Reckon Accounts Hosted Postman Collection

Steps

Postman is a powerful HTTP client for testing RESTful APIs to learn, test and develop integration with a third party provider.

We've created a Postman collection that you can use to help you understand how Reckon Accounts Hosted API works.

Steps

Upload the sample company file to your Hosted Account
Download Postman
Import Reckon Accounts Hosted collection
Import environment
Configure the environment
How to run the collection

Upload the sample company file to your Hosted Account

The Postman collection has been prepared by linking it to a specific Sample Company file so that it gets easier for you to hit the ground and start learning the payload and responses. Once you're comfortable, you can link it to your own data file and change the listID and name of each item/customer/account etc. from the calls accordingly.

The listID and FullName of ones used in the collection are from the below Sample Company file.

Click here to download the sample data file
Upload this file to your Hosted account
Restore this portable backup file to your Q drive and note down the location
Sample file's login details:
Username: Admin
Password: admin (these details can be changed by you)

The environment's default location is: Q:\\Cougar Enterprises.QBW and if you use a different name, change it in the environment settings accordingly

Download Postman

You can download Postman from here.

Reckon Accounts Hosted Collection

Reckon Accounts Hosted collection is available at Reckon's public workspace.

You will have the below options when you want to view the collection. This collection is read-only and if you want to make changes, you will need to either fork the collection into your workspace and then stay up to date with the source collection, or you can import a copy of the collection and then make further changes.

Reckon Accounts Hosted Environment

The collection uses variables to make it easier for you to make the API calls. The variables are saved in an environment. We've created an environment which you can utilise to fill the API calls to automate the process as much as possible.

The environment is available at the workspace.

Configure the Environment

You will need to configure the environment to add your company file and other details so that the variables have the correct information. These variables are used in the calls (they'll show in calls as {{url}} for example) to make it easy for you to use them. You can change the values any time.

From the Environment drop-down menu at the top, change to the environment that you want to use and click on the cog wheel button
Click on your modified environment and you'll see the below screen
This is where you'll enter the value for the variables and only fill the required field

Name	Value	How to get the data
subscription_key	Your subscription key	Access your profile section in the Reckon Developer Portal. Learn more.
client_id	Your clientID	After you sign up, you will receive an email from the API team that will include your clientId. If you can't locate it, let the Support team know by filling out a support ticket and selecting 'Reckon API' (do not directly email us).
client_secret	Your clientSecret	After you sign up, you will receive an email from the API team that will include your clientId. If you can't locate it, let the Support team know by filling out a support ticket and selecting 'Reckon API' (do not directly email us).
redirect_url	RedirectURL where we send the authorisation code/access tokens back	You've supplied us with this information in your application form. If you need to change or want to know what the redirect_url you had originally provided to us, fill out a support ticket and select 'Reckon API' (do not directly email us).
country_version	Active API Hosted version	Not required anymore. Learn more from here.
hosted_userID	RA Hosted account's userID	Your RA Hosted user account's UserID, DON'T use your RA Hosted Username as that's not supported yet.
hosted_password	RA Hosted account's password	Your RA Hosted user account's password.
file_name	Company file name	For the sample company file example, we saved it under Q drive and that's why it's been preset to `Q:\\Cougar Enterprises.QBW`
file_username	Username of the company data file	Username of the company data file, NOT the Hosted username. For the sample file, it's "Admin"
file_password	Password of the company data file	Password of the company data file, NOT the Hosted password. For the sample file. it's "admin"
token	Leave it blank	Once you've run the "/token" call, it will save the received "token" data in this variable, which will be used in next calls
url	Leave as is
heartbeat	Leave as is
token	Leave it blank	Once you run "Token Request" call, it'll fill this variable data
retrieve_guid	RetrieveID when a request takes more than 2.5 minutes	If a request takes more than 2.5 minutes, you'll receive a `RequestID` in the response which needs to be queried next time when you send the call (via Retrieve GUID GET call). Don't send the payload again as most likely that'll take longer than 2.5 minutes as well.
passed	Leave as is
failed	Leave as is
id_secret_encoded	Leave as if	This will get filled programmatically when you enter your clientID and clientSecret and you make the call as it has to be encoded when sent as header for authorisation (oAuth 2.0). Click here to learn more about authorisation services
refresh_token	Copy the data from Authorisation call for the first time, then it will be updated automatically once you run "Refresh Token" call	Read the instructions from below

How to run the collection

Before you can use any request that interacts with your company data file, you will need to follow the authorisation flow to get your access_token and refresh_token.

This collection uses the default Authorization Code flow.

You will need to click "Authorise (get code and refresh token first)" request first > go to Auth tab > choose "OAuth 2.0" as the Type and click on "Get New Access Token" button.
This is where you will enter your details (clientID, ClientSecret etc.) to get "code", which will be used for "Refresh Token" call. If you've entered your ClientID, ClientSecret and RedirectURL in the environment settings, you can use them over here by entering them as {{client_id}} etc.
After you've clicked on "Request Token" and you will be asked to login to Reckon Identity Server and confirm the access grant
Once the access is granted, you'll see the refresh_token in the next screen. Copy this refresh_token value
You will then need to run Refresh Token call and go to Auth tab and choose "Inherit auth from parent". will get your new access_token and refresh_token as they get expired after a certain period. Click here to view the token expiry time.
Next to the Environment dropdown at the top right end of the screen, click on the eye icon to view the contents of the environment > next to refresh_token, hover over the row to see the edit icon > click on it and paste the refresh_token value that you copied in step 4 in the "CURRENT VALUE" field and press Enter key on your keyboard to save the data
After you run Refresh Token call, the new access_token and refresh_token will be saved in the variables automatically to help you send other calls.
Before you click on any request, it's highly recommended that you run "Refresh Token" call to get the latest tokens, otherwise you might get authorisation errors as your previous tokens might have expired
The only time you will need to run "Authorise (get code and refresh token)" call again is if you want to login as a different user or your refresh token token is used and you need a new one. After getting your new code via the oAuth2 flow, run "Refresh Token" call again to get the other required tokens.

If you have any issues with the Postman collection or want to know more, please let us know by filling out a support ticket and selecting 'Reckon API' (do not directly email us).

Table of Contents