DocNumber field on Invoice

[ZoXo]

When creating an invoice with the plug-in, even though the preference for DocNumber to auto-generate is set ( and manual creation of invoice proves that

to be true ) the DocNumber field is blank.  Do I have to tell QBO to auto-generate this field when creating it, and if so, is there documentation on how to do that?

[ZoXo]

So after some testing, I have found that based on the preference for custom transaction numbers

 

Reference number for the transaction. If not explicitly provided at create time, this field is populated based on the setting of Preferences:CustomTxnNumber as follows:

• If Preferences:CustomTxnNumber is true a custom value can be provided. If no value is supplied, the resulting DocNumber is null.
• If Preferences:CustomTxnNumber is false, resulting DocNumber is system generated by incrementing the last number by 1.
• If Preferences:CustomTxnNumber is false then do not send a value as it can lead to unwanted duplicates. If a DocNumber value is sent for an Update operation, then it just updates that particular invoice and does not alter the internal system DocNumber. 

 

What we have here is a mutually exclusive situation:

With the preference on, manually creating invoices generates an invoice number

sending via the plug does not

 

with the preference off, manually creating invoices does not generate an invoice number

sending via the plug does

 

Not sure why anyone would program it this way ( then again, I've had to do many things that don't make sense when programming )

so there you have it.........

Pick one or the other, toggle if you have to....

sigh....................

 

 

[Geoffrey Gerhard]

Thanks for posting this!

I found several cases where a default value was inserted in a field when using the browser UI but left blank when using the API to insert values in the same set of fields. Your explanation of the Invoice numbering behavior will come in handy.

When you say "toggle if you have to", I'm curious if you tried toggling using Preferences / Full Update Preferences, and whether the was hard to implement. A Sparse update would be much simpler, but it appears to be unavailable.

Geoffrey Gerhard
Creative Solutions Incorporated
14000 Creekside Drive
Matthews, NC 28105
704.814.6852

[ZoXo]

By toggling I meant if you want to manually enter Invoices you would go to the preferences and turn on the custom transaction numbers pref. Then when importing via FileMaker turn it off. Are you suggesting there is a way to set that via the plug? (which would be very nice )

[Geoffrey Gerhard]

It looks like it, although I've never tried it. Look at the child attributes of SalesFormsPrefs in Preferences:Full update preferences in the Intuit Developer API Explorer. It's not identified as "Read Only", so I presume it can be toggled on/off via the API/plug-in. Please post your experience with it if you do any experimentation.

Geoffrey Gerhard
Creative Solutions Incorporated
14000 Creekside Drive
Matthews, NC 28105
704.814.6852

[bcooney]

I don’t understand the problem. Setting the preference to false and not sending a docnum from FM should allow QBO to increment and create doc numbers. We prefer qbo to handle them and then refresh from qbo to pull the docnum back to FM. 

[ZoXo]

Correct. But now when you create one manually it will not increment until you turn the preference on. 
 

mutually exclusive. .....

[bcooney]

Why are you creating docnum manually (not sure I even understand what that means)? I think it implies that you are generating invoice docnum in FileMaker.

“With the preference on, manually creating invoices generates an invoice number”

this is not correct. The preference is to allow custom docnum. When it is true (allow) qbo does not generate the docnum. 

[ZoXo]

Manually means by way of the online app. Maybe not everyone is creating invoices by sending them via FileMaker. Someone who used the online browser interface will experience during the creation of a new invoice (by pressing the new transaction button) it does not have an incremented invoice number already populated.

[ZoXo]

When the pref is on sending from filemaker does not increment and add an invoice number so naturally it is expecting you to provide it. At the same time someone in the browser adds an invoice and it provides an incremental number.  Turning the pref off removes the incremental number generation when adding from the browser. When sending via filemaker as long as you dont send one it will auto populate an incremental number.  

So...... 

if you want to auto generate an incremental invoice number and you use both methods to create an invoice you cannot have them both behave the same.  One or the other will have to provide an invoice number or toggle the pref to get the desired outcome. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by ZoXo

[bcooney]

 

• If Preferences:CustomTxnNumber is false, resulting DocNumber is system generated by incrementing the last number by 1.

this is how we typically set up integrations. A user in qbo creating an invoice will get a new docnum. A user in FileMaker will post to qbo, and the response will have a docnum to set into FileMaker. So, until a user syncs to qbo, FileMaker will not have a value in docnum.  Qbo is the source of truth. 

Edit: btw, it may matter that I don’t use the plugin. I use my company’s sync utility, LedgerLink.