General Discussion

  • 1.  Tech Talk: Implementation – Integrating into Zoho CRM

    Posted 09-19-2024 08:54
    Edited by Ian Chamberlain 04-14-2025 10:32

    Pulling data from any CRM can be useful to provide some added context to your people in the field. Integration into Zoho is no different. Unlike our out-of-the-box connection to Salesforce, an integration to Zoho will need to use our HTTP Connection.  

    Registering the application in Zoho

    1. Follow the instructions found here: https://www.zoho.com/crm/developer/docs/api/v3/oauth-overview.html to register an application in Zoho

    1. When you click on "Add Client" the first screen you will get is to choose a type, for a connection into TrueContext, we will select Server-based Applications. 

    1. When it prompts for a Redirect URL, we will use the URL that is documented here
       
       

    1.  Once the client is registered in Zoho, it will provide you with a Client ID and Secret. This information will be used to create the connection in TrueContext.

     

    Creating a Connection in TrueContext

    1. Create a new Connection in TrueContext and select the OAuth 2.0 with the grant type of "Authorization Code"

    1. Base Connection URL: https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v3/

    1. The default Authorization Code URL for Zoho is https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/auth

    1. The default Access Token URL for Zoho is https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/token

    1. The different scopes are documented in the Zoho API here in this example, ZohoCRM.modules.ALL will give access to all modules.

    2. Under Additional Parameters, add in the following parameter: access_type with the value offline

     

    7. Once you have input all the settings for the OAuth 2, you can click on the connect button at the bottom of the screen and you should be prompted to enter your credentials and allow access based on the scopes that were defined in the connection: 

    8. Once you see Connection Established, your connection has been made.

    Creating a Data Source 

    Creating a Data Source to pull from Zoho will be created as an HTTP GET data source. In this example, we will pull a list of Accounts from Zoho to feed a dropdown with options.  

    1. Create a new Data Source using the HTTP GET option

    1. Ensure that you are using the new Connection to Zoho that we created in the earlier step.

    1. Since we are pulling a list of Accounts, the URL Path will be "Accounts" (change this to the module that you need to pull) 

    1. In the Query String Arguments, we will define the fields we want to include in the data source. We normally do not want to include all the fields and only those that will be used in the form.  

    1. Under Arguments, enter fields 

    1. Under Argument Value, enter the columns you want. To get you started you can enter: Account_Name,Billing_Street,Billing_City,Billing_Country for the name and billing address. 
       

    Once the data source is saved, you will see the columns get all filled in so you will see that the information is pulled into the data source. 

     

    Creating a Data Destination 

    To send data to Zoho to create or update entities, a JSON Request body must be sent along to Zoho. Sticking with the same theme of updating Accounts, we will be updating an Account in Zoho.  

    1. Create a new DREL Template document, this needs to line up with your form, but for example you can create a document like this. We are passing along the id, Billing City, Billing Street, and Billing Country. Ensure that the request is formatted like the following but change the Unique IDs to match that of your form: 
      { 
        "data": [ 
          { 
            "id": "%a[id]", 
            "Billing_City": "%a[BillingCity]", 
            "Billing_Street": "%a[BillingStreet]", 
            "Billing_Country": "%a[BillingCountry]" 
          } 
        ] 
      } 

    1. Next, we will create the destination. Create a new HTTP Data Destination, give it a name and under URL Suffix, enter "Accounts". 

    1. Depending on the action that you are performing (Insert, Update or Upsert) ensure that you have selected the right POST or PUT (per the ZOHO documentation, example: https://www.zoho.com/crm/developer/docs/api/v3/update-records.html).  

    1. Attach your Data Destination to the form that you need and ensure that you include the DREL Template that you created in the previous step to the destination. 

    2. Under the "Response Configuration" tab, enable "Store all response outputs for use in later destinations" to allow us to write attachments and/or images to the newly created object.

    This is just scratching the surface of what you can do with this Integration but should give you enough information to interact with any other Module or Fields.  

    Writing PDF to Entity

    We will need to leverage the Response Output from the previous destination to attach the PDF. We can use DREL to retrieve a specific value from the response and include it as the URL for this request

    1. Create a HTTP File Upload Destination
    2. Under Request Configuration, in the URL Suffix, depending on your Base Connection URL, you can use something like this 'Accounts/%o[EC][body.data[0].details.id]/Attachments'
      1. Accounts is your base module (where you are attaching)
      2. %o is referring to a response output, [EC] is the unique identifier of the previous destination, [body.data[0].details.id] is the response item that you want to use (in this case, it's the ID of the newly created object)
    3. Under the File Configuration tab, change the Form Submission Document Parameter to 'file'

    4. DO NOT include any additional attachments to this request (Do not check off any of these boxes or the request will fail)

    5. Attach the new destination to your form including the PDF (or final document you want to send)

    Writing images to Entity

    Similar to writing a PDF, writing images is also done with the HTTP File Upload destination. 

    1. Create a HTTP File Upload Destination
    2. Under Request Configuration, in the URL Suffix, depending on your Base Connection URL, you can use something like this 'Accounts/%o[EC][body.data[0].details.id]/photo'
      1. Accounts is your base module (where you are attaching)
      2. %o is referring to a response output, [EC] is the unique identifier of the previous destination, [body.data[0].details.id] is the response item that you want to use (in this case, it's the ID of the newly created object)
    3. Under the File Configuration tab, change the Form Submission Document Parameter to 'file'
    4. Check off the boxes for the types of attachments that you want to include in the request. In the example below, I am specifying to write Photos, Sketches and Signatures to my destination.

    5. Add this new destination to your form and DO NOT include a document, if you do include a document, the destination will fail as this endpoint is expecting only image type files.

    #TechTalkImplementation
    #Integration

    ------------------------------
    Ian Chamberlain
    Solutions Architect
    TrueContext
    ------------------------------



  • 2.  RE: Tech Talk: Implementation – Integrating into Zoho CRM

    Posted 04-14-2025 10:36

    I have just edited the article above to include the steps to send PDFs and Images to your ZOHO objects.

    Please note the following: 

    • If you want to create/update an entity, write a PDF and include any images/signatures, this will result in 3 separate destinations.
    • If you attach the PDF to the Destination that is writing Images, it will fail. (this needs to be done in 2 actions)
    • If you attach images to the destination that is writing the PDF, it will fail. (this needs to be done in 2 actions)


    ------------------------------
    Ian Chamberlain
    Solutions Architect
    TrueContext
    ------------------------------



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