How to make Custom Related Lists in Zoho CRM

Overview

This tutorial shows how to build a custom “Related List” display in Zoho CRM using Deluge to aggregate and present products an account has purchased.

Goal / Use Case

• Create a related list (example name: “products purchased from account”) that answers: Which products has a specific account purchased over time?

• Even if products are sold/created by others, the list is based on what the current account is associated with through related records.

Steps and Technical Approach (Deluge + Zoho CRM API)

1. Create a custom related list function

• In Zoho CRM:
  • Add Related List → Functions → Create new list
• Example name used: products purchased from account

2. Fetch related Quotes for the Account

• Use Deluge to:
  • Get the current account record by ID
  • Pull related records from the Quotes relationship
• Key concept: relationship field/API naming can differ from labels.
  • Check API names in Zoho CRM settings to confirm the correct relation name.
  • Example: the relationship might be “quotes” under Accounts → related list.

3. Extract Quote line items → product IDs/names

• For each quote:
  • Iterate through quote line items / item records
  • For each line item, retrieve:
    • product name
    • product id
• The tutorial mentions using loop control with a break command to test logic by fetching only the first line item during debugging (noted as undocumented).

4. Build a collection/list of products

• Create a Deluge collection/object with fields such as:
  • { product name, product id }
• Add each item into a list (example: productList).

5. Deduplicate products

• Use distinct so that if the same product appears on multiple quotes, it shows only once in the related list.
• Example logic:
  • product_list = product_list.distinct

Displaying Results in the Related List (XML Requirement)

• Zoho related lists in this approach require an XML response structure created in Deluge.
• The tutorial constructs:
  • responseXML as a blank string, then repeatedly appends:
    • <records>
    • <row ...> entries for each product
  • Column fields use a pattern like val=.../fl=...
• It dynamically fills:
  • Product name column
  • Product link/URL column (built from product ID plus a URL like redirect_url)

Output Behavior / Example Result

• After saving the related list function, the related list shows one row per unique product the account has purchased.
• Clicking the product entry can redirect to the product record (or a configured URL).

Extensibility Mentioned

• You can add more columns/logic by modifying Deluge and the XML response structure, for example:
  • amount purchased
  • last time purchased
  • other computed metrics
• This requires updating both the logic and the XML response accordingly.

Main Speakers or Sources

• Primary speaker: The instructor narrating the Deluge/Zoho CRM tutorial (no specific name given in the subtitles)
• Source material used: Zoho CRM (Deluge functions, Accounts API names/settings, related list XML format)