FreshBooks Cloud Accounting Events

Cloud Elements supports events via polling or webhooks depending on the API provider. For more information about our Events framework, see Events Overview.

Supported Events and Resources

Cloud Elements supports webhook events for FreshBooks Cloud Accounting. After receiving an event, Cloud Elements standardizes the payload and sends an event to the configured callback URL of your authenticated element instance. For more information about webhooks at FreshBooks including the currently available webhooks, see their webhooks documentation.

Configure Webhooks Through the UI

To configure webhooks through the UI, follow the same steps to authenticate an element instance, and then turn on events. For more information, see Authenticate an Element Instance with Events (UI) or the element-specific authentication topic.

Configure Webhooks Through API

Use the /instances endpoint to authenticate with Freshbooks and create an element instance with webhooks enabled.

Note: The endpoint returns an element instance token and id upon successful completion. Retain the token and id for all subsequent requests involving this element instance.

To authenticate an element instance with webhooks:

  1. Get an authorization grant code by completing the steps in Getting a redirect URL and Authenticating users and receiving the authorization grant code.
  2. Construct a JSON body as shown below (see Parameters):

    {
      "element": {
        "key": "freshbooksv2"
      },
      "providerData": {
        "code": "<AUTHORIZATION_GRANT_CODE>"
      },
      "configuration": {
        "oauth.callback.url": "<CALLBACK_URL>",
        "oauth.api.key": "<CONSUMER_KEY>",
        "oauth.api.secret": "<CONSUMER_SECRET>",
        "business.name" : "<Freshbooks Company Name",
        "event.notification.enabled": true,
        "event.vendor.type": "webhooks",
        "event.notification.callback.url": "<CALLBACK_URL>"
      },
      "tags": [
        "<Add_Your_Tag>"
      ],
      "name": "<INSTANCE_NAME>"
    }
    
    
  3. Call the following, including the JSON body you constructed in the previous step:

    POST /instances
    
    Note: Make sure that you include the User and Organization keys in the header. For more information, see Authorization Headers, Organization Secret, and User Secret.
  4. Locate the token and id in the response and save them for all future requests using the element instance.

Example cURL

curl -X POST \
  https://api.cloud-elements.com/elements/api-v2/instances \
  -H 'authorization: User <USER_SECRET>, Organization <ORGANIZATION_SECRET>' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "element": {
    "key": "freshbooksv2"
  },
  "providerData": {
    "code": "xoz8AFqScK2ngM04kSSM"
  },
  "configuration": {
    "oauth.callback.url": "https://mycoolapp.com",
    "oauth.api.key": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "oauth.api.secret": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "business.name" : "MyBiz",
    "event.notification.enabled": true,
    "event.vendor.type": "webhooks",
    "event.notification.callback.url": "https://mycoolapp.com/events"
  },
  "tags": [
    "Docs"
  ],
  "name": "API Instance"
}'

Parameters

API parameters not shown in the Cloud Elements are in code formatting.


ParameterDescriptionData Type
keyThe element key.
freshbooksv2
string
codeThe authorization grant code returned from the API provider in an OAuth 2.0 authentication workflow. Cloud Elements uses the code to retrieve the OAuth access and refresh tokens from the endpoint.string
Name
name
The name of the element instance created during authentication.Body
oauth.api.keyThe API key or client ID obtained from registering your app with the provider. This is the Client ID that you recorded in the API Provider Setup section.string
oauth.api.secretThe client secret obtained from registering your app with the API provider. This is the Client Secret that you recorded in the API Provider Setup section.string
oauth.callback.urlThe URL that the API provider returns a user to after they authorize access. This is the Redirect URI that you recorded in the API Provider Setup section.string
Default Freshbooks Business Name
business.name
The Freshbooks Company Namestring
Events Enabled
event.notification.enabled
Optional. Identifies that events are enabled for the element instance.
Default: false.
boolean
Event Notification Callback URL
event.notification.callback.url
The URL where you want Cloud Elements to send the events.string
tagsOptional. User-defined tags to further identify the instance.string