About The Properties

Each component's properties is set to default values when the component is created. However, any communication with QuickBooks will reset all property values, excluding the QBConnection properties. All information returned in the QuickBooks response will be set in the component, and all information not returned will be reset to its default in the component.

So for example, to get information about a customer, the Get method of a Customer object should be used. Then each of the properties will contain appropriate information, or a default value if the information has not been specified.

Note that even Adding an object to QuickBooks will alter the state of the component. Defaults not set by the component may be set by QuickBooks, and QuickBooks will frequently fill out descriptions, compute totals, and so on. This is the same behavior as when new objects are added through the QuickBooks UI.

Every time QuickBooks returns data, the QBResponseAggregate will be populated with the XML data returned from QuickBooks. This is a convenient way to encapsulate and save all the relevant information concerning a QuickBooks object. This property may also be set, to initialize a component as if it had just been returned with QuickBooks.

Additional properties are available as special fields. In general, special fields are properties that are unusual and/or infrequently used. To keep the API simple, access to special fields is offered though the Config method. About Reference Properties

Many properties are reference properties: They refer to entities or items that already exist in QuickBooks. For example, when you add an Invoice, you must specify the Customer being invoiced. QuickBooks will only allow customers that have been added to its database, so you must either ensure that the Customer has been added to QuickBooks, or add the customer yourself before adding the invoice.

All reference properties are represented by two properties: a Name and an Id. The properties are redundant, so whichever is known may be specified. Moreover, setting either will reset the other to an empty string, ensuring that there is never any conflict between the two.

Whenever data is returned from QuickBooks, both the Name and the Id will always be returned, and user application may read either or both. You should consider storing the Id rather than the Name: Unlike the Name it cannot ever be changed by QuickBooks users or other integrated applications, and will always be valid unless the object is deleted.