Kaizen #166 - Handling Query Variables in Zoho CRM
Hello, Code Enthusiasts!
Welcome to another week of Kaizen!
This week, we'll dive into handling variables in Zoho CRM Queries and see how they can be deployed in Kiosk to dynamically retrieve data. This technique is especially useful for integrating data from third-party applications or CRM itself into your custom interface, such as Canvas and Kiosk.
Variables
Variables are placeholders in Queries that are replaced with real values at runtime. Instead of hard coding data, you can use variables to make your Queries flexible and reusable.
Syntax: {{Variable_Name}}
Query variables in Zoho CRM function differently from conventional Zoho CRM variables. While CRM variables act as containers for dynamic values that can be stored and reused anywhere within the organization, query variables are designed to receive their values at runtime.
Query variables enhance flexibility and are specifically used in:
- COQL: To dynamically filter and retrieve data.
- REST API: For runtime data fetching based on specific parameters.
- Query Criteria: To define conditions dynamically for fetching records.
How to Use a Variable?
To use variables, ensure the fields providing the variable values are available in the context where the Query is executed.
Let’s say you want to evaluate a marketing campaign's performance. For this, you need to fetch all leads with a specific lead source. Since each campaign is associated with a different lead source, you can define the lead source as a variable. When viewing a campaign's details, the lead source will be passed dynamically to the Query.
Business Scenario : Nearby Delivery Hubs
Imagine a telecommerce platform using Zoho CRM to manage sales and deliveries. When a customer provides their PIN code, the salesperson must confirm with the customer for a nearby post office for package pick-ups and drop-offs in Kiosk.
With Zoho CRM Queries, you can achieve this by dynamically fetching the nearby post offices list based on the customer's PIN code and displaying it on the Contact record’s detail page. Here's how to set it up using the Kiosk feature.
Setting Up the Query in Kiosk
1. Access Kiosk Studio
- Log in to Zoho CRM.
- Go to Setup > Customization > Kiosk Studio and click Create Kiosk.
2. Configure the Current Module
- Choose the module where the Kiosk will be deployed.
For this example, select Contacts to use the PIN code from the Contact record.
- Configuring this Current Module is mandatory to use variables from the current record.
3. Add a Screen
- Click the + icon on the flowchart and select Screen.
- Name the screen and click Add.
4. Add a Query
- Under Display Elements, choose Get Data Via Queries.
- Click New Query and then Add Query to create a new one.
5. Set Up the Data Source
- Any custom source has to be enrolled either in the Trusted Domains or in the Connections. For demo,
- Add the base URL https://api.postalpincode.in/pincode to Trusted Domain.
- Skip Connections as the Postal PIN Code API is an open source.
- In the Add Query pop-up, click Source and create a new source.
For this demo, we’ll add India Post to fetch post offices based on PIN codes.
- Add default Headers and Parameters to the source if any. This will be added by default whenever the source is used in a query.
6. Define the Query
- In the Information section, provide the query’s Name and API Name to refer to the query wherever needed.
- Use the endpoint URL with a variable, e.g., https://api.example.com/post_offices/{{Mailing_Zip}}.
- You can add headers and parameters specific to the query, but let us skip that for the demo.
- Add a JavaScript serializer to process the Query response. For our case, we will serialize the response with return result[0].PostOffice;.
- You can test your serializer with the help of Preview. Once finished, provide a test value to the variable for generating Schema for the Query Response.
The test value you provide is temporary and not permanent. The value of a variable will be declared using merge fields when you associate the query with a component. Check Step 7 to know how it is used in our demo.
You can also manipulate the response by changing data types of keys in the raw response. To keep the demo simple, let's go with the raw response.
7. Link the Query to Kiosk
- Use Dynamic Parameters to map the variable to the Mailing Zip field from the Contact record. Enter # to merge the fields.
- In Choose Fields, select which data to display in the Kiosk.
- You can further manipulate the query response in the Record Preferences section.
Select your preference to view the response as a Single Record or Multiple Records. - For Single Record, choose the data that has to be displayed from the query response and click Save.
- For Multiple Records, fill in the following details as shown in this image.
- The Selection Limit helps you with the maximum number of records that have to be chosen in the kiosk after publishing.
- Identifier field functions as the primary field to identify each record.
- In the fields section, choose the data that has to be displayed from the query response.
Customize the Kiosk button and click Done to save your configuration.
8. Test and Publish
Test the Kiosk using a sample Record ID from the Contacts module. If successful, the list of nearby post offices will display in an iframe as it would appear on the Contact detail page.
Once satisfied, publish the Kiosk to make it live.
Let us check the Kiosk from the Contacts detail page.
Example Scenarios
- Loan Approval: You can display a customer's CIBIL score using their Social Security Number (SSN) directly within a Canvas. The SSN serves as a runtime variable, allowing you to approve loans without manual data entry and shifting tabs.
- Customer Support: In a Records Detail View kiosk, display all high priority tickets linked to an account. The current account's ID acts as a runtime variable, ensuring that support agents have immediate access to relevant queries and resolve issues faster.
- Insurance Verification: In a Records Detail View kiosk, the customer's ID proof number can be used to verify their details on official government sites. The ID proof number dynamically functions as a variable, streamlining the insurance verification process.
We hope you found this post informative and beneficial.
If you have any queries or a topic to be discussed, reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com or drop your comments below.
Cheers!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous Kaizen: Kaizen #165 - How to call Zoho CRM APIs using Client Script | Kaizen Collection: Directory
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Kiruthiga G
Piyush Goyal
Sticky Posts
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 areKaizen #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 achievedKaizen #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 theKaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs
🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
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
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Invitation-Based User Access in Zoho Analytics
Hello everyone, We’re rolling out an important update on how users are added to your Zoho Analytics Organization and Workspaces. Previously, when admins added users, they were automatically added to the organization. Moving forward, to improve securityFiltert products by multi select custom field
Hello, this is seems like a must addition, why it can not be done now?Multiple images
Hi Is there a way to insert multiple images in one image record or any way that instead of one image, I could upload 5 to 10 images together. Looking forward for a solution. RegardsZoho Projects - Custom Objects
Hello, is there the ability now, or in the near future, to add custom objects to Zoho Projects? The requirement here would be to have the ability to track change requests to a project's budget. The idea here is to have the ability to create a custom ObjectAccess CRM Variables from Formula field
Is it possible to use a CRM variable (defined in Developer Space -> CRM Variables) in a formula field for calculations ?Announcing Bigin India Meetups Across 8 Cities: July 29 - Aug 07
Hello Biginners, We've got some exciting news to share! We're hosting our first round of Customer Meetups for 2025 in India, from 29th July - 9th August. Whether you're a Bigin newbie or a seasoned pro, this is your chance to meet customers from yourWhy isn't there an Expense description field / column?
Hello! I'm new to Zoho Books and accounting. I'm surprised there isn't a proper expense description field (and column in the overview "all expenses" page)? I thought this was a given in accounting, as visualizing expenses facilitates tracking them down?New in Zoho PDF Editor: Watermarks, password protection, signature collection, and more.
Hi Zoho Sign users! We are delighted to introduce the latest enhancements to Zoho PDF Editor, designed based on user feedback and feature requests. This update enables you to reorder, extract, and rotate PDF pages, add watermarks, and collect signatures.Cant't update custom field when custom field is external lookup in Zoho Books
Hello I use that : po = zoho.books.updateRecord("purchaseorders",XXXX,purchaseorder_id,updateCustomFieldseMap,"el_books_connection"); c_f_Map2 = Map(); c_f_Map2.put("label","EL ORDER ID"); c_f_Map2.put("value",el_order_id); c_f_List.add(c_f_Map2); updateCustomFieldseMapPrinted Reports, Increase Font SIZE
I need to send some printed copies of financial reports to my attorney. The reports print out with microscopic fonts. How do I increase the font size so that a normal human can read the text? Every other accounting app can do this so I imagine I haveAvoid email sending!
Hello, Thanks you Zoho for the wonderful apps you provide. Question: Is there a way to disable sending emails when: - creating an estimate or billing. Thanks TommyNeed to show discount before total after subtotal
Need to show discount before total after subtotal on my estimate template (see attachment)Email a "thank you" note for this payment is NOW checked by default
Hello Team, Just noticed that Email a "thank you" note for this payment is now checked by default. I tried searching in Preferences and there is no way to turn this off. I do not want this to be the default. Is there a way to turn this off?End-to-end services hours
We are trying to determine the best method of quoting service hours on quotes but only present the sum amount to a customer, without losing the tracking of quantity of hours for invoicing purposes. Does anyone have a good method they have determined?Specific Approval Question
Hi everyone, Just a quick question here. I have located the "Approval Type" in the preferences, which is great, and I am sure we could make use of it. However, I am trying to understand how I can implement an approval "workflow". The business call itZoho Books - Show Discount Totals When Greater Than Zero
Hi Books Team, I understand that to show or hide discount amount on a Quote or Invoice, I need to use different templates. It would be a great quality of life improvement for users if we had an option to show or hide the discount amount at line item andSpecifying a filename for Schedule Reports
Is it possible to specify a filename to use with scheduled reports? For example: With a general ledger report, instead of general_ledger.pdf I would like to include the date the report was generated in the filename so it is called general_ledger_202Need to upsert "Created Time" field in Leads Module
I am in the process of implementing Zoho CRM for my business. I need to modify the "Created By' field to reflect the actual date/time the lead was captured in my original Excel file. Otherwise, my conversion velocity data will always be inaccurate, whichHTML for confirmation email
Hi, After a prospect submitted the Zoho form, we want to send a confirmation mail. In this mail we want to add our email signature. However, while this is possible in Zoho CRM this doesn't seem to be an option in Zoho Forms. Also an html editor is notFire a webhook when the user gets access to portal
Hello, We would like to know if there is any way in which we can automate a webhook call if the user accepts the portal invitation that Zoho sends by email. The customer module does have the option to trigger webhooks when a customer is created, updated,Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values Not Available
When I create a custom picklist field in Deals, the "Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values" option is not available in the Edit Properties area of the picklist. When I create a picklist in any other Module, that option is available. Is there a specific reason why this isn't available for fields in the Deals Module?Creating Payrun summary by fetching values from the employee payruns and adding them
I am trying to make a processing payrun module. I want on Form load to autofill payrun summary eg Total Deductions, Total employer contributions etc by fetching one value after the other in the employee payrun information. So it should loop through theFeature Request - Zoho Books - Add Retainer Invoices to CRM/Books integration
Hi Books Team, My feature request is to include Retainer Invoices in the finance suite integration with Zoho CRM. This way we will be able to see if retainer invoices have been issued and paid. I have also noticed that when the generate retainer invoiceBooks <-> CRM synchronisation with custom Fields
Hello, We are synchronising Books Customers with CRM Accounts. In CRM Accounts I set up last year a "segments" multiselect field shown below In Books, I set up a custom multi-select field with the same value as in the CRM And set up the synchronisation inside Books. Want to synchronise the Books Segments with the CRM Segments, but the later doesn't exist, and another non-existing is there ?! First, I don't understand where the field Segmentation is coming from. Second, I set CRM Segmentation to syncEdit Reconciled Transactions
I realize transaction amounts and certain accounts cannot be edited easily once reconciled, but when I audit my operational transactions quarterly and at the end of the year sometimes I need to change the expense account for a few transactions. To doRequest to Customize Module Bar Placement in New Zoho CRM UI
Hello Support and Zoho Community, I've been exploring the new UI of Zoho CRM "For Everyone" and have noticed a potential concern for my users. We are accustomed to having the module names displayed across the top, which made navigation more intuitiveSending campaigns from other server
Hi, Is it possible to send campaigns from another server so customers can see mail direct from our company (Corrata) and not from ZCSend.net? Thanks, TimEdit a previous reconciliation
I realized that during my March bank reconciliation, I chose the wrong check to reconcile (they were for the same amount on the same date, I just chose the wrong check to reconcile). So now, the incorrect check is showing as un-reconciled. Is there any way I can edit a previous reconciliation (this is 7 months ago) so I can adjust the check that was reconciled? The amounts are exactly the same and it won't change my ending balance.Admin and Dispatcher Users show as Field Technicians in Dispatch Module?
Hi Zoho, Our Admin and Dispatch user both show up as Fied Technicians / Field Agents in the Dispatch module, but they most certainly should not be assigned to any of the work orders and service appointments. These users are NOT service resources. HowZoho Payroll: Product Updates - June 2025
This June, we’re taking a giant step forward. One that reflects what we’ve heard from you, the businesses that power economies. For our customers using the latest version of Zoho Payroll (organizations created after Dec 12, 2024) in the United States,View Products (items) in Contact and Company
Hi, I would like to know if there is an option to view all the products /(items) that were inserted in the pipeline deal stage for exemple "Win Pipeline" within the company and contacts module section? For instance, view with the option filter for theUpdate subform dropdown field choices - on load workflow
Hi, I have a "Check In" form that has "Contacts" subform and a "Tickets" subform. When the form is loaded, I want to populate one contact and the number of tickets. I want the "Contact" field in the "Tickets" subform to have the choice of "Contacts."Upload Zoho Inventory Item Image by API
itemID = item.get("item_id"); organizationID = organization.get("organization_id"); resvp = zoho.inventory.getRecordsByID("items",organizationID,itemID,"zoho_inventory_conn"); info resvp; image_file = invokeurl [ url: "https://t4.ftcdn.net/jpg/03/13/59/81/360_F_313598127_M2n9aSAYVsfYuSSVytPuYpLAwSEp5lxH.jpg"Salesforce to Zoho One Migration
HI, I am about to start a migration from Salesforce to Zoho One I would like to know the best practise for this, my current thoughts to the approach is 1) Create fields, modules as required for migrating data 2) migrate Data 3) go live Will this approachZoho Expense Integration with Zoho Books
I want to know what flexibility do i have in selecting the chart of accounts which get a hit whenever we are posting any expense or advance in zoho expense?Custom Function to Update Ticket based on Subject of Ticket
This may be pretty simple but I'm having issues with getting a custom function to fill out custom fields based on the subject of a ticket and not the body of a ticket. Basically we need to fill in the PO number and Item ID custom fields, both of thisIncoming 'Message' data via WhatsApp appears empty
the Incoming 'Message' data via WhatsApp appears empty; instead of customer messages, I only see CRM system notification messages are being displayed. I have seen 3 messages like this since yesterday it seems that in 'All Message' the message snippetHandling Automatic Replies in Desk
We send out email campaigns (currently via Klaviyo) and naturally we receive "Automatic Replies" to these mass email campaigns. These responses are all being routed to Zoho Desk. We get two types of "Automatic Replies" Type 1) Customer is out of the office/holidayZoho Mail API Error EXTRA_KEY_FOUND_IN_JSON
I have a workflow set up in Pipedream that uses the Zoho Mail API to send emails from my account. It's worked without issue for months but today I'm getting the following 404 error for every email I try to send: { "data": { "errorCode": "EXTRA_KEY_FOUND_IN_JSON"How to search (web API) for a Calls record by phone number?
Using v8 /Calls/search web api I'm unable to to complete a search request no matter how I use the api: When I try using "criteria=" I get: response: <Response [400]> response_json: { "code": "INVALID_QUERY", "details": { "reason": "the field is not availableNext Page