New built-in functions in Deluge

New built-in functions in Deluge

Hello everyone,

In today's post, let us begin with understanding functions, return values, arguments, and built-in functions. Towards the end of the post we will have a look at some of the newly supported built-in functions.

What are functions?
Functions do exactly what the name suggests. They are used to perform a specific 'function' or a task. Functions are used to combine multiple instructions to form a single piece of code meant to perform an action. And whenever you want to perform that action again, you do not have to write that code again. Instead you can simply 'call' or 'invoke' the function whenever required.
For example, a function can be written to find the average of three numbers. Once the function is created, it can be used as many times required, without having to rewrite the code all over again.

Arguments
The most important part in functions is arguments. Functions take in data in the form of arguments. For example, let's say you need a function that calculates the sum of two numbers. The two numbers could vary at different times. So in one place the numbers could be 10 and 5, in some other place it could be 20 and 25. Simply put, the function is meant to calculate the sum of two numbers which are going to be dynamic. To address this, we can specify two arguments to hold the numbers. Whenever the function is executed, the arguments are simply replaced with the numbers. The operation (in this example the operation 'sum') remains the same as defined in the script.

Argument is just programming jargon for input. Since functions aren't tied to any static or definite data, getting the outside data into your function's script requires arguments. Without arguments, Deluge wouldn't know which data your function should work with. 

Return values
Functions usually "take in" data, process it, and may or not "return" a result. The return is dependent on the script that you write within a function. For example, if you write a script to fetch a record from a specific service, then that function returns the value that has been fetched. If the script simply performs an action, for example if you write a script to add a record to a specific service and you do not want the status or response of the action in return, then that is a function without any return.

Note:
  • Configuring functions, arguments, and their return values depend on the Zoho service you are working on. 
  • We will come up with a central help page covering the working of custom functions in all Zoho services soon. Until then, you can refer to the product documents to learn about configuring custom functions.

Types of Function in Deluge 
In Deluge, functions can either be a user-defined function (custom function), where you decide what scripts are to be written in the function. Or, they could be built-in functions, where the scripts are written by us in the backend, and is readily available for you to use. 

Custom functions
For example, to calculate profit percentage you can create a custom function with the following code snippet. The inputs cost_price and selling_price of a product can be supplied to the function as arguments so the function will process them to calculate the profit percentage. Once the custom function is configured, you can use the same function to calculate profit percentages of different products by passing their cost and selling prices as arguments to this function.

  1. profit = selling_price - cost_price;
  2. percentage = (profit/cost_price)*100;

To trigger a custom function whenever an action is performed, associate it with an appropriate workflow. In Zoho Creator, you can also call the function within another function. 

Note: Configuring workflows to trigger custom functions depends on the Zoho service you are working on. 

Built-in functions
Another type of function that can be used in Deluge is built-in functions. It can be perceived as ready-to-use functions whose actions are pre-defined. That is, the script to perform the action, the required parameters, and the type of return value (if required) are already configured by us. This saves your time and effort as you can simply use them in your Deluge scripts by inputting arguments as expected by the function, without having to write the code.

For example, the leftPad built-in function inserts the specified number of white spaces to the beginning of the input text. This function expects you to supply two arguments specifying the input text and the number of white spaces to be inserted and it returns the padded text. The script required to pad the white spaces has already been written in the backend so you can directly use this function within your custom function. 

  1. lastName = leftpad("Watson",1);
  2. name = "John"+ lastName; // returns "John Watson"

In the above script, "Watson" and 1 are the arguments that are supplied to the leftpad functions and lastName is the variable that holds the return value - " Watson".

Deluge offers around 200 built-in functions so you can perform common actions, like computing the square root of a number, or checking if a given letter is present in a text. Each type of data has its set of built-in functions that allow you to manipulate it.You can refer to our help documents and flashcards to learn more. 

Let's now take a look at the built-in functions that we've recently supported. These functions are applicable for all Zoho services except Zoho Creator. We will eventually support them for Zoho Creator as well. 

Recent updates to built-in functions
​
Text functions: Functions that work on Text inputs
  • ltrim: Trims the leading white spaces from the given text
  • rtrim: Trims the trailing white spaces from the given text
Consider a concatenation function that will append two text values to return an ID. The following script uses the ltrim and rtrim functions to ensure no white spaces are inserted in between the texts.

  1. generated_ID = first_part.rtrim() + second_part.ltrim();

Here, first_part and second_part are the variables that hold the portions of the ID that need to be concentrated.
generated_ID is the variable that contains the concatenated text.

Number functions: Functions that work on Number and Decimal inputs
  • truncate: Limits the input decimal to the specified number of places to the left or right of the decimal point.
  • signum: Determines if the given number is negative, positive, or zero.
  • degrees: Converts the radians value into degrees
  • radians: Converts the degrees value into radians
  • sinh, asinh, cosh, acosh, tanh, and atanh: Perform the respective mathematical hyperbolic operations.
  • atan2: Finds the atan2 value of the specified point.
The following example converts the specified angle to radians and finds its hyperbolic sine value:

  1. angle_in_degrees = 90;
  2. angles_in_radians = angle_in_degrees.radians();
  3. sinh_value = angles_in_radians.sinh();

Here, the angle_in_degrees is the variable that holds the input angle in degrees.

We are working on offering around 70 more built-in functions in the near future. You can keep track of all the new releases, bug fixes, and improvements from our release notes. Do let us know your questions and suggestions in the comments.





    • Sticky Posts

    • Function #41: Sync Associated Subforms!

      Welcome back everyone! The last custom function showed how to update a Contact with Product details from it's Related list in Deals. This week, let's look at a function that lets you update subform records in two modules simultaneously when one of them is updated. Business scenario Let's look at how subform helps in an education institution that has deployed Zoho CRM. National Public School, Austin (made up, of course!) has set up Zoho CRM and it follows the same relationship pattern of "Students",

    • Recent Topics

    • Is there anyone who has been experiencing issues regarding the Zoho Creator Certification Website in the past 2 weeks?

      Dear all , I just wanted to ask is there anyone who was planning on taking the Zoho Creator Developer Certification Test in the past 2 weeks and have been facing errors stating that the website is under maintennance and also not allowed to access the

    • Directly Edit, Filter, and Sort Subforms on the Details Page

      Hello everyone, As you know, subforms allow you to associate multiple line items with a single record, greatly enhancing your data organization. For example, a sales order subform neatly lists all products, their quantities, amounts, and other relevant

    • GST Slabs Redefined: Stay Compliant Using Zoho Books!

      Hello Everyone! The Government of India is rolling out new GST rates, a major reform aimed at simplifying the current tax structure starting 22 September 2025. GST will move from four slabs (5%, 12%, 18%, 28%) to two main slabs (5% and 18%), plus a special

    • Allow syncing Activities from other applications

      Marketing Automation could be a much more powerful platform if you were able to sync activities into the platform (e.g. purchase, donation, etc) outside of a user doing something on your website. I'd love it if you could sync Custom CRM Modules as activities,

    • Create static subforms in Zoho CRM: streamline data entry with pre-defined values

      Last modified on (9 July, 2025): This feature was available in early access and is currently being rolled out to customers in phases. Currently available for users in the the AU, CA, and SA DCs. It will be enabled for the remaining DCs in the next couple

    • Global Sets for Multi-Select pick lists

      When is this feature coming to Zoho CRM? It would be very useful now we have got used to having it for the normal pick lists.

    • Introducing Profile Summary: Faster Candidate Insights with Zia

      We’re excited to launch Profile Summary, a powerful new feature in Zoho Recruit that transforms how you review candidate profiles. What used to take minutes of resume scanning can now be assessed in seconds—thanks to Zia. A Quick Example Say you’re hiring

    • Integración Books para cumplir la ley Crea y Crece y Ley Antifraude (VeriFactu)

      Hola: En principio, en julio de 2025, entra en vigor la ley Crea y Crece y Ley Antifraude (VeriFactu). ¿Sabéis si Zoho va a cumplir con la ley para cumplir con la facturación electrónica conectada a Hacienda? Gracias

    • Ask the Experts #1

      Hello everyone! It’s time to transform how you manage projects. Define the processes. Automate the tasks. Streamline the workflows. Let us dive into automation in Zoho Projects — from configuring workflows and custom functions to building triggers, using

    • How to overcome Zoho Deluge's time limit?

      I have built a function according to the following scheme: pages = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10}; for each page in pages { entriesPerPage = zoho.crm.getRecords("Accounts",page,200); for each entry in entriesPerPage { … } } Unfortunately, we have too many entries

    • Checking if Creator has Change History

      Like zForms - whenever an entry was updated there's an option to attached change history to email notif. Trigger -> Successful form submission

    • Unable to create embed code for resource of workdrive using API

      Hello Team, I am trying to create embed code for a resource using workdrive api in powershell, however facing some issues with injecting data in body. Followed Doc: https://workdrive.zoho.com/apidocs/v1/filefoldersharing/shareeveryone Please help, below

    • how to use validation rules in subform

      Is it possible to use validation rules for subforms? I tried the following code: entityMap = crmAPIRequest.toMap().get("record"); sum = 0; direct_billing = entityMap.get("direct_billing_details"); response = Map(); for each i in direct_billing { if(i.get("type")

    • Adding contact role to a specific deal js sdk malfunctioning

      i was trying to add the contact role to a specific deal contact but repeatedly i am getting this error: { "code": "SUCCESS", "details": { "statusMessage": { "code": "INVALID_DATA", "details": { "expected_data_type": "jsonobject" }, "message": "body",

    • Q3 Updates from Bigin!

      Hey Biginners, Hope you’re doing great! As we approach the end of 2025, we truly hope Bigin has been a part of helping you build your dream business this year! We've been busy working behind the scenes to bring you features that make running your business

    • New Series Announcement - Ecommerce Marketing Tips

      Running an online business is more than just having a website. It’s about getting the right customers to discover you, trust you, and keep coming back. To support your growth journey, we’re launching a weekly Marketing Tips series right here on Zoho Commerce

    • Client Script | Update - Introducing Subform Events and Actions

      Are you making the most of your subforms in Zoho CRM? Do you wish you could automate subform interactions and enhance user experience effortlessly? What if you had Client APIs and events specifically designed for subforms? We are thrilled to introduce

    • {"errors":[{"id":"500","title":"Servlet execution threw an exception"}]}

      Here's the call to move a file to trash. The resource_id is accurate and the file is present. header = Map(); header.put("Accept","application/vnd.api+json"); data = Map(); data_param1 = Map(); att_param1 = Map(); att_param1.put("status",51); data_param1.put("attributes",att_param1);

    • Converting Sales Order to Invoice via API; Problem with decimal places tax

      We are having problems converting a Sales Order to an Invoice via API Call. The cause of the issue is, that the Tax value in a Sales Order is sometimes calculated with up to 16 decimal places (e.g. 0.8730000000000001). The max decimal places allowed in

    • Zoho Canvas - Custom templates for related lists

      Hi, I see that the example pages load always one of our related lists in a custom template, but I dont know how to work with that:  1) How can i make my own custom templates for related lists?  2) Where and how can i check out existing custom templates?

    • Kaizen #147 - Frequently Asked Questions on Zoho CRM Widgets

      Heya! It's Kaizen time again, folks! This week, we aim to address common queries about Zoho CRM Widgets through frequently asked questions from our developer forum. Take a quick glance at these FAQs and learn from your peers' inquiries. 1. Where can I

    • open word file in zoho writer desktop version

      "How can I open a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) file in Zoho Writer if I only have the file saved on my computer and Zoho Writer doesn't appear as an option when I try 'Open with'? Is there a way to directly open the .doc file in Zoho Writer?"

    • How to invite friends on other social media platforms to one of my group chats in arattai?

      Hello, I have formed chat groups in arattai. I want to invite my friends on other social media platforms like WhatsApp/ FB to one of my groups. Different friends would be invited to different groups. How to share an invite link of one of my groups to

    • Zoho PDF editor has a lot of issues.

      Zoho PDF editor needs a lot of work. It hangs and glitches a lot. Deletes annotations and clearings randomly.

    • Zohom mail

      Plz resolve the problem . I hope u understand .

    • stock

      bom/bse : stock details or price =STOCK(C14;"price") not showing issue is #N/A! kindly resolve this problem

    • Zoho sheet desktop version

      Hi Zoho team Where can I access desktop version of zoho sheets? It is important as web version is slow and requires one to be online all the time to do even basic work. If it is available, please guide me to the same.

    • ZOHO SHEETS

      Where can I access desktop version of zoho sheets? It is important to do basic work If it is available, please guide me to the same

    • Zoho Books - France

      L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilité

    • Using Zoho Flow to create sales orders from won deal in Zoho CRM

      Hi there, We are using Zoho Flow to create sales orders automatically when a deal is won in Zoho CRM. However, the sales order requires "Product Details" to be passed in "jsonobject", and is resulting in this error: Zoho CRM says "Invalid input for invalid

    • Is Zoho Sheet available for Linux ?

      Is Zoho Sheet available for Linux ?

    • Bharat

      a

    • how to disable staff selection Zoho Booking integrated to SalesIQ?

      currently there is only one Consultant in my Zoho Bookings like this I integrate Zoho Bookings into Zoho SalesIQ to create a chatbot. Unfortunately, even though I only have one consultant for a consultation, the user have to pick the consultant. It will

    • Zoho Bookings No Sync with Outlook

      Zoho Bookings appointments are showing on my Outlook Calendar but Outlook events are not showing on Zoho Bookings. How do I fix this?

    • End Date in Zoho Bookings

      When I give my appointments a 30 minutes time I would expect the software not to even show the End Time.  But it actually makes the user pick an End Time.  Did I just miss a setting?  

    • Custom confirmation message

      How can I change the message that users see after they submit the booking form? I have to confirm some details before their appointment is officially "confirmed", so I want to change it where it doesn't say their appointment is "confirmed" but rather

    • Issue showing too many consultations in my workspace link.

      Hi Team, I’ve set up two Workspaces to track meetings from different sources. So far, this has been working well, and the two Workspaces are differentiated without any issues. However, when I navigate to Consultations and share the link to my personal

    • Deluge sendmail in Zoho Desk schedule can't send email from a verified email address

      I am trying to add a scheduled action with ZDesk using a Deluge function that sends a weekly email to specific ticket client contacts I've already verified the email address for use in ZDesk, but sendmail won't allow it in its "from:" clause. I've attached

    • Zoho Learn & Zoho Connect

      Hi, Is there a way to sync the knowledge base we have in Zoho Learn with the manuals section is Zoho Connect? Thanks,

    • Addin Support in Zoho Sheet

      Is there any addin support available in zoho sheet as like google marketplace to enhance productivity by connecting with other apps, providing AI data analysis, streamlining business processes, and more?

    • Next Page