Manipulating Multi Select Lookup fields (MxN) using Zoho CRM APIs

Manipulating Multi Select Lookup fields (MxN) using Zoho CRM APIs

Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another week of Kaizen. In last week's post in the Kaizen series, we discussed how subforms work in Zoho CRM and how to manipulate subform data using Zoho CRM APIs.
In this post, we will discuss how to manipulate a multi-select lookup fields using Zoho CRM APIs.

Multi-select lookup field

The Multi-Select Lookup Field enables you to establish a many-to-many relationship between two different modules in CRM. It allows you to associate multiple records with each other, from two different modules. 
These associations are stored in an individual module called "Linking Module". Consider there are two modules, Employees and Skills. The Employees module contains details regarding Zylker's workforce, and the Skills module contains details regarding various skills like Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing.
We want to associate multiple skills to an employee. So, a multi-select lookup can be created in the Employees module. When doing so, similar multi-select lookup field will be automatically created in the Skills module, along with the EmpXSkills linking module by Zoho CRM. The underlying data model is described in the below image.
The above chart shows the data model representation when you create a multi-select lookup field in a module. Here, there are two lookup fields—one pointing to the Employees module and the other pointing to the Skills module.
In the linking module, two lookup fields (lookup fields with api names - Employees and Skills) will be created. The lookup fields, one pointing to Employees and the other pointing to Skills from the linking module, establish a connection between the linking module and its associated module.

How to associate an employee's skills while creating an Employee record through the Insert Records API

API names you need before invoking the API
  • The API name of the multi-select lookup field in the modules you want to insert data.
  • API names of the lookup fields in the linking module. Eg: here the API Name of the linking module is "EmpXSkills" and the corresponding lookup field api names are "Employees" & "Skills". You can use the Fields Metadata API for Employees and Skills to get these details.
Step 1
Know the API name of the multi-select lookup field in the module (In our case, Skills is the multi-select lookup field in the Employees module)

To know the API names of the multi-select lookup fields, make a GET - Fields Metadata API call. Among all the Employee's fields, multi-select lookup field can be identified by the json key data_type with the value multiselectlookup. The corresponding connected module can be found from the json connected_module. Below is the API call & response for such a multi-select lookup field.

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v6/settings/fields?module=Employees
Request Method: GET

Sample Response: 

The above highlighted keys are the details of the Multi select lookup field. The corresponding keys are explained below:

"multiselectlookup": {
                "display_label": "Skills",   //Display label of the MxN field in the Employees module
                "linking_module": {
                    "api_name": "EmpXSkills", //API name of the linking module
                    "id": "5725767000002166520"
                ...
                "lookup_apiname": "Employees", //API name of the Employee lookup field in the linking module
                "connected_module": {
                    "api_name": "Skills", //API name of the connected module
                    "id": "5725767000002165263"
                },
                "api_name": "Skills_In_Related_List", //API of the related list of the connected module Skills in the Employees module.
                "connectedfield_apiname": "Employees", //API Name of the multi-select lookup field in the connected module (Skills)
               "connectedlookup_apiname": "Skills", //API name of the Skills module lookup field in the linking module.
                "id": "5725767000002166655" //Related List ID
            },
                ...

Step 2
Using the api_name of the linking module, make a GET Fields metadata API call to get the list of fields (along with their api_name) present in it. It lists all fields of the linking module in the response. 
Sample Request and Response

Search for the "data_type": "lookup" in the response. The lookup fields represent the connected modules in association with the linking module.
For example, in our case, the response will have two lookup fields. One of the lookup fields (with api name Employees) points to the Employees module, and the other one (with api name Skills) points to the Skills module

Step 3
Associate records via the Multi-select lookup field using the Insert Records API

To associate records via the MxN field, you need to know the IDs of the records in the Skills module. Here is the input body to insert the skills in the Employee module with the multi-select lookup field Skills
Here is the input body to insert a new Employee record and associate a Skills record to it using the MxN field.

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v6/Employees
Request Method: POST
Sample Input:
{
    "data": [
        {
            "Name": "Patricia",
            "Email": "patricia@mail.com",
            "Position": "Marketing Specialist",
            "Year_of_Experience": 5,
            "Skills": [ //API name of the multi-select lookup field in Employee module
                {
                    "Skills": { //API Name of the lookup field pointing to the Skills module in the linking module
                        "name": "Marketing",
                        "id": "5725767000002149427" //Record ID in the Skills module 
                    }
                },
                {
                    "Skills": {
                        "name": "Social Media Marketing",
                        "id": "5725767000002149476" 
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}



How to disassociate an employee & skills relation while updating an Employee record through the Update Records API 

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v6/Employees
Request Method: PUT

Sample Input:
{
    "data": [
        {
             "id": "7890710000097291",
            "Name": "Patricia",
            "Email": "patricia@mail.com",
            "Position": "Marketing Specialist",
            "Year_of_Experience": 5,
            "Skills": [ 
                {
                    "Skills": { 
                        "name": "Marketing",
                        "_delete": null, //This association will be deleted
                        "id": "5725767000002149427" //Skills record id
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Sending _delete:null will cause delinking of the association.

How to associate an employee's skills via "Linking Module"

You can associate the relationship between Employees and Skills module by creating records in the Linking module (EmpXSkills). Use the API names for the corresponding lookup fields, Employee (API Name: Employees) and Skills (API Name: Skills) in the input body.

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v6/EmpXSkills
Request Method: POST

Sample Input
{
   "data": [
        {
            "Name": "Patricia",
            "Employees": { 
                "id": "5725767000002161001" //unique record ID in the Employees module. GET your ID here
            },
             "Skills": { 
                "id": "5725767000002149476" //unique record ID in the Skills module. GET your ID here
            }
        }
    ]
}


Sample Response


The id in the above response is the Primary Key ID of an Employee-Skill association record in the linking module. This ID can later be used to do specific operations like association update or deletion via API.

How to disassociate an employee & skills relationship via "Linking Module"
Use the Delete Records API to delete the record which corresponds to the specific relation between Employee and Skills module in the EmpXSkills module. You can get the record ID for the specific association using the Get Records API for the linking module. 
Use the Delete Record API to delete the specific record, thereby deleting the specific association between the Employee and Skills record. Please note that only the association is removed, and not the individual records. 
Sample Request and Response



When to use create/update operation in Employees/EmpXSkills module?

Use "Employees" module: When you want to create/update records in the Employees module, and associate the record with a Skills record in a single API call.
Use "EmpXSkills" module: When you want to associate/disassociate the relationship between existing Employees and Skills records. 

Retrieve data via COQL API and Bulk Read API

There may be situations where you need to fetch records based upon certain conditions.
For example, Zylker's HR team wants to retrieve the list of employees having more than 4 years of experience and are experts in Social media marketing. In this case, they can use Zoho CRM's COQL API or Bulk Read API. Let's see how to achieve this.

Retrieving MxN data via COQL API

We know that both the Employees and Skills modules' association data is maintained in the linking module. In order to retrieve data from the linking module, query using the API name of the lookup fields in the linking module.

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v6/coql
Request Method: POST

Sample Input:

{
    "select_query" : "select Employees.Name as employee_name, Employees.Year_of_Experience as employee_experience, Skills.Name as skill_name from EmpXSkills where Employees.Year_of_Experience > 4 and Skills.Name like '%Social%'"
}


From the SQL perspective, above COQL can be interpreted as
select emp.Name as employee_name, emp.Year_of_Experience as employee_experience, skill.Name as skill_name from EmpXSkills left join Employees as emp on EmpXSkills.Employees = emp.id left join Skills as ski on EmpXSkills.Skills = ski.id where emp.Year_of_Experience > 4 and ski.Name like '%Social%'

Sample Response


Retrieving MxN data via Bulk Read API

Bulk Read API allows you to fetch a large set of data i.e., you can fetch a maximum of 200,000 records in a single API call. 
To export linking module records, use its API name.

Request Method: POST
Sample input to export linking module's records:
{
    "callback": {
        "method": "post"
    },
    "query": {
        "module": {
            "api_name": "EmpXSkills" //API name of the linking module
        },
        "file_type": "csv"
    }
}

Export linking module records that meet the specified criteria
To export linking module's records based on the given criteria above (similar to the COQL API).
{
    "callback": {
        "method": "post"
    },
    "query": {
        "module": {
            "api_name": "EmpXSkills"
        },
        "fields": [
            "Employees.Name",
            "Employees.Year_of_Experience",
            "Skills.Name"
        ],
        "criteria": {
            "group": [
                {
                    "field": {
                        "api_name": "Employees.Year_of_Experience" 
                    },
                    "comparator": "greater_than",
                    "value": "4"
                },
                {
                    "field": {
                        "api_name": "Skills.Name"
                    },
                    "comparator": "contains",
                    "value": "Social"
                }
            ],
            "group_operator": "AND"
        }
    }
}


As the API is an asynchronous API, the response will not be available instantly; the bulk read job is scheduled, and the status can be checked. Once the job is completed, you will be notified in the callback URL. The records are available in a downloadable CSV file or ICS file (for events). See the Bulk Read API document to know how to view the status of the scheduled job and download the file, along with more sample requests and responses.

We trust that this post meets your needs and is helpful. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com
Stay tuned for more insights in our upcoming Kaizen posts!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cheers!



    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



                                          Zoho Marketing Automation


                                                  Manage your brands on social media



                                                        Zoho TeamInbox Resources

                                                          Zoho DataPrep 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 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

                                                                                                  • Custom Status for Purchase Orders

                                                                                                    Currently Zoho books has functionality to create custom statuses for Sales Orders. Can this be extended to include custom status for purchase orders as well? It was a great decision to add this functionality to sales orders. Our use case is for tracking
                                                                                                  • My workflows not working

                                                                                                    Hi I have created my first workflow I want it so when a customer responds to a ticket that the status is changed to "reopened" We want this so its clear there is a ticket to deal with again. We only have 2 agents responding to tickets and do not have
                                                                                                  • Waiting Room

                                                                                                    Is there any plans to implement a Virtual Waiting Room for Attendees on Meetings and or Webinars?
                                                                                                  • Error AS101 when adding new email alias

                                                                                                    Hi, I am trying to add apple@(mydomain).com The error AS101 is shown while I try to add the alias.
                                                                                                  • Global Sets for Multi-Select pick lists

                                                                                                    When is this feature coming to Zoho CRM? It would be very useful now we have got used to having it for the normal pick lists.
                                                                                                  • What's New - January 2025 | Zoho Backstage

                                                                                                    Hi there! As we step into a brand-new year, we’re thrilled to bring you some exciting updates to make event management more enjoyable and efficient. Here’s what we rolled out in January to kick off 2025: Backstage 2.0 now enforced for all users We've
                                                                                                  • How do you do ticket add ons in Backstage?

                                                                                                    Hi Everyone, If you wanted to have general admin tickets and allow for add ons, like camping, or car or Carbon offset. What would you do? Peace Robin
                                                                                                  • Re-create auth token

                                                                                                    I need to re-create a self-client auth token, with the same scopes (and additional ones) as the current token. Is there a way to view the scopes assigned to the current token to ensure that no scopes are missing when creating the new one?
                                                                                                  • Writing on sketch cards is bugged when zoomed in

                                                                                                    When zoomed in, it writes a noticeable distance above or to the side of where you're actually trying to write. The further you're zoomed in, the more noticeable it is. Zooming is also entirely absent on the desktop version.
                                                                                                  • Doesn't let me test my newsletter.

                                                                                                    Hello, I click "Preview and Test". I select the email address to send the test (usually my own email). I send the test email, appears the message "Your test email has been sent", but nothing happens. I mean, there is nothing in my inbox. I also tried
                                                                                                  • Custom Related List anchor tag with tel protocol

                                                                                                    The following code worked great for about a year to create clickable tel and mailto links in a related list in the Deals module. Just this morning, it started displaying the HTML as text. For example: <a href='tel:8882490100'>8882490100</a> Zoho support
                                                                                                  • reset of user password

                                                                                                    User forgot her password, so she requests a password rest, but never gets the email. How do I reset her password, since that function is not an option, even for an administrator?
                                                                                                  • In what case it's better to use Developer Console? Only for marketplace?

                                                                                                    As I can see from the documentation, the limitations are challenging. No Custom API No Page Variables No Custom Connections.
                                                                                                  • commision tracker

                                                                                                    I am after a zoho developer to finish my commission tracker as I hired someone on oDesk that started but now will respond to my emails.I really need to get It finished as it is holding up my plans Thanks Budget : $500 | Duration : a.s.a.p To leave a private message, please click the link for private response in post Action section.
                                                                                                  • Generate a Zoho Sign link

                                                                                                    From time to time I get a response "I never received your you e-document for electronic signature" is there a way to generate a Zoho Sign link to share.
                                                                                                  • Error 403: Forbidden When Updating Email Signature via API

                                                                                                    Hi Zoho Desk team, First, congratulations again on the excellent Zoho API. But, I’m encountering an issue while attempting to update an email signature via the API. Whenever I make a request to update the signature, the response returns an HTTP 403 Forbidden
                                                                                                  • Queues Management ?

                                                                                                    I need to assign the new requirements equally between my support agents. How I can configure this feature in Zoho? Thanks
                                                                                                  • Client Can't View Ticket

                                                                                                    Hi, I created a ticket for my Client since he had an issue. I added him as a Contact as well. My client got a notification in his email that the ticket has been created. When he went to view the ticket on his desktop, the screen was blank. He then viewed
                                                                                                  • Automating Custom Web Link Messages to Customers via Instant Messaging in Zoho Desk

                                                                                                    Hello, I am looking for assistance with Zoho Desk's Instant Messaging feature. Is there a way to automate the sending of a custom web link to customers every day at 6:30 PM? Any guidance or suggestions on how to achieve this would be greatly appreciated.
                                                                                                  • How do you apply field validation to a date field?

                                                                                                    We are using Sign for remote e-signature of liability waivers. The signer must enter a date of birth, and if they are a minor their legal guardian must sign for them. However we have had numerous problems with signers returning an invalid date of birth
                                                                                                  • Implement Regex in Layout and Validation rules

                                                                                                    Hello all, We are excited to announce that users can now implement Regular Expressions (Regex) in our layout and validation rules. This new functionality allows for more flexible rules to be created when designing and validating forms. What is Regex?
                                                                                                  • Zoho Desk Validation Rule Using Custom Function

                                                                                                    Hi all, I tried to find the way to validate fields using custom function just like in Zoho CRM but to no avail. Is there a way to do this?
                                                                                                  • Editing landing page after signup for a webinar

                                                                                                    Hi, how can I edit the landing page after signing up for a webinar. I personalized the email "registration confirmation", which is working fine. Nevertheless after submitting the form, the participant gets redirected to a page, which looks like the standard
                                                                                                  • Kiosk GetRecords can't compare formulas

                                                                                                    (submitted as a help request by accident - should have been a topic) Scenario: I have an "email domain" formula whose value is "@xyz.com" if the e-mail address is brent@xyz.com . I have the same field in Leads and Contacts. So, theoretically, I should
                                                                                                  • Kiosk can't merge picklist or multiselect

                                                                                                    There is no ability to load a multiselect or picklikst field into a kiosk with the values that have been previously selected. So, I essentially have 3 unacceptable options: 1.)Load the value into a text string and include instructions like this: "Picklist
                                                                                                  • Fillable template with dynamic tables?

                                                                                                    Is there a way to build a fillable template so that users can add rows to a table? To describe what I'm trying to accomplish the table has 3 sections; a header row, some number of rows with custom information, and a summary row with totals. I can't figure
                                                                                                  • Tip of the Week - Timeline User Filter for Dashboard

                                                                                                    Does the Date User Filter in your Dashboard leave out a few reports from filtering? This happens when the reports are not created over the same table and the (time) column over which the user filter is created.   To solve this, Zoho Reports has a Timeline User Filter. This filter applies the criteria on all reports, matching it with the best possible date column associated with a report. i.e., if your reports are based on a date column, then it will filter it for that data column.  To know more on
                                                                                                  • Zoho Forms Webhooks - Only sends on submission not on edit.

                                                                                                    Hi There, We have a slightly unique use case for Zoho Forms. We used Zoho Forms for the collection of Guest Lists. When a customer submits their guest list they get an email confirmation. Within this is a link for them to update their guest list before
                                                                                                  • Add Knowledge Base KB Articles to multiple categories

                                                                                                    Greetings,  Love you help center system.  One item that would be incredibly helpful to many of us would be able to add a single Knowledge Base KB article to multiple categories in our system.  It seems it could be quite easy to use a checkbox form, instead
                                                                                                  • What does "Tickets for Review" do?

                                                                                                    What is the purpose of the va nilla view " Tickets for Review?"
                                                                                                  • Report of Leads/Accounts/Deals with no open activities

                                                                                                    How can we replicate the option in filter to only show Leads/Accounts/Deals with no open activities ? The option is present in the filters (please find screenshot) but I am unable to find them in the report. Thanks
                                                                                                  • Cannot set Subform Multiline field to read-only using Client Script

                                                                                                    I am using client script to set different subform fields as read-only It works for Single Line Fields, but when I try to set a Multiline field as Read-only it doesn't work var subform = ZDK.Page.getSubform("Subform_1"); var item_Code_old = subform.getField('Item_Code_Old').setReadOnly(true);
                                                                                                  • Changing Color Theme of Guided Conversations

                                                                                                    Hello, We have recently added Guided Conversations to one of our websites, but I am wondering if there is a way to customize the color scheme so it matches the appearance of the website? Thank you in advance!
                                                                                                  • Lost the ability to sort by ticket owner

                                                                                                    Hi all, in the last week or so, we have lost the ability to sort tickets by Ticket Owner. Unlike the other columns which we can hover over and click on to sort, Ticket Owner is no longer clickable. Is it just us, or are other customers seeing this too?
                                                                                                  • 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
                                                                                                  • Social Media Simplified with Zoho Social: Bridge sales and social media marketing

                                                                                                    Social media marketing has become the go-to strategy for most businesses who are trying to boost awareness of their product/service, create a brand image in the minds of their audience, increase website traffic and engagement, and generate leads. Posting
                                                                                                  • This domain is not allowed to add. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

                                                                                                    I am trying to setup the free version of Zoho Mail. When I tried to add my domain, theselfreunion.com I got the error message that is the subject of this Topic. I've read your other community forum topics, and this is NOT a free domain. So what is the
                                                                                                  • Work Orders / Bundle Requests

                                                                                                    Zoho Inventory needs a work order / bundle request system. This record would be analogous to a purchase order in the purchasing workflow or a sales order in the sales cycle. It would be non-journaling, but it would reserve the appropriate inventory of
                                                                                                  • Create Quote does not show the "Product Description" entered as part of the Product setup.

                                                                                                    The product description created as part of the product setup page, does not show in the Create Quote module; The module allows for an additional description to be added but without access to the original stored description. By selecting the product from the "Product Name Lookup" pop-up, the "Product Description" part should be populated from the product record where the user is allowed to further modify it.
                                                                                                  • Allow Itemization for Recurring Expenses

                                                                                                    For whatever reason, one cannot itemize a Recurring Expense. This capability should be added. The use cases to support this is largely the same as what they were to allow for itemization in Expenses. Anything that would need to be itemized for a regular
                                                                                                  • Next Page