Node.js

Node.js connects to Syntra through the bundled Syntra ODBC driver using the odbc package — the standard async ODBC client for Node. No extra configuration beyond installing the package: the Syntra installer already registers the driver and a default DSN system-wide.

Prerequisites

• Syntra ODBC installed and running on localhost:5433 (the default).
• Node.js 16 or later.
• A C/C++ toolchain if npm install needs to compile the native binding. On Windows the windows-build-tools package (or Visual Studio Build Tools) is enough.

Install

npm install odbc

Basic connection

The default System DSN the installer creates is named Syntra QuickBooks:

const odbc = require('odbc');

async function main() {
  const conn = await odbc.connect('DSN=Syntra QuickBooks');

  const rows = await conn.query(`
    SELECT full_name, balance, phone, email
    FROM customers
    WHERE balance > 0
    ORDER BY balance DESC
  `);

  console.table(rows);
  await conn.close();
}

main().catch(console.error);

If you prefer driver-direct (no DSN), specify every parameter inline:

const conn = await odbc.connect(
  "Driver={Syntra ODBC - QuickBooks ODBC};" +
  "Server=127.0.0.1;Port=5433;Database=qbconnect;" +
  "Uid=qbconnect;Pwd=changeme;"
);

Uid and Pwd come from the [auth] section of config.toml. Installer defaults are qbconnect / changeme — change them in production.

Connection pooling

For any app that serves more than one request at a time, use a pool. The odbc package has a built-in pool:

const odbc = require('odbc');

const pool = await odbc.pool({
  connectionString: 'DSN=Syntra QuickBooks',
  initialSize: 2,
  maxSize: 10,
  incrementSize: 1,
});

async function getOpenInvoices() {
  const rows = await pool.query(`
    SELECT ref_number, customer_ref_full_name, txn_date, balance_remaining
    FROM invoices
    WHERE is_paid = false
    ORDER BY txn_date DESC
    LIMIT 100
  `);
  return rows;
}

Parameterized queries

Always parameterise. The odbc package uses ? placeholders:

const rows = await pool.query(
  'SELECT list_id, full_name FROM customers WHERE balance > ? AND is_active = true',
  [1000]
);

Forcing a live query (bypass cache)

The local cache answers most SELECTs. To pull a fresh read straight from QuickBooks, set QB_MAX_STALENESS on the session before running the query:

await conn.query('SET QB_MAX_STALENESS = 0');
const rows = await conn.query('SELECT * FROM customers WHERE list_id = ?', ['80000001-1234567890']);

The setting applies for the lifetime of that connection (or pool member).

Writing data

Write operations are included on Standard and Pro. INSERT / UPDATE / DELETE go straight to QuickBooks:

await conn.query(
  `INSERT INTO customers (name, phone, email) VALUES (?, ?, ?)`,
  ['Acme Corp', '555-0100', '[email protected]']
);

Multi-line transactions (one invoice with N lines) use the grouped multi-row VALUES pattern. See INSERT / UPDATE / DELETE for full coverage including shared-line parents (bills with item vs expense lines), journal entries, and LinkToTxn for bill-from-sales-order flows.

Using with Express

const express = require('express');
const odbc = require('odbc');

const app = express();
let pool;

(async () => {
  pool = await odbc.pool({
    connectionString: 'DSN=Syntra QuickBooks',
    maxSize: 10,
  });
})();

app.get('/api/customers', async (req, res) => {
  try {
    const rows = await pool.query(
      'SELECT full_name, balance, phone, email FROM customers ORDER BY full_name'
    );
    res.json(rows);
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err);
    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Database query failed' });
  }
});

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Server running on port 3000'));

Tips

• Always pool. Opening a fresh ODBC connection per request adds hundreds of milliseconds.
• Streaming large results. conn.query buffers the whole result set. For million-row scans use conn.createStatement() + statement.execute and process rows incrementally.
• TypeScript. The odbc package ships its own types; import odbc from 'odbc' gets you odbc.Pool, odbc.Connection, etc.
• Timeouts. Append ;Timeout=10 to fail fast on connection. Per-query timeouts aren’t on the connection string — use the statement-level StatementAttributes API.
• Custom fields surface as custom_* columns. See Custom Fields.