##Node JS SDK for Zoho CRM

##Abstract

Node SDK is a wrapper for Zoho CRM APIs. Hence invoking a Zoho CRM API from your Node application is just a function call which provide the most appropriate response.

This SDK supports both single user as well as multi user authentication.

##Registering a Zoho Client

Since Zoho CRM APIs are authenticated with OAuth2 standards, you should register your client app with Zoho. To register your app:

- Visit this page https://accounts.zoho.com/developerconsole.

- Click on “Add Client ID”.

- Enter Client Name, Client Domain and Redirect URI.

- Select the Client Type as "Web based".

- Click “Create”.

- Your Client app would have been created and displayed by now.

- The newly registered app's Client ID and Client Secret can be found by clicking Options → Edit.
(Options is the three dot icon at the right corner).

##Installation of Node CRM SDK

Node JS SDK will be installed and a package named 'zcrmsdk' will be created in the installation directory.

npm install zcrmsdk

Once installed it can be used in the code as below,

var ZCRMRestClient = require('zcrmsdk')

##API Usage

##Configurations

Your OAuth Client details should be given to the SDK as a property file. In the SDK, you need to configure a file named oauth_configuration.properties. Please place the respective values in that file. You can place it under resources/ package from where the SDK is used.

zcrmsdk will try reading file from 'resources/oauth_configuration.properties'

Please fill the values for the following keys alone. Based on your domain(EU,CN), please change the value of crm.iamurl. Default value set as US domain.

[zoho]
crm.iamurl=                                                     
crm.clientid=                                                    
crm.clientsecret=                                         
crm.redirecturl=                                   

crm.clientid, crm.clientsecret and crm.redirecturl are your OAuth client’s configurations that you get after registering your Zoho client. crm.iamurl is the accounts URL. It may be accounts.zoho.com or accounts.zoho.eu. If the crm.iamurl is not specified, by default the URL will be accounts.zoho.com.

In configuration.properties file:

[crm]
api.url=                              
api.user_identifier=                            
api.tokenmanagement=      

[mysql]
username=
password=                 

api.url is the URL used to call APIs. By default, the URL is www.zohoapis.com. api.user_identifier will be empty by default. For single user authentication, this key can be filled with the respective email id, so that all calls happens by using this user's authentication. api.tokenmanagement is given as a measure to manage and maintain tokens. If tokenmanagement is not provided, then sdk's default implementation(mysql) will be followed. username and password can be given here if you already have one created for your MySQL. The above keys specified in configuration.properties file are all optional.

user_identifier can be set in two ways . 1.Mentioning it in api.user_identifier in configuration.properties file 2.Can be set via code using set setUserIdentifier.

If user_identifier is not set via both the ways then default value 'zcrm_default_user' will be set by the sdk itself .

##Token Storage Mechanism

To use the default token storage provided by the SDK, the following are to be done:

Mysql should be running in default port in localhost.

Database with name zohooauth should be created and a table with below configurations should be present in the database. Table, named "oauthtokens", should have the columns "useridentifier" (varchar) "accesstoken" (varchar), "refreshtoken" (varchar) and "expirytime" (bigint).

Once the configuration is set, storage and retrieval of tokens will be handled by the SDK. If the user wants to utilize their own mechanism, they can mention it in configuration.properties by providing the respective module in api.tokenmanagement.

This module should contain the below methods, saveOAuthTokens(token_obj) updateOAuthTokens(token_obj) Irrespective of response, the next execution happens. So care should be taken by the user in handling their module. getOAuthTokens() The expected response for this method : JSON array containing json response with expirytime, refreshtoken and accesstoken fields.

##Generating self-authorized grant and refresh token

For self client apps, the self authorized grant token should be generated from the Zoho Developer Console (https://accounts.zoho.com/developerconsole)

- Visit https://accounts.zoho.com/developerconsole

- Click Options → Self Client of the client for which you wish to authorize.

- Enter one or more (comma separated) valid Zoho CRM scopes that you wish to authorize in the “Scope” field and choose the time of expiry. Provide “aaaserver.profile.READ” scope along with Zoho CRM scopes.
        - Copy the grant token for backup.

        - Generate refresh_token from grant token by making a POST request with the URL below https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/token?code={grant_token}&redirect_uri={redirect_uri}&client_id={client_id}&client_secret={client_secret}&grant_type=authorization_code

        - Copy the refresh token for backup.

Please note that the generated grant token is valid only for the stipulated time you chose while generating it. Hence, the access and refresh tokens should be generated within that time.

Each time server is restarted, this function has to be called and both the configuration files should be populated with proper values before calling this function, else exception will be thrown.

All functions return promises in zcrm node sdk.

##Initialize

Below snippet has to be called before starting the app

var ZCRMRestClient = require('zcrmsdk');

ZCRMRestClient.initialize().then(function(){

    ...

});

##Generating access and refresh token from granttoken

ZCRMRestClient.generateAuthTokens(user_identifier,grant_token).then(function(auth_response){

    console.log("access token :"+auth_response.access_token);
    console.log("refresh token :"+auth_response.refresh_token);
    console.log("expires in :"+auth_response.expires_in);

});

##Generating access token from refresh token

This will be handled by sdk itself if the access and refresh token is generated by sdk.Developer need not call this explicitly.

ZCRMRestClient.generateAuthTokenfromRefreshToken(user_identifier,refresh_token).then(function(auth_response){

    console.log("access token :"+auth_response.access_token);
    console.log("refresh token :"+auth_response.refresh_token);
    console.log("expires in :"+auth_response.expires_in);

});

##Sample API Calls

var input ={};
input.module = "Leads";

var params = {};
params.page = 0;
params.per_page = 5;
input.params = params;

crmclient.API.MODULES.get(input).then(function(response){

    var result = "<html><body><b> Top 5 Leads</b>";
    var data = response.body;
    data = JSON.parse(data);
    data = data.data;
    for (i in data){

        var record = data[i];
        var name = record.Full_Name;
        
        result+="<br><span>"+name+"</span>";

    }

    result+="</body></html>";

})

##Hierarchy zcrmsdk

  API
    ORG
      get
    MODULES
      get
      post
      put
      delete
      getAllDeletedRecords
      getRecycleBinRecords
      getPermanentlyDeletedRecords
      search
    SETTINGS
      getFields
      getLayouts
      getCustomViews
      updateCustomViews
      getModules
      getRoles
      getProfiles
      getRelatedLists
    ACTIONS
      convert
    USERS
      get
    ATTACHMENTS
      uploadFile
      deleteFile
      downloadFile
      uploadLink
      uploadPhoto
      downloadPhoto
      deletePhoto
    FUNCTIONS
      executeFunctionsInGet
      executeFunctionsInPost

As appearing in the hierarchy, zcrmsdk entity class has instance variables to fetch its own properties and to fetch data of its immediate child entities through an API call.

For example, to call an API to get module data, the request should be zcrmsdk.API.MODULES.{operation_type}. The operation types can be GET, POST, PUT, DELETE or CREATE.

##Response Handling All API calls will give the actual API response given by Zoho APIs, except file download.

For file download, the response will contain an extra field filename.

##Error Handling: All errors will be thrown explicitly and care should be taken in catching the same.