Zoho Creator Quick Start Guide
Zoho Creator Quick Start Guide
Before you start creating an application, analyze on what you actually want your database application to do and the information you want to maintain. This will make it easier
for you to create your application. Follow these simple steps to gather your requirements:
1. Identify the information you want to manage and the different categories they belong to. For example, the information to be managed for a Sales database will have
broad categories like Product and Sales. In Zoho Creator, each category will become your application's Form.
2. Next, list out the items that need to be managed under each category. For example, the Product category will have items like Product ID, Product Name, Vendor, Unit
Price etc., and the Sales category will have items like Product, Units Sold, Revenue, Cost, Profit etc. Each item will be the Fields that will appear in the Form.
3. Identify the relationship between the data in one category and the data in the other category. In the "Sales Database", information about the product need not be
repeated in the Sales form. You can create a relationship between the Product form and Sales form, so that Sales can reference the specific product record from the
Product form.
Once you have gathered your requirements, sign-in to Zoho Creator at creator.zoho.com and create the application by clicking Create New Application button. You
can choose the one that suits your requirement. Each option is explained below.
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Create application from scratch
The Add Form option enables you to create your application by adding blank forms and customize it by adding the required fields (or) to create your application with
pre-built template forms that suits your requirement.
In the Create New Application page, the Add Form option will be selected by default, as show n in the screen-shot below .
Specify the application name and form name in their respective boxes. For example, let us create a Sales Database application w ith a
form called Product to enter product information.
By default, the Create From Scratch option will be selected to create your application w ith blank forms. If you would like to create your
application w ith pre-built form templates select the option Use Form Template.
Select the time zone relevant to your location from the Time Zone drop-dow n menu.
A Zoho Creator application can be either Private or Public. A public application can be accessed by anyone and indexed by search
engines . A private application can be accessed only if the ow ner of the application shares it w ith specific users. Shared users can add,
modify and delete records based on the edit permissions provided by the ow ner. By default, an application created in Zoho Creator is
"Private".
Click Create Now to create the application.
The application named Sales Database w ill be created w ith a blank form named Product in the Forms tab. You can add the required
fields to your form through easy drag & drop of the required field types, as show n in the screen-shot given below.
Zoho creator uses "VIEWS" to display the data collected via Forms. View s are nothing but tables that are automatically populated with
data added to a Form. Every form by default has its view created in the View Tab. The name is usually [FORM-NAME] View. In the
screen-shot given below , a Product View is created for the Product Form we have created above, and listed in the View Tab.
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To submit data into your Forms and view the data submitted, click on the Access this application button. For more details, refer the
section Access this application.
To add new forms, modify forms, configure fields, configure form/field actions or set email notifications, refer the section Forms.
To create new view s, modify view s and configure view s refer the section View s.
Comma separated values (.csv) or Tab seperated values (.tsv) stored in other file formats can also be used to create your application with data. To create an
application by importing data,
1. Select the Import XLS icon from the Create New Application screen.
2. In the Specify application name box type in a name for your application. This name appears on the Home page when your application is created.
3. Choose the import type as Write/Paste Data to copy-paste data from your .xls, .csv or .tsv file (or) choose import type as Import Data to import data from your
.xls, .csv or .tsv file by specifying the file name. For example, in the screen-shot given below, we have chosen the Write/Paste Data option to create an
application by pasting data from an excel file.
4. If the data contains a date field, select the Date Format that matches the date format contained in your excel file.
5. Select the Time Zone for the application from the list of time zones.
6. Click on Create Now to import the data. The "Importing Data" dialog will display the data in the following format.
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7. Click Finish to create the application with data. In the screen-shot given below, the application named "Product Management" is created with the data and is
displayed in the "Product Management Form View". To edit the Forms and Views in the application, click on the Edit this application link.
To add new forms, modify forms, configure form/field actions or set email notifications, refer the section Forms.
To add new view s, modify view or configure views refer the section Views.
Zoho Migration tool for MS Access & Excel is a simple tool to upload your existing MS Access applications or XL Spreadsheets to Zoho Creator. You just need to
have your MS Access MDB file, and import it to this tool. All the tables are imported with the relationships intact, you could just check them and upload them to Zoho
Creator as an application or Zoho Reports as a database. In case of the excel spreadsheets, you can import the XL file and each sheet becomes a form and
corresponding views are created in the application. Click Here, to learn more..
To summarize, a Zoho Creator application is basically made up of Forms and Views. Forms to collect the information from the user and store it in the database and
Views for viewing, filtering and searching the information collected via Forms.
Forms
In this section we will briefly explain the various configurations that can be made to the Forms and Fields in your application.
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Add new Forms
To add new forms, mouse over the Forms tab and click on New Form option. In the New Form page,
Specify a name for your form in the Specify form name box.
The option Store data in creator w hich is selected by default, indicates that the data entered through this form w ill be stored in
the database. (i.e) a unique table will be created for this form at the back-end to store the form data. De-selecting this option will
create a Stateless form . The data entered in a Stateless form will not be stored in the database.
The option Generate auto-view for this form w hich is selected by default, will generate a default view for this form in the View s
tab, w ith all the fields displayed as columns.
You have the option to create the new form from scratch or use an existing template form.
Select the required option and click Done, to create the new form.
Note: For more information on Stateless Forms and their usage, refer the section Stateless Forms
Fields
Zoho Creator supports 20 types of form fields. You can add fields to your form and also re-arrange them through simple drag and drop. Choose a field type
based on the kind of data that it should contain. By default, Zoho Creator supports validation for an adequate number of field types. For example, if you want
users to enter their email-id in a certain field, select the "Email" field type. Zoho Creator checks if the data entered in the form for that field is a valid email-id,
else it will display an error message to the user.
1. Drag-n-drop the required field type from the Insert Fields box displayed on the left-side to your form, as shown in the screen-shot given below.
2. This will display the dialog where you specify the Label Name for this field as shown in screen-shot. The label name is the name displayed for the field in
your Form. Clicking on the Options link will display the various additional parameters that can be configured for this field type. For Formula field type the
Options link will not be displayed. You have to specify the required formula expression based on which the value of the field will be created. Refer Formula
fields for more information.
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Let us take the example of the Sales Database application we created in the Create application from scratch section with a Product Form. We will now create
the Sales Form to record the sale of each product, with fields ProductName, Units Sold, Revenue, Cost, Profit etc. Here, the field ProductName will reference
the ProductName field from the "Product" Form. To do this,
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2. The lookup field Product which references the Product Name in the Product form is added as shown below. Using the lookup field you can access the
product details from the Product form.
1. Select More Actions -> Set Email Notifications from the form header to configure email notifications.
2. The Set Email Notification dialog is displayed, wherein you specify the From address and To address of the mail recipient. The Cc, Bcc and Reply-to
options can be added by selecting the required link displayed below the To address. You can also assign e-mail ids and form field values
dynamically to the From/To and Message fields. To do this, click on the icon displayed on the right-side of the "From", "To" text box or the Insert Field
button displayed in the Message header. This will display the Zoho Variables and the form fields, as shown in the screen-shot given below:
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Zoho Variables
The Zoho Variable zoho.adminuserid returns the email-id of the application ow ner.
The Zoho Variable zoho.loginuserid returns the email-id of the currently logged-in user.
Form Fields:
The fields in this form are listed here. Select the field whose value has to be dynamically assigned to the From/ To/cc /message area.
3. Selecting the check-box Include User Submitted Data will include the data submitted in the form in the email message.
4. Make sure that the Email Notification Enabled radio-button is selected, (at the bottom of the pop up window). To stop email notifications, set the 'Email
Notification' to 'disabled' state.
5. Select Done to save the settings and return back to the form.
You can also send email notifications when existing form data is modified or deleted or for selected records in a view, by adding Deluge Script with the Send
mail task.
Make your application more powerful and dynamic by adding complex logic to your forms with the help of Deluge Scripting. The Deluge Script Builder
provides a drag-and-drop user interface to add form action scripts. It can be invoked from the form header by selecting More Actions or by directly selecting
the Script tab.
You can configure the following action scripts to your form, when a new record is added or when an existing record is edited/deleted.
"On load" scripts that are executed when the form is loaded for adding or editing a record. For example, set a date field in the form
w ith the current date or to hide a field w hen the form is loaded.
"Validate" scripts that are executed w hen a new record is submitted or w hen an existing record is modified and submitted or when
an existing record is deleted. These scripts are executed before the form data is stored in the database. For example, check if a
field value falls within a specified range, restrict the number of registrations to your form etc.
"On success" scripts that are executed w hen a new record is successfully submitted to the database or when an existing record is
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updated or deleted from the database. These scripts are executed after the form data is stored in the database. For example,
send a mail to the admin user_id when a record is deleted.
"On click" scripts that are executed on click of the custom buttons that you have created in your Stateless Forms. For example,
create a stateless form to specify the search criteria and on click of the Search button display a HTML view w ith the search results
fetched from a Contacts Management form.
The Sales Form in the Sales Database has a field called Sale_Date. In the screen-shot given below, we have configured an "on load' script to set the
"Sale_Date" field with the current date, when the form is loaded. To do this,
Note:
To execute an On Load script when a form is loaded to edit a record, select Form Actions -> On Edit -> On Load and add the required
script.
The Sales Form in the Sales Database has a field called Units_Sold. In the screen-shot given below, we have configured a "Validate' script to check if
this field contains a value of 5 or more. If not, an alert message is displayed and the submission is canceled.
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Note:
To execute a Validate script when a record is submitted after editing, select Form Actions -> On Edit -> Validate
and add the required script.
To execute a Validate script before deleting a record, select Form Actions -> On Delete -> Validate and add the
required script.
In the screen-shot given below, we have configured a "On success" script to redirect the user to a particular url when a record is submitted to the
"Sales" form.
Note:
To execute a On Success script w hen a record is submitted after editing, select Form Actions -> On Edit -> On
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Success and add the required script.
To execute a On Success script w hen a record is deleted, select Form Actions -> On Delete -> On Success and
add the required script.
Zoho Creator supports creating stateless forms that does not generate a table at the back-end. You can add custom buttons to this form and write
deluge script in the "on click" event of the custom button. The scripts can be programmed to do anything you can do in Deluge Script. This gives you
the flexibility of storing the entered data into any field of any record of any Table in Zoho Creator. You can even use it to retrieve data from any field in any
record of any Table in Zoho Creator. Refer the Help topic Stateless Forms for more information.
Refer the topics under Deluge Reference for more information on the description, syntax, examples of all the Tasks and Expressions supported by the
Deluge Language.
Actions on user input script is a client side action which will be called whenever the value of a field is modified either by the user or through script. It is
used to improve the usability of a form by validating field data even before it is submitted or display other field values based on the value specified in this
field. The On user input script is executed before the changed data is persisted in the database. The On User input script will not be called if there
is no change in the value of the field (i.e if the new value being set is same as the old value.)
Actions on update script is executed w henever the value of a field is modified and the changed data is persisted in the database.
For example, send mail if the value of a status field is updated.
The "Sales" form in the Sales Database has a field called "Units_Sold". In the screen-shot given below, we have configured a "On user input' script to
calculate the "Revenue" based on the number of units sold for a product. The script will be executed when the user inputs the value in "Units_Sold".
Select Field Actions -> Units_Sold (field name) -> On user input
Drag & drop the Fetch Deluge task to the editor area. Click Edit and fetch the record from the "Product" form whose name is
same as the product selected in the "Sales" form, store it in a variable named "rec"
Drag & drop the Set Variable Deluge task to the editor area. Click Edit and select the field "Revenue" and set it with the
value of (input.Units_Sold * rec.Unit_Price)
Save the script. When the user inputs the value in Units_Sold field, the script w ill calculate the "Revenue" and set it in the
Revenue field.
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If you want to perform action whenever the value of a field is modified, you can write an on update script for that field. The on update script is executed
after the changed data is persisted in the database.
Refer the topics under Deluge Reference for more information on the description, syntax, examples of all the Tasks and Expressions supported by the Deluge
Language.
Views
Zoho creator uses "VIEWS" to display the data collected via Forms. Every form by default has a view. The name is usually "[FORM NAME] View". For
example, if you have created a "Product" form, a default view named "Product View" will be created in the Views Tab as shown in the screen-shot below. You
can create any number of views with criteria, filters, grouping and sorting from the View tab. To submit and view data, click on the Access this application
button.
You can add any number of views for a single form. To add a new view,
1. Mouse over the view and Select the View -> New View option from the View tab.
2. Zoho Creator supports the following view creation formats. You can display your form data as a List, summary, Excel sheet, calender, chart or
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HTML page.
3. Select the View type, specify the view name, select the form based on which the view is created and the access permissions to be provided for
this view.
Zoho Creator allows you to easily create custom views for specialized reporting needs. You can,
Set Criteria: Configure a view to display records that match a specific criteria. For example, in the screen-shot given below
w e have configured the Sales view w ith criteria to display the sales for the last 7 days for Product A. You can also set
complex criteria with AND/OR operators or a combination of both, from the GUI using the Advanced option or using Deluge
Script.
Set Filters: Filters are a set of named criteria that allow s users to view specific records in a view. Default filters w ill be
created for drop-dow n and date fields. You can create custom filters by selecting the New Custom Filter button.
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Set complex criteria and filters using AND/OR operators or a combination of both, from the GUI or using Deluge Script.
View Configurations
Zoho Creator allow s you to re-arrange the field order by easy drag-n-drop.
Selecting a view from the View tab w ill display a Preview of the view . Move a field by clicking on the field heading and
dragging it to the desired location, as show n in the screen-shot given below:
Select the Column Properties option in the View Configuration tree to control the display of columns by checking the
required check-box, change the display name of columns in the view or enable summation for numeric fields by clicking the
Sum icon that is displayed.
The username and time w hen a record is added or modified and their IP address is automatically recorded by Zoho Creator.
To display this information in the view , select the required column w ith name Added User, Added Time, Last Modified User, Last
Modified Time, Added User IP Address, Modified User IP Address.
Click Done to update the changes.
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Select the Column Properties option in the View Configuration tree to specify the w idth of columns by checking them and
providing the appropriate w idth in pixels/percentage.
Click Done to update the changes.
The column w idths w ill be adjusted only if the horizontal scroll bar is displayed in the view page.
d. Group Records
Records can be grouped by specific column(s) - by status, by category etc to view records in a organized w ay. You must
select at least one field for grouping by selecting Set Grouping option in the View Configuration tree. Records with same
value for the selected field(s) w ill be grouped together.
e. Sort Records
By default, records are sorted by the order in w hich they are added. Latest records come on top.
To sort by another field, from the left pane, from under "Records", select the Set sorting option and select the field from Left
Hand Side. Click on the Add button to add it to the Right Hand Side.
To change the order of sorting, select the field and click the "Sort Asc/Desc" button.
To sort by multiple fields, select multiple fields from Left Hand Side and add them to the right hand side. You can move up
and dow n to change the sequence by which the records w ill be sorted.
Click Done to update the changes.
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by the app owner. The Set Permissions option is used to control the access permissions provided to the users. However, the app owner will be able to add,
edit or delete records irrespective of whether the access is disabled/enabled to the user.
1. Create a view with the form which contains the Lookup field. In our example, the Sales form contains the lookup field "Product" that relates to the
product form.
2. Select the Column Properties option displayed on the left-side of the view.
3. The lookup field will have the related fields as link. Click on the related fields link, and select the columns to be displayed from the product form.
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Create HTML view
One of the most powerful features in Zoho Creator is the ability to create HTML views. The HTML view enables you to create customized views by combining
HTML code and Deluge script. You can create a static HTML page as a view and use this page to deliver dynamic content from your database using Deluge
Script. The HTML Builder provides an intuitive drag-n-drop user-interface to easily create the required HTML view. Knowledge of HTML is not necessary.
A layout is the arrangement of the Forms and Views in a Zoho Creator application. Select the required layout for your application from the
Customize -> Choose Layout tab.
Themes define the color scheme of the application viz the colors that will be applied to the header strip, the component header, the
buttons on the forms, etc., the over all font that will be applied to the application, the different styles that w ill be applied to the
headers/tabs/ component headers/ forms/ view s etc . You can pick from a range of themes from the Customize -> Choose Theme tab
and also create your ow n customized themes, to suit your requirements. For example, let us select the Gradient theme w ith the required
color and click on Apply.
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Select Customize -> Rearrange Links to arrange the forms and views under different sections or to add new sections. By default, all the
forms and view s will be listed under the Home section. Here, we have added new sections named Forms and Views and placed all the
forms under the "Forms" section and all the views under the "View s" section.
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3. View the records submitted by selecting the Sales View. The record submitted to the Sales form is displayed in the Sales View, as shown in the screen-shot
below:
Share Application
A Zoho Creator application can be either Private or Public. A public application can be accessed by anyone and indexed by search engines . A private application
can be accessed only if the owner of the application shares it with specific users. Shared users can add, modify and delete records based on the edit permissions
provided by the owner. By default, an application created in Zoho Creator is private. The owner of the application can share the entire application -or- can share few
form(s)/view(s). Users must have a Zoho Creator account to access the application shared to them.
Note:
The number of users with whom the application is shared, depends on your subscription plan. Click on the Go To -> Account Settings
option displayed on the top right corner to view your current plan details and the list of shared users.
Embed in Website
Zoho Creator lets you embed Forms and Views in your website/blog just by pasting few lines of code. You can also customize the look and feel of the embedded
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form/view to match your website. This makes it easy for your website visitors to fill in their data with no hassle.
To embed a form, select the form to be embedded and click on More Actions -> Embed in your website, from the Form header.
To embed a view , select the view to be embedded and click on More Actions -> Embed in your website near the View header.
For an HTML View, the embed option w ill be available only in the edit mode. Hence, select the required HTML view from the View tab, and
click on More Actions -> Embed in your website from the view header.
Refer the topic Embed Forms and Views for more information.
The Export Data feature in Zoho Creator enables you to export your data anytime in the format of Grid (excel format), PDF, HTML, RSS, JSON, CSV and TSV. You
can export data as spreadsheet and take it to Zoho Sheet if you want to do some analysis, export it as PDF if you want to print/email the data, export as HTML to
view data in your browser, use RSS feed to subscribe to changes in the data or javascript based JSON feed, use CSV, TSV formats when required. To export
your data to different formats, click on More Actions -> Export Data from the view header, in Live mode. The screen with the links to the supported export
formats will be displayed, as shown in the screen-shot given below.
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