Zoho CRM Connector for C# Zoho CRM Connector can be used to integrate Zoho CRM API in your App / BI Tools. You can exchange data on Accounts, Leads, Contacts and many other modules. In this article you will learn how to quickly and efficiently integrate Zoho CRM data in C#. We will use high-performance Zoho CRM Connector to easily connect to Zoho CRM and then access the data inside C#. Let's follow the steps below to see how we can accomplish that! Download Documentation Zoho CRM Connector for C# is based on ZappySys API Driver which is part of ODBC PowerPack. It is a collection of high-performance ODBC drivers that enable you to integrate data in SQL Server, SSIS, a programming language, or any other ODBC-compatible application. ODBC PowerPack supports various file formats, sources and destinations, including REST/SOAP API, SFTP/FTP, storage services, and plain files, to mention a few.

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Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from Zoho CRM using C# we first need to create a DSN (Data Source) which will access data from Zoho CRM. We will later be able to read data using C#. Perform these steps:

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack.

2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):

   

3. Create a User data source (User DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

   ZappySys API Driver

   
   • Create and use User DSN if the client application is run under a User Account. This is an ideal option in design-time, when developing a solution, e.g. in Visual Studio 2019. Use it for both type of applications - 64-bit and 32-bit.
   • Create and use System DSN if the client application is launched under a System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service. Usually, this is an ideal option to use in a production environment. Use ODBC Data Source Administrator (32-bit), instead of 64-bit version, if Windows Service is a 32-bit application.

4. When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Zoho CRM" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Zoho CRM" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

   ZohoCrmDSN

   Zoho CRM

   

5. Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

    OAuth [OAuth]

   OAuth Connection for Zoho CRM API [API reference]

   Steps how to get and use Zoho CRM credentials : OAuth [OAuth]
   To register custom App, perform the following steps (Detailed steps found in the help link at the end)

   1. Go to Zoho API Console
   2. Click Add Client link
   3. Select Server-based Applications option
   4. Enter desired client name (Display purpose only)
   5. Enter some URL for Company homepage
   6. For Authorized Redirect URI enter https://zappysys.com/oauth (Or enter your own but we recommend using ZappySys one if possible). This URL must match on Zoho Connector UI.
   7. Click CREATE.
   8. Copy Client ID and Secret and paste on Zoho Connector UI.

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   ZohoCrmDSN

   Zoho CRM

   OAuth [OAuth]

   https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/[$Version$]

   Optional Parameters
   ClientId
   ClientSecret
   Permissions	ZohoCRM.settings.all ZohoCRM.modules.all ZohoCRM.coql.READ
   AccountUrl	https://accounts.zoho.com
   RedirectUrl	https://zappysys.com/oauth
   API Version	v2
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

6. Once the data source connection has been configured, it's time to configure the SQL query. Select the Preview tab and then click Query Builder button to configure the SQL query:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Zoho CRM

   Zoho CRM Connector can be used to integrate Zoho CRM API in your App / BI Tools. You can exchange data on Accounts, Leads, Contacts and many other modules.

   ZohoCrmDSN

   

7. Start by selecting the Table or Endpoint you are interested in and then configure the parameters. This will generate a query that we will use in C# to retrieve data from Zoho CRM. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.

   SELECT * from Accounts

   
   Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Zoho CRM API, e.g. filtering parameters. It means that filtering will be done on the server side (instead of the client side), enabling you to get only the meaningful data much faster.

8. Now hit Preview Data button to preview the data using the generated SQL query. If you are satisfied with the result, use this query in C#:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Zoho CRM

   Zoho CRM Connector can be used to integrate Zoho CRM API in your App / BI Tools. You can exchange data on Accounts, Leads, Contacts and many other modules.

   ZohoCrmDSN

   SELECT * from Accounts

   
   You can also access data quickly from the tables dropdown by selecting <Select table>.
   A WHERE clause, LIMIT keyword will be performed on the client side, meaning that the whole result set will be retrieved from the Zoho CRM API first, and only then the filtering will be applied to the data. If possible, it is recommended to use parameters in Query Builder to filter the data on the server side (in Zoho CRM servers).

9. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Video Tutorial

Read data in C#

Using ODBC DSN

1. Create a new Console project and use this code to read the data:
   

   "ZohoCrmDSN";

   

2. Press F5 to run the code and read the data:
   

3. Here is the code in text format:

   using System;
   using System.Data.Odbc;
   
   namespace ConsoleApp {
       class Program {
           static void Main() {
               var dsn = "ZohoCrmDSN";
               using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(String.Format("DSN={0}", dsn)))
               {
                   conn.Open();
                   var cmd = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM Products", conn);
                   
                   //Increase the timeout duration from the default 30 seconds, which may be insufficient in certain scenarios
                   cmd.CommandTimeout=600; // 600-Seconds
                   
                   var rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
                   while (rdr.Read())
                   {
                       for (int i = 0; i < rdr.FieldCount; i++)
                       {
                               Console.Write("{0}\t", rdr[i]);
                       }
                       Console.WriteLine();
                   }
               }
               Console.ReadKey();
           }
       }
   }
   

Using a full ODBC connection string

If you want to avoid being dependent on a DSN and creating multiple DSNs for each platform (x86, x64), then you can use a fully qualified connection string. Simply go to your DSN and copy the Connection String:

1. Open ODBC data source configuration and click Copy settings:
   

   ZappySys API Driver - Configuration [Version: 2.0.1.10418]

   ZappySys API Driver - Zoho CRM

   Zoho CRM Connector can be used to integrate Zoho CRM API in your App / BI Tools. You can exchange data on Accounts, Leads, Contacts and many other modules.

   ZohoCrmDSN

   
2. The window opens, telling us the connection string was successfully copied to the clipboard:

3. Then in your C# code, pass the connection string as an argument when calling the OdbcConnection object's constructor, for example:

   var connectionString = @"DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};ServiceUrl=https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/[$Version$];Provider=Custom;OAuthVersion=OAuth2;ScopeSeparator={space};ReturnUrl=[$RedirectUrl$];ExtraAttributesForAuthRequest=access_type=offline&prompt=consent;AuthUrl=[$AccountUrl$]/oauth/v2/auth;TokenUrl=[$AccountUrl$]/oauth/v2/token;ClientId=[$ClientId$];ClientSecret=[$ClientSecret$];Scope=[$Permissions$];ExpiresInAttribute=expires_in_sec;";
   
   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(connectionString))
   {
       // your code goes here
   }

Limitations of using a full connection string

Despite using a full ODBC connection string may be very convenient it comes with a limitation: it's length is limited to 1024 symbols (or sometimes more). It usually happens when API provider generates a very long Refresh Token when OAuth is at play. If you are using such a long ODBC connection string, you may get this error:

"Connection string exceeds maximum allowed length of 1024"

But there is a solution to this by storing the full connection string in a file. Follow the steps below to achieve this:

1. Open your ODBC data source.
2. Click Copy settings button to copy a full connection string (see the previous section on how to accomplish that).
3. Then create a new file, let's say, in C:\temp\odbc-connection-string.txt.
4. Continue by pasting the copied connection string into a newly created file and save it.
5. Finally, the last step! Just construct a shorter ODBC connection string using this format:

   DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};SettingsFile=C:\temp\odbc-connection-string.txt

6. Our troubles are over! Now you should be able to use this connection string in C# with no problems.

Actions supported by Zoho CRM Connector

Learn how to perform common Zoho CRM actions directly in C# with these how-to guides:

• Add / Update Tags for records
• Delete [Dynamic Endpoint]
• Gets record count for specific tag for module
• Insert [Dynamic Endpoint]
• List Module Fields
• List Module Settings
• List Modules
• List Tags
• List Territories
• List Views
• Read [Dynamic Endpoint]
• Read [Dynamic Endpoint] (Use this for fewer than 50 Fields in v3+)
• Read Data (Query Mode - Max 200 Rows Only)
• Search [Dynamic Endpoint]
• Update [Dynamic Endpoint]
• Upsert [Dynamic Endpoint] (Update or Insert)
• Generic Request
• Generic Request (Bulk Write)

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Zoho CRM in C# and integrate data without any coding, saving you time and effort. It's worth noting that ZappySys API Driver allows you to connect not only to Zoho CRM, but to any Java application that supports JDBC (just use a different JDBC driver and configure it appropriately).

We encourage you to download Zoho CRM Connector for C# and see how easy it is to use it for yourself or your team.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact ZappySys support team. You can also open a live chat immediately by clicking on the chat icon below.

Download Zoho CRM Connector for C# Documentation

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