Xero Oauth2.0

[MartinHutchcpa]

Xero released their Oauth2.0 authenticated access to their API recently.

I am trying to write some flows to use this.

If I use Postman to generate the access code and then use it in flow, all works fine.

However the code needs to be refreshed every 30 minutes.

Running the token refresh call in Postman works fine, however it fails in Flow. "error": "unsupported_grant_type"

Post to https://identity.xero.com/connect/token

Header

"Authorization": "Basic Rjd..." - valid (checked) token 

"Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"

The body of the http call is :-

{
"grant_type":"refresh_token",
"refresh_token":"0134e4a53c...",
"client_id":"F7B7...",
"client_secret":"GEfl..."
}

Can anyone shed any light on this please?

[Nebulas]

As it turns out yes. Yes I do have a typo! 🙂

Obviously because we this duplicated in the body (with correct spelling) this was not causing any issues but I have fixed it now in the header also.

Good to know there is at least more than one of us!! Should definitely share some learnings. I have created a maintenance records PowerApp that then creates invoices with multiple line item in Xero.  It is going to save a lot of data entry time.

[Nebulas]

Absolutely. You have all of the encryption benefits and it is very easy to configure. Reach out if you have any issues but I don't expect that you will. 

[LukePWilkins]

@Nebulas, this should probably go in a new thread, but i'll ask anyway!

I have my data in the dataverse in a newly created table. I can perform a Get Row, and filter down to the actual row and information I need. The output of Get Row is in JSON and I could parse the output. 

If I wanted to retrieve just one of the columns value, for that row, what are the next steps?

Is it

PARSE JSON output of get row

initialize variable for the particular column and value

use the variable as needed?

some guidence would be tops. 

I see to run into PA wanting to wrap everything in a for each loop

cheers 

[Nebulas]

@LukePWilkins 

If you are using the 'Get Row by ID' dataverse connector then you shouldn't need to parse the JSON at all. You can simply then add an action after you 'Get Row by ID' for your 'HTTP' call and form the response from the dynamic content of the record retrieved in the output from 'Get Row by ID'.  See my example from earlier post above.

If you wanted to stick with parsing first you could add a 'Select' action from Data Operation and then add the fields to the map. The first column is just a name you give it, then the second column add the value of the field from the output of your parse. But this is somewhat redundant due to my point above.

Here is a screenshot of my flow.  The do until is simply until 'Status code' from the HTTP output is equal to 200.  Note also that the two initialise variables are redundant also and were there for debugging to I could see the values being initialised.

Let me know if this helps.

[LukePWilkins]

I too have shifted my token and client details into a dataverse table. 
Loads cleaner and probably more efficient that a text file! 

cheers

[SalmaNaqvi]

Hi Martin, I am going through this post and it seems like you have accessed Xero API using MS Flow, from your comment I have understood that the initial authentication for Xero, which requires us to enter the email password for Xero cannot be done through the flow and I need to use Postman only to get that done?

[MartinHutchcpa]

Yes, authenticate in Postman. Save the values to data store (I used sharepoint) then use these to refresh the token every 15 mins I think.

[SalmaNaqvi]

Great thanks a lot for getting back!

[yabela]

Thank you for sharing @LukePWilkins & @Nebulas ! 

[Geddon2]

Thank you so much for this - that has saved me a LOT of time!

[HMD85]

Hi @LukePWilkins , thanks for sharing your approach here. Per Xero API documentation, a refresh_token expires after 60 days. How have you tackled this issue? Or every 60 days, are you configuring a new access_token via Postman and use the associated refresh_token for another 60-day period?!

I have used your approach and it is working fine now, but my concern is what would happen after 60 days. Xero Documentation says "These are valid for up to 60 days": https://developer.xero.com/documentation/guides/oauth2/token-types/#refresh-token
I would appreciate if you share your thoughts or if you may have found a solution to tackle this via Power Automate.

[MartinHutchcpa]

Hi @HMD85

I use a Power Automate to refresh the access token. A refresh token is also provided in the same response. Both are stored, in my case, in a Dynamics table. 

I use the refresh token to refresh both the access token and the refresh token every 15 minutes using a scheduled Power Automate flow. 

I use the Access token in my other flows that consume Xero data.

[HMD85]

Hi @MartinHutchcpa , thank you for your reply.
I have the same flow which generates new access token and refresh token. I store these in a Sharepoint list and use them in the next HTTP call via the flow where both tokens refresh and are restored in that list.
However, my concern is that refresh tokens are ONLY valid for 60 days per Xero documentation! So what will happen after 60 days?

Does it mean an existing refresh token is valid for 60 days to be used for the first time? so every time you generate a new refresh token it stays valid for 60 days to be used?

[MartinHutchcpa]

Yes that latest refresh token that is in the payload is saved and then used next time the refresh occurs.

I have not had any problems with this.

[HMD85]

Thank you @MartinHutchcpa for the confirmation.

[LukePWilkins]

@HMD85, I retrieve the refresh token and store it in a data verse table. I have a second flow, aside from my main one, that refreshes the auth token a minute before my primary flow reoccurrence. 

The token is updated and the row in the data verse is updated. In my master flow, I then retrieve that updated row again and use the token.

[Nebulas]

@LukePWilkins @MartinHutchcpa @HMD85 

Just FYI, I have setup now using Microsoft Azure Key Vault to store these token sets. Same principle as with the above approach but instead of storing in a database/sharepoint it is stored and updated in a Key Vault. I have done this is Microsoft Azure Logic Apps instead of Power Automate, but you could easily achieve the same in Power Apps.

[psychonaut]

Hi everyone, I hope you are well. 

I really need a simple walkthrough for connecting dataverse or power apps to xero. I have found many disconnected (no pun intended) instructions here there and everywhere, but no complete - "here's how you do it" guide

what i want to achieve is to dataverse  to connect to xero, create an invoice, and send the url of the invoice back to dataverse (this is to get round the utterly appalling recurring invoice functionality in xero as it doesnt automatically update the prices in recurring bills when a product price changes, so you have to do it manually for every single recurring invoice).

thats all i really need the link to do - i am then going to have a system where a simple crm in dataverse has my clients and their subscriptions, and when they are due for renewal, have dataverse create an invoice in xero, have xero send the url back to dataverse, then dataverse sends the url of the invoice out in an email to the client via 365. this way i can control how often i send reminders for the invoice, what is included in the invoice and also control the text of the email which states due date, payment date, license expiry date etc which is a right pain / impossible in xero.  I also have a record of the outbound email in 365, as opposed to its just been sent by xero which I have zero (!) visibility of. 

I would also like to know licensing costs at each stage - for instance, postman, looks to be a paid for subscription.   there is only me and possibly my bookeeper might need to see the crm . the system will be creating maybe 30 invoices a month. 

i'd much rather pay a modest fee per month for this, but there does not seem to be any reasonably priced options anywhere. 

all help gladly received. 

[volly]

You might be better off contacting a xero partner. Xero Cloud Integrators | Xero AU There are a lot out there, some on this page. They offer custom solutions for small business that will integrate into the api. Bluerock Digital have purchased the WorkflowMAX arm of xero and are rewriting the code. They have been very proactive in showcasing some of these partners in their latest webinars of the new product development.  The Bluerock website isn't great at pointing to them unfortunately, but you may be able to contact Bluerock for a recommendation. WorkflowMax by BlueRock (workflowmax2.com)