Obtain a client certificate by generating a certificate signing request (CSR) and use the site to get it signed by Intuit.Obtain an server certificate from a supported root certificate authority.Register your application with IDN at.This really sucks as the cheapest option is $295/year. These are available to paid memberships and participants in the Not-For-Resale program. Obtain a test QBOE company from IDN for testing during development.To enable your hosted web application to communicate with QBOE, you do the following (mostly copied from the docs): So why do we need to decide between the Desktop and Online editions? The simple answer is that the communication process is different depending on the product. This shared SDK approach is based on qbXML, a version of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) designed specifically for QuickBooks. The SDK provides a common methodology for integrating an application with QuickBooks: once you’ve developed an application for one QuickBooks product, modifying your application to support any (or all) of the other QuickBooks products is a straightforward task. The good news is that the SDK will help if you need both. Decide if your app will integrate with the QuickBooks Online (QBOE) or desktop edition.

Download and install the QuickBooks SDK.As a preview to the painfully antiquated technology that we’ll be dealing with, notice that you are prompted to install a Java Virtual Machine to make the site work better. Head over to the Intuit Developer Network, click “Join IDN”, and create a Community Developer membership which is free.So if you’re on a Mac, fire up Parallels and boot up. The first thing to realize is that while QuickBooks offers a Mac edition, the SDK that developers need to work with is for the PC only.But don’t worry, we’ll make it through and it’ll be easier for you now that the trail has been blazed. I say unfortunately because I have some idea as to where this path leads. Have a Rails app that needs to integrate with Quickbooks? Unfortunately I do too.

Quickbooks desktop app for mac sucks