[ic] Interchange QuickBooks Extension -- Quickbooks support for transactions and items: where do I find more information

[Dan Browning]

I just downloaded (via CVS update) the Interchange Quickbooks extension.
I've translated the ic_qb.pod to a pdf format and have been reading that,
and I'm trying to read the source code as well to get a handle on this.

It is very important to me right now because within the next week I need to
decide on either Quickbooks Pro 6, BusinessWorks Gold, or MAS90 for my
accounting software.  And the decision is mostly based on "cheapest software
that will integrate with interchange (or at least integrate with the
postgresql backend)".

I was going to write my own middleware for whichever actg. package I chose,
but I'm glad I haven't started yet --because now I have found this!

How new is this software?  Is it stable or a first release (or both, which
happens sometimes)?  I see Mike Heins is the author, which comforts me.  Is
there any development in the works for other actg. packages?

In the docs, it says that after the .IIF file is created, you have to
manually startup Quickbooks and do a FILE-IMPORT.  That is the reason that I
decided to evaluate MAS90 and the expensive packages--because there was no
real-time import/export for Quickbooks.  The real-time, automated transfers
is important to me because I need to be able to scale to several thousand
orders per day.

I guess at this point I have two options:
	1.  Use this extension and manually export all the orders, new customers,
and inventory changes on a regular basis (e.g. daily).  This would leave
Quickbooks always a day late on information, and seems a little
labor-intensive.
	2.  Find some sort of way to hack Quickbooks or use a scripting technology
that will run the file/import automatically every 60 seconds or so (and also
program interchange to generate a new IIF file every 60 seconds).

What are your thoughts?

Dan Browning
Network & Database Administrator
Cyclone Computer Systems