Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on Zoho Projects 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 Projects, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build Zoho Projects-connected web applications for Zoho Projects data. This article shows how to connect to Zoho Projects with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing Zoho Projects data.

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

Connecting to Zoho Projects Data

Connecting to Zoho Projects 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.

The connector uses OAuth to authenticate with Zoho Projects. CData Software has already registered an OAuth application with Zoho Project which is embedded and used to authenticate.

If you use the embedded credentials, set the InitiateOAuth connection property to "GETANDREFRESH".

If you would prefer to use your own custom OAuth app, see the Help documentation.

After installing the CData Zoho Projects Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing Zoho Projects 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 Projects 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.zohoprojects as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

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

cnxn = mod.connect("InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthSettingsLocation=/PATH/TO/OAuthSettings.txt")")

Execute SQL to Zoho Projects

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 Id, Name FROM Portals WHERE CrmPartner = 'true'", 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-zohoprojectsedataplot'

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 Projects data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.Id, y=df.Name, name='Id')

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 Projects Portals 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 Projects data.

python zohoprojects-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for Zoho Projects to start building Python apps with connectivity to Zoho Projects 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.zohoprojects as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthSettingsLocation=/PATH/TO/OAuthSettings.txt")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Id, Name FROM Portals WHERE CrmPartner = 'true'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-zohoprojectsdataplot'

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.Id, y=df.Name, name='Id')

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 Projects Portals Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

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