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In creator I have one app [Employee Directory] with a form [Employees].  One of the fields is a name field called [Name]. 

Here is a sample that works, if executed from the Employees app:   
  1.     test_Employee = Employees[Name.first_name == "Alex"];
  2.     info test_Employee.Name;
If I go to another app, say our task management app where that employee record is referenced using a lookup field in the form [Task] using the field [Employee_Assigned].  This throws a fatal execution error with no explanation:
  1. test_Task = Task[Number == "00012"];
  2. info test_Task.Employee_Assigned.Name;
Also if I try to get Name.first_name or Name.last_name, it returns [null] (which is not correct, the Name field has a value).

What is really interesting, it allows me to fetch other fields from [Employee_Assigned] as long as they are not name fields!  Has anyone else had this issue fetching a Name?

  1. test_Task = Task[Number == "00012"];
  2. // below returns null
  3. info test_Task.Employee_Assigned.Name.first_name;
  4. // below returns null
  5. info test_Task.Employee_Assigned.Name.last_name;
  6. // below causes execution error
  7. info test_Task.Employee_Assigned.Name;
  8. // below works fine
  9. info test_Task.Employee_Assigned.Email1;
  10. // below works fine
  11. info test_Task.Employee_Assigned.Personal_Cell;

3 users have this problem.
12 Replies
Reply
  • Zoho MVP
  • 29 days ago

I would assume the issue is due to the field type and you would have the same problem referencing an Address type field also.

In the Employees form in the other application you can add a formula field that points to the Name field, then try reference that formula field in the second app.

The other option is to create a function in the first application where you can pass the ID of the employee record to it and it would return the name, this could then be called from the second application.


Yes ...
I wrote a function that does this. The function has quite happily been returning the users name for the last ~three years. Yesterday, it stopped working and returned an execution error.
I spent several hours trying to work out what was happening and what, if anything, we might have done.
With your post, I am beginning to think it is a change from Zoho.

  • Zoho MVP
  • 29 days ago

Could it be because it's a composite type field, have you tried converting it to a string in the function?

Hi Damien.
Yes, I previously used toString for the full Name.
The thing is, it has been working fine for three years, and now gives an execution error.
I did some work arounds, similar to what you have described, so everything is now working again, but it is annoying.
Also, as Lee says, using first_name, last_name and so on now return null.

(Damien - as always, thanks for your valuable input and support. You should get paid for this!)

  • 28 days ago

Damien, thanks for the response on workarounds.  Yes I can confirm these workarounds work, I tested them yesterday before I posted here.  I really don't like that option - Employee Name is quite literally the most commonly referenced field in Zoho creator for my company.  I am working with Zoho support to try to fix this, it is surely some trivial bug introduced in the implicit "toString()" feature of the composite Name field.

Workarounds like formula fields and custom functions that just return a field value are awful when it comes to turning my deluge into spaghetti code that is incomprehensible.  If it takes them more than a day to fix this I will have no choice but to do it, but I hate stuff like this.

We reported the issue to Zoho. Today (16/1/2025), Zoho replied with:
"Good Day! We would like to inform you that the issue with
retrieving the Name field has been fixed."
A quick test, and indeed it seems to be working now

  • 20 days ago

Tim, thanks for the update.  I didn't get an email from them, I had to implement a workaround which required me to update dozens of lines of code in 180 different workflows in Zoho, so I'm not trusting the Name field ever again!

And I am still picking up the pieces ...
So, three weeks ago, the scheduled reminder emails did not get sent because the script failed when getting the recipients name from a Name field (now fixed).
Checking the Logs, I can see the script failure.

Question: Any idea how to automatically inform people if there is an error from a Scheduled workflow?

  • 13 days ago

Yeah I agree, when a workflow fails for any reason there should be an alert sent to developers.  Zoho should have an option for this in the app settings, effectively a try-catch for the entire app.  Using try catch on every workflow and function of every app is stupid and violates the DRY principle of coding.  Unfortunately Zoho forces us to violate this principle a lot.

  • Zoho MVP
  • 13 days ago

As long as there was a real error, you could use the Try - Catch functionality

https://www.zoho.com/deluge/help/misc-statements/try-catch.html

And in the catch section send an email to the admin of the app.

Thanks Gordon,

Yes, I thought about that but would have to add try/catch all over the place in case "something" goes wrong.
In this case the workflow failed because Zoho introduced a bug getting a value from a Name field - quite basic.
I think I will follow Alex Rich's approach: "not trusting the Name field ever again!"

  • Zoho MVP
  • 13 days ago

@support: It's been asked for many times, an email notification for a failure within an application, excluding "Validations" and "Successfully Executed Schedules". Is it on your radar? Thanks.

Reply to Alex RichA
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