I am using the Server version. I would like to do the following:
Access one specific Business from my helpdesk system.
That user needs to be a restricted user as all we need it to do is read information from Manager. There will be no editing etc from the helpdesk system side.
The main information that we want at this point in time is to sync the Sales Quote, Sales Order and Sales Invoices for clients to view.
In addition, I would like them to be able to see how much they have spent on say wireless in the last 5 years. I am thinking of using the custom fields in inventory items to categorise inventory items that clients can filter based on.
Is using Get and the REST API the best way to do this as I have heard talk about accessing the mysql database directly etc. I am wanting security, reliability etc. Is Rest the way Manager plans to allow data sync with third party platforms.
Secondly, is the API likely to change in the future as I have heard people say that they updated Manager and their API no longer works.
Last but not least, does Manager have the ability to filter invoices, quotes by customer using the API as we don’t want the API to have to open every invoice, check which client it is for as this would require having to store information on our helpdesk sql server to remember which invoice is for which client. We would like Manager to handle this filter via api so that our end on the helpdesk is entirely a read only process - we don’t want to have to store any data from Manager. I can’t find any info on this point.
Due to the absence of documentation in this area, it is difficult to determine whether Rest and Get is our best option and whether it can do filtering of invoices by client etc. So any help would be appreciated.
The reason there is no documentation for API is because I’m not sure myself what would be the best approach. I’m experiementing myself with what I like the most.
One thing you can’t do is accessing SQLite database directly because Manager doesn’t store data in normalized scheme. SQLite database is used as a glorified file format, not as a relational database.
I think custom reports would be the best approach here. You would send JSON definition of custom report and get back custom report in JSON format. But this is not yet supported.
The problem with custom reports is that they need to be made manually. This is not going to work for us. The whole idea is to automate it.
I only mentioned Sql as I have seen more than one post regarding this. I understand that the API is still largely experimental which accounts for the lack of documentation. However, it seems to be a growing request judging by the number of posts on the issue.
I will have to look and see if we can’t get the API to filter invoices by client as this would bring down the complexity and cost of linking Manager up to the helpdesk system. Thanks
Yes I am conscious of the fact that the API is still somewhat experimental so I could be spending money on something that will no longer work in the end. But I doubt that Lubos will drop Rest, get etc as it is a very simple effective way to sync data between different platforms.
No my key problem is working out how to get Manager to filter the invoices per client via the API as this would save time and money. As Manager can already filter invoices by client simply by typing the client in the search, in theory, we should be able to do this via the API as well.
I assume lubos is suggesting eventually you will be able to send the content of a custom report edit screen in JSON format and the you would receive the content of the custom report view screen in JSON format.
Is it a quick job to create this custom report. I believe that many people would benefit from this particular custom report as virtually everyone using a CRM wants to sync Quotes, Sales Orders and Sales Invoices for clients to view. So it makes sense for this custom report to be developed.
I would like to implement this CRM integration in August if possible
Yes I would be very pleased if this custom report was done asap as I will be asking the developer to work on integrating Manager with my CRM system mid August.
Otherwise I will have to investigate whether I can manually create the json file, store it somewhere on my server and update it every time I create a sales invoice or quote. Not ideal, but doable with the volume of sales invoices I have. I am not prepared to pay for more development time on the CRM system if Manager is going to introduce this custom report anyway.
I also have the problem that I want status for quotes and sales orders. I may have to use the current custom fields that I have for this on the CRM and if status for quotes and orders if ever implemented in Manager, hopefully I only have to change a couple of words in the CRM program to filter for statuses.
But I can see that I really do need this custom report and status for quotes and orders implemented in Manager for it to be optimal in the CRM system. I will cross my fingers on this.
This may only be a result of the particular wording in two of your posts, but you have conveyed the impression you are waiting for some custom report to be completed by the developer and added to the program. That will never happen. Custom reports must be constructed by the user.
You may only be referring to features and data exposure allowing you to create the custom report you desire. If that is the case, no worries.
I have no familiarity with custom reports as I have never used them, but if I have understood Lubos correctly, what he is saying is that at this point in time, the API that manager uses does not support the ability to accept a request for a custom report and send it back to the third party website. So I need to wait for a Manager update for this to work.
Having looked at the custom reports as well, I don’t think that I can create the custom report anyway in Manager as I don’t have the required fields. But I have no familiarity with custom reports having never used them, so I may not be accurate on this.
So I guess I have two requests. Updating custom reports to enable me to create the actual report in Manager and secondly enabling Manager to understand api requests for custom reports.
