This guide will help you to get started with Zoho Developer, right from signing up as a developer to creating and publishing your first Vertical Solution.
Signing up for Zoho Developer
To sign up for a free developer account, click on the
Start Developing button in the
Zoho Developer homepage. Then, enter your name, email address, and a password for your account. You will also need to agree to our Terms and Conditions, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy. Once you have completed these steps, click on Sign Up for Free. You will be redirected to the Developer home page if your sign-up was successful. Alternatively, you can also sign up using your Google or LinkedIn account.Creating your first Vertical Solution
Creating your first Vertical Solution is the first step towards building a complete verticalized solution that meets the industry specific needs of your customers. This process is divided into four stages: setup, build, test and publish.
Setting up a solution
Follow these simple instructions to configure the basic settings and select the desired modules.
- Go to your Zoho Developer homepage and click on Vertical Solutions > Start Building.
- In the Create your first Application window, click on Create Application.
- In the Create Application window, specify a name for your application.
- Provide a URL for your application (which can be later mapped to your custom domain, if you want to).
- Specify the industry for which you are going to build this solution.
- Select the required modules from the list of available standard modules provided by Zoho.
You can deselect all the modules and create a completely new set of modules, if none of the standard modules are required for your application. - Give a short description for your application and click Create.
Once you have created your solution, you will be able to customize it to meet the specific needs of a vertical. You can add, layouts, and workflows to your solution, and you can do so much more!
Build your solution
Once you have set up your solution, you can start to build/customize it, ensuring you deliver a robust product that addresses the specific needs of your target industry.
- Build/Customize your solution: You can customize your solution in a variety of ways, such as adding or modifying modules, fields, links, and buttons, set up automation rules, profile permissions, and mail templates. You can also enhance your solution by including other Zoho services such as Projects, Campaigns and SalesIQ as either integrations or extensions to your solution.
- Brand your solution: You can brand your solution by uploading your company's logo, setting the design theme, and mapping the solution to your own domain. This will help to differentiate your product from other systems built on Zoho Vertical Solutions.
- Determine a pricing plan for your solution: Pricing has a huge impact on how many users will purchase your solution, so coming up with the right pricing strategy is the key. Vertical Solutions allows you to create up to three plans, each with a different set of features and price. You can choose to charge a one time setup fee and offer users a discount if they pay their subscription annually.
Testing your solution
After building and customizing your solution, it is important to test it in a sandbox environment to make sure that your solution is working properly and that your end users will have a positive experience. A sandbox environment acts as a preview to the customizations and configurations that are done at the Developer Console. This allows you to preview how your solution will look and function for your subscribers. To test your application, click on the Test your Application button on the top right of your solution home page.
Here is an example of how a sandbox environment will look like.
Publishing your Vertical solution
Once you have tested your solution and you are satisfied with it, you can publish it to make it available to your customers. Vertical Solutions gives you the option of two publication modes: public and private –allowing you to manage how customers gain access to your solution. Public solutions are immediately accessible by anyone, but private solutions require the users to request access before they are able to create an account.
To access and modify the publication settings for your solution,
- Go to your developer home page.
- Click on the Edit option corresponding to the solution you want to configure.
- In the left pane menu, click on the solution name to access the solution details.
- In the App Details page, click on the pencil icon located near the solution name.
- On the General Settings page, you will see the current publication mode and related settings.
- Make the desired changes and click on Save.