Kaizen #172 - Leveraging the 'crmAPIResponse' Object in Queries

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!

We released the Queries feature sometime back and hope you have tried it out.

A little gist about this feature before we move on to our post.

Zoho CRM's Queries feature enables dynamic data retrieval from both CRM modules and external services, facilitating seamless integration and informed decision-making.

Key Components

• Sources: Pre-configured sources like Modules and COQL are available, with the option to add custom sources via REST APIs.
  
• Queries: Fetch data by selecting modules, writing COQL statements, or specifying REST API endpoints, headers, and parameters.
  
• Variables: Incorporate variables in criteria, COQL statements, and endpoints to pass dynamic values during execution.
  
• Schema: Auto-generated schemas define the structure of query responses, with editable paths, field types, and labels for customization.
  
• Serializer: Utilize JavaScript to manipulate and customize query responses, ensuring data is in the desired format for further processing.
  

Types of Queries

• Modules: Retrieve records by selecting specific modules and fields, applying conditions to filter data as needed.
  
• COQL (CRM Object Query Language): Write SQL-like queries to fetch data, supporting complex operations like joins and aggregations.
  
• REST API: Fetch data from external services by specifying endpoints, headers, parameters, and connections.
  

With the Queries feature, you can efficiently access and display relevant data within Zoho CRM, enhancing workflow efficiency and decision-making capabilities.

A little insight into Functions before we dive into today's Kaizen!

Functions, Queries, you get the connection, right? Read on!

Many of us use Functions in Zoho CRM extensively to perform our business logic and customize the way things work in Zoho CRM. You can use Functions in blueprints, workflows, Circuits etc.

Let's say you have a function that gets the employee records from the Employees module. Technically, the function executes an API call or an integration task, and gives a response.

The response can be a string or map(JSON), depending on how the function is written and where it is used. Since functions can be used in many places, the same response format may not be the right one to be used in a circuit or a workflow.

This is where the genie 'crmAPIResponse' object comes into picture!

The power of the 'crmAPIResponse' object

The crmAPIResponse object to be returned in the CRM function should encapsulate the response in a way that it can be used in Queries, Circuit, workflow etc. The details needed are encapsulated as a map. It should include details like crmStatusCode, status, message, body in order to construct the desired format for handling data and customizing the error handling logic.

Let's consider the following example function where we use the getRecordByID integration task.

The response of the integration task contains all the fields in that module, but we want only certain parts of the response JSON and also add custom error messages, to be used in other components like Queries, Circuits, etc,.

Here is the code.

{ leadId = "3652397000018025772"; // Replace with a valid Lead ID // Initialize customAPIResponse map customAPIResponse = map(); // Fetch lead details crmResponse = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Leads", leadId); // Log the raw response for debugging info "CRM API Raw Response: " + crmResponse; // Validate and process the response to include only the required fields if (crmResponse != null && crmResponse.containsKey("id")) { // Extract required fields filteredData = map(); filteredData.put("id", crmResponse.get("id")); filteredData.put("Last_Name", crmResponse.get("Last_Name")); filteredData.put("Email", crmResponse.get("Email")); customAPIResponse.put("crmStatusCode", 200); customAPIResponse.put("status", "success"); customAPIResponse.put("message", "Lead data retrieved successfully."); customAPIResponse.put("body", filteredData); // Include only filtered data } else { customAPIResponse.put("crmStatusCode", null); customAPIResponse.put("status", "error"); customAPIResponse.put("message", "Invalid or null response from Zoho CRM API."); customAPIResponse.put("body", null); } // Return the customAPIResponse return {"crmAPIResponse": customAPIResponse}; }

Here, you can see that we have parsed the response of the integration task to get the Last_Name, Email, and record ID using the crmResponse.get("field_API_name") statement and constructed the customAPIresponse object using the customAPIResponse.put("key", "value") statement.

The statement return {"crmAPIResponse": customAPIResponse}; returns the response body as depicted in the previous statements.

Response to the info "CRM API Raw Response: " + crmResponse; statement

"CRM API Raw Response: {"Owner":{"name":"Patricia Boyle","id":"3652397000000186017","email":"p.boyle@zylker.com"},"$field_states":null,..}}}

Response of the return {"crmAPIResponse": customAPIResponse}; statement

{     "crmAPIResponse": {         "crmStatusCode": 200,         "status": "success",         "message": "Lead data retrieved successfully.",         "body": {             "id": "3652397000018025772",             "Last_Name": "Math",             "Email": "math@gmail.com"         }     } }

Error response

{     "crmAPIResponse": {         "crmStatusCode": null,         "status": "error",         "message": "Invalid or null response from Zoho CRM API.",         "body": null     } }

You can see that we have used the crmAPIResponse object to get only the required keys from the response and constructed a much simpler response.

Refer to our help page on Response Object for more details.

Finally, to today's Kaizen!

We've established that you can use the crmAPIResponse object to construct responses in a way that's suitable to be consumed at another place like a circuit or a workflow.

We also know that Queries allows you to have sources of the REST API type to fetch data from various sources. This means that you can have a standalone function that is enabled as a REST API as a source in Queries.

Let's see an example.

There is a simple function that uses the getRecords integration task to get the records from the Employees module.

I have used the crmAPIresponse object to construct a response as shown in the following code.

string standalone.getRecords() { result = zoho.crm.getRecords("Employees"); response = Map(); response.put("status_code",200); response.put("body",{"code":"success","details":result,"message":"function executed successfully"}); return {"crmAPIResponse":response}; }

The response of this function is a string in the crmAPIResponse object as shown in this image.

1. Save this function and enable REST API.
   
   
2. You can see that the domain is https://www.zohoapis.com. To be able to use this in a Query, register this domain in Trusted Domain.
   
   
3. To create a REST API type source, you must add the source. Go to Setup > Developer Hub > Queries > Sources tab.
4. Click Add Source and give the details like the name, base URL, headers, and parameters under the Information section.
   
   
5. Click Save.
6. Go to the Queries tab and click Add Query.
   
7. For Source, choose the source you just added.
   
8. Under Information, enter the name, API name of the query.
   
9. For the endpoint, enter the API Key URL of the function.
   
   
10. Enter the parameter name and values in the Parameter field.
    
11. Click Add Serializer if you want to serialize the response. In this example, I have serialized the response to include only the Name, Email, and Position fields in the output. The result contains the 'body' object that we returned in the crmAPIResponse object of the function.
    
    
    
    
12. Click Save to save the serialization.
    
13. Click Next to view the schema of the query. Make changes as required.
    
14. Save the query.
    

You can now use this query in Canvas or associate it with Kiosk to solve your business needs.

Let us see how the crmAPIResponse object in the function affects the response of the query.

Query with the function without crmAPIResponse:

Let's consider that the function getRecords() does not use the crmAPIResponse object. In that case, the function returns a response that is a string. This response string cannot be serialized or used elsewhere.

Schema of the query without crmAPIResponse:

Query with the function with crmAPIResponse and serialization:

The same getRecords() function that uses the crmAPIResponse object allows you to construct the response as JSON. You can serialize this response easily and use it in a circuit, query, workflow etc.

You can see here that the response is now a JSON.

Schema of the query with crmAPIResponse:

In conclusion, you can use the crmAPIResponse object in Functions to construct the desired response and use the REST API-enabled function as a source in Queries.

Leveraging the advantage of the crmAPIResponse object in functions and using it in Queries increases the prospect of solving many more business cases easily and customize more efficiently.

We hope you liked this post and found it useful. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

If you'd like us to cover any other topic in this series, feel free to comment or reach us at support@zohocrm.com.

Cheers!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More enhancements in the COQL API are now live in Zoho CRM API Version 7. Check out the V7 Changelog for detailed information on these updates.

See Also

• Related Kaizen - Handling Variables in Queries, Serialization and Schema Management in Queries 
• Queries in Zoho CRM
  
• Functions in Zoho CRM
  
• Response Object in Zoho CRM
  
• Previous Kaizen - FAQs on COQL API
  
• Kaizen Directory
  

• Topic Participants

• Shylaja S

  

• Zsolt Simon self-employed

• Sticky Posts

• Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

  Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

• Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

• Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

  Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

• Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms

  Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achieved

• Kaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script

  Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.

• Recent Topics

• How to filter Packages in zoho inventory api

  Hi Team, I want to perform some tasks in a schedular on the packages which are in "Shipped" state. I tried to use filter_by in my api call but in return I get response as {"code":-1,"message":"Given filter is not configured"} My Api request is as follows

• Accessing shared mailboxes through Trident (Windows)

  Hi, I have a created a couple of shared mailboxes. The mailboxes are showing up on the browser based Zoho workplace, but I cannot seem to figure out how to access my shared inboxes through Trident (Windows). Am I missing something or is this feature not

• Can I re-send the Customer Satisfaction Survey after a ticket closure?

  Hello, Some customers does not answer the survey right after closure, is it possible to re-send after a few days or weeks? Best Regards!

• Feature Request: Ability to set Default Custom Filters and apply them via URL/Deluge

  I've discovered a significant gap in how Zoho Creator handles Custom Filters for reports, and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. This limitation has been raised before and continues to be requested, but remains unresolved. The

• Closing the Loop: Why Lookup Asymmetry is Harming Data Integrity in Creator

  TL;DR: Lookup fields allow users to add new related records inline via the "+" icon, but there's no equivalent ability to edit an existing related record without navigating away and losing form context. Adding a native "Edit" icon—with automatic User

• Syncing with Google calendar, Tasks and Events

  Is it possible to sync Zoho CRM calendar, task and events with Google Calendar's tasks and events. With the increasing adoption by many major tool suppliers to sync seamlessly with Google's offerings (for instance I use the excellent Any.do task planning

• filtering lookup field options based on information in another module.

  In our CRM system. We have the standard Accounts and Deals modules. We would like to introduce the ability to classify Accounts by Sector. Our desired functionality is to have a global list of all sectors that an Account can select, with the ability to

• Really want the field "Company" in the activities module!

  Hi team! Something we are really missing is able to see the field Company when working in the activities module. We have a lot of tasks and need to see what company it's related to. It's really annoying to not be able to see it.🙈 Thx!

• Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

  Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

• Service op locatie organiseren met Zoho FSM: waar lopen organisaties tegenaan?

  Bij organisaties met service teams op locatie merken we vaak dat de complexiteit niet zozeer in de planning zelf zit, maar in wat er rond die planning gebeurt. Denk aan opvolging na interventies, consistente servicerapporten, en het bijhouden van installaties

• Workflow Down/Bug

  We have a workflow that sends an email to one of our internal departments 10 minutes after a record is created in a custom module. The workflow actually works correctly. However, we have now noticed that on January 8, between 3:55 p.m. and 4:33 p.m.,

• Introducing Assemblies and Kits in Zoho Inventory

  Hello customers, We’re excited to share a major revamp to Zoho Inventory that brings both clarity and flexibility to your inventory management experience! Presenting Assemblies and Kits We’re thrilled to introduce Assemblies and Kits, which replaces the

• Automate pushing Zoho CRM backups into Zoho WorkDrive

  Through our Zoho One subscription we have both Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive. We have regular backups setup in Zoho CRM. Once the backup is created, we are notified. Since we want to keep these backups for more than 7 days, we manually download them. They

• Does the ability exist to make tax on the customer profile mandatory?

  I am reaching out to inquire about the possibility of making the "Customer Tax" field mandatory when creating a new customer in Zoho. We want to ensure that all customers have their tax information recorded to maintain compliance with our internal processes.

• CRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more

  Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),

• How to apply customized Zoho Crm Home Page to all users?

  I have tried to study manuals and play with Zoho CRM but haven't found a way how to apply customized Zoho CRM Home Page as a (default) home page for other CRM users.. How that can be done, if possible? - kipi Moderation Update: Currently, each user has

• Send Whatsapp with API including custom placeholders

  Is is possible to initiate a session on whatsapp IM channel with a template that includes params (placeholders) that are passed on the API call? This is very usefull to send a Utility message for a transactional notification including an order number

• IMAP mail after specify date

  Hi My customer's mail server is on premise and mail storage is very huge. So It never finish sync. and finally stop sync. Cloud CRM have a option like zoho mail sync mail after some date.

• email association with CRM

  Why is it 2024 (almost 2025) and Zoho has not figured out how to integrate email with CRM? It is so inconsistent at associating emails within CRM. I am an attorney. I have clients and work with other attorneys. Attorney John Doe is associated with multiple

• Fix the speed

  It takes ages to load on every step even though my dataset is quite small.

• Credit Note for Shipped and Fatoora pushed invoices

  We have shipped a Sales Order and created an Invoice. The Invoice is also pushed to Fatoora Now we need to create a credit note for the invoice When we try it, it says we need to create a Sales Return in the Zoho Books, we have already created a Sales

• Whatsapp Connection Status still "Pending" after migration

  Hello, I migrated my WhatsApp API to Zoho from another provider a day ago. So far the connection status is still “Pending”. There is a problem? How long does it usually take?

• FSM - Timesheet entires for Internal Work

  Hi FSM Team, Several of my clients have asked how they can manage internal timesheets within Zoho FSM. Since their technicians already spend most of their day working in FSM, it would be ideal if they could log all working hours directly in the FSM app.

• Add a way of clearing fields values in Flow actions

  It would be great if there was an option to set a field as Null when creating flows. I had an instance today where I just wanted to clear a long integer field in the CRM based on an action in Projects but I had to write a custom function. It would be

• Role Management

  I am creating an analytics dashboard for a company that will be utilized by its various departments such as Finance, Marketing, and HR. My goal is to design the dashboard with separate tabs for each department. Additionally, I plan to implement role-based

• Link Contacts to Billed Accounts

  Hello, I want to do a survey on all my customers of 2025. For that I want to select all contacts linked to accounts who where billed in 2025. How to I create this link to I can then use Zoho Survey with this database of contacts?

• Highlight a candidate who is "off limits"

  Hello: Is there a way to highlight a candidate who is "off limits"?  I would like to have the ability to make certain candidate and / or Client records highlighted in RED or something like that.   This would be used for example when we may have placed a candidate somewhere and we want everyone in our company to quickly and easily see that they are off limits.  The same would apply when we want to put a client or former client off limits so no one recruits out of there. How can this be done? Cheers,

• Announcing new features in Trident for Windows (v.1.37.5.0)

  Hello Community! Trident for Windows just received a major update, with a range of capabilities that strengthen email security and enhance communication. This update focuses on making your mailbox safer and your overall email experience more reliable.

• Early Payment Discount customize Text

  Hi, I’m currently using Zoho Books and am trying to customize the standard “Early Payment Discount” message that appears in the PDF invoice template. I’ve reviewed the documentation here: https://www.zoho.com/books/help/invoice/early-payment-discount.html

• Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

  Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these

• Deprecation of SMS-based multi-factor authentication (MFA) mode

  Overview of SMS-based OTP MFA mode The SMS-based OTP MFA method involves the delivery of a one-time password to a user's mobile phone via SMS. The user receives the OTP on their mobile phone and enters it to sign into their account. SMS-based OTPs offer

• How to Customize Task Creation to Send a Custom Alert Using JavaScript in Zoho CRM?

  Hello Zoho CRM Community, I’m looking to customize Zoho CRM to send a custom alert whenever a task is created. I understand that Zoho CRM supports client scripts using JavaScript, and I would like to leverage this feature to implement the alert functionality.

• DKIM Now Mandatory - Changes to Zoho Forms Email Policies

  Hello Zoho Forms Users, This post is to inform you about an important update regarding the authentication of all email domains in your Zoho Forms account. This year, we are doubling down on our commitment to deliver a secure, seamless, and empowering

• Ability to assign Invoice Ownership through Deluge in FSM

  Hi, As part of our process, when a service appointment is completed, we automated the creation of the invoice based on a specific business logic using Deluge. When we do that, the "Owner" of the invoice in Zoho FSM is defaulted to the SuperAdmin. This

• Call description in notes

  When completing a call, we type in the result of the call in the description. However, that does not show up under the notes history on the contact. We want to be able to see all the calls that have taken place for a contact wihtout having to go into

• Please can the open tasks be shown in each customer account at the top.

  Hi there This has happened before, where the open tasks are no longer visible at the top of the page for each customer in the CRM. They have gone missing previously and were reinstated when I asked so I think it's just after an update that this feature

• Mapping a new Ticket in Zoho Desk to an Account or Deal in Zoho CRM manually

  Is there any way for me to map an existing ticket in Zoho desk to an account or Deal within Zoho CRM? Sometimes people use different email to put in a ticket than the one that we have in the CRM, but it's still the same person. We would like to be able

• Email Address for Contact not Populating

  When I click "Send Mail" from a Contact's page, their email address does not auto populate the "To" field. How do I make this happen?

• New in CRM: Dynamic filters for lookup fields

  Last modified on Oct 28, 2024: This feature was initially available only through Early Access upon request. It is now available to all users across all data centers, except for the IN DC. Users in the IN DC can temporarily request access using this form

• Why hybrid project management might be the best fit for you?

  Project management techniques are designed to equip teams with proven methods for easy and efficient project execution. While management teams may have apprehensions about adopting the hybrid method of project management, we’ve compiled the top reasons

• Next Page