Building extensions #2: Publishing an extension

Building extensions #2: Publishing an extension

Hello developers,

Welcome to our next post about building extensions for Zoho Finance Suite applications.

In our previous post, we looked at extensions, their purpose, and how to create and test them. To recap, extensions are installable plugins or add-ons that include customizations to improve the existing functionality of a Zoho product. They can be shared with other users, allowing them to install the plugin and have the customizations reflected in their account as well.

If you wish to customize any Zoho product on your account alone, you can use in-product customizations. Extensions, on the other hand, are created as custom, installable bundles that can be shared and used by multiple users.

In this post, we'll be discussing how to publish extensions both privately and publicly.

Why publish an extension?

The ultimate goal of creating extensions for Zoho products is to share them with users so they can install them and use their features in their own Zoho products.

In order to make the extension available as an installable component, it must first be published.

Private and public extensions

Extensions can be developed for internal organizational purposes or for a larger audience, and they can be published either privately or publicly.
  1. Private: Published to be shared privately with other users or within an organization.
Example: An organization uses Zoho Books to manage its financial activities, and its employees need customizations to meet their specific demands. In this scenario, extensions would be useful so the customizations could be shared with other users in the organization.
  1. Public: Published in Zoho Marketplace and made accessible to Zoho users.
Example: A developer creates an extension with some common or general use cases that would help most business categories, e.g., a payment gateway integration, a message integration app, or an extended feature for a Zoho Finance application. In this scenario, the developer could list the extension publicly for a larger audience.

How to publish an extension
  1. Enter the developer portal of the Zoho Finance extension you want to publish. For our demo, we're using a Zoho Books extension.
  1. Navigate to the Publish section and click Publish.

  1. A pop-up displays the list of components you've added to your extension. Check and validate these components.

  1. Choose either major or minor versioning. Major rounds off and increments your version number to the next integer (version 1, version 2, etc.), while minor increments the version by 0.1 (version 1.1, version 1.2, etc.).
  1. Enter the release notes in the Release Notes section. Click Publish.

  1. The extension is successfully published, and a private installation URL is created.

  1. As a developer, you can use the private installation URL to test the extension in your Zoho Books organization.
Note: In order to install and test the extension privately in Zoho Books, your Zoho Books account should be the same as the one you used to develop the extension.

  1. In order to share the extension with other users, it will have to be reviewed internally by the Zoho Finance team. To do this, click the Submit for Private Review button that appears after publishing the extension. Read the Zoho Finance extension review guidelines for more information.

  1. A pop-up displays the auto-populated details on a mail that will be sent to the Zoho Finance review team. Verify the details and click the Send Mail button.
  2. The extension is successfully submitted for private review and is under the status "Submitted For Review."
Note: If you want to make changes to the submitted version, you have to deprecate the version submitted for review. Once deprecated, the Finance team can't approve the version you originally submitted.

  1. As the developer, you'll also receive a copy of your submission email.
  1. The Zoho Finance team will review the extension and, once successfully validated, approve it, changing the private review status from "Submitted For Review" to "Approved."

  1. Now that the extension has been privately approved, you can share it with other users. Go to the Shared List option in the left panel, and click the Share Privately button.

  1. Enter the organization ID and email ID of the user you want to share the private extension with. Click Share.

  1. The extension is successfully shared.

  1. The user will get an email about the shared extension, along with the installation URL. They can simply click the link to install the extension.
  2. To publish and list the extension publicly in Zoho Marketplace, it'll have to be reviewed and approved by the Zoho Marketplace team as well.
  3. To publish publicly, follow the above steps, then submit your extension for Zoho Marketplace review using the Submit for Marketplace Review button.

  1. You'll be redirected to the extension details page, where you can view a Submit to Marketplace button beside the extension version. Click Submit to Marketplace.

  1. A pop-up appears with extension details that will be listed in Zoho Marketplace. Fill in the details to complete the submission process.


Extension compatibility across Zoho Finance Suite applications

Once you've developed the extension and submitted it for private review, check to see if it has any common use cases that would work with another Zoho Finance application. If it does, you can reach out to extension-submission@zohofinance.com and say you would like to have your extension reviewed for whichever other Finance applications you think it would suit. The Finance review team will evaluate your suggestion and guide you accordingly.

Once these reviews are validated, you can publicly list the extension for the other apps with ease. Using the available Marketplace installation URL, you can directly submit another application through the Zoho Marketplace Partner console.



When providing details in the Zoho Marketplace Partner console for the compatible application, make sure to change the product name in the Marketplace installation URL. Once submitted, the Zoho Marketplace approval team will internally validate it with the Zoho Finance team, review it themselves, and list the extension if it's verified.

Example

Zoho Books includes modules that are present in other Zoho Finance apps. Assume you've created a Zoho Books extension and shared it with the Finance team for private review. You can also contact the Finance team and request a review for Zoho Inventory because the extension's use case is compatible.

If the Finance team approves the review for both applications, and you want to publicly list the extension on both counts, instead of creating and publishing an extension for Zoho Inventory from scratch, simply change the product name from Books to Inventory in the Marketplace installation URL when submitting the application in the Zoho Marketplace Partner console.



In this post, we've given you a detailed outline of the steps involved in publishing an extension for a Zoho Finance application, both privately and publicly.

Going forward, we'll look at Zoho Books extension creation since Zoho Books includes features and functions that are found in the other Zoho Finance Suite products. We hope you found this information useful. Keep following this space for more useful guides!

SEE ALSO

      • Recent Topics

      • Can't change form's original name in URL

        Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the new
      • Need Inactive accounts to be visible in Reports in Zoho Books

        I N=need Inactive accounts to be visible in Reports in Zoho Books to do recons of the accounts but when i see the same they are not visible in the Accountant - Account Transactions report
      • unblock e-mail

        please unblock my e-mails info@meatnews.gr and myrtokaterini@meatnews.gr
      • Add Zoho Mail for users who do not need Zoho One

        We have licenses for ZOho One for teams that need to use the suite of products that Zoho One offers.  We have 8 more people who only need email access and we would like to add just a Zoho Mail.  They do not need the Zoho One license.  We are currently
      • ZML vs HTML Snippet - which is better?

        Are there certain use cases where one is better than the other?
      • Auto CheckOut Based On Shift.

        This Deluge script runs on a scheduled basis to automatically set the 'Actual_Check_Out' time for employees who haven't manually checked out. If the current time is past their scheduled 'Shift_End_Time', the script updates the check-out time to match
      • How to remove some users in zoho accounts

        How to remove some users in Zoho accounts.
      • Infinite loop of account verification

        Hi I can't do anything on my zoho account.  I always get this message Hi Sheriffo Ceesay As a security measure, you need to link your phone number with this account and verify it to proceed further. When ever I supply the details, it displays that the number is associated with another account. I don't have any other account on zoho so this is really annoying. 
      • Load PO_Date field (Purchase Order) with current date in Deluge

        Hi, I'm not a full time developer, just helping to customize our CRM, in the small company I work for. There must be something wrong with me, because I can't do something so simple as complete a field with the current date in a function using Deluge.
      • Zoho CRM in Microsoft Power Automate Custom Connector

        Hi everyone, I’m building a Power Automate flow that integrates Microsoft Bookings with Zoho CRM. The goal is to automatically create a meeting (event) in Zoho CRM whenever a new appointment is booked via Microsoft Bookings. To achieve this, I created
      • Spell check sucks

        Come on guys, it's 2024 and your spell check is completely retarded. You gotta fix it.
      • How to include total km for multiple trips in expense report.

        Whenever I create a mileage report it only shows the total dollar amount to be reimbursed. The mileage for each individual trip is included but I also need to see the total distance for all trips in a report? How do I do this?
      • Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected.

        I just made payment for my Zohomail Today and have been debited so i will like to be Unblocked because this is what it says (Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected) Thank you i await your swift responses
      • Zoho One Login Issue - Unable to receive OTP

        Hi Support Team, I am experiencing a unique login issue with Zoho One. I am attempting to log in from India using Zoho Login credentials provided by a USA-based client. Their Zoho account is hosted on a US data center. After entering the username and
      • Question Regarding Managing Sale Items in Zoho Books

        Good day, I was wondering about something. Right now, Zoho Books doesn’t seem to have a way to flag certain items as being on sale. For example, if I want a list of specific items to be on sale from October 1 to October 12, the user would have to export
      • In the Zoho Creator Customer Payment form i Have customer field on select of the field Data want to fetch from the invoice from based on the customer name In the Customer Payment form i Have subf

        In the Zoho Creator Customer Payment form i Have customer field on select of the field Data want to fetch from the invoice from based on the customer name In the Customer Payment form i Have subform update Invoice , there i have date field,Invoice number
      • Problem of Import Client Users From CRM and or Expense

        I am premium plan user on Projects. I have about 500 customers on Expense and CRM that integrated with each other. According to at below link, I am trying to import clients from CRM, system not allowed to select any customer. If I import from Expense,
      • Unable to see free plan option

        Hello Zoho Support Team, I hope you are doing well. I am trying to sign up for Zoho Mail, but I am unable to see the option for the free plan. Could you please guide me on how I can access or activate the free plan? Thank you for your assistance.
      • unblock my zoho mail account. outlines@zoho.com

        please unblock my zoho mail account, outlines@zoho.com
      • domain not verified error

        Hi when i try to upload a video from zoho creator widget to zoho work drive iam getting domain not verified error.I don't know what to do .In zoho api console this is my home page url https://creatorapp.zoho.com/ and this is my redirect url:www.google.com.Iam
      • equest to Disassociate Bigin from Zoho One and Migrate to Standalone (Upgrade to Bigin Premier – 3 Seats, Annual)

        Dear Zoho One Support Team, I’m writing to request your assistance to disassociate (remove) the Bigin application from our Zoho One organization while preserving all existing Bigin data. After the disconnection is successfully completed, we intend to
      • SMTP email sending problem

        Hello, I've sent emails before, but you haven't responded. Please respond. My work is being disrupted. I can't send emails via SMTP. Initially, there were no problems, but now I'm constantly receiving 550 bounce errors. I can't use the service I paid
      • billing

        hi, I am being billed $12/year, and I can't remember why. My User ID is 691273115 Thanks for your help, --Kitty Pearl
      • How to add receipts

        How to add receipts
      • Unable to enable tax checkboxes

        Hi Zoho Commerce Support, I'm writing to report an issue I'm having with the tax settings in my Zoho Commerce store. I've created several tax rates under Settings > Taxes, but all of them appear with the checkbox disabled. When I try to enable a checkbox,
      • Zoho Commerce - Enable Company Name and Tax Number collection for B2B orders in Global Edition

        Please enable Company Name and Tax Details option on checkout settings in Zoho Commerce Global Edition. It is still important to collect Company Name and Tax Number for B2B sales in many countries. My business is based in Ireland (in the EU) and I have
      • ZohoSign and ZohoBooks Integration/Workflow

        Hello All, We utilize ZohoSign for signatures on tax eFiles. We utilize Dynamic KBA. Additionally, we use ZohoBooks for invoicing for these services. Is there a way to accomplish the following: Send a copy of the Tax Return, Invoice and eFiles in one
      • Manage monthly tasks with projectsf

        Hi All I run a finance and operations team where we need both teams to complete monthly tasks to ensure we hit our deadlines. Can Zoho projects be used for this. There many finance focused tools but we have Zoho one so want to explore Thanks Will
      • Zoho Suite is very slow

        Since today Zoho is incredibly slow over all applications! What's going on?
      • How can I track which zoho users are actively using Zoho CRM

        I have several licenses of Zoho CRM. We now need to add a new user. I could purchase a new license, but before I do, I would like to see if any of our existing users are not actively using the license assigned to them. How can I determine the activity
      • Is anyone else having trouble saving a custom image in their email signature, or is it just me?

        When I try to save the image I get an error that says "Operation Failed" I opened a support ticket two weeks ago and received a response that it would be debugged, but it still isn’t working
      • Combine and hide invoice lines

        In quickbooks we are able to create a invoice line that combines and hides invoices lines below. eg. Brochure design         $1000 (total of lines below, the client can see this line) Graphic Design           $600 (hidden but entered to reporting and
      • Transaction Locking with the dynamic date

        Is it possible to dynamically update dates on transaction locking. We want to lock transaction x days from today
      • Zoho Devops

        We have a Zoho one account which we have integrated with an SAS educational product, sold on a subscription model, using webhooks and API calls. We make some use of custom fields and cross module lookups and relationships. We utilize CRM, Books and billing
      • Fuel up your sales with the Zoho SalesIQ + Bigin integration

        Hi everyone! We’re happy to bring you the all-new Zoho SalesIQ + Bigin integration. With this, every prospect from your website instantly becomes a contact in Bigin, complete with transcripts and follow-up tasks, so you never lose a lead again. Let's
      • Introducing AI-powered Assessments & Zoho's native LLM, Zia

        We’ve shipped a cleaner, faster way to create assessments in Zoho Recruit. 🚀 Instead of manually building question banks or copying old templates, you can now generate ready-to-use assessments in just a few clicks, all tailored to the role you’re hiring
      • Ability to Reset Visitor Fields During an Active Chat Flow

        Hello Zoho SalesIQ Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to propose a feature enhancement to Zoho SalesIQ regarding the management of visitor fields within Zobot flows. Use Case: Our bot asks the visitor to provide information about a 3rd person
      • External ID in Zoho CRM

        Hello everyone! We know that Zoho CRM allows you to integrate third-party apps and manipulate data through APIs. While you integrate a third-party application, you may want to store the third-party reference IDs in Zoho CRM's records. To meet this need
      • Some emails are not being delivered

        I have this problem where some of my mail just seems to disappear. When I send it, it appears as sent with no mention of any problem, but my recipient never gets it, not even in the Spam folder. Same for receiving, I have a secondary e-mail address, and
      • New in Zoho Chat : Search for contacts, files, links & conversations with the all new powerful 'Smart Search' bar.

        With the newly revamped 'Smart Search' bar in Zoho Chat, we have made your search for contacts, chats, files and links super quick and easy using Search Quantifiers.   Search for a contact or specific conversations using quantifiers, such as, from: @user_name - to find chats or channel conversations received from a specific user. to: @user_name - to find chats or channel conversations sent to a specific user. in: #channel_name - to find a particular instance in a channel. in: #chat_name - to find
      • Next Page