SQL Server Zoho CRM Connector

In this article you will learn how to integrate Zoho CRM data to SQL Server without coding in just a few clicks (live / bi-directional connection to 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..

Using Zoho CRM Connector you will be able to connect, read, and write data from within SQL Server. Follow the steps below to see how we would accomplish that.

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Video Tutorial - Integrate Zoho CRM data in SQL Server

This video covers following and more so watch carefully. After watching this video follow the steps described in this article.

  • How to download / install required driver for Zoho CRM integration in SQL Server
  • How to configure connection for Zoho CRM
  • Features about API Driver (Authentication / Query Language / Examples / Driver UI)
  • Using Zoho CRM Connection in SQL Server

Create Data Source in ZappySys Data Gateway based on ZappySys API Driver

  1. Download and install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack.

  2. Search for gateway in start menu and Open ZappySys Data Gateway:
    Open ZappySys Data Gateway

  3. Go to Users Tab to add our first Gateway user. Click Add; we will give it a name tdsuser and enter password you like to give. Check Admin option and click OK to save. We will use these details later when we create linked server:
    ZappySys Data Gateway - Add User

  4. Now we are ready to add a data source. Click Add, give data source a name (Copy this name somewhere, we will need it later) and then select Native - ZappySys API Driver. Finally, click OK.

    ZohoCrmDSN

    ZappySys Data Gateway - Add Data Source

  5. 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
    ODBC DSN Template Selection

  6. 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 Connection for Zoho CRM API [Read more..]

    Steps to get 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/v2
    Required Parameters
    Optional Parameters
    ClientId Fill in the parameter...
    ClientSecret Fill in the parameter...
    Permissions Fill in the parameter...
    AccountUrl Fill in the parameter...
    RedirectUrl Fill in the parameter...
    RetryMode Fill in the parameter...
    RetryStatusCodeList Fill in the parameter...
    RetryCountMax Fill in the parameter...
    RetryMultiplyWaitTime Fill in the parameter...
    ODBC DSN Oauth Connection Configuration

  7. Once the data source has been configured, you can preview data. Select the Preview tab and use settings similar to the following to preview data:
    ODBC ZappySys Data Source Preview

  8. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Read data in SQL Server from the ZappySys Data Gateway data source

  1. To read the data in SQL Server the first thing you have to do is create a Linked Server. Go to SQL Server Management Studio and configure it in a similar way: SSMS SQL Server Configure Linked Server

  2. Then click on Security option and configure username we created in ZappySys Data Gateway in one of the previous steps: SSMS SQL Server Configure Linked Server User Name

  3. Finally, open a new query and execute a query we saved in one of the previous steps:

    SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_LINKED_SERVER_NAME], 'SELECT * FROM Products');

    SSMS SQL Server Query Data Results

Firewall settings

So far we have assumed that Gateway is running on the same machine as SQL Server. However there will be a case when ZappySys ODBC PowerPack is installed on a different machine than SQL Server. In such case you may have to perform additional Firewall configurations. On most computers firewall settings wont allow outside traffic to ZappySys Data Gateway. In such case perform following steps to allow other machines to connect to Gateway.

Method-1 (Preferred)

If you are using newer version of ZappySys Data Gateway then adding firewall rule is just a single click.

  1. Search for gateway in start menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway.
  2. Go to Firewall Tab and click Add Firewall Rule button like below. This will create Firewall rule to all Inbound Traffic on Port 5000 (Unless you changed it). Allow Inbound Traffic - Add Firewall Rule for ZappySys Data Gateway

Method-2 Here is another way to add / edit Inbound Traffic rule in windows firewall. Use below method if you choose to customize your rule (for advanced users).
  1. Search for Windows Firewall Advanced Security in start menu.
  2. Under Inbound Rules > Right click and click [New Rule] >> Click Next
  3. Select Port on Rule Type >> Click Next
  4. Click on TCP and enter port number under specified local port as 5000 (use different one if you changed Default port) >> Click Next
  5. Select Profile (i.e. Private, Public) >> Click Next
  6. Enter Rule name [i.e. ZappySys Data Gateway – Allow Inbound ] >> Click Next
  7. Click OK to save the rule
SQL Server Firewall Allow Inbound Data Gateway

OPENQUERY vs EXEC (handling larger SQL text)

So far we have seen examples of using OPENQUERY. It allows us to send pass-through query at remote server. The biggest limitation of OPENQUERY is it doesn't allow you to use variables inside SQL so often we have to use unpleasant looking dynamic SQL (Lots of tick, tick …. and escape hell). Well there is good news. With SQL 2005 and later you can use EXEC(your_sql) AT your_linked_server syntax . Disadvantage of EXEC AT is you cannot do SELECT INTO like OPENQUERY. Also you cannot perform JOIN like below in EXEC AT


    SELECT a.* FROM OPENQUERY(ls_json,'select * from value') a
    JOIN OPENQUERY(ls_json,'select * from value') b ON a.id=b.id;

However you can always do INSERT INTO MyTable EXEC(…) AT LINKEDSRV. So table must exists when you do that way. Here is how to use it. To use EXEC AT you must turn on RPC OUT option. Notice how we used variable in SQL to make it dynamic. This is much cleaner than previous approach we saw.

USE [master]
GO

EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver @server = N'ls_Json', @srvproduct=N'', @provider=N'SQLNCLI', @datasrc=N'localhost,5000', @provstr=N'Network Library=DBMSSOCN;', @catalog=N'JsonApi';
EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedsrvlogin @rmtsrvname=N'ls_Json',@useself=N'False',@locallogin=NULL,@rmtuser=N'tdsuser',@rmtpassword='########';
GO

EXEC sp_serveroption 'ls_Json', 'rpc out', true;
go

declare @tbl varchar(100)='$';
EXEC('select * from ' + @tbl ) AT ls_Json;

Here is the difference between OPENQUERY vs EXEC approaches: OPENQUERY vs EXEC

Create Custom Store Procedure in ZappySys Driver

You can create procedures to encapsulate custom logic and then only pass handful parameters rather than long SQL to execute your API call.

Steps to create Custom Store Procedure in ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

  1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Procedure:
    ZappySys Driver - Add Store Procedure

  2. Enter the desired Procedure name and click on OK:
    ZappySys Driver - Add Store Procedure Name

  3. Select the created Store Procedure and write the your desired store procedure and Save it and it will create the custom store procedure in the ZappySys Driver:
    Here is an example stored procedure for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

    CREATE PROCEDURE [usp_get_orders]
        @fromdate = '<<yyyy-MM-dd,FUN_TODAY>>'
     AS
        SELECT * FROM Orders where OrderDate >= '<@fromdate>';
    

    ZappySys Driver - Create Custom Store Procedure

  4. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your Store Procedure using Exec Command. In this example it will extract the orders from the date 1996-01-01:

    Exec usp_get_orders '1996-01-01';

    ZappySys Driver - Execute Custom Store Procedure

Create Custom Virtual Table in ZappySys Driver

ZappySys API Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.

Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 URLs with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting.

  1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Table:
    ZappySys Driver - Add Table

  2. Enter the desired Table name and click on OK:
    ZappySys Driver - Add Table Name

  3. And it will open the New Query Window Click on Cancel to close that window and go to Custom Objects Tab.

  4. Select the created table, Select Text Type AS SQL and write the your desired SQL Query and Save it and it will create the custom table in the ZappySys Driver:
    Here is an example SQL query for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders also. Read more about placeholders here

    SELECT
      "ShipCountry",
      "OrderID",
      "CustomerID",
      "EmployeeID",
      "OrderDate",
      "RequiredDate",
      "ShippedDate",
      "ShipVia",
      "Freight",
      "ShipName",
      "ShipAddress",
      "ShipCity",
      "ShipRegion",
      "ShipPostalCode"
    FROM "Orders"
    Where "ShipCountry"='USA'

    ZappySys Driver - Create Custom Table

  5. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your custom virtual table query. In this example it will extract the orders for the USA Shipping Country only:

    SELECT * FROM "vt__usa_orders_only"

    ZappySys Driver - Execute Custom Virtual Table Query

Conclusion

In this article we discussed how to connect to Zoho CRM in SQL Server and integrate data without any coding. Click here to Download Zoho CRM Connector for SQL Server and try yourself see how easy it is. If you still have any question(s) then ask here or simply click on live chat icon below and ask our expert (see bottom-right corner of this page).

Download Zoho CRM Connector for SQL Server Documentation 

Actions supported by Zoho CRM Connector

Zoho CRM Connector support following actions for REST API integration. If some actions are not listed below then you can easily edit Connector file and enhance out of the box functionality.
 Read Data (Query Mode - Max 200 Rows Only)
Parameter Description
sql_query Your SQL query for CRM (i.e. COQL (CRM Object Query Language)). Limtation - You can fetch maximum 200 rows using COQL Query. To read all rows use Table mode. (refer to help link to learn more about COQL)
 List Modules
Parameter Description
 List Territories
 List Module Settings
To get the metadata for a specific module. Specify the API name of the module, such as Leads, Accounts or Deals in your API request.
Parameter Description
module Module name for which you like to get settings
Option Value
Accounts Accounts
Activities Activities
Calls Calls
Campaigns Campaigns
Cases Cases
Contacts Contacts
Deals Deals
Events Events
Invoices Invoices
Leads Leads
Price_Books Price_Books
Products Products
Purchase_Orders Purchase_Orders
Quotes Quotes
Sales_Orders Sales_Orders
Solutions Solutions
Tasks Tasks
Vendors Vendors
Your_Custom_Module_Name Your_Custom_Module_Name
 List Tags
List tags for module.
Parameter Description
module Module name for which you like to get settings
Option Value
Accounts Accounts
Activities Activities
Calls Calls
Campaigns Campaigns
Cases Cases
Contacts Contacts
Deals Deals
Events Events
Invoices Invoices
Leads Leads
Price_Books Price_Books
Products Products
Purchase_Orders Purchase_Orders
Quotes Quotes
Sales_Orders Sales_Orders
Solutions Solutions
Tasks Tasks
Vendors Vendors
Your_Custom_Module_Name Your_Custom_Module_Name
 Gets record count for specific tag for module
Add tags for specified module and specified record id(s).
Parameter Description
module Module name for which you like to get settings
Option Value
Accounts Accounts
Activities Activities
Calls Calls
Campaigns Campaigns
Cases Cases
Contacts Contacts
Deals Deals
Events Events
Invoices Invoices
Leads Leads
Price_Books Price_Books
Products Products
Purchase_Orders Purchase_Orders
Quotes Quotes
Sales_Orders Sales_Orders
Solutions Solutions
Tasks Tasks
Vendors Vendors
Your_Custom_Module_Name Your_Custom_Module_Name
Tag Id Use List Tags to findout Id for tag you like to query
 Add / Update Tags for records
Add tags for specified module and specified record id(s).
Parameter Description
module Module name for which you like to get settings
Option Value
Accounts Accounts
Activities Activities
Calls Calls
Campaigns Campaigns
Cases Cases
Contacts Contacts
Deals Deals
Events Events
Invoices Invoices
Leads Leads
Price_Books Price_Books
Products Products
Purchase_Orders Purchase_Orders
Quotes Quotes
Sales_Orders Sales_Orders
Solutions Solutions
Tasks Tasks
Vendors Vendors
Your_Custom_Module_Name Your_Custom_Module_Name
Record Id(s) (comma seperated list) List of Record Id(s) you like to update
Tag Id List of Tag(s) you like to add
Overwrite Set this to overwrite exising tags for the record(s)
Option Value
true true
false false
 List Module Fields
To get the field meta data for the specified module. The fields displayed are from all layouts for the module and the response does not contain layout-specific fields like mandatory fields or picklist values.
Parameter Description
module Module name for which you like to get all fields
Option Value
Accounts Accounts
Activities Activities
Calls Calls
Campaigns Campaigns
Cases Cases
Contacts Contacts
Deals Deals
Events Events
Invoices Invoices
Leads Leads
Price_Books Price_Books
Products Products
Purchase_Orders Purchase_Orders
Quotes Quotes
Sales_Orders Sales_Orders
Solutions Solutions
Tasks Tasks
Vendors Vendors
Your_Custom_Module_Name Your_Custom_Module_Name
 List Views
Parameter Description
module Module name for which you like to get all views
 Read [$parent.module_name$]
Parameter Description
Last Modified Date - Read data modified after it Supply this DateTime (ISO 8601 format) - To get the list of recently modified records
Custom View ID To get the list of records based on custom views.
sort_by Specify the field name based on which the records must be sorted.
sort_order To sort the list of records in either ascending or descending order.
Option Value
asc asc
desc desc
territory_id To get the list of records in a territory. Use get_territories endpoint to list Id and names.
include_child To include records from the child territories. Default is false.
Option Value
true true
false false
 Search [$parent.module_name$]
Search records by criteria or email or phone or word or id (specify only one parameter for search and keep other blank)
Parameter Description
Search By Criteria Expression You can supply upto 10 criterias. For more complex expression use Query API. Example: ((Last_Name:equals:Burns)and(First_Name:starts_with:Ma)). You can lookup row by ID like (id:equals:1458554000067017001). Here is Syntax for expression (({api_name}:{starts_with|equals}:{value})and/or({api_name}:{starts_with|equals}:{value}))
Search By Email
Search By Phone
Search By any Word
Search By Id
Include only converted records
Option Value
true true
false false
both both
 Delete [$parent.module_name$]
Parameter Description
Record ID(s) - Use Comma for multiple (e.g. 111,222)
Fire Wordflow Trigger
Option Value
true true
false false
 Insert [$parent.module_name$]
Parameter Description
Triggers
 Update [$parent.module_name$]
Parameter Description
Triggers
 Upsert [$parent.module_name$] (Update or Insert)
Parameter Description
Triggers
Duplicate_Check_Fields
Option Value
By Email Email
By Phone Phone
By Mobile Mobile
 Generic Request
This is generic endpoint. Use this endpoint when some actions are not implemented by connector. Just enter partial URL (Required), Body, Method, Header etc. Most parameters are optional except URL.
Parameter Description
Url API URL goes here. You can enter full URL or Partial URL relative to Base URL. If it is full URL then domain name must be part of ServiceURL or part of TrustedDomains
Body Request Body content goes here
IsMultiPart Check this option if you want to upload file(s) (i.e. POST RAW file data) or send data using Multi-Part encoding method (i.e. Content-Type: multipart/form-data). Multi-Part request allows you to mix key/value and upload files in same request. On the other hand raw upload allows only single file upload (without any key/value) ==== Raw Upload (Content-Type: application/octet-stream) ===== To upload single file in raw mode check this option and specify full file path starting with @ sign in the Body (e.g. @c:\data\myfile.zip ) ==== Form-Data / Multipart Upload (Content-Type: multipart/form-data) ===== To treat your Request data as multi part fields you must specify key/value pairs separated by new lines into RequestData field (i.e. Body). Each key value pair is entered on new-line and key/value are separated using equal sign (=). Preceding and trailing spaces are ignored also blank lines are ignored. If field value has some any special character(s) then use escape sequence (e.g. For NewLine: \r\n, For Tab: \t, For at (@): \@). When value of any field starts with at sign (@) its automatically treated as File you want to upload. By default file content type is determined based on extension however you can supply content type manually for any field using this way [ YourFileFieldName.Content-Type=some-content-type ]. By default File Upload Field always includes Content-Type in the request (non file fields do not have content-type by default unless you supply manually). For some reason if you dont want to use Content-Type header in your request then supply blank Content-Type to exclude this header altogather [e.g. SomeFieldName.Content-Type= ]. In below example we have supplied Content-Type for file2 and SomeField1, all other fields are using default content-type. See below Example of uploading multiple files along with additional fields. file1=@c:\data\Myfile1.txt file2=@c:\data\Myfile2.json file2.Content-Type=application/json SomeField1=aaaaaaa SomeField1.Content-Type=text/plain SomeField2=12345 SomeFieldWithNewLineAndTab=This is line1\r\nThis is line2\r\nThis is \ttab \ttab \ttab SomeFieldStartingWithAtSign=\@MyTwitterHandle
Filter Enter filter to extract array from response. Example: $.rows[*] --OR-- $.customers[*].orders[*]. Check your response document and find out hierarchy you like to extract
Headers Headers for Request. To enter multiple headers use double pipe or new line after each {header-name}:{value} pair

Other App Integration scenarios for Zoho CRM

Other Connectors for SQL Server


Download Zoho CRM Connector for SQL Server Documentation 

  • How to connect Zoho CRM in SQL Server?

  • How to get Zoho CRM data in SQL Server?

  • How to read Zoho CRM data in SQL Server?

  • How to load Zoho CRM data in SQL Server?

  • How to import Zoho CRM data in SQL Server?

  • How to pull Zoho CRM data in SQL Server?

  • How to push data to Zoho CRM in SQL Server?

  • How to write data to Zoho CRM in SQL Server?

  • How to POST data to Zoho CRM in SQL Server?

  • Call Zoho CRM API in SQL Server

  • Consume Zoho CRM API in SQL Server

  • Zoho CRM SQL Server Automate

  • Zoho CRM SQL Server Integration

  • Integration Zoho CRM in SQL Server

  • Consume real-time Zoho CRM data in SQL Server

  • Consume realtime Zoho CRM API data in SQL Server

  • Zoho CRM ODBC Driver | ODBC Driver for Zoho CRM | ODBC Zoho CRM Driver | SSIS Zoho CRM Source | SSIS Zoho CRM Destination

  • Connect Zoho CRM in SQL Server

  • Load Zoho CRM in SQL Server

  • Load Zoho CRM data in SQL Server

  • Read Zoho CRM data in SQL Server

  • Zoho CRM API Call in SQL Server