Welcome to Zoho API Program!
Zoho API's provide an easy way of integrating Zoho services into third-party applications, portals or websites. This section provides an overview of the various applications available for integration as well as a summary of the API functionality and how to get started.
Zoho API's allow partners to leverage the various Zoho services "in the cloud" so that end users can effortlessly launch the desired service from within the partner application without leaving the site they are on. Tasks such as word processing, creating web applications, making presentations, doing spreadsheet calculations, maintaining to-do lists and conducting web conferences and desktop sharing are all currently available from the Zoho API's.
The Zoho API's provide obvious time saving functionality as you do not have to build an API from scratch, and depending on the integration requirements, generally cover most standard implementation requirements.
Getting Started:
The APIs are modular, allowing you to select and implement only the required functions for your implementation. All you need is a Zoho API key which is provided upon request.
Later on in this guide we provide all the information needed to test and implement the above.
API Types
There are two types of API's (Data and Remote) which have very different functionality and determine whether the data is stored on your servers or on Zoho servers. There is also a difference in the application feature set available for each type. The comparison between Data and Remote API in the next section.
Also Zoho supports SQL querying of business data in Zoho using Zoho CloudSQL. This is offered as an API extension to the existing Zoho API. We will cover Zoho CloudSQL in detail in the later sections of this guide.
Comparison : Zoho Data vs Remote API
Zoho Data API
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Zoho Remote API
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Zoho account is mandatory for working with Zoho Data APIs
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Need not require a Zoho Account
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Data is manipulated and stored in Zoho servers
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Data is stored in Partner's remote server
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| Used for integrating the full, feature rich editors of Zoho services in client's application |
Used in accessing/editing user's data present in partner's existing service or application. |
With Zoho Data API users have access to the full-featured Zoho services including :
- Sharing and Collaboration
- Publishing document for public view
- Document Tagging
- Trash & Delete document.
- Pagination
- Document history
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Zoho Remote API only allows client application to upload their document content in remote editor from their remote server and edit/save the content back to them. Full editing and collaboration features not available.
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List of Zoho Services for Data and Remote APIThe list of Zoho services available for each of the above API types is provided in a tabulated form below :
| Zoho Data API |
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| Zoho Remote API |
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Commercial vs. Free API Access
Zoho offers both a free set of API's suitable for both commercial and non-commercial situations and a fee-based service that includes some advanced API features such as SSL (data encryption from partner servers to Zoho servers) More info is provided below.
What is Zoho Remote API ?
The majority of API integrations for the Zoho office productivity suite, Writer, Sheet and Show deploy this type of API. The remote API allows third-party applications to make use of a subset of the feature-rich editors of these applications by providing a means for users to transparently upload their content from within the third party application, edit them using the Zoho editors and save the updated content back to their remote servers. The USP of the remote API is that the data is totally under user's control and the Zoho editor only provides an interface for editing the content and saving them back to the users' specified location.
The key difference with this approach and the Data API is that no user account is created in Zoho. In short, if you have a list of documents & spreadsheets on your local server and want to provide a Web-based editing alternative to the desktop versions then this approach is ideal. The Remote API allows you to integrate an application in any programming language - java, php, asp
A recent blog post gives lucid details on how to "
Integrate Zoho with your Central Document Repository". A visual work-flow of the integration can be seen below:
Some feature limitations: Since there is no user account created in the Zoho service when using the Remote API's, there are some inherent limitations in the editors, these include:
no collaborative editing, document sharing, pagination, document version, and document history..
Pre-Requisites
- Generate API key
- Submit a form with required parameters using either multi-part or normal form submission process.
- Specify the remote location where the document is to be saved in the saveurl parameter of the form code.
Here is the basic Remote API work flow:
What is Zoho Data API ?
Zoho Data API's (Available for Writer, Sheet, Show, Planner, Creator, Meeting, Wiki
) provide partners and third party applications with integrated access to the various Zoho applications while end user data is stored on Zoho's secure infrastructure. In addition, each user has a unique account created in Zoho for the respective Zoho service. This means that the full range of feature/functionality is available for each application.
Because many websites and third party applications require user account creation and log-in credentials, the Data API may require some additional work and cost to do the implementation. Please contact Zoho for more specific information.
Pre-Requisites
- Users should have a Zoho ID
- User should generate API Key and Ticket for accessing data apis.
- User should login to view/edit/create documents.
General Data API workflow:
Resources required for the Zoho API's.
Zoho APIs are intended for anyone withe basic programming skills in any language - java, php, asp etc., and a general understanding of Web applications and how they work. This document assumes that users who intend to use data & remote APIs understand the basics of Web services, XML, JSON and the GET & POST requests in HTTP.
Accessing Zoho APIsUsers can request access to the API Key for both the Data and Remote APIs by clicking
here.
For the Data API an additional step is required:
Users need to generate an additional Ticket ID along with the API Key. For more on generating API Key & Ticket ID, please click
here.
