Zoho Creator Upcoming Updates - October 2024

Hello all!

We continuously strive to enhance and improve Zoho Creator with new capabilities. Continuing with this journey, we're excited to share the latest developments and progress with you.

Now, let's dive into the updates for this month:

Widget JS API 2.1
Updating multiple fields in Deluge
Page enhancements
Enhanced backup handling
Search enhancement on the Environment Staging page

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Widgets JS API 2.1

We'll be rolling out a slew of updates to help you build more powerful widgets. Our JS SDK will now support:

v2.1 APIs: Our widgets will support both Zoho Creator API v2 and API v2.1.
Meta APIs: In addition to data and file APIs, we’ve added support for meta and publish APIs.
Custom APIs: You can now utilize custom APIs in widgets.

Business value
These updates supercharge your widget development, enabling you to create dynamic and responsive widgets with ease.

Applicable for: C5, C6

Availability: All DCs

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Updating multiple fields in Deluge

We’re introducing a new Deluge task, update multiple fields, which allows you to update multiple field values of a record with a single Deluge statement. This task addresses performance issues caused by multiple Deluge calls, improving efficiency and reducing execution time.

You can use the new task to:

Update field values in the first record stored in a collection variable.
Update field values in every record of a form or collection.
Update the first record from a set of filtered records in a form.

Business value
By enabling multiple field updates within a single statement, this update helps you achieve two goals: It counts only one statement against your plan limit during execution and addresses backend performance issues.

Applicable for: C5, C6

Availability: All DCs
Released on: 07-Nov-24
Reference: Update multiple fields

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Page enhancements

We'll be enhancing page charts with the following set of intuitive updates:

Date grouping: If a date field is chosen, you can group the X-axis values based on the time range selected under the Group Date Values dropdown that appears below. The available options are Actual, Month, Year, Quarter, Month & Year, and Quarter & Year.
Set interval: Specify an interval value to determine the spacing of the tick marks on the Y-axis. The first tick mark will be the nearest multiple of the interval below the minimum value in the chosen field's data. For example, with an interval set as 100 and values of 332, 445, and 498, the tick marks will be at 300, 400, and 500.
Enable data label: Enable data labels under the Chart Controls section to show the Y-axis metrics permanently for each section displayed by a chart.
Theme color - You can now select a custom theme color for your charts via the color picker, with default colors based on the app theme.
Drill down - View detailed data by clicking on charts. Admins can now set up reports to open when clicked, offering more context.
Filters - Admins can configure filters for charts, enabling users to filter their visualized data for more precise insights.

Business value
These chart updates enable greater customization, enhancing data visualization and offering deeper insights for improved decision-making.

Applicable for: C5, C6

Availability: All DCs

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Enhanced backup

We’re rolling out backend enhancements to our Backup and Restore feature to improve the handling of backups for large applications. These updates aim to reduce the occurrence of backup failures and minimize user inconvenience.

Backup zip structure: Currently, backups contain meta.zds, data.zip, and files.zip files. With enhanced backup, the data and files will be split into 256 MB zip files (e.g., data1.zip, data2.zip, etc.). Large forms, which were previously stored as a single CSV inside data.zip, will also be split across multiple zip files.
Backup download: This enhancement allows you to download backups as large as 4 GB, exceeding the current limit of 1 GB.

Business value
The enhanced backup feature improves reliability and scalability for large applications while minimizing backup failures.

Applicable for: C5, C6

Availability: All DCs

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Search enhancement on the Environment Staging page

We’re enhancing the search function on the Environment Staging page to make it easier to narrow down and publish specific changes to the staging environment. Previously, while you could search for components or changes on the Staging page, you couldn’t select individual results. With this update, you’ll now be able to select one or more items from your search results, eliminating the need for manual scrolling and reducing effort. This improvement simplifies the process of managing and moving changes, especially in large applications with numerous updates, allowing you to efficiently publish only the changes you need to the staging environment.

How will it work?

Going forward, when you use the search option on the Staging page, under the Publish to Stage section, you'll now be able to select from the search results.

Business value
These enhancements simplify the management and deployment of changes to the staging environment by allowing you to quickly isolate and move only the specific updates you need.

Applicable for: C6

Availability: All DCs

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That wraps up this month's updates. Stay tuned for notifications on the rollout of these features—and feel free to share your thoughts on these updates in the comments below!

Regards,

The Zoho Creator Team

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