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I hope I stay in line here, I don't want to waste your time. I developed a simple app that extracts customer invoice data from a database and writes xml requests to load the invoice data into QuickBooks. It works well. I've run into and fixed a dozen or so quirks and glitches along the way; it's in production about a year.
While loading today's invoices into QuickBooks, one failed.
There were no objectionable characters or oddities in the data of the failed invoice; I compared it to other invoices and found very similar data that was successful; I verified the ListID values for each entity; I am stumped. If anybody can help with this, I will appreciated it greatly. Here's the xml that failed today (the only change is that I blocked a couple of names): FAILED InvoiceAddRq:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?qbxml version="8.0"?>
<QBXML>
<QBXMLMsgsRq onError="stopOnError">
<InvoiceAddRq  requestID="16012816370245509">
<InvoiceAdd>
<CustomerRef><ListID>3E00001-1139583887</ListID></CustomerRef>
<ARAccountRef><ListID>380000-1137509930</ListID></ARAccountRef>
<TemplateRef><ListID>B0000-1142608867</ListID></TemplateRef>
<TxnDate>2016-01-28</TxnDate>
<RefNumber>60125008</RefNumber>
<PONumber>AI600292569</PONumber>
<TermsRef><ListID>20000-1137508984</ListID></TermsRef>
<ShipDate>2016-01-25</ShipDate>
<Other>XYXYX PLASTICS</Other>
<InvoiceLineAdd>
<ItemRef><ListID>20000-1139578831</ListID></ItemRef>
<Desc>RECOVERING 1/25DEL. 1/26 @ 11:57 AM EST – POD XYXYX</Desc>
<Quantity>1</Quantity>
<Rate>480.79</Rate>
<Other1>6</Other1>
<Other2>3466</Other2>
</InvoiceLineAdd>
</InvoiceAdd>
<IncludeRetElement>TxnID</IncludeRetElement><IncludeRetElement>TimeCreated</IncludeRetElement><IncludeRetElement>RefNumber</IncludeRetElement>
</InvoiceAddRq>
</QBXMLMsgsRq>
</QBXML>

I don't see anything wrong here. I compared this with the xml for many successful InvoiceAdd requests that occurred before and after this one. Then I tried it again for the insanity check (same result).
Below I'll post a similar invoice as a successful example. SUCCESSFUL InvoiceAddRq:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?qbxml version="8.0"?>
<QBXML>
<QBXMLMsgsRq onError="stopOnError">
<InvoiceAddRq  requestID="160128164851801">
<InvoiceAdd>
<CustomerRef><ListID>80000915-1294766937</ListID></CustomerRef>
<ARAccountRef><ListID>380000-1137509930</ListID></ARAccountRef>
<TemplateRef><ListID>B0000-1142608867</ListID></TemplateRef>
<TxnDate>2016-01-28</TxnDate>
<RefNumber>60125011</RefNumber>
<PONumber>2200166200</PONumber>
<TermsRef><ListID>20000-1137508984</ListID></TermsRef>
<ShipDate>2016-01-26</ShipDate>
<Other>X&amp;Y MEHOOPANY </Other>
<InvoiceLineAdd>
<ItemRef><ListID>20000-1139578831</ListID></ItemRef>
<Desc>UNABLE TO DELIVER DUE TO THE WEATHER 1-22DEL. 1-25, POD. AXYXYX BXYXYXY @14:30</Desc>
<Quantity>1</Quantity>
<Rate>148.60</Rate>
<Other1>1</Other1>
<Other2>3</Other2>
</InvoiceLineAdd>
</InvoiceAdd>
<IncludeRetElement>TxnID</IncludeRetElement><IncludeRetElement>TimeCreated</IncludeRetElement><IncludeRetElement>RefNumber</IncludeRetElement>
</InvoiceAddRq>
</QBXMLMsgsRq>
</QBXML>

Thanks in advance. edit: I forgot to mention that the error was very generic "QuickBooks found an error when parsing the provided XML text stream." Source:QBXMLRP2.RequestProcessor.2

Bill1260231
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  • Try using the validator program included with the SDK to determine what is wrong. I ran it through and it isn't showing any errors. Try enabling verbose logging and see if the logs might give you an indication of why it is failing. https://intuitpartnerplatform.lc.intuit.com/questions/177198-troubleshooting-sdk-issues – William Lorfing Jan 29 '16 at 17:52
  • Thanks, William. I'll try the verbose logging. I haven't set that before so I'll look into how and touch back if I find anything. – Bill1260231 Jan 29 '16 at 23:52
  • @WilliamLorfing, I followed your link (very helpful specifically and generally, thanks) looking into verbose logging for qbxml. Before turning on the verbose logging, I found this message in the log: "XercesSAXErrorHandler An exception occurred! Type:UTFDataFormatException, Message:invalid byte 1 (–) of a 1-byte sequence. Problem with one or more characters using current XML encoding, possibly due to use of standard encoding. Try using ISO-8859-1 or some other encoding scheme." – Bill1260231 Jan 30 '16 at 00:27

1 Answers1

1

Ok, I found the cause. The logged message cited an invalid byte "(–)". The dash character was bouncing my Invoice. I had previously looked into invoices using a dash and found many were successful loaded using the same method. What I had failed to notice was that the dash characters were different in all of the successful invoices I found except 1. The failed xml includes &#150; or, if you prefer, &ndash; or "En dash" instead of the normal ascii dash "-" (&#45;). The SDK validator doesn't flag it as a problem. Also, 1 invoice that included an "En dash" had previously loaded successful; I can't explain that. I use character substitution tables to deal with the requirements (or idiosyncrasies) of Xml, QbXml, and the database (Oracle). Instead of changing my encoding, I'll substitute &#45; for all occurrences of &#150; (and &#151;, "Em dash", for that matter). This worked for the previously failing invoice. Thanks again to WilliamLorfing for the help.

Bill1260231
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