Rails - Aug 2006 - Can I integrate Ruby on Rails with Microsoft COM (Quickbooks specifically)

Please help if anybody knows the answer!
 
I''m just starting to learn Ruby on Rails.  I''m working my way
through
the Agile Web Development with Rails book.
 
I have been offered a project that I''d like to do with Rails for a
not-for-profit organization.  However, the person who I would be doing
it for would like the application to integrate with their Quickbooks
system on a Windows server.  What is the best way to do this
integration?  I have tried to research this, and I have found out that
there is a COM based API for Quickbooks.  Is there any kind of
integration between Ruby and Microsoft COM?  Am I better off placing the
COM code interacting with QuickBooks behind a web service which I can
call from my Ruby code?  Any other ideas about how to do this?  I''m not
sure if I can satisfy the requirements for this project, so any help
would be appreciated.  You can also email me directly at
BPoserow@divinvest.com.



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Might be a hack, but http://www.saltypickle.com/rubydotnet says it 
allows access to .NET

Can COM objects be directly accessed via .NET or do you need to manually 
develop .NET wrappers?

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly you need to develop the
wrappers unless the object already uses a .NET namespace. The closest
thing I have heard of that does what you ask is remoteObjX by
Synergration (http://www.synergration.com/remoteObjX/default.htm).
Don''t
think you can use it on Rails though.

-----Original Message-----
From: rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org
[mailto:rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org] On Behalf Of Dr Nic
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 9:19 AM
To: rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
Subject: [Rails] Re: Can I integrate Ruby on Rails with Microsoft COM
(Quickb

Might be a hack, but http://www.saltypickle.com/rubydotnet says it
allows access to .NET

Can COM objects be directly accessed via .NET or do you need to manually
develop .NET wrappers?

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
_______________________________________________
Rails mailing list
Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

Dr Nic wrote:
> Might be a hack, but http://www.saltypickle.com/rubydotnet says it 
> allows access to .NET
> 
> Can COM objects be directly accessed via .NET or do you need to manually 
> develop .NET wrappers?
.NET can wrap com objects.  You just need to include the com object with 
your project and it will automatically create an interop for it.  I 
suggest sticking to basic object types (string, int, etc..) and not 
trying to pass complex custom objects between them.

Regards,

Michael

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On Tuesday, August 08, 2006, at 9:33 AM, Jarod Reid
wrote:
>I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly you need to develop the
>wrappers unless the object already uses a .NET namespace. The closest
>thing I have heard of that does what you ask is remoteObjX by
>Synergration (http://www.synergration.com/remoteObjX/default.htm).
Don''t
>think you can use it on Rails though.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org
>[mailto:rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org] On Behalf Of Dr Nic
>Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 9:19 AM
>To: rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>Subject: [Rails] Re: Can I integrate Ruby on Rails with Microsoft COM
>(Quickb
>
>Might be a hack, but http://www.saltypickle.com/rubydotnet says it
>allows access to .NET
>
>Can COM objects be directly accessed via .NET or do you need to manually
>develop .NET wrappers?
>
>--
>Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>_______________________________________________
>Rails mailing list
>Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>_______________________________________________
>Rails mailing list
>Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
This might be helpful...

http://www.qodbc.com/qodbc.htm

I have not tried this product, but it seems like it could do the job.
_Kevin
www.sciwerks.com

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Jarod Reid wrote:
> I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly you need to develop the
> wrappers unless the object already uses a .NET namespace. The closest
> thing I have heard of that does what you ask is remoteObjX by
> Synergration (http://www.synergration.com/remoteObjX/default.htm).
Don''t
> think you can use it on Rails though.
My experience tells me differently.  If you browse to the com object 
from your .NET project (there is a tab for com objects) then it will 
build the interop automatically.  The only time you need to do anything 
special is if you want to sign it - then you have to build a key and 
this is for deployment purposes when you need the object in the GAC. 
However, unless you are accessing it from MTS/DCOM then you don''t need 
to put it in the GAC.

Regards,

Michael

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

This works for a COM object that is not using .NET? 



-----Original Message-----
From: rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org
[mailto:rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org] On Behalf Of Michael Modica
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 11:19 AM
To: rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
Subject: [Rails] RE: Re: Can I integrate Ruby on Rails with Microsoft
COM (Qu

Jarod Reid wrote:
> I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly you need to develop the 
> wrappers unless the object already uses a .NET namespace. The closest 
> thing I have heard of that does what you ask is remoteObjX by 
> Synergration (http://www.synergration.com/remoteObjX/default.htm). 
> Don''t think you can use it on Rails though.
My experience tells me differently.  If you browse to the com object
from your .NET project (there is a tab for com objects) then it will
build the interop automatically.  The only time you need to do anything
special is if you want to sign it - then you have to build a key and
this is for deployment purposes when you need the object in the GAC. 
However, unless you are accessing it from MTS/DCOM then you don''t need
to put it in the GAC.

Regards,

Michael

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
_______________________________________________
Rails mailing list
Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

Jarod Reid wrote:
> This works for a COM object that is not using .NET?
Jarod,

It works for COM objects.  .NET doesn''t use COM by default but has 
access to com objects.  There is extra marshalling that takes place so 
it is preferable to use pure .NET if possible but for most companies 
this isn''t an option.  IN fact, the interop allows you to slowly
migrate
from non-.net projects to .net projects little by little.  I''ve used 
this method with com objects created in VB and C++.  If the com object 
is written in C then the interface needs to be properly exposed (most 
commercial products it is) - so yes, this works from within a .NET 
project.  Again, the only time you have to do anything special is if you 
have a particular need to strongname the file.

If you have Visual Studio.NET then open it up, add a COM reference or 
browse to a dll or exe that you know is a com object and you will see it 
creates an interop for the com object under your bin directory of the 
project.

Regards,

Michael

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Without knowing much about Quickbooks specifically, wrapping the COM
API with Web Service/s makes a lot of sense to me.  If you pick up the
"Programming Ruby" book, you''ll see that you can integrate
Ruby with
COM, but it ties you to having to host your Ruby app on Windows -
wrapping the COM API with Web Service/s frees you from that
restriction.

I run RoR apps on both Linux and Windows hosts, and in general the
Linux hosts are less trouble and give me greater throughput.  I''d
ditch the Windows hosts entirely, except that those specific
environments are tied to Windows and I don''t have that option.

Regards

Dave M.

On 09/08/06, Poserow, Benjamin <bposerow@divinvest.com>
wrote:
>
>
> Please help if anybody knows the answer!
>
> I''m just starting to learn Ruby on Rails.  I''m working my
way through the
> Agile Web Development with Rails book.
>
> I have been offered a project that I''d like to do with Rails for a
> not-for-profit organization.  However, the person who I would be doing it
> for would like the application to integrate with their Quickbooks system on
> a Windows server.  What is the best way to do this integration?  I have
> tried to research this, and I have found out that there is a COM based API
> for Quickbooks.  Is there any kind of integration between Ruby and
Microsoft
> COM?  Am I better off placing the COM code interacting with QuickBooks
> behind a web service which I can call from my Ruby code?  Any other ideas
> about how to do this?  I''m not sure if I can satisfy the
requirements for
> this project, so any help would be appreciated.  You can also email me
> directly at BPoserow@divinvest.com.
>
>
> ________________________________
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
>  ----------------------
>  This transmission is intended for the sole use of the individual
>  and/or entity to whom it is addressed, and may contain information
>  and/or attachments that are privileged, confidential and exempt
>  from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this
>  transmission is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified
>  that any disclosure, dissemination, distribution, duplication or
>  the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this
>  transmission by someone other than the intended addressee or its
>  designated agent is strictly prohibited. If your receipt of this
>  transmission is in error, please notify the sender by replying
>  immediately to this transmission and destroying the transmission.
>  For your protection, do not include Social Security numbers,
>  passwords or other non-public and personal information in your
>  email. Thank you
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
>
>

Poserow, Benjamin wrote:
> Please help if anybody knows the answer!
> 
> I''m just starting to learn Ruby on Rails.  I''m working my
way through
> the Agile Web Development with Rails book.
> 
> I have been offered a project that I''d like to do with Rails for a
> not-for-profit organization.  However, the person who I would be doing
> it for would like the application to integrate with their Quickbooks
> system on a Windows server.  What is the best way to do this
> integration?  I have tried to research this, and I have found out that
> there is a COM based API for Quickbooks.  Is there any kind of
> integration between Ruby and Microsoft COM?  Am I better off placing the
> COM code interacting with QuickBooks behind a web service which I can
> call from my Ruby code?  Any other ideas about how to do this? 
I''m not
> sure if I can satisfy the requirements for this project, so any help

If you are deploying on a Windows machine (and can develop on a Windows 
machine), Ruby on Windows has a WIN32OLE library for working with COM 
objects. I''ve used it a little bit and it seems to work quite well 
(though it may be worth wrapping up the COM objects in some kind of 
adapter object).

If you are deploying to Linux then you definately want to look at 
running a separate service on a Windows machine that exposes the COM 
functionality to you. This could be a Web Service or it could be a set 
of Ruby wrappers around the COM objects exposed using DRb.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

For those who come across this forum topic later with the same 
question...

You can see examples of how to do Win32Ole / COM in the demo QuickBooks 
rubygem, available at http://rubygems.org/gems/quickbooks.

The full version is available for sale at http://behindlogic.com, but if 
all you want is the COM communication, you can get that out of the demo 
gem.

Also available at http://behindlogic.com is an HTTP Connector that makes 
it possible to use the gem (or other quickbooks-integration project in 
any language) from a different computer.
-- 
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