Kaizen #7 - URL Encoding while making API Calls
Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In this post, we will discuss things you need to handle in your code before you start making API calls to Zoho CRM.
If you have an application that is integrated with Zoho CRM, it will contain the code for making API calls with different request methods—GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. We will explain the things you need to handle for each of these methods, before you use it to make API calls to Zoho CRM.
a. GET method
A GET method is used to retrieve data/resource from the resource server. For example, Search Records.
For the GET method, you need to pass data as a parameter in the request URL, and that parameter value has to be URL encoded.
URL encoding is a way to encode or escape reserved, unprintable, or non-ASCII characters in URLs, and convert them into a secure format.
Consider the following example, when you try to search a lead record with an email ID(p.daly+demo1@zylker.com).
When this request URL is decoded in our end, it gets converted into:
The '+' character got decoded as 'space'. Because, the '+' character is valid in URL as a substitute for space. Therefore, they have to be encoded or escaped. If not, the URL might be misinterpreted while decoding it.
Unsafe characters that you need to encode are the following.
- ASCII Control characters:
ISO-8859-1 (ISO-Latin) character ranges 00-1F hex (0-31 decimal) and 7F (127 decimal.) - Non-ASCII characters:
Entire “top half” of the ISO-Latin set 80-FF hex (128-255 decimal.) - Unsafe characters
Blank/empty space and " < > # % { } | \ ^ ~ [ ] ` - Reserved characters when NOT USED for their reserved or defined purposes such as / ? : = &.
Based on your language, you can use the following methods to encode the reserved characters.
Language | Script |
Java | URLEncoder.encode("(p.daly+demo1@zylker.com)", "UTF-8"); |
Ruby | URI::encode("(p.daly+demo1@zylker.com)") |
PHP | urlencode("(p.daly+demo1@zylker.com)") |
Python | urllib.parse.quote("(p.daly+demo1@zylker.com)".encode("UTF-8")) |
After encoding, the resultant search query will have the following email ID—p.daly%2Bdemo1%40zylker.com
The corresponding cURL code for this operation is:
curl -X GET \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer 1000.b481413bedf852e81bf591e7ca769de8.85f9671a36047d740216b656c8b3ad4d'
You can see that the data in the URL is encoded.
b. POST/PUT method
POST method is used to insert or upload any new resources to the server. For example, Insert Records.
PUT method is used to update an existing resource. This replaces the target resource with the updated content. For example, Update Records.
You can pass the input data for an API call in different ways, based on API requirements.
- Sending data as parameter in the request URL
- Sending data wrapped in a request body
Let us look into each of these methods.
a. Sending data as a parameter in the request URL
As mentioned in the earlier section, when you send data as a parameter in the request URL, it has to be encoded.
b. Sending data wrapped in a request body
When data is sent in request body, it is secure. There are two different methods in which you can send data wrapped in a request body, for an API call. Based on the API requirement, you can choose the appropriate method.
- Sending data as raw JSON in the request body
In this type, the data is sent as JSON in the request body. Here, you need to add the header 'Content-Type' as 'application/json'. When data is sent as raw JSON, it need not be encoded. - Sending data as a key-value pair
Here, the data is given as key-value pairs. For instance, while you upload an attachment, you need to send the file data, for which you need to make the request with 'Content-Type' as 'multipart/form-data'. Here the data is wrapped in request body. Therefore, it need not be encoded. If the data you have is already encoded, you must use the 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' content-type and you cannot send file data with this content-type.
Consider the following example of inserting leads.
The corresponding cURL code is:
-H 'Authorization: Bearer 1000.b481413bedf852e81bf591e7ca769de8.85f9671a36047d740216b656c8b3ad4d' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"data": [
{
"Company": "Zylker",
"Last_Name": "Daly",
"First_Name": "Paul",
"Email": "p.daly+demo1@zylker.com",
"State": "Texas"
},
{
"Company": "Villa Margarita",
"Last_Name": "Bran",
"First_Name": "Hofstadter",
"Email": "bran.h+demo2@villa.com",
"State": "Texas"
}
],
"trigger": [
"approval",
"workflow",
"blueprint"
]
}'
You can see that the data is not encoded.
c. DELETE method
DELETE method is used to delete a resource at a particular location. For example, Delete Records.
URL encoding for the DELETE method is the same as the GET method. Consider the following example of deleting leads.
Encoded request URL:
https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v2/Leads?ids=4150868000000843062%2C4150868000000843044
We hope you found this post useful. Keep a tab on this series for more exciting topics!
Reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com if you have any questions, or let us know in the comment section.
Cheers!
Previous 'Kaizen' - Environments and Domains in Zoho CRM [Part2/2]
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
Sneha Sridharan
Sticky Posts
Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms
Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be 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.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.
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
Zoho One - Syncing Merchants and Vendors Between Zoho Expense and Zoho Books
Hi, I'm exploring the features of Zoho One under the trial subscription and have encountered an issue with syncing Merchant information between Zoho Expense and Zoho Books. While utilizing Zoho Expense to capture receipts, I noticed that when I submitLimit in number of records for subforms and multi-select lookup fields
It is my understanding that a maximum of 100 items can be selected in a multi-select lookup field, and that a total of 200 items can be selected in total between both subforms in a given module. Are there any ways to work around this limitation if weKaizen #136 - Zoho CRM Widgets using ReactJS
Hey there! Welcome back to yet another insightful post in our Kaizen series! In this post, let's explore how to use ReactJS for Zoho CRM widgets. We will utilize the sample widget from one of our previous posts - Geocoding Leads' Addresses in ZOHO CRMGetting Permission denied to access this portal.
We have one user that can't login to projects even though access has been granted. This user can login to accounts.zoho.com but when login to https://projects.zoho.com/portals.do we get this error: Unauthorized login to this portal Permission denied to access this portal. Check your portal URL again. Sometimes we also get "server too busy". We have tried killing sessions (in accounts.zoho.com) and we have deleted cookies; and tried different computers and still the same problem. All others use canDoes Zoho Docs have a Line Number function ?
Hi, when collaborating with coding tasks, I need an online real time share document that shows line numbers. Does Zoho's docs offer this feature ? If yes, how can I show them ? Regards, FrankSetting Default Views for Custom, List and Detail Views
Hey, Is it possible to set a default custom view, list view and detail view for a module for every user? We are onboarding a lot of non technical people that struggle with these things. Setting the views as default would really help. Btw: also settingCustom function return type
Hi, How do I create a custom deluge function in Zoho CRM that returns a string? e.g. Setup->Workflow->Custom Functions->Configure->Write own During create or edit of the function I don't see a way to change the default 'void' to anything else. AddingFilter Based API request in Zoho Books using POSTMAN
How do I GET only specified CONTACTS based on created time or modified time in Zoho Books using POSTMAN. In the api documentation, it is written we can apply filters but I need a sample request.URL validation
We use an internal intranet site which has a short DNS name which Zoho CRM will not accept. When attempting to update the field it says "Please enter a valid URL". The URL I am trying to set is http://intranet/pm/ Our intranet is not currently setup with a full DNS name and given the amount of links using the shortname probably isn't a feasible change for us.Has anyone been experiencing slow issues?
Dear all, I just want to ask if anyone has been experiencing slow issues with Zoho Creator in the past two weeks? I worked with the ISP to improve network quality by changing routes and upgrading bandwidth, but nothing changed. I am in Vietnam.Zoho Projects Roadshows 2025 - USA
Dear Users, After an amazing response to our roadshows in 2024, we are excited to be back for the second year in a row! Join our team of experts as they walk you through the most-used features in Zoho Projects, explore powerful automation capabilities,Billing Management: #6 Usage Billing in SaaS
Imagine a customer shuffling across multiple subscriptions, a streaming service, a music app, cloud storage, and a design tool. Each one charges a flat monthly fee, regardless of how much or how little they use. Some months, the customer barely opensIs there anyone who has been experiencing issues regarding the Zoho Creator Certification Website in the past 2 weeks?
Dear all , I just wanted to ask is there anyone who was planning on taking the Zoho Creator Developer Certification Test in the past 2 weeks and have been facing errors stating that the website is under maintennance and also not allowed to access theDirectly Edit, Filter, and Sort Subforms on the Details Page
Hello everyone, As you know, subforms allow you to associate multiple line items with a single record, greatly enhancing your data organization. For example, a sales order subform neatly lists all products, their quantities, amounts, and other relevantAllow syncing Activities from other applications
Marketing Automation could be a much more powerful platform if you were able to sync activities into the platform (e.g. purchase, donation, etc) outside of a user doing something on your website. I'd love it if you could sync Custom CRM Modules as activities,Create static subforms in Zoho CRM: streamline data entry with pre-defined values
Last modified on (9 July, 2025): This feature was available in early access and is currently being rolled out to customers in phases. Currently available for users in the the AU, CA, and SA DCs. It will be enabled for the remaining DCs in the next coupleGlobal Sets for Multi-Select pick lists
When is this feature coming to Zoho CRM? It would be very useful now we have got used to having it for the normal pick lists.Integración Books para cumplir la ley Crea y Crece y Ley Antifraude (VeriFactu)
Hola: En principio, en julio de 2025, entra en vigor la ley Crea y Crece y Ley Antifraude (VeriFactu). ¿Sabéis si Zoho va a cumplir con la ley para cumplir con la facturación electrónica conectada a Hacienda? GraciasAsk the Experts #1
Hello everyone! It’s time to transform how you manage projects. Define the processes. Automate the tasks. Streamline the workflows. Let us dive into automation in Zoho Projects — from configuring workflows and custom functions to building triggers, usingHow to overcome Zoho Deluge's time limit?
I have built a function according to the following scheme: pages = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}; for each page in pages { entriesPerPage = zoho.crm.getRecords("Accounts",page,200); for each entry in entriesPerPage { … } } Unfortunately, we have too many entriesChecking if Creator has Change History
Like zForms - whenever an entry was updated there's an option to attached change history to email notif. Trigger -> Successful form submissionhow to use validation rules in subform
Is it possible to use validation rules for subforms? I tried the following code: entityMap = crmAPIRequest.toMap().get("record"); sum = 0; direct_billing = entityMap.get("direct_billing_details"); response = Map(); for each i in direct_billing { if(i.get("type")Adding contact role to a specific deal js sdk malfunctioning
i was trying to add the contact role to a specific deal contact but repeatedly i am getting this error: { "code": "SUCCESS", "details": { "statusMessage": { "code": "INVALID_DATA", "details": { "expected_data_type": "jsonobject" }, "message": "body",Q3 Updates from Bigin!
Hey Biginners, Hope you’re doing great! As we approach the end of 2025, we truly hope Bigin has been a part of helping you build your dream business this year! We've been busy working behind the scenes to bring you features that make running your businessNew Series Announcement - Ecommerce Marketing Tips
Running an online business is more than just having a website. It’s about getting the right customers to discover you, trust you, and keep coming back. To support your growth journey, we’re launching a weekly Marketing Tips series right here on Zoho CommerceClient Script | Update - Introducing Subform Events and Actions
Are you making the most of your subforms in Zoho CRM? Do you wish you could automate subform interactions and enhance user experience effortlessly? What if you had Client APIs and events specifically designed for subforms? We are thrilled to introduce{"errors":[{"id":"500","title":"Servlet execution threw an exception"}]}
Here's the call to move a file to trash. The resource_id is accurate and the file is present. header = Map(); header.put("Accept","application/vnd.api+json"); data = Map(); data_param1 = Map(); att_param1 = Map(); att_param1.put("status",51); data_param1.put("attributes",att_param1);Converting Sales Order to Invoice via API; Problem with decimal places tax
We are having problems converting a Sales Order to an Invoice via API Call. The cause of the issue is, that the Tax value in a Sales Order is sometimes calculated with up to 16 decimal places (e.g. 0.8730000000000001). The max decimal places allowed inZoho Canvas - Custom templates for related lists
Hi, I see that the example pages load always one of our related lists in a custom template, but I dont know how to work with that: 1) How can i make my own custom templates for related lists? 2) Where and how can i check out existing custom templates?Kaizen #147 - Frequently Asked Questions on Zoho CRM Widgets
Heya! It's Kaizen time again, folks! This week, we aim to address common queries about Zoho CRM Widgets through frequently asked questions from our developer forum. Take a quick glance at these FAQs and learn from your peers' inquiries. 1. Where can Iopen word file in zoho writer desktop version
"How can I open a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) file in Zoho Writer if I only have the file saved on my computer and Zoho Writer doesn't appear as an option when I try 'Open with'? Is there a way to directly open the .doc file in Zoho Writer?"Zoho PDF editor has a lot of issues.
Zoho PDF editor needs a lot of work. It hangs and glitches a lot. Deletes annotations and clearings randomly.Zohom mail
Plz resolve the problem . I hope u understand .Zoho sheet desktop version
Hi Zoho team Where can I access desktop version of zoho sheets? It is important as web version is slow and requires one to be online all the time to do even basic work. If it is available, please guide me to the same.ZOHO SHEETS
Where can I access desktop version of zoho sheets? It is important to do basic work If it is available, please guide me to the sameZoho Books - France
L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilitéUsing Zoho Flow to create sales orders from won deal in Zoho CRM
Hi there, We are using Zoho Flow to create sales orders automatically when a deal is won in Zoho CRM. However, the sales order requires "Product Details" to be passed in "jsonobject", and is resulting in this error: Zoho CRM says "Invalid input for invalidIs Zoho Sheet available for Linux ?
Is Zoho Sheet available for Linux ?Zoho pdf suit
Pl. design products with following feature: 1. Please add all features given in Ilovepdf website to work on pdf files. It is mandatory to use pdf in court work. 2. Courts have prescribed New Times Roman, pl. add this font as well 3. Indexing, signatureBharat
aNext Page