FreshBooks

ExpandedToggleIcon        Connection Dialog

To connect to FreshBooks, Devart Excel Add-ins support both FreshBooks Classic API for compatibility purposes, and the new FreshBooks API (Alpha). Note that FreshBooks Classic API are deprecated. It's recommended to use new Alpha API.

 

To connect to FreshBooks using new FreshBooks API, you need to perform the following steps:

1.In the API Version box select Alpha.
2.Click the Web Login button
3.In the connection editor, specify the name of the company to query data from.
4.In the opened Web Login dialog box sign in to your FreshBooks account.
5.Click Authorize.

 

 

To connect to FreshBooks using Classic API, the following connection options are required:

1.API Version - set it to Classic.
2.Host - FreshBooks service URL, derived from the account URL, for example: https://sample.freshbooks.com/api/2.1/xml-in ;
3.Authentication Token - An automatically generated key that is used for connecting to FreshBooks;

 

To get the URL and Authentication Token, sign in to FreshBooks, click the My Account link in the top of the page, and then click the FreshBooks API link.

 

To get the URL and Authentication Token, sign in to FreshBooks, click the My Account link in the top of the page, and then click the FreshBooks API link.

In addition to the required options, Advanced connection options may be set for more fine connection tuning.

 

ExpandedToggleIcon        Advanced Connection Options

The following table describes the options that you can include in the Connection String using the Advanced Connection Editor dialog box:

 

Option

Description

Access Token

Specifies a key, generated when you perform Web login to FreshBooks, that is used for OAuth access to FreshBooks. This parameter is used for connecting via Alpha API.

API Version

Determines which FreshBooks API to use - legacy Classic API or new Alpha API. Note that FreshBooks Classic API are deprecated. It's recommended to use new Alpha API.

Authentication Token

Specifies an automatically generated key that is used for connecting to FreshBooks. This parameter is used for connecting via Classic API.

Authentication Type

Specifies the authentication method to use when connecting to FreshBooks.

Client Id

Specifies the client id, obtained from the app settings in your developer FreshBooks account. You may either use the hardcoded values of Devart Excel Add-ins client id and client secret, or register your app on FreshBooks and get its client id and client secret parameters. This parameter is used for connecting via Alpha API.

Client Secret

Specifies the client secret, obtained from the app settings in your developer FreshBooks account. You may either use the hardcoded values of Devart Excel Add-ins client id and client secret, or register your app on FreshBooks and get its client id and client secret parameters. This parameter is used for connecting via Alpha API.

Company Name

Specifies the name of the company whose data to connect to. This parameter is used for connecting via Alpha API.

Connection Lifetime

Specifies the time span (in seconds), compared against a connection's creation time when it is returned to the pool; the connection is destroyed if this span is exceeded. The default value is 0 (connection always returns to pool). This parameter is used for connecting via Classic API.

Connection Timeout

Specifies the length of time (in seconds) to wait for a connection to the server before terminating the attempt and generating an error. The default value is 60.

Default Command Timeout

Specifies the time in seconds to wait while trying to execute a command before terminating the attempt and generating an error.

Failover Retries

Specifies the number of retry attempts to automatically re-run a command before displaying an error message in case when the command failed because of an error that may be temporary.

Freshbooks Time Zone

Determines whether to treat date values as dates in the timezone, specified in the FreshBooks company profile. This parameter is deprecated, and it is not used for new FreshBooks API.

Include Deleted

Determines whether to include deleted records to returned data.

Initialization Command

Specifies a command to execute after establishing the connection.

Local SQL Engine

Determines whether to use local SQL engine for SELECT queries, that are too complex to translate them directly to FreshBooks API calls or to show an error message.

Max Pool Size

Specifies the maximum number of connections allowed in the pool. Setting the Max Pool Size value in the connection string can affect performance. The default value is 100.

Min Pool Size

Specifies the minimum number of connections allowed in the pool. The default value is 0.

NormalizeDbNames

Determines whether database object names are normalized when retrieved from the database.

OAuth Storage

Specifies the path to a file, where to store FreshBooks Access and Refresh Token between sessions in order to avoid the need to re-authorize the application. This parameter is used for connecting via Alpha API.

Persist Security Info

Indicates if security-sensitive information, such as the password, is not returned as part of the connection if the connection is open or has ever been in an open state.

Pooling

Draws the connection from the appropriate pool, or creates and adds it to the appropriate pool, when set to true. This is the default behavior.

Proxy Host

Specifies the host name or IP address of the proxy server.

Proxy Password

Specifies the password for the proxy server account.

Proxy Port

Specifies the port number of the proxy server. The default value is 3128.

Proxy User

Specifies the proxy server account name.

Readonly

Indicates whether the connection is read-only (allows only SELECT statements).

Refresh Token

Specifies an automatically generated key that is used for refreshing the authentication token when it expires. Note that a new refresh token is generated and assigned automatically every time when the authentication token is refreshed. This parameter is used for connecting via Alpha API.

Run Once Command

Specifies a command to execute after establishing the connection. Unlike Initialization Command, it is not executed for connections obtained from the connection pool.

Server

Specifies the FreshBooks service URL, derived from the account URL, for example: https://sample.freshbooks.com/api/2.1/xml-in

This parameter is used for connecting via Classic API.

Token Server

Is not used for FreshBooks.

UTC Dates

Converts dates to UTC format during import when set to True; the date values entered by the user (in SELECT statements, etc.) are then considered UTC dates when sending them to the data source.