Kaizen #18 - Ruby SDK

Kaizen #18 - Ruby SDK

Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another week of Kaizen!
This week, we will discuss the Ruby SDK.

What is the Ruby SDK for Zoho CRM?

Ruby SDK allows you to create client Ruby applications that you can integrate with Zoho CRM, effortlessly. It serves as a wrapper for the REST APIs, thus making it easier to use the services of Zoho CRM.

Here is a sample of how the SDK acts as a middle ware between Zoho CRM and a client Ruby Application.


What can you do with the Ruby SDK?
  • Exchange data between Zoho CRM and the client application where the CRM entities are modeled as classes.
  • Authenticate your application easily every time you sync data between Zoho CRM and your application, as the SDK takes care of generating the access/refresh tokens automatically.
Environment Setup
The client app must have the Ruby version 2.3.7 or above installed. Refer to Ruby Installation for the steps to install Ruby.

How to Start using the Ruby SDK?
Follow the below steps:
  • Step-1: Register your application (Self Client or Web-based client)
  • Step-2: Install the SDK
  • Step-3: Initialize the SDK
    3.a. Choose the token persistence method
    3.b. Set up the configuration dictionary
    3.c. Generate the tokens
  • Step-4: Connect to Zoho CRM through the available methods
Let us now discuss these steps in detail.

Step-1: Register your application

All the Zoho CRM APIs are authenticated by the OAuth2.0 standards. It is mandatory to authenticate your application with Zoho.
You can register your application either as a Self Client (single user app) or a web-based app (multiple users app).
1.a. Self Client
  1. Go to https://api-console.zoho.com.
  2. Click ADD CLIENT.
  3. Choose the Client Type as Self Client, and click CREATE.
  4. You will receive a client ID and a client secret upon successful registration.
1.b. Web-based Client
  1. Go to https://api-console.zoho.com.
  2. Click ADD CLIENT.
  3. Choose the client as Web based and click CREATE NOW.
  4. Specify the client name, homepage URL of your application's UI, and a redirect URI to which you want to redirect the users after they grant consent to your application.
  5. Click CREATE.

  6. Your Client ID and Client Secret will be displayed.
Step-2: Install the SDK

The Ruby SDK is available as a gem. 
Run the below command to install the Ruby SDK for Zoho CRM.

gem install ZCRMSDK

Step-3: Initialize the SDK 

Initializing the SDK involves the following steps.

  • Step 3.a - Choosing the token persistence method
  • Step 3.b - Setting up the configuration dictionary
  • Step 3.c - Generating the tokens

3.a. Token Persistence
Your application should retain tokens (grant, access, and refresh tokens) to automate the process of data transfer between your Ruby application and Zoho CRM.

You can persist (store) the tokens in three ways.
a. MySQL Persistence (default)
b. File Persistence
c. Custom DB Persistence

a. MySQL Persistence
When you want to store the tokens in the MySQL DB, ensure that MySQL2 is installed.
Run the below command to install MySQL2.

gem install mysql2 -v 0.5.2

For this type of persistence, you must include the following keys in the configuration dictionary (discussed in the next section), along with other mandatory keys.

"mysql_username":"root",
"mysql_password":"*****",
"mysql_port":"port_number"

Note
When you use MySQL persistence, ensure that
  • MySQL runs in the same machine serving at the mentioned port. (by default 3306).
  • There is a database named zohooauth.
  • There is a table name oauthtokens with the columns useridentifier (varchar(100)), accesstoken (varchar(100)), refreshtoken (varchar(100)) and expirytime (bigint).

b. File Persistence
If you want to store the tokens in a file, you can create a file named zcrm_oauthtokens.txt and provide the absolute path of the folder containing this file in the below key of the configuration array.

"token_persistence_path":"path_to_the_folder_containing_the_txt_file"

If you do not create this file, the SDK itself creates this file in the path you have specified, and persists the token there.
Note: This method is recommended only for self client apps.

c. Custom DB Persistence
To use this method, you need to provide the following keys in the configuration dictionary.

"persistence_handler_class_path":"absolute path to the custom DB implementation"
"persistence_handler_class":"class name of the custom implementation".

You can use the inbuilt ZohoPersistenceHandler interface and include the following custom functions.

  • saveOAuthData(ZohoOAuthTokens tokens)
  • deleteOAuthTokens($userEmailId)
  • getOAuthTokens($userEmailId)
Note
The order of precedence for token persistence is custom, file, and DB persistence. That is, if you provide the details for custom persistence (in persistence_handler_class_path) and file persistence details (in token_persistence_path), then custom persistence is given priority over file.

3.b. Configuration dictionary
The below tables contains the list of keys you must include in the configuration dictionary based on the type of persistence.

Mandatory Keys

File Persistence
MySQL Persistence
Custom DB Persistence
client_id
client_id
client_id
client_secret
client_secret
client_secret
redirect_uri
redirect_uri
redirect_uri
token_persistence_path
db_username
persistence_handler_class
-
db_password
persistence_handler_class_path
-
db_port
-
current_user_email
current_user_email
current_user_email

Optional Keys

File Persistence
MySQL Persistence
Custom DB Persistence
application_log_file_path
application_log_file_path
application_log_file_path
log_in_console
log_in_console
log_in_console
sandbox
sandbox
sandbox
access_type
access_type
access_type
accounts_url
accounts_url
accounts_url
api_base_url
api_base_url
api_base_url
api_version
api_version
api_version

Where,
  • client_id, client_secret, and redirect_uri - Client details you received after registering your application. For self client apps, you can pass a dummy value for the redirect uri.
  • token_persistence_path - The relative path to store the OAuth tokens in the zcrm_oauthtokens.txt file. This key is mandatory if you want to use file persistence.
  • db_username, db_password, db_port - The MySQL username, password, and the port, respectively.
  • persistence_handler_class - Name of the class of the custom implementation for persistence. This key is mandatory if you want to use custom persistence.
  • persistence_handler_class_path - The absolute path to the custom DB implementation (.rb file).
  • application_log_file_path - The absolute path to log the exceptions during the usage of the SDK.
  • log_in_console - To print the exceptions on the console screen, when set as "true".
  • sandbox - Boolean key to make API calls to the sandbox environment. The value true makes API calls to the sandbox. Default value is false.
  • access_type - Must be set as offline as the SDK does not support online OAuth client, now.
  • accounts_url - The domain-specific accounts URL from which you generate the tokens.
    This key is mandatory when the user is not in the "com" domain.
    For US:
    https://accounts.zoho.com
    For EU:
    https://accounts.zoho.eu
    For CN:
    https://accounts.zoho.com.cn
    For IN:
    https://accounts.zoho.in
  • api_base_url - The domain-specific API URL from which you make API calls. For users from domains other than the US, this key is mandatory.
    For US:
    https://www.zohoapis.com
    For EU:
    https://www.zohoapis.eu
    For CN:
    https://www.zohoapis.com.cn
    For IN:
    https://www.zohoapis.in
  • api_version - Represents the version of the CRM APIs. The value is v2.
  • current_user_email - The email ID of the current user. You must set this either in the configuration array or ZCRMSDK::RestClient::ZCRMRestClient.current_user_email = "current user email id".

Below is a configuration dictionary with all the keys. 

config_details = { 'client_id' => 'xxxxx', #mandatory
'client_secret' => 'xxxxxx', #mandatory
'redirect_uri' => 'https://www.zoho.com', #mandatory
'api_base_url' => 'https://www.zohoapis.com', #optional, default is https://www.zohoapis.com
'accounts_url' => 'https://accounts.zoho.com', #optional, default is https://accounts.zoho.com
'current_user_email' => 'abc@xyz.com', #mandatory (should be either set in config array or ZCRMSDK::RestClient::ZCRMRestClient.current_user_email = "current user email id" )
'api_version' => 'v2', #optional,default is v2
'sandbox' => 'false', #optional default is sandbox
'application_log_file_path' => "/Users/xxxx/Desktop/log.log", #optional, absolute path of log file
'log_in_console' => 'true', #optional default is false, to log on the console
'persistence_handler_class_path' => 'absolute/path/to/customClass.ruby', #absolute path to the custom db implementation
'persistence_handler_class' =>'classname', #name of the class
'token_persistence_path'=>'relativepath/to/zcrm_oauthtokens.txt', #for file persistence
'db_username' => 'username', #optional, default root
'db_password' => 'password', #optional, default ''
'db_port' => 'port_number', #optional, default 3306
}

Now that you have created and registered your app with Zoho, you must authenticate it. 
Pass the configuration dictionary in the method ZCRMRestClient.init(config) and authenticate your app.

3.c. Generating the tokens

As the V2 Zoho CRM APIs follow the OAuth2.0 protocol, it is mandatory to authorize the OAuth2.0 app before using the SDK functions.
You can generate an access token from a grant token.
You can generate the grant token in two ways based on the type of client.

For Self Client Applications
  • Go to Zoho Developer Console.
  • Select your Self Client.
  • Provide the necessary scopes separated by commas, along with the scope aaaserver.profile.READ.
  • Select the Time Duration from the drop-down. This is the time the grant token is valid for.
  • Provide a description for the scopes. Click GENERATE.
  • Copy the grant token.

For Web-based Applications

It is the responsibility of your client app to generate the grant token for the users trying to login.
Your Application's UI must have the Login with Zoho option to open the grant token URL of Zoho, which would prompt for the user's OAuth2.0 authorization.
Upon the successful login of the user, the grant token will be sent as a parameter to your registered redirect URL.

Generating an access token from the grant token
Use the below code snippet in your main class.

client = ZCRMSDK::OAuthClient::ZohoOAuth.get_client_instance
grant_token = 'grant_token'
client.generate_access_token(grant_token)
Note
  • The code snippet to generate the access token from the grant token is valid only once per grant token. If the grant token expires before you generate the access token, you must generate a new grant token only.
  • Generating access and refresh tokens is a one-time process. After the tokens are generated the first time, the SDK persists them based on the keys defined in the configuration dictionary, and refreshes the access token as and when required.

Step-4: Connect to Zoho CRM through the available methods
Here is a sample to get a specific user's details. You can find the code for this sample in the attachment.


The isTokenGenerated Method

def self.is_token_generate(user)
    tokens = ZCRMSDK::OAuthClient::ZohoOauth.get_persistence_instance.get_oauth_tokens(user)
    unless tokens.nil?
        return true
    end
    rescue Exception => e
        return false 
  end
You need to add this method to check if the access token has already been generated or not. It returns a Boolean value.
  • true - The access token has already been generated. 
  • false - The access token has not been generated previously, thus, it shifts the control to the code snippet that leads to access token generation.
For more sample codes, refer to our SDK guide.
We hope you found this post useful. Stay tuned for more!

Cheers!




    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.






                              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 #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

                                                                Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! 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.
                                                              • Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

                                                                Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this
                                                              • 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


                                                              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

                                                                                                                • CRM templates

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, In my company we use Zoho campaigns where we set up all newsletters and we use Zoho CRM for transactional emails. I have created some templates in Zoho campaigns but from my understanding i cannot use those in Zoho CRM, right?
                                                                                                                • Pending Sales Order Reports

                                                                                                                  Pending sale order report is available for any single customer, Individual report is available after 3-4 clicks but consolidated list is needed to know the status each item. please help me.
                                                                                                                • Zoho Mail SMTP IP addresses

                                                                                                                  We are using Zoho Mail and needs to whitelist IP for some redirections from your service to another e-mails. You can provide IP address list for Zohomail SMTP servers?
                                                                                                                • Trying to Add Tasks to Other Users Is Utterly Baffling

                                                                                                                  As the title says, the process of trying to create a task for someone in my team is so unintuitive and illogical that I have given up trying to do it. This is a feature that I pay for but it is so poorly devised and implemented that my team has given
                                                                                                                • Zoho Campaigns - Why do contacts have owners?

                                                                                                                  When searching for contacts in Zoho Campaigns I am sometimes caught out when I don't select the filter option "Inactive users". So it appears that I have some contacts missing, until I realise that I need to select that option. Campaigns Support have
                                                                                                                • email forwarding not working

                                                                                                                  Your email forwarding service does not work. I received the confirmation email and completed the confirmation, after that nothing and nothing since no matter what I have tried. Shame as everything else was smooth. I spose it's harder to run one of these web based internet mail services than you guys thought!!! can you fix the email forwarding asap PLEASE!
                                                                                                                • Google Ads Conversions Not Being Tracked in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                  We have 3 different conversions created in our Google Ads Account. Only one of the 3 conversion types is tracking in Zoho CRM. Our forms are Elementor Forms that are mapped into Zoho CRM. It apprears to me that all leads are showing up in Zoho CRM, but
                                                                                                                • Enable Locations for Expense

                                                                                                                  Hi, please enable Locations (ex Branches) for Zoho Expense so that there is consistency between this app and Zoho Books. Thanks in advance.
                                                                                                                • 无法发送消息;原因:5545.1.8电子邮件传出被阻止。

                                                                                                                  求帮助,我的邮箱无法发送邮件,请尽快修复。 我们只是用来做正常的资料寄送,如果贵公司再无理封锁我们的邮箱,我们会改用其他公司的服务。 请尽快解封,ID: 815556404
                                                                                                                • in the Zoho Creator i have File Upload field get the file on submission of the form Get the File and upload to Zoho Books

                                                                                                                  in the Zoho Creator i have File Upload field get the file on submission of the form Get the File and upload to Zoho Books . how I get the file From zoho creator and upload to Zoho Books . using Api response = invokeUrl [ url: "https://www.zohoapis.com/creator/v2.1/data/hh/l130/report/All_Customer_Payments/"+input.ID
                                                                                                                • Rate Limiting in Zoho Flow (OpenAI API)

                                                                                                                  Hi Everyone, We are facing some issues when using Zoho Flow as we have a deluge script running which is making external calls to OpenAI endpoint. Sometimes the response takes more than 30 seconds meaning the script will timeout. We want to implement a
                                                                                                                • Placing a condition before converting the LEAD

                                                                                                                  Hi,  I need some assistance with Lead conversion. I need to place certain conditions before allowing the user to convert the lead.  For example: up until the certain status's doesn't equal "green" don't allow to convert lead.  I tried creating this using
                                                                                                                • it is possible to open a widget via deluge script function

                                                                                                                  I have one function that is workflow action I call my fucntion I need to call the internal widget it is possible to open or it have to please tell me the solution
                                                                                                                • Creator - Portal Custom Domain

                                                                                                                  I will pay $100 in crypto to anyone who can actually get my Creator Custom Domain to function (actually tell me how you got yours to).  Domain verifies, Nothing. I've been fighting it a week, multiple chats to customer service. Clearly I'm doing something wrong.  Some datapoints Domain name itself unimportant, can be a string of numbers.  I need to know what registrars are working for you because GoDaddy does NOT.  Do I need hosting? I've tried both ways and nothing works.  I pushed through Cloudflare
                                                                                                                • steps and options to change Domain DNS/Nameservers settings

                                                                                                                  Please share the options or steps to change  Domain DNS/Nameservers settings 
                                                                                                                • Employees in Leave Policy exceptions

                                                                                                                  In the Leave Policies we should be able to add specific employees to the exception list So it will be like All Employees except A,B,C in the exception list, currently we can only add departments etc
                                                                                                                • How get stock name from other column ?

                                                                                                                  How get stock name from other column ? e.g. =STOCK(C12;"price") where C12 is the code of the stock
                                                                                                                • Adding a developer for editing the client application with a single user license

                                                                                                                  Hi, I want to know that I as a developer I developed one application and handed over to the customer who is using the application on a single user license. Now after6 months customer came back to me and needs some changes in the application. Can a customer
                                                                                                                • Download an email template in html code

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, I have created an email template and I want to download it as html. How can i do that? I know you can do it via the campaigns-first create a campaign add the template and download it as html from there. But what if i don't want to create
                                                                                                                • Attachment is not included in e-mails sent through Wordpress

                                                                                                                  I have a Wordpress site with Zeptomail Wordpress plugin installed and configured. E-mails are sent ok through Zeptomail but without the included attachment (.pdf file) Zeptomail is used to send tickets to customers through Zeptomail. E-Mails are generated
                                                                                                                • Upcoming Changes to the Timesheet Module

                                                                                                                  The Timesheet module will undergo a significant change in the upcoming weeks. To start with, we will be renaming Timesheet module to Time Logs. This update will go live early next week. Significance of this change This change will facilitate our next
                                                                                                                • Cant update image field after uploading image to ZFS

                                                                                                                  Hello i recently made an application in zoho creator for customer service where customers could upload their complaints every field has been mapped from creator into crm and works fine except for the image upload field i have tried every method to make
                                                                                                                • Billing Management: #4 Negate Risk Free with Advances

                                                                                                                  In the last post, we explored how unbilled charges accumulate before being invoiced. But what happens when businesses need money before service begins? Picture this: A construction company takes on a $500,000 commercial building project expected to last
                                                                                                                • Zoho CRM Inventory Management

                                                                                                                  What’s the difference between Zoho CRM’s inventory management features and Zoho Inventory? When is it better to use each one?
                                                                                                                • Cannot Enable Picklist Field Dependency in Products or Custom Modules – Real Estate Setup

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho Support, I am configuring Zoho CRM for real estate property management and need picklist field dependency: What I’ve tried: I started by customizing the Products module (Setup > Modules & Fields) to create “Property Type” (Housing, Land, Commercial)
                                                                                                                • Get Workflow Metadata via API

                                                                                                                  Is there a way to get metadata on workflows and/or custom functions via API? I would like to automatically pull this information. I couldn't find it in the documentations, but I'm curious if there is an undocumented endpoint that could do this. Moderation
                                                                                                                • Zoho Projects - Q2 Updates | 2025

                                                                                                                  Hello Users, With this year's second quarter behind us, Zoho Projects is marching towards expanding its usability with a user-centered, more collaborative, customizable, and automated attribute. But before we chart out plans for what’s next, it’s worth
                                                                                                                • FSM setup

                                                                                                                  So we have been tinkering with FSM to see if it is going to be for us. Now is the time to bite the bullet and link it to our zoho books and zoho crm. The help guides are good but it would really help if they were a bit more in depth on the intergrations.
                                                                                                                • Upcoming Updates to the Employees Module in Zoho Payroll (US)

                                                                                                                  We've made a couple of updates to the Employees module in Zoho Payroll (latest version of the US edition). These changes will go live today. While creating an employee Currently, the Compensation Details section is part of the Basic Details step, where
                                                                                                                • ZOHO Creator subform link

                                                                                                                  Dear Community Support, I am looking for some guidance on how to add a clickable link within a Zoho Creator subform. The goal is for this link to redirect users to another Creator form where they can edit the data related to the specific row they clicked
                                                                                                                • Allow Resource to Accept or Reject an Appointment

                                                                                                                  I have heard that this can be done, is there any documentation on how?
                                                                                                                • Create new Account with contact

                                                                                                                  Hi I can create a new Account and, as part of that process, add a primary contact (First name, last name) and Email. But THIS contact does NOT appear in Contacts. How can I make sure the Contact added when creating an Account is also listed as a Contact?
                                                                                                                • How To Insert Data into Zoho CRM Organization

                                                                                                                  Hi Team I have this organization - https://crm.zoho.com/crm/org83259xxxx/tab/Leads I want to insert data into this Leads module, what is the correct endpoint for doing so ? Also I have using ZohoCRM.modules.ALL scope and generated necessary tokens.
                                                                                                                • Where can I get Equation Editor por Zoho Writer?

                                                                                                                  I need to use Math Formulas in my document. Thank you.
                                                                                                                • Filtering repport for portal users

                                                                                                                  Salut, I have a weird problem that I just cannot figure out : When I enter information as administrator on behalf of a "supplier" portal user (in his "inventory" in a shared inventory system), I can see it, "customer" portal users can see it, but the
                                                                                                                • BUTTONS SHOWN AS AN ICON ON A REPORT

                                                                                                                  Hi Is there any way to create an action button but show it as an icon on a report please? As per the attached example? So if the user clicks the icon, it triggers an action?
                                                                                                                • I can't connect my Instagram account in Zoho SalesIQ

                                                                                                                  I deleted an old account to test SalesIQ and connected it to Instagram and facebook. After deciding that I want to use it officially, I deleted the account and create another one with the email account of the company. But, now I having this error while
                                                                                                                • Product Updates in Zoho Workplace applications | August 2025

                                                                                                                  Hello Workplace Community, Let’s take a look at the new features and enhancements that went live across all Workplace applications this August. Zoho Mail Delegate Email Alias Now you can let other users send emails on your behalf—not just from your primary
                                                                                                                • Celebrating Connections with Zoho Desk

                                                                                                                  September 27 is a special day marking two great occasions: World Tourism Day and Google’s birthday. What do these two events have in common (besides the date)? It's something that Zoho Desk celebrates, too: making connections. The connect through tourism
                                                                                                                • Adding Overlays to Live Stream

                                                                                                                  Hello folks, The company I work for will host an online event through Zoho Webinar. I want to add an overlay (an image) at the bottom of the screen with all the sponsors' logos. Is it possible to add an image as an overlay during the live stream? If so,
                                                                                                                • Next Page