Zoho developer Hangout (ZDH) - Episode 6 | Custom XML Related Lists in Zoho CRM

Zoho developer Hangout (ZDH) - Episode 6 | Custom XML Related Lists in Zoho CRM



Hello everyone,

The related list in any CRM record not only gives a bird's eye view of all associated items to a record such as notes, open calls or meetings, quotes etc, it also allows you to add all these components easily. However, apart from the default available CRM related list options, additional information might need to be associated to the record, out of the box, or from external applications.

One of the options for adding a custom related list in a CRM module is to write a deluge function that will return an XML formatted string, which will be interpreted and displayed as a related list. This function almost behaves like a client script, since it runs on page load and does not store data on the server side (unless you write your function to explicitly do so in the background).

We're happy to introduce the fifth episode of Zoho Developer Hangout, where our developer community member Greg Belnap, Director of Zoho Development at Zenatta Consulting, guides us on how to build related lists using functions written in deluge, that runs on page load in Zoho CRM. He explains this in detail with three different use case demonstrations for better understanding, along with a live coding tutorial. Don't miss out on the insightful discussion among the Zoho Developer Community members on the best practices and tools that can be leveraged to make the best use of the Zoho ecosystem.

Use Cases

  • Informative or contextual data that is useful to see associated to a record but not necessary to reporting or automations
    • Example: Display related Account or Contact fields on a Deal record without re-creating all the fields on the Deal
  • Related third-party data
    • Example: Display QuickBooks online invoices associated to an Account
  • Define unique relational data that requires custom scripting
    • Example: In a Deal, display other open Deals associated with that Account

About the speaker

Greg Belnap is a development director at Zenatta Consulting, where he has been working for the past three years. He specializes in instruction and coding training, and is responsible for managing the entire development team at Zenatta. Greg graduated from the University of Utah in 2018 with a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering. In his free time, he enjoys running an improv comedy group on the weekends and spending time with his dog, Raven.

Check out the ZDH 6 recording below:



If you have a compelling use case that you're proud of implementing and eager to share with the developer community, send us an email at developer(hyphen)community(at)zohocorp(dot)com, so we can set you up for a session.

ZDH is a Zoho Developer Community learning initiative that aims to facilitate a platform for developers to share their expertise and learn from each other. The monthly virtual meetings are designed to help developers solve real-time business problems by leveraging Deluge and other programming languages. Notably, these sessions are presented by our esteemed Zoho Community members themselves, along with our team of product experts. This format offers community members the chance to engage in interactive discussions, share their own experiences, and gain valuable insights into innovative problem-solving strategies employed by their peers. 




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