Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - April 2024

Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - April 2024



Hello everyone,

April was an action-packed month for the Zoho Developer Community! From insightful sessions on strategic software development to the conclusion of the exciting bootcamps in India, there's plenty to catch up on. Explore upcoming events, valuable resources, and engaging community discussions in this month's digest. Dive in for a dose of inspiration and stay connected with the latest updates!

April Highlights

Zoho Developer Hangout 15

This session was all about exploring how to strategically develop software that drives business growth. @David Afolabi–Group Program Manager, Systems, Analytics & Solutions Architecture/Engineering, Boost Media Group—gave practical insights into value chain architecture and learn how to align your solutions with evolving business processes. Watch the recording of this session here.

Extensions - India Bootcamps

We wrapped up the Zoho Developer Community Bootcamps in India! The bootcamps were all about building connections, getting expert tips from Zoho pros, and feeling the power of the community. Big thanks to the Zoho experts who shared their knowledge and to everyone who participated. This is just the beginning – stay tuned for even more opportunities to learn, connect, and collaborate in the next round of bootcamps! Here's a small recap from the Chennai bootcamp.

Upcoming Events

Note: To stay on top of the upcoming developer community events, keep an eye on this page.
  1. Zoho Extensions 101 – Extensions for Zoho Finance Suite: This series offers a comprehensive exploration of developing extensions and widgets for the Zoho Finance suite. Did you know that we have a dedicated portal in Sigma with which you can create extensions for a range of applications in the Zoho Finance Suite, including Zoho Books, Zoho Billing, Zoho Expense, Zoho Inventory, and Zoho Invoice? Starting with an introduction to Sigma and the Zoho Books platform, subsequent sessions cover creating extensions, testing, publishing, and listing apps in the Zoho Marketplace. Registration and more details here.

  2. Zoho QEngine 101: This series aims to enable attendees to create test cases from scratch, manage them under modules, and execute them for three different platforms—web, mobile, and API—using Zoho QEngine. With three sessions already completed, our focus will now shift to Mobile testing in the upcoming session slated for June 6. Register here.

  3. eSignatures with Zoho Sign: Discover how to create legally binding documents and seamlessly integrate Zoho Sign into your website or mobile application using Zoho Sign APIs and SDKs. Join us on May 16 to learn the importance of integrating a digital signature solution into your website, get a product walkthrough of Zoho Sign, and gain insights into utilizing Zoho Sign's APIs effectively. Register here.

  4. Zoho CRM APIs: In this series, you will learn about OAuth2.0 authorization used by Zoho CRM APIs, CRUD operations for retrieving, creating, updating, and deleting records, efficient search/query methods, data synchronization techniques for consistency across platforms, and working with SDKs for seamless integration of Zoho CRM functionality into applications. Check out part 2 of this series where we discussed Python SDK and the API credit system. In the upcoming session on May 29, we'll be covering Search API & COQL API. Register here.

  5. Zoho Apptics 101: In this series starting June 11, we’ll dive deep into every aspect of application analytics to help you understand how Zoho Apptics aids in measuring important KPIs that reflect your app's performance, growth, and engagement. Click here to register.

  6. Learning Table Series: We designed this series to provide users with valuable insights and knowledge about Creator's capabilities in various business use cases and applications. This year, we have adopted the 12 Months 12 Industries concept. Every month, we will focus on a specific industry, illustrating its unique processes with real-time business scenarios and how to make best use of Creator for that industry. Our recent webinar on Creator for the Education Industry was a success, and during the upcoming session, we'll be exploring Creator for the Manufacturing Industry.

    Title: Creator For the Manufacturing Industry
    Date: June 6, 2024
    APAC & ANZ: 11 AM to 12 PM IST - Registration Link
    EMEA: 4 PM to 5 PM IST - Registration Link
    Americas: 9 PM to 10 PM IST - Registration Link

  7. Creator Tech Connect: Creator's tech connect series would comprise of technical sessions that provide immersive training on the key essentials and technical nuances of building a solution in Zoho Creator. This is a great opportunity for our developer community to stay informed about Creator's new feature releases, product roadmap, best practices to follow while scripting in deluge, new deluge concepts, and cloud functions. We are conducting a three-month series on mobile applications in Zoho Creator. The recent session of the series focused on rebranding mobile applications in Zoho Creator, while the upcoming session in the series will be about Mobile SDK in Zoho Creator.

    Title: Mobile SDK in Zoho Creator
    Date: June 13, 2024
    APAC & ANZ: 11 AM to 12 PM IST - Registration Link
    EMEA: 4 PM to 5 PM IST - Registration Link
    Americas: 9 PM to 10 PM IST - Registration Link

Resource Spotlight

We've consolidated all the resources from the developer community learning series into a centralized hub for your convenient access. Consider bookmarking the Zoho Developer Community website to stay informed about the latest updates in the developer community.

Community Discussions

Zoho Developer Forum

  • This post is a goldmine for anyone working with Deluge scripting! @Rodger shares a struggle many face (confusing variable names) and nailed down a simple yet effective naming convention for variables and objects, making scripts way easier to read and manage. It's clear he's put a lot of thought into this, and kudos to him for generously passing on the knowledge.
  • Stuck with duplicate leads due to address variations in Zoho CRM? This community forum thread can help!
  • Look no further than this forum discussion if you're grappling with generating invoices from quotes in Zoho CRM, particularly with custom fields and API restrictions. Check out the code snippet shared by our MVP @Bhoomi to assist @Lili.
  • @Jean wants to nudge employees to fill a non-mandatory field in Zoho CRM. Our MVP @Hugh steps in with a clever client script that triggers a pop-up reminder upon saving. As @Jean digs deeper with follow-up questions, the conversation evolves with @Javier and @Subhash joining the mix to explore advanced options. Check it out here.

Developers ZUG Cliq Channel

Note: These conversations are confined to the Developers ZUG Cliq channel members. If you're keen on becoming a part of this space, please fill in this onboarding form to receive your invitation to join the channel.
  • A little delay is needed at times, only when it's a part of the code! @Labiol needed help with hard-coding a delay in his Deluge code, and thankfully, there was no delay in @Richard and @Mike coming to his aid with an effective, documented solution. Check it out here.
  • Sometimes the answer is right under the nose! @Eric Chrobak faced an issue spanning various Zoho Products, which required work with SQL, and @Ed jumped in with the simplest solution one can imagine. Check it out for yourself here!
  • They say there's more than one way to skin a cat. Apparently, there were also mutiple ways to solve @Reid's need to filter contacts and deals based on different stages in communication. Check out the different solutions offered by Mike and Sayali here!
  • Syncing data between applications lets users manipulate data in specific ways for specific needs. That's what Ram needed help with; syncing contacts between Zoho CRM and Zoho Books. Janani jumped in with sample code that saved Ram's day!
  • Calculating geographical distances is an integral part of a multitude of businesses, such as Real Estate, eCommerce, and so on, for varied use cases. When @Ron needed help, @Puneet took him a lot closer to solving his query on calculating geographical distances using Zoho Creator. 
  • Not all code that is written in Zoho's suite of products has to be in Deluge, Zoho's own coding language! Check out this interaction that happened when Vigneshwaran needed help with Javascript to retrieve records from Zoho Creator. 

Community Spotlight

ZDH Speakers

The contributions of our ZDH presenters have been instrumental in the success of the this segment. We extend our heartfelt appreciation for their efforts.

As a continuation of featuring a ZDH presenter each month, this time, we would like to introduce our 10th presenter @Eric Chrobak. Explore this post to discover the knowledge and insights he shared with the community.

Cliq Contributors

The Developers ZUG Cliq channel has consistently served as the primary hub for community members seeking technical assistance and engaging in savvy discussions. Here are our top contributors who have gone the extra mile to support and assist the Zoho Developer Community:



We want to express our sincere appreciation to all our community contributors. Your commitment, expertise, and the time you invest are invaluable to the community. 

For those who are new to the Zoho Developer Community, check out this post to get started. 

We appreciate you dedicating your time to peruse this month's digest. Make sure to follow the digest each month for the most recent updates and conversations. Stay connected and participate in the forums to be featured in the upcoming month's digest. Wishing you an amazing month ahead!

SEE ALSO




    • Sticky Posts

    • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - November 2024

      Hello everyone! Welcome back to the November edition of the Developer Community Monthly Digest. Dive in to explore the upcoming events, hands-on training sessions, exciting product updates, insightful discussions, and more to keep you informed and inspired!

    • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - October 2024

      Hello everyone, This edition highlights October's product updates, upcoming community events, engaging discussions that sparked inspiration, and celebrates the top contributors who drove progress. Grab your favorite beverage and dive in! Upcoming Events

    • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - September 2024

      Hello everyone, This month's Developer Digest is packed with resources to help you build powerful applications. Learn how to leverage Zoho CRM's new features, explore the latest in Zoho Finance and Catalyst, and join exciting bootcamps, webinars, and

    • Zoho Developer Community Monthly Digest - August 2024

      Hello everyone, Get ready for another exciting month of Zoho development! Our August digest is packed with events, resources, and community discussions to empower you as a Zoho developer. Let's dive right in! Upcoming Events To stay on top of the upcoming

    • Extensions 101: Build Extensions for Zoho Finance suite

      Hello Developers! We are thrilled to announce our 5-day webinar series on building extensions for Zoho Finance Suite products. Our first session was a resounding success, introducing Extensions, Zoho Developer, Zoho Marketplace, and the Zoho Books Developer

    • Recent Topics

    • Introducing Zia GenAI: Zoho's Native Generative AI for Zoho Desk

      Hello everyone, Zia GenAI is available on Early Access for Zoho Desk Enterprise subscribers. Kindly fill out this Registration Form to request early access. We are excited to announce the Beta release of Zia GenAI in Zoho Desk, now available through our

    • Add blueprint buttons to listview and kanban

      Hello, just started to use the Blueprints feature - really useful. I have one suggestion to help this work even better - can there be transition buttons that appear on the top of listview & Kanban? Maybe an option as well - "Blueprint transitions appear

    • Deleted message in SPAM

      In one of my gmail accounts (getnickifit@gmail.com) I had an email from PayPal in the SPAM folder. I thought I was moving the message to the inbox from the zoho mobile but it looks like it was deleted. It is no where to be found--inbox, trash, etc. Can it be restored?

    • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

      Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files

    • Multiple Facebook Pages under Single Brand

      Hi everyone, I'd like to know if there is a possibility of connecting multiple Facebook pages under a single brand on Zoho? At the moment, there are different Facebook pages of a single brand and would want to keep under the same brand on Zoho as we

    • Zoho Books Estimate to Zoho CRM quote?

      I'm not sure why this isnt automatic, but maybe I'm missing something. When we create a quote in zoho books we have a custom function that pushes the contact into a deal within the CRM. I can not for the life of me figure out how to push an estimate from

    • Zoho Developer Hangout (ZDH) – Episode 17 | Optimizing Organizational Processes through Automation

      Hey developers! Running a business can get quite overwhelming especially when juggling multiple tools like those in the Zoho ecosystem. Although integrating most of them is a piece of cake, manual intervention is needed at times. Being able to automate

    • User Emails Blocked

      Community: I keep running into issues where our users stop receiving notifications from CRM because their email addresses get blocked in on the backend some how. I reach out to support, they confirm, they fix, and we carry on, but then it happens again.

    • Organization Variables - Restrict Access

      Currently, there is no way to restrict the access to organization variables. This leads to a problem when storing API related values that should be kept secret as anyone with access to create and edit email templates, workflow rules, or inventory templates

    • Apple Messages for Business in Omnichannel communications?

      Hello, Apple launched "Apple Messages for Business" but Zoho CRM or Zoho Desk don't appear in the list of possible integrators. Zoho already promotes https://www.zoho.com/crm/omnichannel.html Omni Channel integration, but Apple Messages does not yet appear.

    • Kaizen #140 - Integrating Blog feed scraping service into Zoho CRM Dashboard

      Howdy Tech Wizards! Welcome to a fresh week of kaizen. This week, we will look at how to create a dashboard widget that displays the most recent blog post of your preferred products/services, updated daily at a specific time. We will leverage the potential

    • Schedule meeting monthly on a particular day

      Suppose I wanted to schedule HR meeting every month on the first Tuesday with each employee separately for 20 minutes each. How could I automate these type of meetings? And if Sunday occurs on the first Tuesday I would like to shift that meeting on next

    • In ZohoCRM Dashboards - Editing Shown Columns on Drilldown of Components

      Hello! I'm working with some Dashboards inside of ZohoCRM. When creating a component (In this case, specifically a KPI Ranking Component), I'd like to customize which fields show when trying to drilldown. For example, when I click on one of the sales

    • Multibrand Help Center - Share knowledge base catgories between multiple departments

      Hello, I would like to know if it is possible to share categories between multiple departments when the multi brand feature is enabled. So that then one portal exists per department, but certain categories are visible in multiple portals. After all, we

    • Added Domain but SSL is not being set properly

      We added a Domain for our landing page and it pushed an SSL cert to it. The Cert is generated by LetsEncrypt, but it doesn't match our subdomain (i.e., it's just pointing to zohosites.com). How do we get the cert properly setup there?

    • Zoho CRM Widget not displaying 2 related lists (JS)

      Okay so I basically have 2 relatedLists that I want to get and render: ZOHO.CRM.API.getRelatedRecords({ Entity: data.Entity, RecordID: data.EntityId, RelatedList: "Notes", page: 1, per_page: 200, }) ZOHO.CRM.API.getRelatedRecords({ Entity: data.Entity,

    • Sharing Knowledge Base articles across multiple departments

      It would be useful to share some Knowledge Base articles across multiple departments where they are applicable, rather than having to go into other departments to find the article you're looking for. For example. Our reception uses the 'Admin' desk whereas our IT guys use the 'Support' desk, however both divisions would find KB articles about our company intranet useful. Reception does not have access to the support desk, so cannot see articles created in the Support KB. Perhaps you could install

    • Iteration through a list - Coming up against a "Failure to update function" error

      Hi there! I've been attempting to get a deluge script working and am running into an error that I have been unable to resolve. The error I am getting is Failed to update function Error at line :18. Improper Statement. Error might be due to missing ';'

    • KPI widget with percentage

      I'm trying to create a KPM widget that displays current performance as a percentage - something like the picture below. I've tried following the instructions at https://www.zoho.com/analytics/help/dashboard/kpi-widgets.html#chart but nothing ends up being

    • Canvas List View Not Saving

      Hi, I am trying to edit a list view to look different depending on the tags. Everything worked well and saved well with multiple views, but when I have gone back in to make some small changes like moving one of the icons it comes up with the error message

    • Team Inbox is not working AGAIN

      I like Team Inbox in general. It makes using a collaborative inbox easy - when it works. The problem is that it doesn't work at times - and it seems to not work, a lot. It's not catastrophic failure, it's little things. Unable to send messages Unable

    • QR code image is not exported in PDFs

      The new QR code field works fine when I include it in a report template and I choose the print option: https://creatorapp.zoho.com/<username>/<app_link_name>/record-print/<report_link_name>/<record_ID>/ But when I try to save the document to a .pdf file

    • QR codes in templates

      I'm excited about the new QR code generator. I have included a QR code that contains the record ID setting "${ID}" as input data. In the report detail it works perfectly but when printing it in a template the code is not shown.

    • This mobile number has been marked spam. Please contact support.

      Hi Support, Can you tell me why number was marked as spam. I have having difficult to add my number as you keep requesting i must use it. My number is +63....163 Or is Zoho company excluding Philippines from their services?

    • geographic search filter in map view

      Hi, I have a recruiting and timesheet system built in Creator. The client wants to enhance the search for candidates based on their location and filter by job skills - currently they look on the Map View which uses the geo location or post code of the

    • Real Estate CRM

      How can I tailor my CRM for real estate? I had seen an image where the CRM included property tabs.

    • Zoho CRM search not working

      The search bar is not showing any results in our CRM installation. We have a lot of items and can not search them by using the navigation each time. Can someone please check this asap.

    • Reload page with widget

      Hi all, I hope I can find some help here. I developed a small widget for Creator that is integrated into a page as a component. The page contains other content as well. When the widget is sent, the entire page should be reloaded to apply the changes to

    • Tip of the week #37 - Manage all your Telegram business conversations directly from your shared inboxes.

      Tired of switching between multiple apps to manage your business conversations? With Zoho TeamInbox's multichannel inboxes, connect your Telegram channel to a shared inbox. This way, your teams can easily handle c View, reply, and collaborate on them

    • Tags on notes aren't syncing correctly on Android

      I've created notes on the desktop version that have several tags assigned, but on both my Android devices those notes only have ONE of those tags instead of all of them, despite the actual content of the note being correctly synced, and I'm also starting

    • Reports - custom layout - duplicate report

      Do you also have this problem and what is the possible solution? I duplicate a report that has a "custom layout". Unfortunately the custom layout is not duplicated. To be improved for a future release by Zoho. I export the custom layout and import it...

    • "Copy Field Values from one Module to another" how to use?

      Hi everyone! I'm sorry if this question was already asked, I didn't find it! So let me explain:  In my Tickets module, we have the custome field "customer type" where we indicate if it's a lead, user, etc... In the Contact module I used the "type" field with exactely the same entries. I would like when in the tickets module an operator choose an option that it automatically update it in the contact module. I found the "Copy Field Values from one Module to another" custom function which seems perfect

    • How to map a global picklist from one module to another

      Hi there, i currently have a new field that is called sales office which we use for permission settings between our different offices located in different countries. It is a global set picklist with three different options: MY, SG and VN. I want to be

    • Pageless mode needed to modernise Writer

      When we switched from GSuite to Zoho, one of the easiest apps I found to give up, was Docs. In many ways, Writer has always been more powerful than Docs, especially in terms of workflows/fillable forms/etc. However, I went back into Docs because I notice

    • Changing the Logo Size on Zoho Sites

      My company logo incorporates both an image and text, and I would like it to be much more prominent on the page than is currently allowed by the small logo box in the template.  Is there any way to hide the page name and then make the logo box much bigger since my company name and logo are connected / are all in one file?  Thank you. 

    • Is it possible to Select Item Serial Numbers from a Sales Order?

      Our accepted estimates are converted to Sales orders for our warehouse staff to pick.  How can my warehouse staff select the serial numbers for an item when editing a Sales Order?  Logically when staff pull an item and have the serial in front of them they update the Sales Order and select the serial. I understand a serial can be added when creating an invoice but how can accounts team know the serial if the warehouse staff can't select it! A basic flaw!

    • MORE BUGS: Client Script, Deluge and Widget JS SDK don't work as expected when trying to retrieve a record that has been "rejected" as part of an approval process.

      Client Script $Page.record is null when accessing a record that has been "rejected" as part of an approval process. Deluge zoho.crm.getRecordById(moduleName, recordId) returns {"status":"failure"} when recordId is a valid, but rejected record. OK... I

    • Zoho CRM Widget not displaying 2 related lists (JS)

      Okay so I basically have 2 relatedLists that I want to get and render: ZOHO.CRM.API.getRelatedRecords({ Entity: data.Entity, RecordID: data.EntityId, RelatedList: "Notes", page: 1, per_page: 200, }) ZOHO.CRM.API.getRelatedRecords({ Entity: data.Entity,

    • Recurring Events Not Appearing in "My Events" and therefore not syncing with Google Apps

      We use the Google Sync functionality for our events, and it appears to have been working fine except: I've created a set of recurring events that I noticed were missing from my Google Apps calendar. Upon further research, it appears this is occurring

    • Zoho Books and Zoho Projects Task Status Update

      How can we create an automation using custom functions for the following scenario. When our zoho books invoice status changes to paid. I want a task in Zoho projects to change to completed.

    • Next Page