Getting started

The Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver provides real-time access to QuickBooks Online data from any application that supports ODBC.

The following section shows you how to install the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver and configure the ODBC data source that stores the connection details for your QuickBooks Online file. You’re then ready to work with QuickBooks Online data in your application.

Installing the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver

Install the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver on the computer where the application you want to connect to QuickBooks Online is running.

Installing on Windows

The Windows installation can be done by anyone with local administrator privileges.

  1. Download the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver installer.

  2. Follow the onscreen instructions to progress through the installation wizard.

Updating files that are in use

To avoid rebooting your computer, the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver installer prompts you when files that it needs to update are in use by another application or service. This frees the locked files and allows the installation to complete without a system restart. The installer uses the Restart Manager to locate the applications that are using files that need updating. These applications are displayed in the Files in Use dialog box. To avoid a system restart, choose Automatically close applications and attempt to restart them after setup is complete. The Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver installer then uses Restart Manager to try to stop and restart each application or service in the list. If possible, Restart Manager restores applications to the same state that they were in before it shut them down.

Licensing

By default, the installer starts the Easysoft License Manager, because you can’t use the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver until you have a license. If you choose not to run Easysoft License Manager as part of the installation process, run License Manager from the Easysoft group in the Windows Start menu when you’re ready to license the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver. These types of license are available:

  • A free time-limited trial license, which gives you free and unrestricted use of the product for a limited period (usually 14 days).

  • A full license if you have purchased the product. On purchasing the product you are given an authorization code, which you use to obtain a license.

To license the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver:

  1. In License Manager, enter your contact details.

    You must complete the Name, E-Mail Address, and Company fields.

    The e-mail address must be the same as the one used to register at the Easysoft web site. Otherwise, you won’t be able to obtain a trial license.

  2. Choose Request License.

    You’re prompted to choose a license type.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • For a trial license, choose Time Limited Trial, and then choose Next.
      -Or-

    • For a purchased license, choose Non-expiring License, and then choose Next.

  4. Choose your product from the drop-down list when prompted, and then choose Next.

  5. For a purchased license, enter your authorization code when prompted, and then choose Next.

  6. Choose how to get your license when prompted.

  7. Do one of the following:

    • Choose On-line Request if your machine is connected to the internet and can make outgoing connections to port 8884.
      With this method, License Manager automatically requests and then applies your license.
      -Or-

    • Choose View Request. Then open a web browser and go to https://www.easysoft.com/support/licensing/trial_license.html or https://www.easysoft.com/support/licensing/full_license.html, as appropriate. In the web page, enter your machine number (labelled Number in the license request). For purchased licenses, you also need to enter your authorization code (labelled Ref in the license request).
      We’ll automatically email your license to the email address you supplied in License Manager.
      -Or-

    • Choose Email Request to email your license request to our licensing team.
      Once we’ve processed you request, we’ll email your license to the email address you supplied in License Manager.

  8. Close the License Manager windows and then choose Finish.

If you chose either View Request or Email Request, apply your license by double-clicking the email attachment when you get the license email from us. Alternatively, start License Manager from the Easysoft folder in the Windows Start menu. Then choose Enter License and paste the license in the space provided.

Once you’ve licensed the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver, the installation is complete.

Repairing the installation

The installer can repair a broken Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver installation. For example, you can use the installer to restore missing Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver files or registry keys. To do this:

  1. In the Windows Taskbar, enter Add or remove programs in the Windows Search box.

  2. Select Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver in the list, and then choose Repair.

Uninstalling on Windows

This section explains how to remove the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver from your system.

Removing Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver data sources

Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver data sources are not removed when you uninstall the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver. You don’t therefore need to recreate your Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver data sources if you reinstall or upgrade. If you don’t want to keep your Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver data sources, use Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to remove them, before uninstalling the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver:

  1. In the Windows Taskbar, enter Run in the Windows Search box.

  2. In the Windows Run dialog box, enter:

    odbcad32.exe

  3. Locate your data source in either the User or System tab.

  4. Select the data source from the list, and then choose Remove.

    If the Remove button isn’t available, close ODBC Data Source Administrator, and then, in the Windows Run dialog box, enter:

    %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe

    Repeat the previous two steps.

Removing the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver

  1. In the Windows Taskbar, enter Add or remove programs in the Windows Search box.

  2. Select Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver in the list, and then choose Uninstall.

Easysoft product licenses are stored in the Windows registry. When you uninstall, your licenses are not removed, so you do not need to relicense the product if you reinstall or upgrade.

Connecting to QuickBooks Online

Applications that support ODBC interface with an ODBC Driver Manager, which is included with the operating system, and also the Easysoft ODBC driver distribution on some platforms. One of the jobs that the ODBC Driver Manager does is to manage ODBC data sources. A data source specifies which ODBC driver to load, which data store to connect to, and how to connect to it.

Before setting up a data source, you must have successfully installed the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver.

Connecting from Windows

Creating an ODBC data source

  1. In the Windows Taskbar Search box, enter “Run”.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • If your application is 64-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      odbcad32.exe

      -Or-

    • If your application is 32-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
      If you’re not sure whether your application is 32-bit or 64-bit, start your application, then in Windows Task Manager check whether your application’s process name contains (32-bit). For example, the process name for the 32-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel (32-bit); the process name for the 64-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel. On older versions of Windows, 32-bit applications contain *32 in the process name rather than (32-bit).
      For applications such as Oracle or SQL Server that run as a service, check the *Background processes* list rather than the Apps list in Task Manager.
      If you’re running a programming language from within a Windows command-line shell (for example, Command or PowerShell), in your shell, run the .exe file for the programming language. For example, run perl, php, python, or node. In Task Manager, expand the process list for Windows Command Processor or Windows PowerShell, as appropriate, and check whether the process for your programming language contains (32-bit).

  3. Do one of the following:

    • To create a data source that only the user you’re currently logged in as can access, choose the User tab.
      If your application is a Windows service (for example, SQL Server or Oracle) creating a user data source won’t work, unless the service is running as the same user you’re logged in as.

    • To create a data source that all users on this computer can access, choose the System tab.

  4. Choose Add.

  5. In the list of ODBC drivers, select Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver, and then choose Finish.

  6. Complete the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver configuration dialog box.
    To find out how to do this, refer to the Connection attributes section.

  7. Choose the Connect button.

    The Intuit login page displays in your default browser.

  8. Log into QuickBooks Online, and then close the browser tab when prompted.

    Data source set up is now complete.

  9. To test the connection to QuickBooks Online, choose Test.
    Note that this doesn’t test that the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver is licensed. If you haven’t yet licensed the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver, this ODBC data source won’t work with your application, even if the Test button succeeds.

Connection attributes

Setting on Windows

The Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver data source configuration dialog box, accessible when you create or edit an Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver data source in ODBC Data Source Administrator contains a number of attribute fields:

Name Value

DSN

The name of the data source. You’ll need to specify this in your application. For example, your application may prompt you to choose this from a list of DSNs.

Description

Some applications display this to help users identify a particular data source.

Sandbox

Turn on this option if you’re connecting to the QuickBooks Online sandbox.

Logging

Whether to turn on Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver logging. Normally, you’ll only do this if so directed by the Easysoft support team.

Log File

The file name and path of the file you want the driver to write log information to. For example:

C:\Windows\Temp\Easysoft.log

If the file doesn’t exist, the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver creates it.

Logging

If you report an issue to us, we may ask you to turn on ODBC Driver Manager or Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver logging, to help us diagnose the cause of the issue.

To turn on logging, refer to the following sections.

If your application is a service (for example, Oracle or SQL Server), you may need to restart the service before enabling logging takes effect. To do this on Linux or UNIX, use service, systemctl, or a vendor-supplied script. To do this on Windows, use the Windows Services app.

ODBC Driver Manager logging on Windows

  1. In the Windows Taskbar Search box, enter “Run”.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • If your application is 64-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      odbcad32.exe

      -Or-

    • If your application is 32-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
      If you’re not sure whether your application is 32-bit or 64-bit, start your application, then in Windows Task Manager check whether your application’s process name contains (32-bit). For example, the process name for the 32-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel (32-bit); the process name for the 64-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel. On older versions of Windows, 32-bit applications contain *32 in the process name rather than (32-bit).
      For applications such as Oracle or SQL Server that run as a service, check the *Background processes* list rather than the Apps list in Task Manager.
      If you’re running a programming language from within a Windows command-line shell (for example, Command or PowerShell), in your shell, run the .exe file for the programming language. For example, run perl, php, python, or node. In Task Manager, expand the process list for Windows Command Processor or Windows PowerShell, as appropriate, and check whether the process for your programming language contains (32-bit).

  3. Choose the Tracing tab.

  4. Select Machine-Wide tracing for all identities.

  5. Enter a log file name and path in the space provided. For example:

    C:\Windows\Temp\SQL.log

  6. Choose Start Tracing Now.

With SQL Server, you may get two Driver Manager log files, we need both. The first log file is in the folder that you specify in ODBC Data Source Administrator. The second file’s location is defined by SQL Server. Two possible locations are the top-level folder (for example, C:\SQL.log) or the SQL Server temporary folder (for example, C:\Users\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS\AppData\Local\Temp\SQL.log). If the Driver Manager log file isn’t in these folders, search for it on the drive where SQL Server is installed.

Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver logging on Windows

  1. In the Windows Taskbar Search box, enter “Run”.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • If your application is 64-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      odbcad32.exe

      -Or-

    • If your application is 32-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
      If you’re not sure whether your application is 32-bit or 64-bit, start your application, then in Windows Task Manager check whether your application’s process name contains (32-bit). For example, the process name for the 32-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel (32-bit); the process name for the 64-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel. On older versions of Windows, 32-bit applications contain *32 in the process name rather than (32-bit).
      For applications such as Oracle or SQL Server that run as a service, check the *Background processes* list rather than the Apps list in Task Manager.
      If you’re running a programming language from within a Windows command-line shell (for example, Command or PowerShell), in your shell, run the .exe file for the programming language. For example, run perl, php, python, or node. In Task Manager, expand the process list for Windows Command Processor or Windows PowerShell, as appropriate, and check whether the process for your programming language contains (32-bit).

  3. Do one of the following:

    • If you configured a system data source, choose the System DSN tab.
      -Or-

    • If you configured a system data source, choose the System DSN tab.

  4. Choose your Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver data source from the list, and then choose Configure.

  5. In the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver data source configuration dialog box, turn on Driver Logging.

  6. Enter a log file name and path in the space provided. For example:

    C:\Windows\Temp\Easysoft.log

Finding out what product version you have on Windows

If you have an issue with the Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver, we may ask you to tell us what your product version is. To find this out:

  1. In the Windows Taskbar, enter “Add or remove programs” in the Windows Search box.

  2. Select Easysoft ODBC-QOnline Driver in the list.

    The product version displays below.