Event Management System using ZDK CLI

Hello Everyone,

Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series!

As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the past few weeks. One of the feedbacks asked us to cover "more on ZDK CLI". In this post, we will discuss building an Event Management System in Zoho CRM Using ZDK CLI.

Consider the case of Zenith, a Zoho CRM partner who is also partner for Zoho's competing products. Zenith is hosting a conference in which their representatives are inviting speakers from Zoho and also other competing products. The attendees of the conference will be either external attendees or leads or contacts of Zenith. For this purpose existing meetings module of Zoho CRM (previously called Events) can not be used as it is not a good fit for this case. Custom modules and fields are required for this. In this post, we’ll discuss how to create a Event Management System that is complimentary to Zoho CRM using ZDK CLI. 

Why Use ZDK CLI?

ZDK CLI allows developers to:

1. Create and edit CRM metadata (modules, fields, roles, profiles, and widgets)
2. Define relationships between modules (lookups, multi-select lookups)
3. Push and sync metadata changes to sandbox.
4. Resolve conflicts when multiple users work on the same metadata.

This makes it ideal for building reusable CRM systems such as event management.

Initial Setup

As the initial setup, initialize the ZDK CLI project directory using zdk init command and create a new ZDK Project folder "Zenith". 

zdk init

Then, login to the sandbox environment for Zenith using zdk auth:login command. 

zdk auth:login

When you execute zdk auth:login, you can either select any org that is already signed in or select NEW LOGIN to visit the login page and select the sandbox org you will be working on.

After logging in to Zoho select the sandbox environment and give required permissions.

For the current beta release, ZDK CLI is exclusively available for Sandbox environment and is not operational in Production environments. 

You will be redirected to the terminal after successful login and you can start working on ZDK CLI.

Change the api_version to 8 in zdk-project.json file.

Step 1: Define the Modules

For an event management use case, we will need the following custom modules:

1. Conference – Stores details of each event.
2. Attendees – Tracks participants, whether leads, contacts, or external.
3. ConferenceAttendees (Linking Module, not created) – Connects conferences and attendees with registration status.
4. Venues – Captures details of event locations.
5. Speakers – Stores details of invited speakers.

This has been visualized in the data model below.

To create a module, use the command

zdk meta:create modules

This creates the json file for module metadata : Conference.modules-meta.json  in the path Zenith/crm/meta/modules/Conference 

Conference.modules-meta.json content

{     "singular_label": "Conference",     "plural_label": "Conferences",     "api_name": "Conference",     "profiles": [         {             "api_name": "Administrator"         }     ],     "display_field": {         "api_name": "Conferences"     },     "show_as_tab": true }

Similarly create modules Attendees , Venues, and Speakers modules

Step 2: Customize Fields

To create a field, use the command

zdk meta:create fields

Conference module:

Conference modules's fields are:

1. Attendees (multiselectlookup to Attendee module) 
2. Speakers (multiselectlookup to Speakers module) 
3. Venue (lookup to Venue module) 
4. Date (datetime) 
5. Duration(double) 
6. Description (textarea) 
7. Status (picklist: Planned, Ongoing, Completed)

Attendees field

Let us check how to create the field attendees of type multi-select lookup (to Attendee module)

The json file Attendees.fields-meta.json created in the path Zenith/crm/meta/modules/Conference/fields will look like this

To provide dependent details for the multi select lookup, add the multiselectlookup json object to the Attendees.fields-meta.json file as below:

{     "field_label": "Attendees",     "display_name": "Attendees",     "api_name": "Attendees",     "type": "used",     "data_type": "multiselectlookup",     "multiselectlookup": {         "connected_details": {             "module": {                 "api_name": "Attendee"             },             "field": {                 "field_label": "AttendingConference"             }         },         "linking_details": {             "module": {                 "plural_label": "Conferences_X_attendees"             }         }  } }

Speakers (multi-select lookup to Speakers module)

Similar to Attendees field, create Speakers field and modify the json file Speaker.fields-meta.json created in the path Zenith/crm/meta/modules/Conference/fields:

{     "field_label": "Speaker",     "display_name": "Speakers",     "api_name": "Speakers",     "type": "used",     "data_type": "multiselectlookup",     "multiselectlookup": {         "connected_details": {             "module": {                 "api_name": "Speaker"             },             "field": {                 "field_label": "AttendingConference"             }         },         "linking_details": {             "module": {                 "plural_label": "Speakers_X_attendees"             }         }  } }

Venue (lookup field to Venue module)

Similarly, create the Venue field with type as "lookup" The json file Venue.fields-meta.json created in the path Zenith/crm/meta/modules/Conference/fields will look like this

To provide dependent details for the lookup, add the lookup json object to the json as below.

{     "field_label": "Venue",     "display_name": "Venue",     "api_name": "Venue",     "type": "used",     "data_type": "lookup"     "lookup": {         "display_label": "Venue",         "api_name": "Venue",         "module": {           "api_name": "Venue"         }       } }

Description (textarea)

After create a textarea field Description using zdk meta:create fields command, add textarea json object to the field meta json file as below :

{         "field_label": "Description",                 "display_name": "Description",                 "api_name": "Description",                 "type": "used",                 "data_type": "textarea",                 "textarea": {                         "type": "rich_text"                 } }

The possible values for text area are small, large and rich_text.

Status (picklist)
After create a picklist field Status using zdk meta:create fields command, add pick_list_values json array to the field meta json file as below:

{     "field_label": "Status",     "display_name": "Status",     "api_name": "Status",     "type": "used",     "data_type": "picklist",   "pick_list_values": [     {       "display_value": "Planned",       "actual_value": "Planned"     },     {       "display_value": "Ongoing",       "actual_value": "Ongoing"     },     {       "display_value": "Completed",       "actual_value": "Completed"     }   ] }

Date and duration fields of type datetime and double does not require any edits to the created meta.json file.

Attendees Module

Similarly, add fields for attendees modules

1. Phone (phone)
2. Company (text)
3. EventsAttended (multi-select lookup to Conference module)
4. Attendee Type (picklist with options Lead, Contact, External)
5. Leads (lookup to Lead module)
6. Contacts (lookup to Contact module
   

Venue Module

1. Location (text)
2. Capacity (integer)
3. Contact erson (text)
4. ContactNumber(phone)
5. Description(textarea)

Speakers Module

1. Phone (phone)
2. Company (text)
3. SpeakerStatus (picklist with options Confirmed, Pending, Canceled)
   

Step 3: Create a Custom Role

To create a field, use the command

zdk meta:create roles

This ensures event managers have the right access without interfering with other CRM operations.

Pushing changes to the sandbox environment

Once all changes are done execute zdk org:push and zdk org:push result --{jobId} command to deploy the changes to the sandbox environment. Once the changes are verified in your sandbox environment you can deploy it to the production environment.

You can extract this metadata zip file, that is created using zdk org:export command to your own ZDK project directory and try pushing the changes to your sandbox environment.

Building the Event Management System for "Zenith" illustrates the core strength of ZDK CLI. It brings software engineering best practices to Zoho CRM customization. By defining modules/fields/roles as json files directly or creating them using the command, the source truth of the metadata is available in local system. The same can be tracked via version control systems like GIT for better collaboration among the team.

Previous post: Kaizen# 209 - Answering Your Questions | All About Client Script | ZDK CLI documentation | Kaizen Directory

• Topic Participants

• Mable Mary M P

  

• Sticky Posts

• 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.

• Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

  Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the

• Recent Topics

• Company Policy Upload - Request All EE to review and sign

  How can I upload policies into Zoho People and have the employees review them and sign off saying they agree, etc.? Also, if I make a revision to a policy, I would like that changed or updated policy to be distributed or have the employees notified that

• Zoho Sign Global Settings vs. Template and Document

  Hello, We are running into an issue on a current use case. We already use Zoho Sign. Now that KBA is available, we want to begin using it in our tax delivery process, by allowing clients to sign electronically, but also download a copy of their return

• Zoho Mail Desktop Crashes on Linux - Ubuntu 24 LTS

  Hi, I have been trying to run the desktop app on Ubuntu for the past few day with no luck. I have tried both the .deb package and the appImage. When I attempt to open the app. It just crashes immediately. The crash error dialog appeared once and I cant

• Can't login to Zoho mail

  I'm logged into Zoho but when I try to go in zoho mail I get: Invalid request! The input passed is invalid or the URL is invoked without valid parameters. Please check your input and try again. I just set up my mx records and stuff with namecheap a few

• Zoho IP blocked by SpamCop

  Hi, Many of my emails are blocked and I receive this:  INVALID_ADDRESS, ERROR_CODE :550, ERROR_CODE :spamcop.mimecast.org Blocked - see https://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?136.143.188.51. - https://community.mimecast.com/docs/DOC-1369#550 [DGwIYPPSOfWI

• Differences between Zoho Books and Zoho Billing

  Without a long drawn out process to compare these. If you were looking at these Books and Billing, what made you opt for one and not the other. Thanks

• Custom validation in CRM schema

  Validation rules in CRM layouts work nicely, good docs by @Kiran Karthik P https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/customize-crm-account/validation-rules/articles/create-validation-rules I'd prefer validating data input 'closer to the schema'

• Server error when trying to Data > Sort > Custom Sort

  Been using Data > Sort > Custom Sort for a while, now it has suddenly stopped working. When selecting the same data range and trying to execute, I get "Sorry! There was a problem saving your last edit. Please try again."

• To Assign a genrated pdf to a file upload field using delug

  content = "<html><body>HTML Content on page One <div style='page-break-after:always'></div> HTML Content on page Two </body></html>"; file = zoho.file.convertToPDF(content); file.setFileName("Name of the file"); <variableName> = <FormLinkName>[ID == input.ID];

• TArgets To Accounts (Modules)

  How can i set sale target to Customers (Accounts Module)

• Breaking barriers with multilingual WhatsApp templates in IM

  Ever wondered what it feels like to be greeted in your own language by a brand you love? A “Welcome!” feels nice, but a “¡Bienvenido!” or “स्वागत है!” feels personal. In today’s global world, conversations often need to cross both time zones and cross

• Super Admin Logging in as another User

  How can a Super Admin login as another user. For example, I have a sales rep that is having issues with their Accounts and I want to view their Zoho Account with out having to do a GTM and sharing screens. Moderation Update (8th Aug 2025): We are working

• How to share private Opportunities with whole org at an account level

  Opportunities are currently set to private, so our sales team only sees their own opportunities, along with their manager and upper leadership. The need is the ability for the rest of the Org to see the opportunities at an account level, not within the

• New in Smart Prompt: Record Assistant for contextual assistance, and support for new AI models

  Smart Prompt helps teams stay informed and move faster by providing relevant suggestions where work happens in CRM. With this update, Smart Prompt becomes more adaptable to your organization’s AI preferences. You can now choose which Large Language Model

• Problema Verificacion con proveedor NIC.AR

  No puedo realizar la verificación del correo, he seguido los pasos indicados y configurado los MX. Y no puedo verificar el correo. He leido en el foro que otros han tenido el mismo problema. Alguno pudo solucionarlo?

• How to remove some users in zoho accounts

  How to remove some users in Zoho accounts.

• Unified Inbox for all, including fetched mails

  I fetch mails from different third-parties mailboxes. But I need to switch mailbox too see fetched mails. It's strange. All mailboxes have one shared disk space for own mail and fetched mail, but why do we need to switch mailbox (on the left bottom) to

• Whatsapp Limitation Questions

  Good day, I would like to find out about the functionality or possibility of all the below points within the Zoho/WhatsApp integration. Will WhatsApp buttons ever be possible in the future? Will WhatsApp Re-directs to different users be possible based

• Users Not Automatically Being Added To WorkDrive Team

  I have already created a ticket for this issue, but the support team doesn't seem to understand what's happening. Our organization started with a trial of Zoho Workplace around November 10, 2025. I created 10 users, including myself. I sent out the invites,

• Synchronization between Gmail and Zoho Mail

  Hello! I am using Zoho Mail within the Zoho One platform. I have completed the basic setup and added all the required DNS records with our domain provider. Our goal is to set up two-way synchronization between our current Gmail inbox and Zoho Mail, but

• IMAP login problem

  I have my domain hosted with zoho @wilson.ie I have added a new user and have enabled IMAP access to this user account The user can login to zoho mail on the web. When we enter the server settings into Outlook as per below, Outlook cannot login to the

• Contact data removes Account data when creating a quote

  Hi, Our customer has address fields in their quote layout which should be the address of the Account. They prefill the information, adding the account name - the address data is populated as per what is in the account - great. However when they then add

• Changes to subform in Zoho CRM Portal Timeline History Unavailable

  Hi Support Team, We have noticed a feature limitation in the Zoho CRM portal. We created a portal for our vendors to edit records directly, but when vendors make updates, the Modified Time and Date fields are not being updated. Additionally, these updates

• This mobile number has been marked spam. Please contact support.

  Hi Support, Can you tell me why number was marked as spam. I have having difficult to add my number as you keep requesting i must use it. My number is +63....163 Or is Zoho company excluding Philippines from their services?

• Function #11: Apply unused credits automatically to invoices

  Today, we bring you a custom function that automatically applies unused credits from excess payments, credit notes, and retainer payments to an invoice when it is created. Prerequisites: Create a Connection named "zbooks" to successfully execute the function.

• Duplicating report but custom layout does not

  Dear Zoho Creator, I need to duplicate a report into 10 copies, but unfortunately the custom layout (detail view) doesn’t copy along with it. I tried exporting and importing the custom layout, but the field mappings are incorrect. I believe everyone are

• Credit Card Readers?

  We would like to use our commerce website at conferences (and eventually in store) to swipe credit cards to pay for orders. How would we accomplish this? Does Zoho have anything available for a developer write code to integrate something like Stripe Terminal

• Stock count by bin location

  Is there a configuration to make a stock count by bin or area and not by product. these is useful to manage count by area Regards

• Add Prebuilt "Partner Finder" Template with Native Zoho CRM Integration in Zoho Sites To: Zoho Sites Product Team

  Hi Zoho Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to request a prebuilt "Partner Finder" template for Zoho Sites, modeled after your excellent implementation here: 🔗 https://www.zoho.com/partners/find-partner-results.html ✅ Use Case: Our organization

• How Do I Refund a Customer Directly to Their Credit Card?

  Hi, I use books to auto-charge my customers credit card. But when I create a credit note there doesn't seem to be a way to directly refund the amount back to their credit card. Is the only way to refund a credit note by doing it "offline" - or manually-

• Zoho Learn Course Completion Notifications/Triggers/API

  Zoho Learn works great and will suit our course creation needs, but it appears to be lacking a bit when it comes to integration with other Zoho services (creator etc.) when it comes to course completion. 1) Is there an API or Zoho Flow trigger for when

• Enhanced Recording Permission Controls for Zoho Cliq Meetings (Similar to Zoom)

  Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the recording permission functionality in Zoho Cliq Meetings. Current Limitation: in Zoho Cliq Only hosts and co-hosts can record a meeting. Participants cannot

• Phone Connection

  When on a call the person on the other end complains that there is static, I am cutting in and out or they can't hear me all. This happens on the cell connection as well.

• Can't add a sender adress from zoho campaigns

  hi, I need to change the sender address for a campaign.  When i try to add it i get a message to say 'duplicated email address found while adding your sender address'.  This is the first campaign i'm sending so I don't understand why this message is displayed? Thanks Jane 

• Allow customers to choose meeting venue and meeting duration on booking page

  My business primarily involves one-to-one meetings with my clients. Given the hybrid-work world we now find ourselves in, these meetings can take several forms (which I think of as the meeting "venue"): In-person Zoom Phone call I currently handle these

• Export History timeline

  Hi, I have an idea, bout zoho desk history of the ticket it would be great if the agent or admin of the zoho desk can export the timeline of the ticket history for agent report or on other matter.

• Desk fails to create a new ticket on Reply email

  When I send a direct email to support@mysite.com, Desk will create a new ticket as expected. When I REPLY to an email sent from support@mysite.com, Desk will NOT generate a new ticket. This is very bad. How can I fix this? Use case: In a separate system

• Ask the Experts 25: Experience the full spectrum of Zoho Desk’s autumn and spring releases for 2025

  Hello Everyone, We’re on the 25th episode of our ATE series! It's a true milestone in our live community interactions! It’s been an amazing journey since we started in October 2018. Zoho Desk has come a long way, evolving with the support of a wonderful

• Addin Support in Zoho Sheet

  Is there any addin support available in zoho sheet as like google marketplace to enhance productivity by connecting with other apps, providing AI data analysis, streamlining business processes, and more?

• Function #61: Automatically add free item to the invoice based on item quantity

  Hello everyone, and welcome back to another Custom Function Friday! During holiday seasons or special promotions, businesses offer deals like BOGO (Buy One, Get One), Buy 3 Get 1 Free, Buy 2 at 50% off, and much more to attract customers. These promotions

• Next Page