Get started integrating Rails 4 and QuickBooks Online with the Quickeebooks Gem: Part 3 : Disconnecting with QuickBooks

https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/3.2.1/css/font-awesome

Table of Contents

• Part 1: Make an OAuth connection between a Rails 4 app & QBO.
• Part 2: Create a Vendor on both Rails app and QBO.
• Part 3: Disconnecting from QBO.
• Part 4: Implementing Single Sign On.
• Code presented below is also available on Github

Part 3: Disconnect the Rails app from QB0.

1. Let's start by updating the view, app/views/layouts/application.html.erb, to show a disconnect link

  <% unless session[:token] %>
    <ipp:connectToIntuit></ipp:connectToIntuit>
  <% else %>
    <div>
      <%= link_to 'Disconnect from QuickBooks', '', data: { confirm: 'Are you sure you want to disconnect?' 
    </div>
  <% end %>

2. Reload



DISCUSSION: We need a disconnect action but the vendors_controller is getting crowded, therefore, let's create the quickbooks_controller. This is also a perfect place for the authenticate and oauth_callback actions so we are going to move them before creating the disconnect action.
3. Make a new quickbooks_controller and move the authenticate and oauth_callback actions from the vendors_controller to here.
• The new controller at app/controllers/quickbooks_controller.rb should look like the code below. Notice the highlighted sections that also need to be modified.

class QuickbooksController < ApplicationController

  def authenticate
    callback = oauth_callback_quickbooks_url
    token = $qb_oauth_consumer.get_request_token(:oauth_callback => callback)
    session[:qb_request_token] = token
    redirect_to("https://appcenter.intuit.com/Connect/Begin?oauth_token=#{token.token}") and return
  end

  def oauth_callback
    at = session[:qb_request_token].get_access_token(:oauth_verifier => params[:oauth_verifier])
    session[:token] = at.token
    session[:secret] = at.secret
    session[:realm_id] = params['realmId']
    flash.notice = "Your QuickBooks account has been successfully linked."
    @msg = 'Redirecting. Please wait.'
    @url = vendors_path
    render 'vendors/close_and_redirect', layout: false  end

end

• Modify config/routes.rb:

Billtastic::Application.routes.draw do
  resources :vendors
  resources :quickbooks do
    collection do
      get :authenticate
      get :oauth_callback
    end
  end
end

• Then modify the following line in app/views/layouts/application.html.erb to reflect the new authenticate route.

  <script>
      intuit.ipp.anywhere.setup({menuProxy: '/path/to/blue-dot', grantUrl: '<%= authenticate_quickbooks_url %>'});
  </script>

• Finally, make sure you issue a touch tmp/restart.txt to restart the app as the routes have changed.
DISCUSSION: We are still not done with the refactoring. The disconnect action uses a different Quickeebooks service then from the one used in the vendors controller so let's make the set_qb_service method more flexibility.
4. Allow set_qb_service to create additional services.
• Remove the set_qb_service from vendors_controller and move it to application_controller and modify it as such:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  # Prevent CSRF attacks by raising an exception.
  # For APIs, you may want to use :null_session instead.
  protect_from_forgery with: :exception

  private

    def set_qb_service(type = 'Vendor')
      oauth_client = OAuth::AccessToken.new($qb_oauth_consumer, session[:token], session[:secret])
      @service = "Quickeebooks::Online::Service::#{type}".constantize.new
      @service.access_token = oauth_client
      @service.realm_id = session[:realm_id]
    end
end

• Next, modify the vendors_controller instance vars of @vendor_service to be just @service
5. Reload billtastic.dev/vendors to test that the refactorings have taken effect with no errors.
6. Add the disconnect route.

Billtastic::Application.routes.draw do
  resources :vendors
  resources :quickbooks do
    collection do
      get :authenticate
      get :oauth_callback
      get :disconnect
    end
  end
end

7. Add the disconnect action to the quickbooks_controller

  def disconnect
    set_qb_service('AccessToken')
    result = @service.disconnect
    if result.error_code == '270'
      msg = 'Disconnect failed as OAuth token is invalid. Try connecting again.'
    else
      msg = 'Successfully disconnected from QuickBooks'
    end
    session[:token] = nil
    session[:secret] = nil
    session[:realm_id] = nil
    redirect_to vendors_path, notice: msg
  end

DISCUSSION: The disconnect action uses the AccessToken module/service from Quickeebooks. It provides a disconnect instance method that makes an API call requesting the disconnect. Intuit states that an error_code of 0 indicates a successful request but I have found that an error_code of '22' worked fine and the connection was properly disconnected. The session's are cleared in all cases because even on a disconnect failure this indicates that the current credentials are invalid and creating a new connection may be the solution.
IMPORTANT: There are many points were the Intuit v2 API doesn't work exactly as stated in the docs as in the above example were I received an error code of '22' but the disconnect worked fine. Don't beat yourself up because you are not obtaining responses precisely as described in the documentation. Just shrug your shoulders and move on.
8. Before we test disconnecting, let's log into the Intuit Partner Platform like we did in Part 1. From there navigate to My Apps->Manage My Apps and then to the Billtastic app.
• Notice that you should have at least one live API connection



• While we are here let's also change the disconnect url to billtastic.dev/quickbooks/disconnect.





NOTE: This url change is not needed for this tutorial and is only used for when a disconnect action is initiated from the Intuit App Center. We want to make the change now while we are here and the new disconnect route is fresh in our minds.
• Let's go back to the Billtastic.app at billtastic.dev/vendors and click on the 'Disconnect from QuickBooks' link.



• Yeah! A successfully disconnect.



• Let's make sure the disconnect occurred by checking over at the Intuit Partner Platform.

Implementing Single Sign On

Stay tuned to Part 4 in where I will hook up the Billtastic app with the ability to use your Intuit QBO credentials to sign on. This is referred to as "Single Sign On" by Intuit and is needed if you desire to have your application listed on their App Center.