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 SeriesWe 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 ConnectCreator'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 - December 2024

      Hello everyone! As we step into the new year, let’s reflect on the strides we’ve made together and gear up for the exciting opportunities 2025 holds. This month’s digest highlights key updates, engaging discussions, and upcoming events designed to keep
    • 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
    • Recent Topics

    • 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...
    • 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,
    • 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.
    • Default Sort Order in Project Tasks View

      It should be possible to specify a default sort order (or have the last explicit sort order restored upon reload) for the tasks in the project tasks view. Currently the sort order must be manually re-selected for each sub-group whenever any changes are
    • Assigning Tasks and Requests to Groups... how do I?

      Guys, I've spent many hours exploring Zoho Support and we are generally satisfied with the system.  I'm trying to understand how a system that has so much to offer can be missing GROUP assignment and queue functionality.  I am hoping that there is a way
    • Parsing of SQL query failed. Please check the SQL syntax.

      I am trying to have Zoho Analytics recognize that if the a Deal is in Stage "Need Docs" it should also be counted as a Deal in the Stage "New Lead" /*New Lead*/ SELECT "ID" 'New Lead' AS "Stage" From "Deals" Where "Stage" = 'Need Docs' Union All Error
    • Where is the setting to enable/disable 2FA?

      The following links show where enable/disable 2FA is supposed to appear, but neither appear for me: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/zohosites/faq/account/articles/how-do-i-enable-or-disable-two-factor-authentication-for-my-account shows Security >
    • How to Assign Record Ownership in a Custom Form via API?

      Hello everyone, I’ve created a custom form in Zoho People and I’m using the API to manage its records. I would like to know how I can assign ownership of these records to specific users via the API. Is there a specific parameter or field in the API request
    • Customer Statement Template not matching when sending

      Hi everyone! So when I send statements to our customers via Zoho Books, the message that appears by default does not match what I have written on the template Under settings -> email notifications -> sales -> customer statement We have a single default
    • Peppol Malaysia API

      Hi Zoho Books, my country Malaysia will going to implement "Peppol" (E-Invoicing), starting 1 Jul 2025 for all businesses. The government intends to provide API for accounting app. The workflow involves creating an invoice from accounting app, triggers
    • Re-emitir facturas con nueva dirección de facturación

      Hola, necesito saber si es posible que las facturas ya emitidas, pueden ser re-emitidas con el cambio de dirección de facturación, realizado el día de hoy 02-01-2025, para efectos contables. Espero su ayuda, Gracias
    • Zoho Learn vs. Trainer Central

      Hi, I'm currently using Zoho One with a WordPress-based website and WooCommerce to manage my online courses. I would like to know what is the difference between Zoho Learn and Trainer Central and if it's possible for these two platforms to replace WP
    • Map Plan to Different Income Account for Some Subscriptions via API

      We have a plan that has a default Plan Account of "Sales". Can we override the account for a specific subscription via API? In some instances the same exact plan should map to a different income account. When we create stand-alone invoices in Zoho Books,
    • Flow with CRM

      Hello, I have a simple flow that uses a web hook to enter data into a Sales Order. I have the web hook sending Flow data which has a PO field. If the PO has a special character like - or / or \ the task fails. How can I get the flow to be okay with the
    • Chrome browser issues. Anyone else?

      I am suddenly having multiple issues with Chrome browser interpreting the Zoho Mail interface.  Anyone else?  Any known problems? Thanks, Todd
    • Zoho Payroll US?

      Good morning, just reaching out today to see if there's any timeline, or if there's progress being made to bring Zoho Payroll out to be available to all states within the USA. Currently we're going through testing with zoho, and are having issues when
    • Set up multiple IMAP email addresses

      Hi, I just started using CRM and its great, but I just found out I can only add one imap email address for incoming mail in the included salesinbox ...this is ridiculous. All companies have different email such as sales@domain, info@domain , personal@domain
    • Function 58: Custom calculation in item table of invoices (2 fields)

      Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! In Zoho Books, the Item Amount in invoices is calculated by multiplying the Quantity and Rate fields. Previously, we shared a function to include a custom field in this calculation. Today, we are taking
    • Tracking new lead response time

      Hi, I have a team of Sales Development Reps, who have a KPI of responding to a lead within 20 mins or less once it hits the system.  I seem to recall that Zoho CRM had the capability to track this in a previous version, but don't see it anywhere.   It's
    • Search function not working anymore

      Hi! The search function is not working anymore. How can we solve this problem?
    • When converting a lead to an account, the custom mandatory fields in the account are not treated by zoho as mandatory

      In my Account module I have a number of custom fields that I have set as mandatory. When I enter a new customer as a new account they work, I can't save the record without populating them. However when I convert a lead, my CRM users are able to save the
    • Expand Zia's Language Support and AI Capabilities

      Dear Zoho Desk Support, I would like to submit a feature request to improve Zia, the AI-driven support assistant in Zoho Desk. Currently, Zia only supports the English language, while other AI agents such as Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude can work with a
    • get gettting the days number between two dates with deluge

      I am trying to calculate the days number between 2 specific dates but its not working. PLease help me.
    • Limit excceding issue in zoho creator

      I am transferring data from Zoho Books to Zoho Creator using a Deluge script. However, I am frequently encountering a "limit exceeding error," which seems to be related to the Deluge statements limit. I reached out to Zoho Support, and they informed me
    • How do I add more schedules to Zoho Creator?

      At the moment, the number of schedule calls we have in Zoho Creator are 1800 per month and I was wondering if it was possible to upgrade that amount to something higher. I'd like to know my options as well as the pricing.
    • Conexion CREATOR x CRM

      Buenas tardes, Tengo un problema con un código que crea un registro en CRM. Revisé el CRM para eliminar los campos obligatorios, pero cuando ejecuto el programa, aparece el siguiente mensaje de error: {"code":"MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND","details":{"api_name":"data"},"message":"required
    • Invoices with billable time and expenses

      I cannot seem to get a straight answer. We are looking to create an invoice to send to our clients, but it needs to have the following on it: 1. Billable hours for each employee. All hours for the pay period on one line, by employee. 2. Expenses for each
    • Search Bar Improvement for Zoho Commerce

      Hey everyone, I've been using Zoho Commerce for a bit now, and I think the search bar could really use an upgrade. Right now, it doesn't show products in a dropdown as you type, which would make finding items a lot faster. On Shopify, for example, you
    • Send Whatsapp with API including custom placeholders

      Is is possible to initiate a session on whatsapp IM channel with a template that includes params (placeholders) that are passed on the API call? This is very usefull to send a Utility message for a transactional notification including an order number
    • Can't get form response to populate custom PDF template

      I've created a template and set it to default but can't figure out how to get the response to populate that template. It keeps giving me the default summary.
    • Zoho Sheets not compatible with Excel/Google Sheets

      In order to share a copy of a Zoho sheet with someone that does not use Zoho, it must be downloaded as MS Excel format and then added to an email.  This is a labor intensive, and frankly confusing process.  I have forgotten to do this before, only to
    • Add Ability to Designate Decision Branches as "Error Branches"

      Zoho Flow gives the ability to track down, troubleshoot, and fix errors with the Status and Filter dropdowns in the History tab. This works well for when a "normal" Flow action registers with an error. However, there are other times where it would be
    • Next Page