Overview
Resources are named ruby objects (e.g. Customer, Payment, etc.) with strict attributes (e.g. name, amount, etc.). LedgerSync provides resources specific to each ledger. While it is possible to create your own resources (see Customization for more details), this section refers to provided ledger-specific resources.
The library strives to make each resource and attribute name match the ledger API. This naming convention will help you more readily match ledger documentation to LedgerSync resources.
Every resource, regardless of ledger, implements a ledger_id and external_id attribute. The ledger_id is the ID given by the ledger, while the external_id is your internal ID for the resource.
How to use
Resources are primary used as the inputs and outputs of operations and searchers. A resource is passed to an operation along with a client. Once the operation is successfully performed, a duplicated and updated resource is returned.
Resources have two layers of validation:
- The Resource
- Operations
When instantiating a resource, validations are performed. These validations include class checks and, if necessary, value checks (e.g. enums). When performing an operation, validations are performed based on what attributes are required for the operation to be successful. For example, the ledger_id should be nil on create, but it should be present on update.
Available resources
You can see all resources available for a given ledger by calling resources on the ledger’s Client like so:
LedgerSync::Ledgers::QuickBooksOnline::Client.resources
This returns a hash of resource types to classes, where the resource types are unique (e.g. customer, vendor, etc.).
You can see all resources available in LedgerSync by calling LedgerSync.resources. This returns an array (note: not a hash as multiple ledgers have the same types) of resource classes that have been created inheriting the LedgerSync::Resource class.
Resource Attributes
Resources have defined attributes. Attributes are explicitly defined. An error is thrown if an unknown attribute is passed to it. You can retrieve the attributes of a resource by calling Customer.attributes.
A subset of these attributes may be a reference, which is simply a special type of attribute that references another resource. You can retrieve the references of a resource by calling Customer.references.