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

                                                                                                                • Passing Info from Function to Client Script

                                                                                                                  Hello, I have recently started making use of client script for buttons, allowing me to give the user information or warnings before they proceed. This is great. However, I have never quite managed to pass back any extra information from the function to
                                                                                                                • Drag 'n' Drop Fields to a Sub-Form and "Move Field To" Option

                                                                                                                  Hi, I would like to be able to move fields from the Main Page to a Sub-Form or from a Sub-Form to either the Main Page or another Sub-Form. Today if you change the design you have to delete and recreate every field, not just move them. Would be nice to
                                                                                                                • Zoho Payroll for Canada

                                                                                                                  Is anyone else having problems getting setup for Canada?
                                                                                                                • Passing the CRM

                                                                                                                  Hi, I am hoping someone can help. I have a zoho form that has a CRM lookup field. I was hoping to send this to my publicly to clients via a text message and the form then attaches the signed form back to the custom module. This work absolutely fine when
                                                                                                                • One Contact with Multiple Accounts with Portal enabled

                                                                                                                  I have a contact that manages different accounts, so he needs to see the invoices of all the companies he manage in Portal but I found it not possible.. any idea? I tried to set different customers with the same email contact with the portal enabled and
                                                                                                                • User Automation: User based workflow rules & webhooks

                                                                                                                  User management is an undeniable part of project management and requires adequate monitoring. As teams grow and projects multiply, manual coordination for updating users & permissions becomes difficult and can give way to errors. User automation in Zoho
                                                                                                                • Disable Zoho Contacts

                                                                                                                  We don't want to use this app... How can we disable it?
                                                                                                                • Default Ticket View - Table?

                                                                                                                  Guys, We mostly use the table view to queue tickets. Maybe I am missing it - but how can I set that view as 'default" for all our agents? Thanks JV
                                                                                                                • Zoho One IS BUGGY

                                                                                                                  Here are some things that just don't work: - Disabling applications from certain Spaces - Adding users (probably only for me) - Renaming applications in Zoho One Portal (fixed by now) - Reordering applications in Spaces When I try to reorder: It feels
                                                                                                                • Merge Fields that previously worked are now giving an Error!

                                                                                                                  Saving a URL Link button on the Deal module. The below fields used to save without issue at all, but now produce an error of "URL contains unsupported merge field!" ${Contacts.Mailing Street} ${Contacts.Mailing City} ${Contacts.Mailing State} ${Contacts.Mailing
                                                                                                                • Clarification on Zoho Forms 1-User Plan: Multiple Submitters and Approvers

                                                                                                                  Question Content (Copy–Paste Ready) Hello Zoho Team, I would like clarification regarding Zoho Forms pricing and user limits. I am planning to subscribe to the ₹700/month (1 user) plan. My use case is as follows: Only 1 person (myself) will create and
                                                                                                                • CRM Cadences recognise auto-responses

                                                                                                                  I have leads in a Cadence. I get an auto-responder reply "I'm out of the office..." Normally Cadences seems to know that isn't a real reply and keeps the lead enrolled in the cadence. However, today, Cadences has UNENROLLED a Lead who sent an auto-reponse
                                                                                                                • App for Mac OS X please!

                                                                                                                  It would be awesome to have a mail app for Mac OS X that included all the cool features such as steams, calendar, tasks, contacts, etc. Most people prefer native apps, rather than running it through a web browser. I know that we can use the IMAP, CalDAV,
                                                                                                                • Facing Issues with Sites Mobile font sizes

                                                                                                                  my page renediaz.com is facing issues mobile view, when i try to lower font sizes in home page, instead of changing the size, it changes the line space
                                                                                                                • Zoho Books Payroll

                                                                                                                  How am I supposed to do payroll and pay my employees with Zoho Books? I think it's pretty strange that an accounting software doesn't have the ability to perform one of the most common functions in business; paying your employees. Am I missing something,
                                                                                                                • 60 Days Into Zoho - Tiktok Branding Startup -7 Questions?!

                                                                                                                  Wsp Everybody I co-own a TikTok Branding / Consulting Startup & have been using Zoho for the past 60 days - Am now looking to make our overall operations & processes more Efficient & Effective! Curious to know how others are using the platform & what's
                                                                                                                • Notifications in Cliq client for Linux

                                                                                                                  If I got it right, Cliq desktop client for Linux does not use the generally accepted notification method via org.freedesktop.Notification interface. For this reason, Cliq notifications do not look and behave as all other notifications. Is it possible
                                                                                                                • Report Template - How to remove page break after each record?

                                                                                                                  Hi, We have report template for a list report. It looks good at screen. But when printing, it creates a page break after each record. How to remove the it? So we can print multiple records in same page. Please look at the attached screenshots. Report Template Report Print Preview
                                                                                                                • Canvas templates can now be shared with different CRM organizations

                                                                                                                  ----------------------------------------Moderated on 14th February, 2023------------------------------------------- Dear all, This feature is now open for all users in all DCs. To learn more about importing and exporting canvas templates, read our help
                                                                                                                • Change Last Name to not required in Leads

                                                                                                                  I would like to upload 500 target companies as leads but I don't yet have contact people for them. Can you enable the option for me to turn this requirement off to need a Second Name? Moderation update (10-Jun-23): As we explore potential solutions for
                                                                                                                • creating an alias

                                                                                                                  your instructions for creating an alias are wrong. there is no add alias in my mail account. also i dont have a control panel link just a settings link how do i really make an alias
                                                                                                                • Reply to Email for SO/PO

                                                                                                                  Hello, We are new to Zoho Books and running into an issue. Our support@ email is our integration user. When our team is sending out PO/SO's we are updating the sender email, but for some reason many of our responses are coming back to our support@ email
                                                                                                                • ZOHO Payroll Canada

                                                                                                                  Any plans on the roadmap for Canada?
                                                                                                                • Zoho Books Sandbox environment

                                                                                                                  Hello. Is there a free sandbox environment for the developers using Zoho Books API? I am working on the Zoho Books add-on and currently not ready to buy a premium service - maybe later when my add-on will start to bring money. Right now I just need a
                                                                                                                • Multi-currency and Products

                                                                                                                  One of the main reasons I have gone down the Zoho route is because I need multi-currency support. However, I find that products can only be priced in the home currency, We sell to the US and UK. However, we maintain different price lists for each. There
                                                                                                                • ZOHO Writer Folders

                                                                                                                  Hi We would love to have ability to create folders on the left hand side. We would then be able create and store our documents within each folder Hope you can provide this feature soon ! dux.centra
                                                                                                                • How can Data Enrichment be automatically triggered when a new Lead is created in Zoho CRM?

                                                                                                                  Hi, I have a pipeline where a Lead is created automatically through the Zoho API and I've been trying to look for a way to automatically apply Data Enrichment on this created lead. 1) I did not find any way to do this through the Zoho API; it seems like
                                                                                                                • Escalation request: organization merge and data export (Ticket [154609577])

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho Team, I am posting here because my support ticket has not received substantive responses through the usual channels. Summary of the issue (ongoing for three weeks): I requested assistance with a data migration and a merge of two Zoho organizations.
                                                                                                                • Different form submission results for submitter and internal users

                                                                                                                  I'm looking for suggestions on how to show an external submitter a few results while sending internal users all the results from the answers provided by the external user. The final page of our form has a section with detailed results and a section with
                                                                                                                • Help Desk Services Solution

                                                                                                                  I am here looking for Help Desk services solution for organization. I also searched this on many different website and found many solutions. We are bit confused to which one to choose. One of my friend suggest me this platform, and i am hoping i will
                                                                                                                • Formatting and slow

                                                                                                                  Creating campaigns are difficult.  I'm fairly computer literate but some of the way Zoho Campaigns formatting works is painful.  Images fail to upload or are very slow. To top it off, syncing the contacts is a pain as well as temperamental links to create Segments. At this rate I'm afraid we might need to migrate back to Mailchimp.
                                                                                                                • Boost your Zoho Desk's performance by archiving tickets!

                                                                                                                  The longer your help desk operations are, the more likely it is to accumulate tickets that are no longer relevant. For example, ticket records from a year ago are typically less relevant than currently open tickets. Such old tickets may eventually lead
                                                                                                                • Paste emails to create segment

                                                                                                                  We are moving over from Mailchimp to ZOHO. However Mailchimp allows me to create a segment by pasting in emails from excel (or importing a .csv) can I do the same in Mailchimp?
                                                                                                                • Getting the Record ID of a form once it is submitted - so that form can be edited later

                                                                                                                  In Zoho Forms, where can I access the record ID of a form once the form is submitted? - Record ID is not available in webhook payloads - It is not available to form fields, including in formulas - It is not available as a parameter in a thankyou page
                                                                                                                • Auto-Generate Line Numbers in Item Table Using HTML & CSS Counters (Zoho Books & Zoho Inventory Custom Templates)

                                                                                                                  <div> <style> /* Start counter from 0 inside tbody */ tbody#lineitem { counter-reset: rowNumber; } /* Increment counter for each row */ tbody#lineitem tr { counter-increment: rowNumber; } /* Show counter value in first column */ tbody#lineitem tr td:first-child::before
                                                                                                                • Possible to define default font and size in Zoho Campaigns?

                                                                                                                  Is it possible to define a default font (font, size and colour) for the text, H1 and H2 in Zoho Campaigns? For example: In a campaign, I add a text block, and the text is automatically century gothic, size 11, grey (6f6f6e) by default? Thank you!
                                                                                                                • Zoho Sites - General Feedback

                                                                                                                  Hi Everyone-- Quick question for discussion: is it me or is working with Zoho Sites like entering the Twilight Zone? I've built many sites over the years, but this platform seems impossible. I've spent an entire day and a half trying to get a simple one-color
                                                                                                                • Zoho People & Zoho CRM Calendar

                                                                                                                  Hi, Does anyone know if it is possible to link Zoho People and the calendar in CRM? I would like when holidays are approved they automatically appear in the calendar on CRM. Thanks 
                                                                                                                • File Upload field not showing in workflow

                                                                                                                  Hi, I have added a field on Zoho CRM. I want to use it in a workflow where that particular field is updated based on another field, however it is not showing up in the field list to select it in the workflow. Why is this please?
                                                                                                                • You cannot send this email campaign as it doesn't have any eligible contacts in the selected mailing list. You can try adding contacts or choose other mailing lists.

                                                                                                                  please help
                                                                                                                • Next Page