Kaizen #108 - Integrating Third Party Application with Zoho CRM using Java SDK

Kaizen #108 - Integrating Third Party Application with Zoho CRM using Java SDK

Hello, everyone! Welcome to another Kaizen week. In this post, we will discuss how third-party applications can integrate with Zoho CRM using Java SDK 5.0.

Use case 

Zylker is a real-estate app which can integrate with any CRM vendor and uses that data for it's use-cases. Zylker uses Java for the backend server code. Now they want to integrate with Zoho CRM.  How will they do it? Those users could be in different Zoho data centers like Europe (.eu), USA(.com), India(.in), Australia(.com.au) etc. With Zoho CRM's Java SDK 5.0, which consumes Zoho CRM v5 APIs, we can to do authorization and establish this integration. Zylker will write one common code and it should be usable for any CRM orgs across all DCs. 

Java SDK Project dependency

Include the Java dependency using either Maven or Gradle. The maven dependency is as below:

<repositories>
<repository>
<id>zohocrmsdk-5-0</id>
</repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.zoho.crm</groupId>
<artifactId>zohocrmsdk-5-0</artifactId>
<version>4.0.0</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>


If you are not using Maven or Gradle, please include the Zoho CRM Java SDK JAR and dependant JARs directly into the Java build path.

Setting up the OAuth client 

Create a Server-based Application in the corresponding API console page (https://www.zohoapis.{com/in/eu/com.au}). Enable "Multi-DC" under Settings of the app. Choose "Use the same OAuth credentials for all data centers". With this, you can use the same client ID, client secret, and redirect URI to authorize any Zoho account in any data center. Please refer to our previous posts to know more about domains and environments [Part -1] and [Part - 2].

Integrating the client with your application

In Zylker's web UI, there will be an option to integrate with Zoho CRM. The integration can be initiated from a link or a button containing the authorization URL, along with the corresponding client ID, state, redirect URI, and OAuth scopes. Once the user clicks on this link/button and completes the OAuth authorization process on Zoho, they will be redirected to the specified redirect URI with HTTP parameters location, code, accounts server, and state. These parameters can be utilized within the Java code logic of the redirect URI to begin using the Zoho CRM Java SDK.
The codes used in this post are hosted here for reference. We will focus on two distinct steps as mentioned below, for Zylker integration with Zoho CRM using Java SDK.
     1.  Authorize with Zoho CRM
     2. Fetching data from Zoho CRM

1. Authorize with Zoho CRM 

The aim of this step is to connect with the user's Zoho CRM and store the token details such as refresh token, access token and expiry time in the preferred datastore like MySQL, pgSQL etc. Once the user lands on the redirect URI after the OAuth2.0 authorization, we can extract the email of the logged-in user from zylker.com cookies. We also obtain the grant token and location from the redirect_uri of the authorization request. We pass these three values to the below integrateZohoCRM() function. This function takes care of creating a token for the connected Zoho CRM account and persisting it in the preferred datastore.


public static Boolean integrateZohoCRM(String location, String grant_token, String user_email) 
{
Boolean integrationStatus = Boolean.FALSE;
try {
Environment environment = DataCenter.get(location);
OAuthToken userToken = new OAuthToken.Builder()
                .clientID(OAuthClientDetails.CLIENT_ID)
                .clientSecret(OAuthClientDetails.CLIENT_SECRET)
                .grantToken(grant_token)
                .redirectURL(OAuthClientDetails.REDIRECT_URL)
                                 .userSignature(new UserSignature(user_email)) //email of the user who is trying to integrate with Zoho CRM          
                                 .build();
new Initializer.Builder().environment(environment).token(userToken).initialize(); 
integrationStatus = Boolean.TRUE;
    } catch (SDKException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
    }
return integrationStatus;
}

Refer here for the exact code section.

OAuthToken.Builder() creates a new instance of the builder for the OAuthToken class. It allows you to conveniently set up the necessary details for creating an OAuth token for authentication purposes. On passing the client ID, client secret, grant token, redirect URL, and user signature to the OAuthToken.Builder() method, we get the userToken object. One more important thing to note is that we have set the user signature as .userSignature(new UserSignature(user_email)) . This means that we are referring to the token uniquely by the email id of the logged-in Zylker user. The same signature should be used for any further operation to be done in Zoho CRM on behalf of this user.
Now that we have the OAuthToken object, we can send it to the Initializer class (as shown below) to create the refresh/access tokens and persist it.


 new Initializer.Builder().environment(environment).token(userToken).initialize(); 


As we haven't mentioned anything about where to do the persistence, by default the token details are persisted in a file named 'sdk_tokens.txt' using File Persistence. The content of the file would look like the following:


"id","user_name","client_id","client_secret","refresh_token","access_token","grant_token","expiry_time","redirect_url","api_domain" //Do not clear this default format, or else you will need  to generate a grant token again  in order to run the program.
"1","patricia@gmail.com","1000.xxxxx","xxxxxx","1000.xxxxxx.xxxx","1000.xxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxx","1000.xxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxx","1697370902510","https://www.zoho.com","https://www.zohoapis.com"



Apart from File Persistence, tokens can be persisted using Database persistence or Custom persistence.

Note

When Zoho introduces a new DC in future, it will be enough to update the project with the latest version of Zoho CRM Java SDK 5.0 and no further code change will be required. 

2. Fetching data from ZohoCRM

Once the integration is done, we can create OAuthToken with the user's email as UserSignature and call Zoho CRM Java SDK function. This will fetch the data specific to the user. The following fetchCRMData() function is a sample to fetch data from Zoho CRM.


public static void fetchCRMData(String email) throws Exception {
    OAuthToken userToken1 = new OAuthToken.Builder()
        .userSignature(new UserSignature(email))
        .build();
    new Initializer.Builder().token(userToken1).initialize();
    RecordOperations ro = new RecordOperations();
    ParameterMap paramInstance = new ParameterMap();
    List < String > fieldNames = new ArrayList < > (Arrays.asList("Company", "Email"));

    paramInstance.add(RecordOperations.GetRecordsParam.FIELDS, String.join(",", fieldNames));

    @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")

    APIResponse response = ro.getRecords("Leads", paramInstance, null);

    .

    .

    .

}
 

Refer here for the exact code section.


In this example, we use the SDK's RecordOperations()  for retrieving records from the Leads module. This is done in the following steps:
  •  A new instance of RecordOperations is being created and assigned to the variable ro. This object handles operations related to records in Zoho CRM.  
  • ParameterMap instance is used to specify request parameters for the API calls. We can fetch the Company and the Email fields from the Leads module by passing them as the FIELDS parameter. 
  • We use the getRecords() method to make the API request via SDK, which fetches the respective CRM data.


We hope you found this post useful and interesting.  Stay tuned for more exciting posts.

Previous Kaizen Post : #107 Field Trackers in Zoho CRM

For more topics on Kaizen, please refer to our Kaizen collection here.







    Access your files securely from anywhere







                            Zoho Developer Community




                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Digest


                                                  • Functions


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner


                                                  • Word of the Day


                                                  • Ask the Experts



                                                            • 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.


                                                            Manage your brands on social media



                                                                  Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                      Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                        Zoho Books Resources


                                                                          Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                            Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                              Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                Qntrl Resources


                                                                                  Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                      Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                      • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                        CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                      • Kaizen

                                                                                        Kaizen

                                                                                      • Functions

                                                                                        Functions

                                                                                      • Meetups

                                                                                        Meetups

                                                                                      • Kbase

                                                                                        Kbase

                                                                                      • Resources

                                                                                        Resources

                                                                                      • Digest

                                                                                        Digest

                                                                                      • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      • MVP Corner

                                                                                        MVP Corner









                                                                                          Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                          Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                          Get Started Now


                                                                                            Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                              Zoho Writer

                                                                                              Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                              Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                Zoho CRM コンテンツ



                                                                                                  Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                      ご検討中の方




                                                                                                              • Recent Topics

                                                                                                              • Integration between "Zoho Sprints Stories" and "Zoho Projects Tasks/Subtasks"

                                                                                                                We have two separate teams in our organization using Zoho for project management: The Development team uses Zoho Sprints and follows Agile/Scrum methodology. The Infrastructure team uses Zoho Projects for traditional task-based project management. In
                                                                                                              • Prefill form with CRM/Campaigns

                                                                                                                I created a form in zForms and created prefill fields. I added this to the CRM and selected the fields so when sending from the CRM, the form works great. However, I want to use the same form in Campaigns and I want it to pull the data from CRM (which
                                                                                                              • Notes badge as a quick action in the list view

                                                                                                                Hello all, We are introducing the Notes badge in the list view of all modules as a quick action you can perform for each record, in addition to the existing Activity badge. With this enhancement, users will have quick visibility into the notes associated
                                                                                                              • Triggering a campaign automation from a Form

                                                                                                                I used Forms to create a lead form that is accessed by a button on my website. The field information flows into the CRM. However, I am trying to figure out how to use Campaign automations to start a workflow (series of campaign emails) that is triggered
                                                                                                              • Employee Appraisal Applicability - Why is Date of Joining Hard-Coded?

                                                                                                                In the new (to me, at least) Performance Appraisal Cycle wizard, it's possible to set criteria to determine for whom the appraisal process should apply. This makes sense on its face. However, one MUST use the Date of Joining criterion as a filter. Why
                                                                                                              • Formula fields

                                                                                                                Zoho People now supports formula fields. This post illustrates it. Formula fields are fields whose value is calculated instead of being entered by the user. Using this, number, decimal and date manipulations can be done. The value of this field could be numeric or date depending on the output of the formula. In date manipulations, the result will be given in milliseconds, which you can format as per you need. The operators we support are +, - , *, /. Formula fields get recalculated automatically
                                                                                                              • Copy paste from word document deletes random spaces

                                                                                                                Hello Dear Zoho Team, When copying from a word document into Notebook, often I face a problem of the program deleting random spaces between words, the document become terribly faulty, eventhough it is perfect in its original source document (and without
                                                                                                              • Is it possible to use module field filters via URL parameters?

                                                                                                                It would be really convenient if I could quickly link to a filter. For reference, this is the filter functionality I'm referring to: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/crm/customize-crm-account/advanced-filters/articles/advanced-filters For example: My
                                                                                                              • Transitioning FESCO Bill Project to Zoho Sheets and Integration Options

                                                                                                                Hello Zoho Support, I'm considering transitioning my FESCO bill project from Google Sheets to Zoho Sheets and wanted to know if there are integration options to seamlessly migrate our existing work. You can view our platform here, any guidance would be
                                                                                                              • Support for Custom Fonts in Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal

                                                                                                                Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to use custom fonts in the Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal. Currently only the default fonts (Roboto, Lato, and Montserrat) are available. While these
                                                                                                              • Lightbox Pop-up form

                                                                                                                I would like to embed my form using the lightbox pop up. I don't want it to load automatically. I want it to load when some clicks the button. I can see this option, however when I use the "show pop-up launch button" on the website, the button automatically
                                                                                                              • Unable to remove the “Automatically Assigned” territory from existing records

                                                                                                                Hello Zoho Community Team, We are currently using Territory Management in Zoho CRM and have encountered an issue with automatically assigned territories on Account records. Once any account is created the territory is assigned automatically, the Automatically
                                                                                                              • Data Processing Basis

                                                                                                                Hi, Is there a way to automate the data processing for a candidate every time an application arrives from job boards, without requiring manual intervention? That is, to automatically acquire consent for data processing. I've seen a workflow that allows
                                                                                                              • Lightbox Pop-up form

                                                                                                                I would like to embed my form using the lightbox pop up. I don't want it to load automatically. I want it to load when some clicks the button. I can see this option, however when I use the "show pop-up launch button" on the website, the button automatically
                                                                                                              • Zoho CRM for Everyone's NextGen UI Gets an Upgrade

                                                                                                                Hello Everyone We've made improvements to Zoho CRM for Everyone's Nextgen UI. These changes are the result of valuable feedback from you where we’ve focused on improving usability, providing wider screen space, and making navigation smoother so everything
                                                                                                              • Customer Management: #5 Never Let the Customer Slip

                                                                                                                When Rahul started Knight's Watch Consulting, his focus was simple: deliver good work and keep clients happy. He offered one-time consulting projects, monthly advisory retainers and usage-based support for growing clients. Business was steady, and customers
                                                                                                              • 10GB Email Storage Limits in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                We’ve had Zoho One for almost 5 years and have always synced our emails from Gmail via IMAP… As of late, we’ve run into issues with our emails not syncing, due to being over the 10GB storage cap… What’s very odd is that we haven’t changed a thing? I know
                                                                                                              • Zoho Projects Android and iOS app update: Mobile device permission based on user profiles

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! We have brought in support for mobile device permissions based on the user profiles which are configured in organization level. Administrators can now configure the permissions on the web app(projects.zoho.com) by following the steps mentioned
                                                                                                              • Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift

                                                                                                                Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activities
                                                                                                              • How to import data from PDF into Zoho Sheet

                                                                                                                I am looking to import Consolidated Account Statement (https://www.camsonline.com/Investors/Statements/Consolidated-Account-Statement) into zoho sheet. Any help is appreciated. The pdf is received as attachment in the email, this document is password
                                                                                                              • Unlocking New Levels: Zoho Payroll's Journey in 2025

                                                                                                                Every year brings its own set of challenges and opportunities to rethink how payroll works across regulations and teams. In 2025, Zoho Payroll continued to evolve with one clear focus: giving businesses more flexibility, clarity, and control as they grow.
                                                                                                              • Zoho Projects Android and iOS app update: Timesheet module is now renamed as 'Time Logs', delete option has been renamed to 'Trash'.

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! We have now renamed the Timesheet module as Time Logs and the delete option as 'Trash' on the Zoho Projects Android and iOS app. Time Logs Android: Time Logs iOS: Trash option Android: Trash option iOS: Please update the app to the latest
                                                                                                              • Zoho Mail app update: Manage profile picture, Chinese (Traditional) language support

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! In the latest version (v3.1.9) of the Zoho Mail app update, we have brought in support to manage profile picture. You can now set/ modify the profile picture within the app. To add a new profile picture, please follow the below steps:
                                                                                                              • Reminders for Article Approval

                                                                                                                Is there a way to send reminders for approvers to review articles and approve/deny them? I'm not seeing that option anywhere.
                                                                                                              • To print Multiple delivery notes in batches

                                                                                                                In Zoho Books, we can print a Delivery Note from an Invoice using the Print Delivery Note option, but it is non-editable and always prints all line items from the invoice. Our requirement is to deliver invoiced items in batches and print delivery notes
                                                                                                              • Add Full-Screen Viewing for Quartz Recordings in the Client Interface

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho Team, We would like to request an enhancement to the Zoho Quartz client interface when viewing submitted recordings. Current Limitation: When viewing a Quartz recording from the client (user) interface, there is currently no option to switch the
                                                                                                              • 2025 Recap: A Year to Remember | Zoho Inventory

                                                                                                              • Important Update : Pipedrive deprecated fields no longer supported in Zoho Analytics

                                                                                                                Dear Pipedrive users, We would like to inform you about a recent update related to your Pipedrive integration with Zoho Analytics. The Pipedrive team has deprecated certain fields from their application. You can find more details in the official Pipedrive
                                                                                                              • Product Updates in Zoho Workplace applications | November 2025

                                                                                                                Hello Workplace Community, Let’s take a look at the new features and enhancements that went live across all Workplace applications this November. Zoho Mail Format comments easily using Slash Commands With Slash commands, you can easily format text, insert
                                                                                                              • Right-Click Pipeline to Open in New Tab

                                                                                                                Please add the ability to right-click on a pipeline to open it in a new tab
                                                                                                              • Adjusting Physical Inventory

                                                                                                                Not getting very far with support on this one, they say they are going to fix it but nothings happened since November. Please give this a thumbs up if you would like to see this feature or comment if you have some insight. Use Case: Inventory set to be
                                                                                                              • How to install Widget in inventory module

                                                                                                                Hi, I am trying to install a app into Sales Order Module related list, however there is no button allow me to do that. May I ask how to install widget to inventory module related list?
                                                                                                              • Deluge date time issue

                                                                                                                The deluge function info zoho.currentdate.toString("MMM/YYYY") returns Dec 2026 instead of 2025
                                                                                                              • Sending automated messages that appear in the ticket's conversation thread

                                                                                                                Good morning, esteemed Zoho Desk community, warm greetings Today I am here to raise the following problem, seeking a solution that I can implement: I need to implement an automation that allows me to send reminder messages to customers when I am waiting
                                                                                                              • Issue with Zoho Creator Form Full-Screen View in CRM Related List Integration

                                                                                                                Hi Team, We have created a custom application in Zoho Creator and integrated it into Zoho CRM as a related list under the Vendor module, which we have renamed as Consignors. Within the Creator application, there is a form named “Pickup Request.” Inside
                                                                                                              • Set connection link name from variable in invokeurl

                                                                                                                Hi, guys. How to set in parameter "connection" a variable, instead of a string. connectionLinkName = manager.get('connectionLinkName').toString(); response = invokeurl [ url :"https://www.googleapis.com/calendar/v3/freeBusy" type :POST parameters:requestParams.toString()
                                                                                                              • sync views to sheet

                                                                                                                Im looking to sync my views aka reports in analytics to zoho sheets, when data is updated in analytics it also should be updated in sheets, till now zoho sheets only offer raw data connection and it is not enough as these reports are difficult to re-do
                                                                                                              • How to update the Status in a custom module?

                                                                                                                Hi, I have a custom module "cm_payment_registry" in Billing, I am trying to change the status which is "Draft" with: array = {"custom_status":"Approved"}; zoho.billing.update("cm_payment_registry",organization.get("organization_id"), XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, array,"connectionname");
                                                                                                              • is it possible to add more than one Whatsapp Phone Number to be integrated to Zoho CRM?

                                                                                                                so I have successfully added one Whatsapp number like this from this User Interface it seems I can't add a new Whatsapp Number. I need to add a new Whatsapp Number so I can control the lead assignment if a chat sent to Whatsapp Phone Number 1 then assign
                                                                                                              • Replace Zoho Invoice with QuickBooks

                                                                                                                We are implementing Zoho FSM for a cleaning business in the US with 50+ field workers. This business has been using Quickbooks for accounting for decades and will not migrate to Zoho Books. A major issue in the integration is the US sales tax calculation.
                                                                                                              • Next Page