Functionality based URLs

Overview

In the topic Zoho Creator URL Patterns we learned about the default URLs to access a Zoho Creator application and its forms, views and report formats. In this topic we will learn about the Functionality based URLs to set default values for form fields, edit individual records by passing record ID in the URL, set criteria for views and print a view.

Functionality based URLs

To set default values for form fields

The default values for form fields can be set by passing additional parameters to the form URL. For example, to automatically load a value for Employee ID field in http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#Form:Employee. The default value is passed as querysting (Employee_ID=1234) to the url, where Employee_ID is the script name of the field in your form.

The form url with query string will be in the below formats.

1. Accessing within the application:
   http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#Form:Employee?Employee_ID=1234
2. Accessing via the permalink:
   http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/form-perma/Employee/Employee_ID=1234
3. Accessing via the Embed Link:
   http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/form-embed/Employee/Employee_ID=1234

For multi-select fields like check-box, there can be need for having more than one value selected by default. For such requirements, multiple values should be passed as key value pairs. For example, passingEmployee_ID=1234&Employee_ID=4321 in the query-string of form URL will make the multi-select field Employee_ID present in the form to have the two items 4321 and 1234 selected by default.

To edit individual records by passing record id in the URL

The url to view and edit individual record using its record ID is given below. This will display the zoho creator form in edit mode.

Refer the topic Editing Records via Record ID for more information,

To set criteria for a view

The criteria for a view can be passed as part of a query string to a view url. Multiple criterias are specified by appending it along with the URL using '&'

URL format for setting criteria with "=" (Equal) operator is given below:

where,

FieldName1 & FieldName2 are the Deluge script names for the field in the form and multiple criterias are specified by appending it along with the URL using & operator.

Example:

The view http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#View:Employee_View lists all the records in the Employee View. To view records with NameEQUALs Henry and Employee IDEQUALs 1234, we need to pass the field name and value as querystring.The complete url for this example is,

http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#View:Employee_View?Name=Henry&Employee_ID=1234

URL format for setting criteria with operators other than "=" (Equal)

where,

FieldName1 & FieldName2 are the Deluge script names for the field in the form.

FieldName1_op & FieldName2_op are parameter names for the operator (fieldname appended by _op).

constant is the value assigned for each operator. Refer the table to view the list of all operators and their constants.

Example1:

The view http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#View:Employee_View lists all the records in the Employee View. To view records with Employee IDGREATER_THAN 1235, we need to pass the field name, value, parameter name for the operator and its value as querystring. The parameter name for Employee_ID is Employee_ID_op and the constant for GREATER_THAN is 21.

The complete url for this example is,

http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#View:Employee_View?Employee_ID=1235&Employee_ID_op=21

Example2:

The URL to view records with EmailIDENDS_WITH zoho.com and Roles CONTAINS Supports,

http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#View:Employee_View?EmailID=zoho.com&EmailID_op=25&Roles=Support&Roles_op=26

URL format for setting criteria with (between) operator

where,

<StartingRangeValue> and <EndingRangeValue> can be any number, decimal or date.

Example1: The url to view records with Date_of_Joining between any two dates is given below. Here, Date_of_Joining is a date field.

http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#View:Employee_View?Date_of_Joining=18-Jan-2006;30-Apr-2007&Date_of_Joining_op=58

Example2: The url to view records between any two Employee_ID numbers is given below. Here Employee_ID is a number field.

http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#View:Employee_View?Employee_ID=1235;1238&Employee_ID_op=58

http://creator.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/#View:Employee_View?Date_of_Joining_op=52

URL format for View Perma and View Embed

1. View Perma -> https://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employees/view-perma/All_Employees/Name=Zoho 

2. View Embed -> <iframe height=’500px’ width=’100%’ name=’zoho-All_Employees’ frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’auto’ allowTransparency =’true’ src=’https://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employees/view-embed/All_Employees/Name=Zoho‘></iframe>

URL format for HTML Views

HTML Views can also accept URL parameters. See this page 

Sample URL with parameter is
https://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employees/#View:Complete_Employee_details?emp=support@zohocreator.com

1. View Perma -> https://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employees/view-perma/Complete_Employee_details/emp=support@zohocreator.com 

2. View Embed -> <iframe height=’500px’ width=’100%’ name=’zoho-Complete_Employee_details’ frameborder=’0′ scrolling=’auto’ allowTransparency =’true’ src=’https://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employees/view-embed/Complete_Employee_details/emp=support@zohocreator.com‘></iframe>

List of Operators and their Constants

S. No	Operator	Constant
1	EQUAL	18
2	NOT_EQUAL	19
3	LESS_THAN	20
4	GREATER_THAN	21
5	LESS_EQUAL	22
6	GREATER_EQUAL	23
7	STARTS_WITH	24
8	ENDS_WITH	25
9	CONTAINS	26
10	NOT_CONTAINS	27
11	LIKE	28
12	EMPTY	29
13	NOT_EMPTY	30
14	YESTERDAY	31
15	TODAY	32
16	TOMORROW	33
17	LAST_7_DAYS	34
18	LAST_30_DAYS	35
19	LAST_60_DAYS	36
20	LAST_90_DAYS	37
21	LAST_120_DAYS	38
22	NEXT_7_DAYS	39
23	NEXT_30_DAYS	40
24	NEXT_60_DAYS	41
25	NEXT_90_DAYS	42
26	NEXT_120_DAYS	43
27	LAST_MONTH	44
28	THIS_MONTH	45
29	NEXT_MONTH	46
30	CURR_PREV_MONTH	47
31	CURR_NEXT_MONTH	48
32	TRUE	49
33	FALSE	50
34	LAST_YEAR	51
35	CURRENT_YEAR	52
36	NEXT_YEAR	53
37	PREVIOUS_2_YEAR	54
38	NEXT_2_YEAR	55
39	CURRENT_PREVIOUS_YEAR	56
40	CURRENT_NEXT_YEAR	57
41	BETWEEN	58

To print a view

The url format to print a view is given below:

For example:
http://creatorexport.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/print/Employee_View

To print a view with criteria

URL format to print a view with criteria, using "=" (Equal) operator

For example, the url to print employee records belonging to the "Engineering" department

http://creatorexport.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/print/Employee_View/Department=Engineering

URL format to print a view with criteria, other than "=" (Equal) operator

where,

FieldName1 & FieldName2 are the Deluge script names for the field in the form.

FieldName1_op & FieldName2_op are parameter names for the operator (fieldname appended by _op).

constant is the value assigned for each operator. Refer the table to view the list of all operators and their constants.

Example:

To URL to print records with Employee IDGREATER_THAN 1235,

http://creatorexport.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/print/Employee_View/Employee_ID=1235&Employee_ID_op=21

URL format to print a view with criteria, using "between" operator

where, <StartingRangeValue> and <EndingRangeValue> can be any number, decimal or date.

Example:

The url to print records with Date_of_Joining between any two dates is given below. Here, Date_of_Joining is a date field.

http://creatorexport.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/print/Employee_View/Date_of_Joining=18-Jan-2006;30-Apr-2007&Date_of_Joining_op=58

To print a HTML view with parameter

The URL format to print a HTML view with parameter is given below,

where,

paramName is the name of the parameter defined in the HTML view.
paramValue is the value passed to the parameter defined in the HTML view.

Example:

The url to print a HTML view named "TestHTML" with paramName "dept" and paramValue as "Engineering" is given below. Here, the paramName "dept" is the name of the parameter defined in the HTML view to fetch records with the specified paramValue.

http://creatorexport.zoho.com/zchelp/employee-manager/print/TestHTML/dept=Engineering

To convert HTML view to PDF

URL Formats

1. The url format to convert an HTML view to PDF is given below:

Example PDF Link: http://creatorexport.zoho.com/sampleapps/customer-support/pdf/Most_Recent_Solution

2. The url format to convert an HTML view to PDF with output file name. If no zc_Filename parameter is passed, then by default view display name will be chosen as file name.

Example PDF Link with file name: http://creatorexport.zoho.com/sampleapps/customer-support/pdf/Most_Recent_Solution/&zc_FileName=ReportFor_Oct26

3. The url format to convert an HTML view to PDF with parameter, where, paramName is the name of the parameter defined in the HTML view and paramValue is the value passed to the parameter defined in the HTML view.

a. Example PDF Link with arguments: http://creatorexport.zoho.com/sampleapps/customer-support/pdf/More_Details_Html_View/&ticketID=104
where, ticketID is the name of the parameter defined in the HTML view.

b. Example PDF Link with arguments and file name: http://creatorexport.zoho.com/sampleapps/customer-support/pdf/More_Details_Html_View/&ticketID=104&zc_FileName=ReportFor_Oct26
where, ticketID is the name of the parameter defined in the HTML view.

4. The url format to convert an HTML view to PDF with the PDF's orientation value. The orientation value can be landscape or portrait. The default value is portrait.

a. Example PDF link with orientation value as landscape: http://creatorexport.zoho.com/sampleapps/customer-support/pdf/Most_Recent_Solution/&zc_PdfOrientation=landscape

b. Example PDF link with orientation value as portrait: http://creatorexport.zoho.com/sampleapps/customer-support/pdf/Most_Recent_Solution/&zc_PdfOrientation=portrait

5. The url format to convert an HTML view to PDF with the PDF's size. The values can be Letter, A4, Legal, Executive, with default value as Letter.

Example PDF link with orientation value as landscape: http://creatorexport.zoho.com/sampleapps/customer-support/pdf/Most_Recent_Solution/&zc_PdfSize=Letter

Example PDF link with orientation value as portrait: http://creatorexport.zoho.com/sampleapps/customer-support/pdf/Most_Recent_Solution/&zc_PdfSize=A4

Limitation

1. Div embedded forms/views inside the HTML view is not supported as already discussed in this Forum post. (Will be done only after we provide #include support. i.e server side include directive in deluge. Users will have to change to the new implementation once done to enable PDF output). Refer our limitations page for more details.
2. Any authenticated content like images/css that requires your current credential will not be supported. i.e Any link/embedding in the HTML to be converted pdf should be public content.
3. Any css/images and other links to be rendered have to be specified in full path. For example, /images/xyz.jpg will not be properly rendered. But http://creator.zoho.com/images/xyz.img will be properly rendered.

To Login to a specific Form, View or Page/Section

The url format to login to a specific Form, View or Page/Section in Zoho Creator is given below:
http://creator.zoho.com/sharedby/applinkname/component-login/componentlinkname/params

where,

<app owner name> refers to the name of the application owner
<app link name> refers to the application name as specified in the url when you access the application
<component> can be form, view or page in the application. Here, 'page' refers to the section name or tab name under which the forms and views are arranged.
<component link name> refers to the component name as specified in the url, when you access a Form, View or Page.
<params> is an additional parameter which the user wishes to pass to the component, for example, criteria.

When URLs with above formats are invoked, it will take the user to login box in the application context. On sign in, it will directly take the user to the specified component. (i.e) Form, View or Page. If any params are passed in the url, they would be set accordingly.

Examples:

1. To login to a form named "Department" in the application named "employee-manager" with username (app owner name) as "sampleapps":

http://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employee-manager/form-login/Deparatment

2. To login to a view named "Employee_View_with_Advanced_Criteria" in the application named "employee-manager" with username (app owner name) as "sampleapps":

http://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employee-manager/view-login/Employee_View_with_Advanced_Criteria

3. To login to a page (section) named "Advanaced Views" in the application named "employee-manager" with username (app owner name) as "sampleapps":

http://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employee-manager/page-login/Advanced_Views

4. To login to a form named "Employee" in the application named "employee-manager" with username (app owner name) as "sampleapps" and additional params as "Employee_ID=001".
This will automatically display the form with the Employee_ID set as 001.

http://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employee-manager/form-login/Employee/Employee_ID=001

5. To login to a view named "Employee List View " in the application named "employee-manager" with username (app owner name) as "sampleapps" and criteria as "Department=Engineering".
This will display the view with employee records who belong to the department named "Engineering".

http://creator.zoho.com/sampleapps/employee-manager/page-login/Advanced_Views