Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - September 2023

Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - September 2023



Hello everyone!

As we step into the crisp and colorful month of October, it's time to take a step back to reflect on the fantastic month of September. In this month's issue, we have curated exciting updates, insightful articles, interesting community discussions, and helpful resources to keep you at the forefront of the Zoho Developer Community. Let's dive right in!

One of the major developments in the Developer Community arena is the newly revamped Zoho Developer Community websitewhere we've consolidated all the resources from the developer community learning series into a centralized hub for your convenient access. Consider bookmarking this site to stay informed about the latest updates in the developer community.

International Programmers' Day

September is special for us tech enthusiasts, as it hosts a significant day that celebrates something near and dear to our hearts - International Programmers' Day!

Zoho Creator Developers' Summit

At Zoho, we celebrated Programmers in style by hosting the Zoho Creator Developers' Meetup in our Chennai HQ. This meetup left a profound impact on all who attended. Developers were treated to a deep dive into the world of low-code development, gaining insights from our Developer Community members and Zoho Creator Champions @Deepa Govind and @Radha R. This celebration empowered developers with both knowledge and valuable connections poised to drive innovation.

Developers' Ask Me Anything

We organized an exclusive AMA session on LinkedIn to commemorate International Programmers' Day, featuring our CEO Sridhar Vembu. He provided detailed and insightful answers to a wide range of questions on all things technology and low-code development. Watch the enlightening conversation here.

Upcoming Events

Here are the exciting events lined up for the community in the coming weeks:
  1. Zobot 101In this five-part online webinar series that started on August 24, learn all about Zobot – Zoho SalesIQ's AI -powered chatbot builder platform – and explore the ways to leverage its capabilities effectively for your business. For registration and more details, click here.

  2. Zoho Developer Hangout 10: Our Developer Community member, @Eric Chrobak - CRM Engineer at Vaspian - will delve into error handling in Deluge, debugging and testing on October 17. He will also discuss best practices when using services such as Zoho Catalyst, GCP, AWS, and other serverless functions with an API. To register and know more about this meetup, click here.

  3. Zoho Cliq for Developers 101: Zoho Cliq for Developers 101 is a three-part webinar series starting October 19, curated to provide a comprehensive understanding of Zoho Cliq's Development platform and its various components such as slash commands, bots, widgets, and more. Click here for registration and more details.

  4. Creator Tech Connect Series: Creator's tech connect series would comprise of technical sessions that provide immersive training on the key essentials and technical nuances of building a solution in Zoho Creator. This is a great opportunity for our developer community to stay informed about Creator's new feature releases, product roadmap, best practices to follow while scripting in deluge, new deluge concepts, cloud functions and the most awaited feature "Canvas Builder." Click here for more information

    Date: October 12th, 2023

    Topic: Technical Series - Cloud Functions in Zoho Creator

    APAC & ANZ - 11 AM to 12 PM IST - Registration Link

    Americas & EMEA - 9 PM to 10 PM IST - Registration Link

  5. Creator Learning Table Series: This series is designed to provide users with valuable insights and knowledge about Creator's capabilities in various business use cases and applications. This year we've adopted the "12 Months, 12 Industries" concept. Each month, we will focus on a specific industry, illustrating its unique processes with real-time business scenarios and how to make best use of Creator for that industry.

Date: October 5th, 2023

Topic: Learning Table Series For Insurance 

APAC & ANZ - 11 AM to 12 PM IST - Registration Link

Americas & EMEA - 9 PM to 10 PM IST - Registration Link

September Highlights

Besides International Programmers' Day celebrations, September also brought forth other notable events.


Zoho in Sync with Apple's Latest Updates

Zoho is always quick to embrace latest Apple tech in our Mobile apps, making it a breeze for our users to manage their businesses on their devices. Discover our latest and high-quality updates here.

Zoho Developer Hangout - Episode 9

Our community member @cmowers, Developer and Zoho Team Lead at AspenTech CRM, shared expert tips on Client Script implementation in Zoho CRM. Client Script is a dynamic feature introduced within Zoho CRM designed to achieve and extend real-time business cases through customization. 

Zobot 101

In the third session of the Zobot 101 series, @Radha RFounder & CEO of Spikra - Zoho's Premium Partner, graciously shared her bot-building journeyShe provided valuable insights into the do's and don'ts, shared best practices, some handy hacks, and expertly addressed all questions, aiding the community to kick-start their own Zobot journeys.

Community Discussions

Zoho Developer Forum

  • Discussions about the implementation of Client Scripts are continuing within the Zoho CRM Developer Series: Client Script announcement post. This post serves as a valuable resource for developers who are exploring Client Scripts in Zoho CRM.

  • Wondering how to update date/time field with the current time on page load using Client Script? @Bhoomi Joshi and @Haiku Technical Support has got you covered in this post.

  • When @Benjamin Höhner encountered difficulties while attempting to set up a custom function to auto update Deal name on create/edit, our MVP @Hugh Marshall identified the problem and provided assistance in resolving it in this post.

  • Take a look at the suggestions and codes shared by @Haiku Technical Support and @Nik to tackle date format discrepancies in @Frederik Samberg's Client Script use case. 

  • Want to know how to store data between events using Client Script? Check how @Federico got a solution from @Haiku Technical Support.

Developers ZUG Cliq Channel

Note: These conversations are confined to the Developers ZUG Cliq channel members. If you're keen on becoming a part of this space, please fill in this onboarding form to receive your invitation to join the channel.
  • Learn how to add validation to the user field to restrict record ownership to specific users using Client Script in this conversation.
  • Can you use Zoho as an Identity Provider for third-party websites? Explore the possibility in this discussion.

  • Looking for a way to fetch the actual "true available stock" that accounts for committed stock using the Zoho Inventory API? Go through this discussion to find out how.

Resource Spotlight

  • #Simple yet significant pointers Check out these posts for simple fixes for some common mistakes that are frequently made while building Zoho CRM extensions.
  • Zoho CRM Developer Updates: 
  • Kaizen: This series aims to benefit developers to gain insights into the various developer tools available in CRM.
    • Kaizen #100: A significant landmark calls for a special Q & A post. This post contains responses from our product experts to the queries posed by the community members.
    • Kaizen #101: This post is the extended version of the previous Kaizen post and contains answers to the questions on Assignment Rules and Widgets
    • Kaizen #102: To accommodate the myriad of queries, this post is also dedicated to the responses for all the remaining questions posed by the community members.
    • Kaizen #103: This post explores Bulk Write API in detail, and how to implement it using Zoho CRM PHP SDK.
    • Kaizen #104As a continuation of the previous Kaizen post, this post guides you to create a bulk write job, fetch the job status, and download the results.
    • Kaizen #105: This post discusses Functions, Integration Tasks and API Credits.

Community Spotlight

ZDH Speakers

The contributions of our ZDH presenters have been instrumental in the success of the this segment. We extend our heartfelt appreciation for their efforts.


As a continuation of featuring a ZDH presenter each month, this time, we would like to introduce our second ZDH presenter, Jesus Sosa. Explore this post to discover the knowledge and insights he shared with the community. 

Cliq Contributors

The Developers ZUG Cliq channel has consistently served as the primary hub for community members seeking technical assistance and engaging in savvy discussions. Here are our top contributors who have gone the extra mile to support and assist the Zoho Developer Community:



We want to express our sincere appreciation to all our community contributors. Your commitment, expertise, and the time you invest are invaluable to the community. 


For those who are new to the Zoho Developer Community, check out this post to get started. 

We appreciate you dedicating your time to peruse this month's digest. Make sure to follow the digest each month for the most recent insights and conversations. Stay connected and participate in the forums to be featured in the upcoming month's digest. Wishing you a fantastic month ahead!


Happy coding!

SEE ALSO


    Access your files securely from anywhere

          Zoho Developer Community




                                    Zoho Desk Resources

                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                    • Digest


                                    • Functions


                                    • Meetups


                                    • Kbase


                                    • Resources


                                    • Glossary


                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                    • MVP Corner


                                    • Word of the Day



                                        Zoho Marketing Automation
                                                • Sticky Posts

                                                • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - November 2024

                                                  Hello everyone! Welcome back to the November edition of the Developer Community Monthly Digest. Dive in to explore the upcoming events, hands-on training sessions, exciting product updates, insightful discussions, and more to keep you informed and inspired!
                                                • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - October 2024

                                                  Hello everyone, This edition highlights October's product updates, upcoming community events, engaging discussions that sparked inspiration, and celebrates the top contributors who drove progress. Grab your favorite beverage and dive in! Upcoming Events
                                                • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - September 2024

                                                  Hello everyone, This month's Developer Digest is packed with resources to help you build powerful applications. Learn how to leverage Zoho CRM's new features, explore the latest in Zoho Finance and Catalyst, and join exciting bootcamps, webinars, and
                                                • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - August 2024

                                                  Hello everyone, Get ready for another exciting month of Zoho development! Our August digest is packed with events, resources, and community discussions to empower you as a Zoho developer. Let's dive right in! Upcoming Events To stay on top of the upcoming
                                                • Extensions 101: Build Extensions for Zoho Finance suite

                                                  Hello Developers! We are thrilled to announce our 5-day webinar series on building extensions for Zoho Finance Suite products. Our first session was a resounding success, introducing Extensions, Zoho Developer, Zoho Marketplace, and the Zoho Books Developer


                                                Manage your brands on social media



                                                      Zoho TeamInbox Resources

                                                        Zoho DataPrep Resources



                                                          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                            Zoho Books Resources


                                                              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                    Qntrl Resources


                                                                      Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                          Zoho Campaigns Resources


                                                                            Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                            • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                              CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                            • Kaizen

                                                                              Kaizen

                                                                            • Functions

                                                                              Functions

                                                                            • Meetups

                                                                              Meetups

                                                                            • Kbase

                                                                              Kbase

                                                                            • Resources

                                                                              Resources

                                                                            • Digest

                                                                              Digest

                                                                            • CRM Marketplace

                                                                              CRM Marketplace

                                                                            • MVP Corner

                                                                              MVP Corner





                                                                                Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                Get Started Now


                                                                                  Zoho Show Resources


                                                                                    Zoho Writer Writer

                                                                                    Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                    Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                      Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                                                                        Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                            ご検討中の方





                                                                                                  • Recent Topics

                                                                                                  • DORA compliance

                                                                                                    For DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) compliance, I’ll want to check if Zoho provides specific features or policies aligned with DORA requirements, particularly for managing ICT risk, incident reporting, and ensuring operational resilience in
                                                                                                  • Files Uploaded to Zoho WorkDrive Not Being Indexed by Search Engines

                                                                                                    Hello, I have noticed that the files I upload to Zoho WorkDrive are not being indexed by search engines, including Google. I’d like to understand why this might be happening and what steps I can take to resolve it. Here are the details of my issue: File
                                                                                                  • Customer can't comment on SO or Invoice

                                                                                                    Hi I just saw that my customers are not able to submit a comment either on invoices or sales order. What happens if my customer hits submit is just nothing. only a red line appears on top of the page which probalby indicates an error. I'm not able to
                                                                                                  • Zoho Creator customer portal limitation | Zoho One

                                                                                                    I'm asking you all for any feedback as to the logic or reasoning behind drastically limiting portal users when Zoho already meters based on number of records. I'm a single-seat, Zoho One Enterprise license holder. If my portal users are going to add records, wouldn't that increase revenue for Zoho as that is how Creator is monetized? Why limit my customer portal to only THREE external users when more users would equate to more records being entered into the database?!? (See help ticket reply below.)
                                                                                                  • See Calendar When Creating Meetings On Record Page

                                                                                                    It would be a great user experience to see you calendar while you are creating a meeting on a record page. Here is how I imagine it could look:
                                                                                                  • Saved filters, layout rule support, related list quick navigation, and more

                                                                                                    Hello Everyone, We're excited to share some new features and enhancements in the Zoho CRM iOS and Android apps that will improve your mobile experience. These updates will make your CRM journey more efficient and user-friendly. Here's a look at what's
                                                                                                  • Power of Automation: Automatically send an email to all portal users with today's list of Open tasks.

                                                                                                    Hello Everyone, A Custom Function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as to when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-
                                                                                                  • Introduction of Robotics Process Automation in Zoho products

                                                                                                    It will be great if Zoho can start advancing from automation to robotics process automation. For a start, it can be started with smart document understanding. Provide OCR engines Google cloud, Microsoft Azure Computer vision OCR, Microsoft OCR, Omnipage
                                                                                                  • Lock a custom field on a deal record but keep all other fields editable?

                                                                                                    I have a custom field, which auto-populates a job number upon converting a lead to a deal but the automation breaks if someone accidentally edits that field. I want to lock that field but keep all other fields open. Is this possible? I've tried through
                                                                                                  • Add Feature To Hide Plugin Sections On Record View

                                                                                                    Hi team, I'm trying to help a client tidy up their CRM. When it comes to record view some sections and fields are visible no matter what Layout Rules are applies and they are not removeable from the layout editor. I would like to see an option to hide
                                                                                                  • Creator Simplified #10: Predefine Form Field Values and Make Them Read-Only for Users

                                                                                                    Hey Creators, Ready for this week's tip in the Creator Simplified series? Today, we will explore how to have read only fields in a form. Use Case: Assume a scenario where the default value for a Department field needs to be English Literature, but you
                                                                                                  • fetch records from analytics table from creator

                                                                                                    I have a creator workflow that I am working in that will compare data from within the app to a table in zoho analytics. Is there a way to fetch a record from Analytics? I have attempted a custom connector with analytics and tried to use it with invoke
                                                                                                  • Ability to Change Custom View After Cadence Creation

                                                                                                    Dear Zoho Team, I hope you are well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Cadence feature in Zoho CRM. Currently, during the creation of a Cadence, we can select a Custom View under the "Who is this for?" section. However, once the Cadence is
                                                                                                  • Zoho Creator Integration with QuickBooks: A Step-by-Step Guide

                                                                                                    Introduction: Integrating Zoho Creator with QuickBooks allows you to sync your business data between the two platforms, providing a seamless experience for managing accounting, invoicing, and financial data. This integration helps automate workflows and
                                                                                                  • Note not being pulled for other modules in email template

                                                                                                    Hi there, Currently i am creating an email template that is able to pull the data from notes field in estimate module and email it to procurement team where they will be able to receive the email with the contents of the note, i am unable to replicate
                                                                                                  • No Sales Returns on SO's with Dropped Shipped items + Inventory Items

                                                                                                    We have encountered an issue in Zoho related to sales orders that include both dropshipped items and inventory items. Specifically, it is currently not possible to create sales returns for the company’s own inventory items from these sales orders. This
                                                                                                  • Pre-fill TO and CC fields for Email Templates

                                                                                                    This would be a game changer to be able to set either specific email addresses or merge fields based on deal role titles into email templates. Please pass this along to *hopefully* add to future features of Zoho CRM.
                                                                                                  • Pick list - Cannot save list "Special Characters not Allowed" error message

                                                                                                    Bulk uploading values. All values are pretty standard - with the exception of a "-" (dash). Like:  Industry - Prepared Food Is the simple dash a special character too? Jan
                                                                                                  • Flow with CRM

                                                                                                    Hello, I have a simple flow that uses a web hook to enter data into a Sales Order. I have the web hook sending Flow data which has a PO field. If the PO has a special character like - or / or \ the task fails. How can I get the flow to be okay with the
                                                                                                  • Making the Resolution Tab Mandatory

                                                                                                    Hello Everyone! This edition is here to show you how to make the Resolution mandatory when closing a ticket. The Ticket Resolution tab helps keep a record of the solution provided for the ticket query. The resolution can serve as a quick reference to
                                                                                                  • Notificación de cumpleaños

                                                                                                    Hola: Se puede enviar alguna alerta de felicitación al personal que cumple años, que se dispare solo? Si existe como se puede hacer? Saludos
                                                                                                  • Automation#25: Move Tickets to Unassigned When the Owner Is Offline

                                                                                                    Hello Everyone, Welcome to this week's Community Series! 'Tis the holiday season—a time when work often takes a brief pause. The holiday spirit is in full swing at Zylker Techfix too, with employees taking some well-deserved time off. During this period,
                                                                                                  • Callback URLs

                                                                                                    I need to connect to an external service through an API that requires me to provide a Callback URL so that a status update can be sent back when the API request has been processed. Is there a way to do this in Creator without having to use a middleware
                                                                                                  • Email signature not being included if user creates ticket / sends email

                                                                                                    When I create a ticket (send email), the signature doesn't appear to be added to the ticket. Can you confirm if this is the case? It would obviously be useful to include the user's signature even when sending a client an email and not only on replie
                                                                                                  • Zoho Notebook window ignores taskbar

                                                                                                    When maximized to full screen, the Zoho Notebook window ignores the presence of the taskbar and overlaps it. What could be the problem? Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon. Zoho Notebook 3.2.0
                                                                                                  • URL for job opening

                                                                                                    I would like to ask you to add this feature to the product: create an unique url for each job opening on Zoho Recruit, so that I can add a link to it when I post the opportunity in a mailing list or on a forum.
                                                                                                  • Document images

                                                                                                    We used to be able to rotate the images but this has now been removed ???
                                                                                                  • VENDORS ARE NOT SYNCHED WITH CONTACTS IN CRM

                                                                                                    Hello, While the ACCOUNTS and CONTACTS (Including the primary contact) are synced with the CONTACTS module in CRM, the vendor's CONTACTS are not synced with CRM - which basically forces the users to re-enter all vendor's contacts twice and then update
                                                                                                  • Involved account types are not applicable when create journals

                                                                                                    { "journal_date": "2016-01-31", "reference_number": "20160131", "notes": "SimplePay Payroll", "line_items": [{ "account_id": "538624000000035003", "description": "Net Pay", "amount": 26690.09, "debit_or_credit": "credit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000403", "description": "Gross", "amount": 32000, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000427", "description": "CPP", "amount": 1295.64, "debit_or_credit": "debit" }, { "account_id": "538624000000000376", "description":
                                                                                                  • KB Templates

                                                                                                    * It would be nice if Zoho can provide users an option to create custom templates for KB articles. Also, it would be nice as well if the users can have an option to 1.) select a default template and 2.) declare default tag/tags, for KB articles created through Ticket's resolution.
                                                                                                  • Zoho CRM Reports Module on Mobil App

                                                                                                    I have the mobile app and the reports module doesn't appear in the sidebar for some reason. I saw a Youtube video where the user had the Reports module on mobile. Is there a setting to show it on mobile? Thanks.
                                                                                                  • Contacts Don't Always Populate

                                                                                                    I've noticed that some contacts can easily be added to an email when I type their name. Other times, a contact doesn't appear even though I KNOW it is in my contact list. It is possible the ones I loaded from a spreadsheet are not an issue and the ones
                                                                                                  • Zoho Projects Android app update - List view enhancement

                                                                                                    Hello, everyone! In the latest android version(v3.9.15) of the Zoho Projects app update, we have enhanced the List view of tasks. We have also introduced a complete scroll of the tasks in the list view without scrolling the task fields(status, start date,
                                                                                                  • On the US Data Centre rather than the UK but dont know how to migrate it

                                                                                                    We have a new staff member with an external email address and cant add them to Zoho chat - we have been told its becuase we are in the UK but on a US Data centre - we therefore need to change it but no idea how to can anyone else as we are going round
                                                                                                  • Zoho Sheet Custom function column showing Error #EVAL!

                                                                                                    Hello I have a custom function in Zoho Sheet developed to convert a date time from one time zone to another. The custom function takes date and time columns and then using subHour( ) converts the time to PST time. However, though the custom function works,
                                                                                                  • How to add a Data Updated As Of: dynamically in text?

                                                                                                    I need to add a "Data Updated As Of" in the dashboard to show when was the last date the data was updated. I tried to create a widget but it does not look really good, see below. Is there a way I can do this through the text widget and update it automatically
                                                                                                  • Create Your Own Issue Management System

                                                                                                    Effective issue management is a cornerstone of project success. Every bug or issue, no matter how small, needs to be tracked and resolved in time to maintain project momentum. In this post, we’ll explore how an issue management system in Zoho Projects
                                                                                                  • Resource utlisation

                                                                                                    Dear Team, We use the excel for the weekly predicted people utilization how the resource are allocated , is there any way that i can use any of the zoho products.
                                                                                                  • Ask the experts - A live Q & A discussion on Zoho Recruit

                                                                                                    We are delighted to come back with another edition of Ask the Experts community series. This edition, we'll be focusing on everything about Zoho Recruit. The topics will focus on the features that are used/asked by the majority of users and also based
                                                                                                  • Bug - OTP (email) and No Duplicates

                                                                                                    Scenario: Form with an email field, Validation: "No Duplicates" (because I want to ensure 1 entry per email). Embedded form into website (JS option). Enabled email based OTP. 1st test (via my website) - entered my email address - sent OTP - entered pin,
                                                                                                  • Next Page