Augmenting subform capabilities

Augmenting subform capabilities

Greetings, everyone!
 
Finally, the day has come for us to announce some of the most anticipated, requested, and exciting updates to subforms in Zoho Creator.
 
As you're aware, subforms are an integral part of Creator forms, as they help in establishing proper modelling of the app, collecting rows of data, and setting up users to enter data that has a parent-child relationship. With this new set of updates, we've bought in a paradigm shift to subforms, as they'll be getting an all-new look for an improved user experience, along with new capabilities for solving challenges. This post will give you a sneak peek into these new subform enhancements.
 
Do you find it difficult to scroll subforms horizontally? Do you wish you could drag and drop subform rows? Do you want to manipulate subform fields via Deluge script? Then your wait has come to an end—continue reading to learn more on how you can now do all of this in subforms.
 

Subform list and pop-up view

As announced in the March 2023 post, the List view type of subforms will display the subform as a pop-up, and the current method of displaying subforms has been christened Grid.
 
To further understand how this can be helpful, let's put ourselves in the shoes of a supply chain manager. Their job requires them to regularly keep track of inventory lists in their warehouses.
 
Let's assume there's a form collecting warehouse details, like name, location, and stock inventory. For collecting the stock inventory details, a subform is present with these fields—Item No, Name, Manufacturer, Description, Cost Per Item, Stock Quantity, Inventory Value, Units Sold, Reorder Quantity, Reorder Date, and Person In Charge.

Now, the default view type will tire you out from scrolling back and forth horizontally, and results in a frustrating time-consuming process. We all long for a new way to avoid this and make data entry swifter.
 
To achieve this, make use of the new List option under  Subform->Field Properties->View Type.
 
List view, which looks similar to our list report, is a table-like subform without inline inputs. When you try adding or updating data in each row, a pop-up will be displayed listing out the fields with vertical scrolling, thereby ensuring a vastly superior user experience and more effective space management.



Crucially, it also helps to load subform rows quickly while editing records, by reducing the loading time.
 


While using an existing form as a subform, the form's exact structure will be replicated in the pop-up, to ensure consistency in the look and feel of the form. To understand this better, let's assume our form has a two-column layout, with Section and Note fields. Now the same customizations will be displayed in the pop-up, too! 



And that's not all—the new List view type is being extended to mobile apps, too. When it's enabled, the subform will be opened in the next screen, where users can add their data. This data will then be added as a subform row.

Custom sorting

Currently, the only sorting option in subforms is  field-based sorting, where you can choose a field based on which rows are sorted, either in ascending or descending order. Though this works well for basic cases, the need may arise in some cases to sort the subform in random order. With the new custom sorting support, you can effortlessly drag and drop subform rows to rearrange them.
 
To understand how it works, let's consider a task manager working on a To-Do List form, to plan activities for a current project. For this, they have a main form collecting project details, date-time, and milestones, and a subform for maintaining the to-do list with the following fields: Task Name, Description, Category, Status, Deliverables, Priority, and Deadline. Here, before submitting the list, they want to rearrange some tasks based on their daily routine.
 
To achieve this, they use the Custom sorting option under Subform->Field Properties->Sort type.
 
Now, with custom sorting, all they need to do to reorder the row sequence—both while adding and editing records—is simply drag and drop them in the required position.




The same order will be retained in reports or while opening the form for updating the list.  
Note: Custom sorting can be used both in List and Grid-type subforms.
 
Custom sorting will also be available on the mobile apps and you can effortlessly rearrange fields in subforms.

Deluge tasks for row-level actions

You can use a combination of workflows and Deluge scripts to help your subforms handle complex business logic. With that in mind, we formulated the idea of bringing in actions that help you take control at the row level of subforms.
 
In the past, you may have come across business scenarios which required you to hide/show or enable/disable a particular field in a specific subform row. Now, with new dedicated Deluge tasks, you can bid adieu to shortcuts and workarounds.
 
Note: Deluge tasks can be used both in List and Grid-type subforms.
 
Enable/disable
The new enable and disable subform Deluge tasks can be used to enable and disable specific fields.
 
Syntax: enable row.subform_field
             disable row.subform_field
Events: On add row, On delete row, On user input of subform field
 
Let's assume a Vehicle form has fields like Customer Name, Vehicle Model, and Date of Booking, and a subform to collect payment details with the following fields: Payment Date, Payment Method, Credit Card Number, Bank Account Number, and Transaction Ref Number.
 
Now, there are two payment options—Card and Netbanking. If Card is chosen, then the Credit Card Number field should be enabled and the Bank Account Number field should be disabled. Similarly, when Netbanking is chosen, then the Bank Account Number field should be enabled and the Credit Card Number field disabled.

Code snippet:
if(Payment_details.Payment_method == "Card")
{
 enable row.Credit_card_number;
 disable row.Bank_account_number;
}
if(Payment_details.Payment_method == "Netbanking")
{
 enable row.Bank_account_number;
 disable row.Credit_card_number;
}



Hide/show
The new show and hide subform Deluge tasks can be used to show and hide specific fields.
 
Syntax: hide row.subform_field
             show row.subform_field
Events: On add row, On delete row, On user input of subform field
 
Let's use the example of a rental property manager who needs to keep track of a list of properties that are available in every locality. For this, a form is used for collecting information like Locality and No of Vacant Properties, and a subform will be used to list property details with the following fields: Property Name, Address, Square Feet, Rent, Advance, Category, and Contact Number.
 
When the category is Brokerage, we need to hide the contact number of the landlord. We can use the new Deluge tasks to achieve this.
 
Code snippet :
if(row.Category == "Brokerage")
{
 hide row.Phone_Number;
}
else
{
 show row.Phone_Number;
}
     
     
-----

That's it from us on our subform enhancements! We expect these updates to be rolled out in the upcoming weeks. Once done, we'll pop in a comment below and also update our Release Notes page.
 
Don't forget—your feedback helps us make Creator better and stronger. We'd love to hear what you think about these updates. Please use the space below or send your feedback to support@zohocreator.com.
 
Regards,
Zoho Creator Team



    • Sticky Posts

    • Introducing Zoho Creator's 2025 Release Projection 2

      Hello Creators! I'm Prakash, from the Creator product management team, and today I'm delighted to unveil our next set of features as part of Release Projection 2 for 2025. With thoughtful analysis and planning, we've curated powerful new capabilities

    • Zoho Creator - 2023 Release Projection 1

      Hello everyone! A very Happy New Year to you and your family. Hope you're all good and having a great time using Zoho Creator to make your lives easier and your businesses prosper. 2022 was an action-packed year for us at Creator, and we hope to continue

    • Zoho Creator User Group meetups in a city near you! - Oct - Nov, 2023

      Greetings from the Zoho Creator team! We're hosting a series of Zoho Creator meetups in various cities across the globe, and we'd love to meet you there! Our meetups are a great opportunity to network with industry peers, exchange ideas and best practices,

    • Zoho Creator - 2023 Release Projection 2

      Hello everyone! Time truly flies when you're having an incredible journey, and today we mark the completion of an eventful and action-packed six months. It feels like just yesterday when we embarked on this adventure together with the launch of our new

    • Upcoming Updates - August 2022

      Hi all, Greetings from the Zoho Creator team! Today we've got news for you on some exciting updates. And rest assured— there’s more to come! In this post, we'll be going over the upcoming features and improvements for this month as mentioned below. A

    • Recent Topics

    • how can we create in zoho crm a new contact when the looup does not find a similar existing one

      In forms/integrations/zoho crm / ne w record tab, contact name is to be mapped with my form contact name. When I go in biew edit/lookup configuration, I don t get the options (help dedicated page simply repeat the same info you get in the app) and does

    • Directory Websites

      Directories are a good website category to gain search engine traffic. Directories for a professional service category as an example can help their members in search results over their individual website. It would be nice to have a directory template

    • Manage Task on Mobile

      How do we manage our task on mobile devices? It seems that there should be a standalone mobile app to handle the new task features. The new features released in regards to Task management are great by the way! Now we need to bring that all together in

    • Set Default Payment Method & Default account

      Hi, I would like to know how to set the default payment method and default bank account when recording payments in zoho books. At present we have to change these fields everytime we record a payment, which leads to potential error and as we have a very

    • Customer Portal on Zoho Desk

      Hi, I'd like to know more about the items below I found when setting up the Customer Portal on Zoho Desk. Could someone help me explaining these in details? Especially the 2nd and 3rd point. Thanking you in advance! Permissions Customers can sign up for Customer Portal Customers can view tickets of their organization (contacts) Customers must register to access Customer Portal Display Community in Customer Self Service portal

    • Computer Showing Offline in Unattended Access

      I have a computer that was connected to the internet but showing offline in Assist. I tried uninstalling the program and deleting it from Zoho Assist the reinstalling and it still does not show up. I have been a user for several months and am not pleased with the lack of connectivity with Assist. If this continues I will have to find another product. The computer I reinstalled it on is not even showing up in Assist now. The name is NYRVLI-PC. Thanks

    • Zoho CRM Portal Error

      Hi, We’re experiencing an issue with the Zoho CRM Portal. When we try to access it, we receive an HTTPS connection error: net::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID. If we proceed past that, we then get a 400 Bad Request error. Could you please help us resolve

    • Integrating Zoho CRM EmbeddedApp SDK with Next.js — Initialization and Data Fetching Issues

      You can get an idea from my code I have given in end: First, I worked on a React project and tried the same thing — it worked. My goal was to import the Zoho script and then load contacts using the Zoho Widget SDK, which was successful in React. Now,

    • monetizing the courses

      Can I add a price for course enrollment ?

    • Can we add zoho books features like invoices estemates etc on our zohocommerce website. When our customer login with their account they can able to see all books features in one place on zohocommerce?

      Can we add zoho books features like invoices estemates etc on our zohocommerce website. When our customer login with their account they can able to see all books features in one place on zohocommerce?

    • Taxes for EU B2B Transactions

      Currently, ZC doesn't seem to have a procedure for validating VAT numbers of businesses purchasing in another EU state, and removing local VAT is valid. This is essential for all inter EU B2B trade.

    • Unable to Receive Emails on Zoho Mail After Office 365 Coexistence Setup – Error: 553 Relaying Disallowed

      Hello, My domain name is bigniter.com, and I’ve been using Zoho Mail as my email service provider without any issues. Recently, I followed the steps outlined in the Zoho documentation to enable Coexistence with Office 365: 🔗 https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/adminconsole/coexistence-with-office365.html#multi-server

    • Candidate Registration/Invitation

      It would be great to include the 'invite' candidate functionality into some of the automation functions - ether through a custom function trigger or webhook or accessible through an email template.  Currently there is no way to add this functionality into any workflows or blueprint steps which, I find limits the ability to invite candidates to engage with us directly through our candidate portal. 

    • [Free Webinar] Learning Table Series - Creator for Infrastructure Management | A Partner-driven collaborative session

      Hello Everyone! We’re excited to invite you to another edition of Learning Table Series, where we showcase how Zoho Creator empowers industries with innovative and automated solutions. About the Learning Table Series The Learning Table Series is a free,

    • I have error AS101 when I try to add paypal@mydomain.com to Zoho

      Please help me with this. I tried to call the help line 4 times but don't get any response.

    • VAT on Multiple Expenses

      Firstly, might I say I am based in Ireland, and I'm not an accountant, and therefore my understanding of procedures could be somewhat limited. Scenario. An employee pays for items throughout a month, and therefore their claim for expenses includes multiple items - some of the items are VAT deductible (eg, an IT product) and some are not (eg, a client lunch). Discovery The odd thing in ZBooks, is that whilst it seems possible to add a VAT rate to a one-off item of expense, it is not possible to add

    • Agent assignment filter?

      Godo day, We are starting to play with FSM to see if it's going to work for our needs. Now so far we have found that it's very restrcitve in the field department you you have layout rules or can't even hide fields depending on the users roles. We can't

    • Kiosk Page Refresh

      We have a Kiosk running from a button in contacts to update values and also add related lists, which works great, but when the kiosk is finished the page does not refresh to show the changes. Is there a way to force the contact to refresh/update when

    • Tips & tricks: Make SalesIQ automations work for you

      Every day, thousands of visitors land on your website. Some browse, some buy, and some leave without a word. But, wouldn’t it be great if you could automatically know who’s interested, engage them at the right moment, and never miss a lead, and all this

    • Digest Octobre - Un résumé de ce qui s'est passé le mois dernier sur Community

      Chers utilisateurs, Faisons le point sur les temps forts du mois d'octobre au sein de notre Community Zoho France. Partager des informations sensibles, comme des mots de passe, peut vite devenir compliqué et risqué. Les données circulent par email ou

    • How do I fully delete a user account

      Hi, I have two old accounts on my CRM which are inactive and show as 'Closed' in the list of users. BUT they are basically still there. How do I fully delete these accounts? They appear in some parts of CRM still such as the on the contact record emails

    • Automatically Add Recurring Zoho Meeting Events to Zoho Calendar / Zoho Meeting Calendar

      Hello Zoho Meeting Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement regarding recurring meetings created inside Zoho Meeting. At the moment, when we schedule a recurring meeting in Zoho Meeting, it does not appear in Zoho Calendar

    • Credit Management: #6 Tackling Common Mistakes in Credit Based Billing

      Businesses extend credit to build relationships, make buying easy, and drive more sales. But somewhere between extending and collecting, things begin to slip. A few late payments here and there, an overlooked invoice, and a backlog make cash flow feel

    • Updating Blueprint stage from my Deluge function

      Hi all, I need to update the blueprint stage. Its almost working, but ONLY if the current Deal stage is 'Closed Lost'. On any of my custom stages that Ive specified in the pipeline it doesnt work! My code: dealmap = Map(); deal_stage = deal.get("Stage");

    • Canvas: is it possible to have a fixed header?

      Hello. Does Canvas provide the option to have a fixed header, similar to the standard view? It would also be interesting for other parts of the interface, like the header or sidebar of the tab section. Thanks!

    • Limited layout rules in a module

      There is a limit of 10 layout rules per module. Is there a way to get that functionality through different customization or workflow + custom function (easily accessible), etc. Having just 10 is limiting especially if module contains a lot of data. Are

    • Using Contains as a filter

      We are using Zoho Reports, ServiceDesk Plus analytics. I do not see how to create a report filter using Contains comparison of a string values, is one string contained in another. For example, Task Title contains the word Monitor. Is this possible in Zoho Reports?  This reporting feature is available in SDP reporting. Thanks in advance, Craig Rice

    • Set off Unearned Revenue

      Hi, I would like to get a clarification on the below. I have an opening balance of BD.725/- in my Unearned Revenue A/c which includes the overpayments of 6 clients. No One of my clients settled his invoices by paying the value of the invoice less the

    • How Zoho Desk contributes to the art of savings

      Remember the first time your grandmother gave you cash for a birthday or New Year's gift, Christmas gift, or any special day? You probably tucked that money safely into a piggy bank, waiting for the day you could buy something precious or something you

    • Add Webhook Response Module to Zoho Flow

      Hi Zoho Flow Team, We’d like to request a Webhook Response capability for Zoho Flow that can return a dynamic, computed reply to the original webhook caller after / during the flow runs. What exists today Zoho Flow’s webhook trigger can send custom acknowledgements

    • When moments in customer support get "spooky"

      It’s Halloween again! Halloween is celebrated with spooky symbols and meanings based on history and traditions, with each region adding its own special touch. While we were kids, we would dress up in costumes along with friends, attend parties, and enjoy

    • How to backdate record payment for the invoice

      I would like to record a payment which happened 2 days ago, but I am not able to select any date later than today. I backdated the invoice, too, but it doesn't change anything

    • Questions about Zoho mail

      Hello, I had up until recently, the free version. I got a warning message that said, "The user account (Redacted email address) 6.02 GB in your organization is almost nearing the allocated storage of 5.00 GB. If the storage exceeds the allowed limit,

    • How can I delete duplicate transactions?

      I want to delete the duplicates not simply exclude them. I have duplicates, because I had automatic bank feeds turned on (had to make sure this critical functionality was working before migrating to Zoho). Now when I import my csv's exported from Wave,

    • Multiple email addresses

      Multiple email addresses: I understand there is the ability to add an additional email field to a contact, but the functionality here needs to be drastically revised. Currently, this second email address does not log under the contact email history, nor is it available as a send address when using the Send Mail button within CRM. We recently migrated from GoldMine. I hate GoldMine, but there is one thing they did well: Email. I suggest copying them. Change the email field to an editable picklist,

    • ViewID and Zoho Desk API

      I'm looking at the documentation for Listing contacts and it looks like you can filter by ViewID. I assume this is views created in a department or all departments. Is this correct? And if so, how do I find the ViewID for that view? EDIT: I see the view

    • Ability to Link Reported Issues from Zoho Desk to Specific Tasks or Subtasks in Zoho Projects

      Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you're doing well. When reporting a bug from Zoho Desk to Zoho Projects, we’ve noticed that it’s currently not possible to select an existing task or subtask to associate the issue with. However, when working directly inside Zoho

    • Print Tickets

      We have field engineers who visit customers. We would like the option to print a job sheet with full details of the job and account/contact details.

    • Zoho Desk integration with Power BI

      Hi, I want to be able to create a Power BI report which has live updates of ticket data from zoho desk, is this possile at all? Thanks Jack

    • Ability to Attach Images When Reporting Issues to Zoho Projects from Zoho Desk

      Hi Zoho Desk Team, Hope you’re doing well. We’re using the Zoho Desk–Zoho Projects integration to report bugs directly from support tickets into the Zoho Projects issue tracker. This integration is extremely useful and helps us maintain smooth coordination

    • Next Page