-
Get acquainted with how APItite works
The "raw" Zoho CRM API has set of methods for creating, reading, updating, and deleting Zoho CRM records. Normally to use these methods you have to setup an HTTP request, passing the base API URL, response format, method, and params to the HTTP POST or GET request. Then you have make the HTTP request then parse the XML or JSON response into an easy to use format or string. APItite has a Zoho Creator function for each Zoho CRM API method (the functions are named after each API method to be clear)! Each function takes care of all the above mess for you! There is no need to generate tickets, concatenate URL's, setup HTTP requests, or even parse the XML response (normally using XPath)! Take a look at image below to see the difference in formats
As you can see above APItite makes the whole request much simpler, and this image doesn't even show the script needed for sending a request and receiving a response using the raw API!
Each APItite function has argument parameters that match the ones given in the Zoho API Methods documentation. You will quickly learn the anatomy of these functions just by using the API Browser in APItite. The API Browser let's you make "raw" calls to your Zoho CRM account to test your responses and connection. List of APItite functions and the argument parameters
- getMyRecords(string module, int fromIndex, int toIndex, string sortColumnString, string sortOrderString)
- getRecords(string module, int fromIndex, int toIndex, string sortColumnString, string sortOrderString)
- getCVRecords(string module, string cvName, int fromIndex, int toIndex, string sortColumnString, string sortOrderString)
- getSearchRecords(string module, string searchColumns, string searchCondition)
- getSearchRecordsByPDC(string module, string selectColumns, string searchColumn, string searchValue)
- insertRecords(string module, map value_pairs)
- updateRecords(string module, mapvalue_pairs, int id)
-
Create & Edit Records the easy way!
When using the "raw" insertRecords & updateRecords methods in the Zoho CRM API. You have to write out/generate an XML string to POST to the Zoho CRM API! This practice is difficult for newcomers and tedious for experienced developers. APItite takes care of all the XML generation! All you have to do is pass a simple Zoho Creator Map variable (see 'value_pairs' above). Here's a Deluge Script showing how easy it is to add a contact to your Zoho CRM
//Deluge Script on submit of a Zoho Creator 'contact' form
contact = map();
contact.put("First Name",input.first_name);
cotact.put("Last Name",input.last_name);
contact.put("Email",input.email_address);
contact.put("Mobile",input.mobile_phone);
response = apitite.insertRecords("Contacts",contact);
alert(response); //or you could log the response info(response);But wait, there's an even better easier way to add/edit Zoho CRM Records using Zoho Creator forms! Included in APItite is a function called utility.filterFormMap(). Using this function means never having to write the above Map()'s anymore! Instead, you prepend your Zoho Creator form fields (NOT the display labels but the actually form field names) with "zcrm_". The below script will create a map variable out of your whole form, run it through the filterFormMap() function and return a map that holds ONLY the fields prepended with "zcrm_". Now all you have to do is send the filtered values to Zoho CRM!
//get all the fields in this form put into a list
fields = getFieldNames();
//create an empty map variable
contact = map();
//loop through that 'fields' list, put the field name, and field value into the "contact" map variable
for each field in fields
{
value = getFieldValue(field);
contact.put(field, value);
}
//We prepended some of our form fields with 'zcrm_' so let's filter out all the form fields that aren't prepended
crmContact = thisapp.utility.filterFormMap(contact);
//log a success message
info apitite.updateRecords("Contacts", crmContact, input.contact_id);
Need an app built or want help building your own app? Contact us through the Rhyne Design Website.