Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on Zoho CRM Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for Zoho CRM, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build Zoho CRM-connected web applications for Zoho CRM data. This article shows how to connect to Zoho CRM with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing Zoho CRM data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Zoho CRM data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Zoho CRM, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Zoho CRM and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Zoho CRM Data

Connecting to Zoho CRM data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

You will need to obtain an AuthToken to authenticate to Zoho CRM. You can generate an AuthToken on the Zoho CRM website or by calling the GetAuthToken stored procedure. Note that when you generate an AuthToken from Zoho CRM, you can only generate an AuthToken for your user account. You can generate AuthTokens for other user accounts by calling GetAuthToken.

See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide.

After installing the CData Zoho CRM Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing Zoho CRM through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize Zoho CRM Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.zohocrm as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData Zoho CRM Connector to create a connection for working with Zoho CRM data.

cnxn = mod.connect("AuthToken=2ad3b3e719f6bed7368e5e7e26e4f988;")

Execute SQL to Zoho CRM

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Account_Name, Annual_Revenue FROM Accounts WHERE Industry = 'Data/Telecom OEM'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-zohocrmedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our Zoho CRM data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.Account_Name, y=df.Annual_Revenue, name='Account_Name')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Zoho CRM Accounts Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the Zoho CRM data.

python zohocrm-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the Zoho CRM Python Connector to start building Python apps with connectivity to Zoho CRM data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.zohocrm as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("AuthToken=2ad3b3e719f6bed7368e5e7e26e4f988;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Account_Name, Annual_Revenue FROM Accounts WHERE Industry = 'Data/Telecom OEM'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-zohocrmdataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.Account_Name, y=df.Annual_Revenue, name='Account_Name')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Zoho CRM Accounts Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)