FreshBooks NodeJS SDK

The FreshBooks NodeJS SDK allows you to more easily utilize the FreshBooks API.

Installation

Use your favorite package manager to install any of the packages and save to your package.json:

$ npm install @freshbooks/api

# Or, if you prefer yarn
$ yarn add @freshbooks/api

Usage

See the full documentation.

Configuring the API client

Your app will interact with the REST API using the Client object, available from the @freshbooks/api package. The client may be instantiated with a valid OAuth token or provided with a client secret and redirect URI which may then be used to obtain an access token.

Using a pre-generated access token

import { Client } from '@freshbooks/api'

const clientId = process.env.FRESHBOOKS_APPLICATION_CLIENT_ID

// Get token from authentication or configuration
const token = process.env.FRESHBOOKS_TOKEN

// Instantiate new FreshBooks API client
const client = new Client(clientId, {
    accessToken: token,
})

Using a client secret and redirect URI

import { Client } from '@freshbooks/api'

const clientId = process.env.FRESHBOOKS_APPLICATION_CLIENT_ID
const clientSecret = process.env.FRESHBOOKS_APPLICATION_CLIENT_SECRET

// Instantiate new FreshBooks API client
const client = new Client(clientId, {
    clientSecret,
    redirectUri: 'https://your-redirect-uri.com/'
})

// Give this URL to the user so they can authorize your application
const authUrl = client.getAuthRequestUrl()

// This will redirect them to https://your-redirect-uri.com/?code=XXX
const code = ...

// Returns an object containing the access token, refresh token, and expiry date
// Note that this function sets the token on this client instance to automatically
// authenticates all future requests with this client instance
const tokens = client.getAccessToken(code)

Get/set data from REST API

All REST API methods return a response in the shape of:

{
    ok: boolean
    data?: T // model type of result
    error?: Error
}

Example API client call:

try {
    // Get the current user
    const { data } = await client.users.me()

    console.log(`Hello, ${data.id}`)
} catch ({ statusCode, message }) {
    // Handle error if API call failed
    console.error(`Error fetching user: ${statusCode} - ${message}`)
}

Errors

If an API error occurs, the response object contains an error object, with the following shape:

{
    name: string        // Name of the method called
    message: string     // Error message
    statusCode?: string // HTTP Status Code
    errors?: APIError[] // More detailed message if available
}

Not all API calls return a list of specific errors, but if they do, they will be in the form of:

{
    message: string    // Specific error message eg. 'Item not found.'
    errorCode?: number // A error code, if available. Eg. '1012'
    field?: string     // The field that caused the error, if available. Eg. `itemid`
    object?: string    // The resource, if available. Eg. `item`
    value?: string     // The value of the field, if available. Eg. `123432`
}

Examples:

clientData = {}
try {
    const client = await fbClient.clients.single(accountId, 00000)
    console.log('Not called')
} catch (err) {
    console.log(err.name)
    console.log(err.message)
    console.log(err.statusCode)
    console.log(err.errors)
}
/*
Output:
Get Client
Client not found.
404
[
  {
    message: 'Client not found.',
    errorCode: 1012,
    field: 'userid',
    object: 'client',
    value: '00000'
  }
]
*/

clientData = {}
try {
    const client = await fbClient.clients.create(clientData, accountId)
    console.log('Not called')
} catch (err) {
    console.log(err.name)
    console.log(err.message)
    console.log(err.statusCode)
    console.log(err.errors)
}
/*
Output:
Create Client
At least one field among fname, lname, email and organization is required.
422
[
  {
    message: 'At least one field among fname, lname, email and organization is required.',
    errorCode: 7012,
    field: null,
    object: 'client',
    value: ''
  }
]
*/

Pagination, Filters, and Includes

If an endpoint supports searching or custom inclusions via query parameters, these parameters can be specified using a QueryBuilderType. See FreshBooks API - Parameters documentation.

type QueryBuilderType = PaginationQueryBuilder | IncludesQueryBuilder | SearchQueryBuilder

An appropriate method on the API client will support an array of builders:

public readonly invoices = {
    list: (accountId: string, queryBuilders?: QueryBuilderType[]) => Promise<Result<{
        invoices: Invoice[];
        pages: Pagination;
    }>>;
}

Pagination

Pagination results are included in list responses. The data object will contain a pages property, with the following:

{
    page: number  // The current page of results
    pages: number // The number of pages of results
    total: number // The total number of results
    size: number  // The number of results per page
}

To make a paginated call, first create a PaginationQueryBuilder object set using the page and perPage functions and pass it in the list call.

import { PaginationQueryBuilder } from '@freshbooks/api/dist/models/builders/PaginationQueryBuilder'

const paginator = new PaginationQueryBuilder()
paginator.page(1).perPage(10)
let page = 1
let totalPages = 1

while (page <= totalPages) {
    let response = await fbClient.clients.list(accountId, [paginator])
    let { clients, pages } = response.data
    console.log(clients)
    console.log(`Page ${pages.page} of ${pages.pages} pages`)
    console.log(`Showing ${pages.size} per page for ${pages.total} total clients`)

    page++
    totalPages = pages.pages
    paginator.page(page)

    console.log('Clients:')
    clients.map((client) => console.log(client.organization))
}

Search Filters

To filter which results are return by list method calls, construct a SearchQueryBuilder and pass and pass it in the list call.

The SearchQueryBuilder supports the patterns: equals, in, like, between, and boolean.

s = SearchQueryBuilder()
s.in("email", "[email protected]")
console.log(s.build()) // "&search[email][email protected]"

s = SearchQueryBuilder()
s.in("clientids", [123, 456])
console.log(s.build()) // "&search[clientids][]=123&search[clientids][]=456"

s = SearchQueryBuilder()
s.like("email_like", "@freshbooks.com")
console.log(s.build()) // "&search[email_like][email protected]"

s = SearchQueryBuilder()
s.between("amount", 1, 10)
console.log(s.build()) // "&search[amount_min]=1&search[amount_max]=10)"

s = SearchQueryBuilder()
s.between("start_date", date.today())
console.log(s.build()) // "&search[start_date]=2020-11-21"

s = SearchQueryBuilder()
// Boolean filters are mostly used on Project-like resources
s.boolean('complete', false) // "&complete=false"

Example API client call with SearchQueryBuilder:

import { SearchQueryBuilder } from '@freshbooks/api/dist/models/builders/SearchQueryBuilder'

//create and populate SearchQueryBuilder
const searchQueryBuilder = new SearchQueryBuilder()
    .like('address_like', '200 King Street')
    .between('date', { min: new Date('2010-05-06'), max: new Date('2019-11-10') })

try {
    // Get invoices matching search query
    const { data } = await client.invoices.list(accountId, [searchQueryBuilder])

    console.log('Invoices: ', data)
} catch ({ statusCode, message }) {
    // Handle error if API call failed
    console.error(`Error fetching user: ${statusCode} - ${message}`)
}

Includes

To include additional relationships, sub-resources, or data in a response an IncludesQueryBuilder can be constructed which can then be passed into list, single, create, and update calls.

Example API client call with IncludesQueryBuilder:

import { IncludesQueryBuilder } from '@freshbooks/api/dist/models/builders/IncludesQueryBuilder'

//create and populate IncludesQueryBuilder
const includesQueryBuilder = new IncludesQueryBuilder().includes('lines')
console.log(includesQueryBuilder.build()) // "&include[]=lines"

try {
    // Get invoices with included line items
    const { data } = await client.invoices.list(accountId, [includesQueryBuilder])

    console.log('Invoices: ', data)
} catch ({ statusCode, message }) {
    // Handle error if API call failed
    console.error(`Error fetching user: ${statusCode} - ${message}`)
}

Data Field Notes

Dates and Times

For historical reasons, many resources in the FreshBooks API (mostly accounting-releated) return date/times in "US/Eastern" timezone. Some effort is taken to convert these in the models to return Date objects normalized to UTC.

Monetary Values

The FreshBooks API returns most monetary values as a money object containing the amount and a currency code:

export default interface Money {
    amount?: string
    code?: string
}

The amount is returned and stored as a string to prevent floating point precision issues. If you are doing calculations on these values, it is recommended to use a library for decimal arithmetic such as decimal.js, big.js, or bignumber.js