about the ability to more closely track what users are actually using and doing (or not using) in a cloud-based application.
• While customers don’t seem to be overly concerned with cloud vs. desktop deployment – at this early point – Brain says the support and even install time on cloud seems much smaller than for traditional deployment options.
• This leads to a discussion about the other effects a PaaS, like IPP, has on a company’s structure: namely not having to worry so much about billing and other back-office concerns. And then there’s all the marketing Intuit does for them in the App Center.

The full recording as an mp3 here.

Intuit Partner Platform + Windows Azure = Win for Small Businesses

When we started the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP) last year, we envisioned a destination where Small Businesses could pick from a variety of quality applications to solve their critical business pain points – and we wanted those apps to work together!  A big ecosystem of Apps – from a variety of developers and pre-integrated – solving for the needs of Small Businesses.

Today, we’re thrilled to announce an alliance between Intuit and Microsoft, that brings IPP a giant step closer to our ecosystem vision. Starting today, SaaS developers can access the beta of the Windows Azure SDK for IPP - a set of tools, code samples, and services, designed to make it easy for developers of SaaS applications developed on Windows Azure to federate those SaaS apps on to IPP and sell them to millions of Small Businesses in the Intuit Workplace App Center.

Today’s news about Intuit and Microsoft’s relationship has two converging themes:

1) More developers + great tools = more great apps for small businesses

• The Windows Azure SDK for IPP (when fully delivered) will enable developers to build a great application on the Windows Azure platform while leveraging the go-to-market services (i.e. single sign-on, billing and data web API’s, user management, etc.) of IPP and publish their app to an existing marketplace in the Intuit App Center.
• In addition to the third-party developer apps, Microsoft will also be working closely with us to offer their Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) via the Intuit Workplace App Center.  While it will take a little while to get the integration just right, we think the addition of BPOS, to the Intuit Apps, and third party apps, creates a strong suite of apps for Small Businesses to choose from.

2) Broader channels = more customers for developers

• By reaching out to our respective Channel partners (VAR’s, Solution Providers, etc.) and introducing them to the Intuit App Center, we further expand the ecosystem of Small Businesses that developers can target. Through our product channels (via QuickBooks) and our partner channels, we have an opportunity to build a large customer base using connected applications.

The reason we’re so excited about this alliance is very simple: More Quality Apps + More Targeted Customers = Vibrant Ecosystem (and a strong network effect)!  By joining the development and channel forces of two of the leaders in the Small Business Market, I think we have a great opportunity to delight SMB’s, Developers, and VAR’s. Win-Win-Win!

Alex Chriss
Director, Intuit Partner Platform

3 New Live IPP Technical Webinars for January - Register Now!

We’ve got 3 great live webinars in January discussing technical aspects of IPP: “What’s New in 2.4 of IPP”, “IPP Intuit Data Services (IDS) Deep Dive" and “Enhancing your Federated Application”. We’ve also got live IPP Developer Support sessions every two weeks, the next one on Jan 12.

Registration details are below…see you there!

Intuit Partner Platform: What's New in v2.4 of IPP

Deep dive look at the new data and features released in v2.4 of the Intuit Partner Platform

Register for Session: 

• Thursday, January 14, 2010, 10:00 am - 11:00am PST

Intuit Partner Platform: Intuit Data Services (IDS) Deep Dive

Deep Dive into the connecting your Intuit Partner Platform Application with QuickBooks data via IPP Intuit Data Services (IDS) API).

Register for Session:

• Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 10:00am - 11:00am PST

Intuit Partner Platform: Enhancing your Federated Application

Already have a SaaS application and need help with the Federation process?  Want to know what's involved to create a federated App?  Then join us for a deep dive look at the enhancing your Federated IPP Application.

Register for Session: 

• Thursday, February 4, 2010 10:00am - 11:00am PST

Intuit Partner Platform Real Time Support

Real Time Support and Q&A with the Intuit Partner Platform Architect's and Engineers. Have your questions answered live!

Register for session:

• Tuesday, January 12, 2010, 10:00am - 11:00am PST

Announcing IPP V2.4 - More Than More Data!

The IPP team is excited to announce that IPP v2.4 is now live and available for IPP partners. Take advantage of the new and enhanced capabilities: access to more data, new configuration options for application Sign Up and Sign In (including more control over application invitation messaging), and additional click-stream analytics.

Read all about it below. (Additionally, we’re offering a webinar on January 14th that will cover the IPP v2.4 features in depth. Note: You must be registered IPP Developer to attend this webinar.)

IPP v2.4 CONTENTS

IPP v2.4 is part of a series of platform updates focused on:

1. Extending the IPP Intuit Data Services (IDS) model for IPP federated and native platform developers, including Read (and in some cases Create and Update) access to Accounts Payable, and General Ledger objects as well as several new Account Receivable and List items
2. Streamlining the application Sign-up / Sign-in (S·U·S·I) experience
3. Improving click stream analytics to help partners run their business, and
4. AppCenter enhancements to improve the application shop and learn experience

We’ve also addressed a variety of platform and IDS issues / defects in v2.4.

1. INTUIT DATA SERVICES (IDS) ENHANCEMENTS 

We’ve made a significant number of enhancements and improvements to Intuit Data Services.

Important: IPP v2.4 introduces a new IDS API version, v2. Developers need to use this new IDS API version to utilize the new objects / behaviors listed below. Previous IDS versions (e.g. v1) are supported but will not include new objects/behaviors; developers are strongly urged to migrate to the latest API version (v2) at their earliest convenience. IPP will continue to support IDS v1 until December 1, 2010.

The following capabilities have been exposed via REST API as well as added to the IPP Flex framework:
New IDS Objects

• ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
  • Read and Create access to Item Receipts
  • Read access to Purchase Orders, Bills, Bill Payment Checks, Bill Payment Credit Card, Sales Tax Payment Checks and Vendor Credits and Checks
• ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
  • Read access to Credit Memos and Statement Charges
  • Read access to Sales Receipts
• GENERAL LEDGER
  • Read and Create access to General Journal entries
• LISTS
  • Read, Create and Update access to Jobs
  • Customer/Job hierarchy properly represented
  • Read access to Payment methods, Sales tax codes, ship methods, Inventory items, inventory assemblies, classes and units of measure
  • Item Query now returns any of several types of QuickBooks items
• OTHER
  • Read access to Checks, Sales Receipts, Purchase Orders, Journal Entries, and Company Classes

Enhanced IDS Objects

• Accounts, Inventory items, Inventory assemblies, service items and non-inventory items can now be Created
• Customers, Employees and Vendors can be filtered by name and company name
• Most transactions now support “To be Printed” and “To Be Emailed” attributes

Read more about these enhancements in the release notes.

Get more detailed information about all the IDS capabilities in the IDS Programmer’s Guide.

Register for the webinar we’re offering on January 14th that will cover the IPP v2.4 features in depth.

2. STREAMLINED INTUIT WORKPLACE APP CENTER SIGN-IN/SIGN-UP (S·U·S·I) EXPERIENCE 

Several improvements and additional developer configuration options have been added to the Sign-up / Sign-in experience for Intuit Workplace App Center.

Note: All changes are upwardly compatible. New developer-facing enhancements are optionally configurable. 

The end-user changes to make the SUSI process clearer and easier will be immediately available for new users signing up for Intuit Workplace App Center applications.

Enhancements include:

• Custom Welcome and Application Invitation emails: partners can create their own email templates.
• Guided sign-up process with improved sign-in interface and client-side field validation throughout process
• Improved business profile interface that (a) prevents users from subscribing to an app more than once per business and (b) allows customer to launch existing subscriptions as well as add new ones.

Get more information about these and other new IPP SUSI capabilities here. 

3. CLICK-STREAM ANALYTICS IMPROVEMENTS 

Several enhancements have been added to IPP’s click-stream tracking services based on Google Analytics. These include:

• Separate sign-in tracking to differentiate actions performed by new customers signing up for applications versus existing customers signing in to their apps.
• New click-stream tracking for customers who are upgrading their subscription from beta, opt-in trials, or subscription upgrade/downgrades.

Get more information on these and other new IPP Click-stream analytics capabilities here. 

4. INTUIT WORKPLACE APP CENTER IMPROVEMENTS 

A variety of small enhancements and modifications have been made to Intuit Workplace AppCenter to improve the overall shopping flow and experience. 

5. SOFTWARE UPDATES / FIXES 

For a complete list of software updates / fixes included in IPP v2.4, please review the release notes here. 

Thanks,
—The Intuit Partner Platform Team