Kaizen #167 - Configuration and Initialization of Zoho CRM Python SDK (V7) for different client types

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!

Zoho CRM Python SDK allows developers to integrate Python applications with Zoho CRM. In today's Kaizen post, we will explore how to initialize and configure the SDK for both self-clients and server-based clients.

A self-client is an application type used when you want to access your own CRM account data or set up app-to-app communication in the backend without user interaction. Self clients operate solely in the backend, making them suitable for automating tasks or data synchronization. In this scenario, the developer is both the resource owner and the client. Self-clients are ideal for scenarios such as syncing data between Zoho CRM and a legacy product management system. 

A server-based client is designed for applications that will be used by multiple Zoho CRM organizations, typically solving specific use cases for various users. These applications require both a dedicated backend server and a web UI. Server-based clients handle the authorization process and application logic, redirecting users to Zoho for authorization via a web browser. Users grant permission for the app to access their CRM data, and the application consumes this data on behalf of authorized users. This type of client is suitable for developing apps that provide specialized functionality to multiple Zoho CRM accounts, such as lead management systems or custom reporting tools.

For more information on the different client types, refer to our Kaizen post on Client Types in Zoho Developer Console.

Prerequisites

Before we go into detail about the SDK initialization process, ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

• A Zoho CRM account and access to the Zoho API Console.
• An IDE (e.g., PyCharm) installed in your system. In this post, we will be using PyCharm for the illustration purposes.
• Python 3.x installed on your system or the client app.
  

Zoho CRM Python SDK Configuration

Configuration	Description
environment mandatory	Specify the Zoho CRM domain and environment to make API calls to. Options include USDataCenter, EUDataCenter, INDataCenter, CNDataCenter, AUDataCenter, with environments like PRODUCTION(), DEVELOPER(), SANDBOX().
token mandatory	Contains user authentication details. Used to create an OAuthToken instance with client credentials and tokens. Supports different authentication flows: Grant Token Flow: Uses a grant token to generate and persist access and refresh tokens. Refresh Token Flow: Uses a refresh token to generate and persist access tokens. Access Token Flow: Directly uses an access token for making API calls. ID Flow : Uses the ID from the persisted token file/DB to make API calls. This method is applicable only after the SDK has been initialized at least once using a grant token, access token, or refresh token. It is not valid for the initial setup but can simplify subsequent operations by bypassing the need for other token details.
store optional	Manages token persistence, which is the storage and retrieval of authentication tokens. Options include: DBStore: Stores tokens in a database (e.g., MySQL). FileStore: Stores tokens in a file. Custom Store: Allows the implementation of custom storage logic. If not specified, defaults to file storage in the current working directory.
logger optional	Configures SDK logging. Allows setting log level (e.g., INFO, DEBUG, ERROR) and file path for SDK operation logs. Helps in troubleshooting and monitoring operations.
sdk_config optional	Contains additional SDK-wide settings: auto_refresh_fields: Enables/disables automatic refreshing of module fields. If set to true, the SDK will refresh modules and fields metadata every hour. If set to false, the metadata should be manually refreshed. pick_list_validation: Enables/disables validation of picklist field values. If set to true, the SDK checks user inputs against the defined picklist values. Invalid inputs, i.e., values not present in the picklist, will cause the SDK to throw an error.  connect_timeout: Sets the maximum time to wait for connection establishment. read_timeout: Sets the maximum time to wait for data retrieval.
resource_path optional	Specify the directory path for storing module field information cache.

Initializing Python SDK for Self-Clients

To initialize the SDK for a self-client:

1. Register the Client: In the Zoho API Console, create a self-client by navigating to the Self-Client section. This client is used for applications accessing only your own CRM data.

2. Generate Grant Token: After registering the client, manually generate a grant token from the API Console. Specify the necessary scopes, such as ZohoCRM.modules.ALL, based on the data you need to access.

Note: The grant token is valid for a short duration, typically 3–10 minutes, and is used to generate access and refresh tokens, using which one can access the CRM data.

3. Install the Python SDK

Install the Zoho CRM Python SDK in your Python project. The latest SDK version supports V7 of Zoho CRM APIs. 

4. Exchange Grant Token for Access and Refresh Tokens

Use the SDK in your code to exchange the grant token for access and refresh tokens. The SDK provides built-in methods to handle this process, and it will automatically manage token generation and persistence after initialization.

5. Access CRM Data:

With the tokens in place, your backend application can access and interact with Zoho CRM data programmatically, enabling tasks like data synchronization.

Here is a sample code for initializing Python SDK for a self-client.

Initializing Python SDK for Server-Based Clients

Before initializing the SDK for a server-based client, you must register your application in the Zoho API Console.

After registering the client, you can proceed with initializing the SDK for the server-based client. When using a server-based client with the Zoho CRM Python SDK, you have two options for handling authentication:

• Generate the grant token manually and let the SDK manage the rest, including access token generation and refresh operations.
• Write custom code to handle the entire OAuth process, from grant token generation to subsequent API calls. This approach is commonly used in server-based applications where automation and granular control over the flow are essential.
  

In the sample code, we demonstrate a complete implementation of initialization for a server-based client. The code includes generating the grant token for the required scopes, initializing the SDK with the tokens, and fetching records from Zoho CRM.

Understanding the Sample Code

The code defines an HTTP server that automates the OAuth process and interacts with Zoho CRM APIs. Here's a breakdown of its key functionalities:

Grant Token Generation:

When the user accesses http://127.0.0.1:8081/login, the server redirects them to Zoho's authorization page with the necessary OAuth scopes that is defined in the code.

After successful authorization, Zoho redirects the user to the redirect URL configured for the client in the API console, with a grant token and other parameters. The code parses this redirected URL to extract the grant token and the associated location.

SDK Initialization:

Using the extracted grant token, the SDK generates access and refresh tokens. These tokens are securely stored in a data store (FileStore in this case) using a unique identifier that corresponds to the user-org combination.

If no existing entry for the user-org combo is found in the token store, a new record is created with the user's grant, access, refresh tokens, and other details. When the same user logs in again, the SDK checks the token store for an existing entry. If an entry exists, the grant, access, and refresh tokens are updated while retaining the ID and user details. This ensures that no duplicate entries are created in the token store. Please note that in the background, the SDK retrieves the organization and user information to uniquely map the tokens. Without these scopes, the SDK cannot determine which user-org combination a token belongs to. Consequently, multiple entries might be created for the same user

API Call to Fetch Leads:

If the initialization is successful, the user will be redirected to http://127.0.0.1:8081/records. At this endpoint, the server uses the get_records method to fetch Leads data from the account. The response is processed, and the lead details (ID, Last Name, Company) are displayed as an HTML table.

We hope you found this post helpful and informative. By now, you should have a clear understanding of how to initialize and configure the Zoho CRM Python SDK for both self-clients and server-based clients.

Stay tuned for more insights, tutorials, and practical examples in our upcoming Kaizen posts. Your feedback matters to us. Let us know your thoughts or questions in the comments below. Until next time, happy coding!

---

Previous Kaizen: Kaizen #166 - Handling Query Variables in Zoho CRM | Kaizen Collection: Directory

Further Reading:

• Zoho CRM Python SDK
  
• Client Types in Zoho API Console
  
• Deciding on the type of applications: Self-client or Server-based?

• Topic Participants

• Anu Abraham

  

• Sticky Posts

• Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

  🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

  Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post

  Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQs

• Kaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API

  🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!

  Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands

• Recent Topics

• Prevent duplicate with custom fields?

  I was wondering something about custom field/custom modules in Zoho Desk. For some reason you can make a custom field mandatory but not unique? For example, if I create a custom module to manage equipment and renewal and make a field serial number no

• How to Automate Monthly PDF Reports with Filters in Zoho Creator

  Hi everyone, I’m trying to build an automated monthly reporting process in Zoho Creator and would appreciate suggestions or best practices from anyone who has done something similar. What I’m trying to do: I have a form called New_Customer with fields

• Feedback: Streamlining Note Management in Zoho Notebook

  Dear Team/Support, I would like to share some feedback regarding the note management system that could help improve usability and accessibility for users like myself. Notebook 1 (screenshot attached): Currently, the system does not allow selecting and

• showing Limit exceeded

  Good afternoon...trust you're good. I've been having issues working with but it's not responding. it's showing Limit exceeded, sorry it seems like too many people are working on the sheet right now please try again later. meanwhile no one is working on

• Converting Sales Order to Invoice via API; Problem with decimal places tax

  We are having problems converting a Sales Order to an Invoice via API Call. The cause of the issue is, that the Tax value in a Sales Order is sometimes calculated with up to 16 decimal places (e.g. 0.8730000000000001). The max decimal places allowed in

• Sorting columns in Zoho Projects

  Hi, In project management best practice, sorting columns (ascending, descending) is an important tool. Sorting dates to see the order of tasks starting, sorting on priority or even on planned hours is a must for an efficient project control. Currently,

• CRM : Function to add user name to text field

  I have a lookup field in a module that is linked to the CRM users so we can assign a Project Lead to the customer. Sadly Zoho Marketing Automation doesn't sync Lookup fields so I need to extract information from the lookup to text fields: Lookup field

• Upload API

  I'm trying to use the Upload API to upload some images and attach them to comments (https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads#Uploads_Uploadfile) - however I can only ever get a 401 or bad request back. I'm using an OAuth token with the Desk.tickets.ALL

• Losing description after merging tickets

  Hello, We merge tickets when they are about the same topic from the same client. It happens sometimes. We recently noticed that after the merger only the description from the master ticket is left in a thread. And the slave-ticket description is erased.

• Option to Empty Entire Mailbox or Folder in Zoho Mail

  Hello Zoho Mail Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Mail that would allow administrators and users to quickly clear out entire folders or mailboxes, including shared mailboxes. Current Limitation: At present, Zoho Mail only

• update linked contacts when update happens in account

  Hi, I have a custom field called Licence in the Accounts module. When someone buys a licence, I’d like to update a custom field in the related Contacts. How can I achieve this? I noticed that workflows triggered on Accounts only allow me to update fields

• Problem Management Module

  I am looking for a Problem Management module within Zoho Desk. I saw in some training videos that this is available, and some even provided an annual price for it. I want an official confirmation on whether this is indeed available. This is not a particularly

• Deluge sendmail in Zoho Desk schedule can't send email from a verified email address

  I am trying to add a scheduled action with ZDesk using a Deluge function that sends a weekly email to specific ticket client contacts I've already verified the email address for use in ZDesk, but sendmail won't allow it in its "from:" clause. I've attached

• Unable to explore desk.zoho.com

  Greetings, I have an account with zoho which already has a survey subscription. I would like to explore desk.zoho.com, but when I visit it while logged in (https://desk.zoho.com/agent?action=CreatePortal) I just get a blank page. I have tried different

• Offline support for mobile app

  Accessing your files and folders from your mobile devices is now quicker and simpler, thanks to the power of offline support. Whether on an Android or iOS device, you can use the Offline function to save files and folders, so you can review them even

• Zoho Desk KB article embedded on another site.

  We embed KB articles from Zoho Desk on another site (our application). When opening the article in a new tab, there is no issue, but if we choose lightbox, we are getting an error "To protect your security, help.ourdomain.com will not allow Firefox to

• Transitioning to API Credits in Zoho Desk

  At Zoho Desk, we’re always looking for ways to help keep your business operations running smoothly. This includes empowering teams that rely on APIs for essential integrations, functions and extensions. We’ve reimagined how API usage is measured to give

• List of packaged components and if they are upgradable

  Hello, In reference to the article Components and Packaging in Zoho Vertical Studio, can you provide an overview of what these are. Can you also please provide a list of of components that are considered Packaged and also whether they are Upgradable?

• Does Attari Messaging app have Bot option and APIB

  Hi, Does Attari also have Bot and API as we use in WhatsApp??

• how to use validation rules in subform

  Is it possible to use validation rules for subforms? I tried the following code: entityMap = crmAPIRequest.toMap().get("record"); sum = 0; direct_billing = entityMap.get("direct_billing_details"); response = Map(); for each i in direct_billing { if(i.get("type")

• How to add application logo

  I'm creating an application which i do not want it to show my organization logo so i have changed the setting but i cannot find where to upload/select the logo i wish to use for my application. I have seen something online about using Deluge and writing

• Introducing Keyboard Shortcuts for Zoho CRM

  Dear Customers, We're happy to introduce keyboard shortcuts for Zoho CRM features! Until now, you might have been navigating to modules manually using the mouse, and at times, it could be tedious, especially when you had to search for specific modules

• Empowered Custom Views: Cross-Module Criteria Now Supported in Zoho CRM

  Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce cross-module criteria support in custom views! Custom views provide personalized perspectives on your data and that you can save for future use. You can share these views with all users or specific individuals

• Send Automated WhatsApp Messages and Leverage the Improved WhatsApp Templates

  Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're excited to announce a major upgrade to Bigin's WhatsApp integration that brings more flexibility, interactivity, and automation to your customer messaging. WhatsApp message automation You can now use

• Verifying Zoho Mail Functionality After Switching DNS from Cloudflare to Hosting Provider

  I initially configured my domain's (https://roblaxmod.com/) email with Zoho Mail while using Cloudflare to manage my DNS records (MX, SPF, etc.). All services were working correctly. Recently, I have removed my site from Cloudflare and switched my domain's

• Zoho Analytics Regex Support

  When can we expect full regex support in Zoho Analytics SQL such as REGEXP_REPLACE? Sometimes I need to clean the data and using regex functions is the easiest way to achieve this.

• Change of Blog Author

  Hi, I am creating the blog post on behalf of my colleague. When I publish the post, it is showing my name as author of the post which is not intended and needs to be changed to my colleague's name. How can I change the name of the author in the blogs?? Thanks, Ramanan

• Show Attachments in the customer portal

  Hi, is it possible to show the Attachments list in the portal for the particular module? Bests.

• Does Zoho Docs have a Line Number function ?

  Hi, when collaborating with coding tasks, I need an online real time share document that shows line numbers. Does Zoho's docs offer this feature ? If yes, how can I show them ? Regards, Frank

• Please make it easier to Pause syncing

  right now it takes 3 clicks to get there. sounds silly, but can you make it just 2 clicks to get it done instead? thats how dropbox does it, 2 clicks to pause instead of 3.

• Feature Request - Insert URL Links in Folders

  I would love to see the ability to create simple URL links with titles in WorkDrive. or perhaps a WorkDrive extension to allow it. Example use case: A team is working on a project and there is project folder in WordDrive. The team uses LucidChart to create

• Organization Emails in Email History

  How can I make received Org Emails to show up here?

• how to differentiate if whatsapp comes from certain landing page?

  I create a Zobot in SalesIQ to create a Whatsapp bot to capture the lead. I have 2 landing pages, one is SEO optimized and the other want is optimized for leads comes from Google Ads. I want to know from which landing page this lead came through WhatsApp

• How to sync from Zoho Projects into an existing Sprint in Zoho Sprints?

  Hi I have managed to integrate Zoho Projects with Zoho Sprints and I can see that the integration works as a project was created in Zoho Sprints. But, what I would like to do is to sync into an existing Zoho Sprints project. Is there a way to make that

• How to record company set up fees?

  Hi all, We are starting out our company in Australia and would appreciate any help with setting up Books accounts. We paid an accountant to do company registration, TFN, company constitution, etc. I heard these all can be recorded as Incorporation Costs, which is an intangible asset account, and amortised over 5 years. Is this the correct way to do it under the current Australian tax regulations? How and when exactly should I record the initial entry and each year's amortasation in Books? Generally

• How to create a drop down menu in Zoho Sheets

  I am trying to find out, how do I create a drop down option in Zoho sheet. I tried Data--> Data Validation --> Criteria --> Text  --> Contains. But that is not working, is there any other way to do it.  Thanks in Advance.

• Show Payment terms in Estimates

  Hi,  we are trying to set up that estimates automatically relates payment terms for the payment terms we introduced on Edit contact (Field Payment terms).  How can it be done? Our aim is to avoid problems on payment terms introduced and do not need to introduce it manually on each client (for the moment we are introducing this information on Terms and Conditions.  Kind Regards, 

• Rich-text fields in Zoho CRM

  Hello everyone, We're thrilled to announce an important enhancement that will significantly enhance the readability and formatting capabilities of your information: rich text options for multi-line fields. With this update, you can now enjoy a more versatile

• How can I calculate the physical stock available for sale?

  Hey Zoho Team,  I've tried to calculate the physical stock on hand in various ways - but always receive a mismatch between what's displayed in Zoho Inventory & analytics.  Can you please let me know how the physical stock available for sale is calculated?

• When dispatched to crew, assigning lead missing

  Hello, For the past two or three weeks, whenever an officer assigns Service Appointment to a team, the lead person is missing from the assigned service list. Therefore, we have to reschedule the SA and then the lead person becomes visible in the assigned

• Next Page