App Builder - Create Application

1. What are the different ways of creating an application with Zoho Creator?
   

   Login to Zoho Creator and start building your application by selecting button displayed on the top-right corner. The Create New Application dialog offers you various choices in creating your application. To choose the right option, analyze on what exactly you want your application to do and the information you want to maintain. You can also check out our Application Gallery, to see if what you need is already there.

    

   
   
   • Create application by adding new forms
   • Create application by importing data
   • Create application by writing deluge script

    

   Create application by adding new forms

   You can build a new custom application from the basic, by adding forms. To do this, you first need to decide on the different forms required by your application. When you have decided on this, you can create your application by adding the required forms. Again, Zoho creator provides you a choice here - you can create your application with a blank form and customize it from scratch or create your application with a pre-build template form that suits your requirement.

   a. Blank Form :

   Create your application from scratch by adding a Blank form and drag-and-drop the required fields to your blank form. To create an application by adding a Blank Form:

   1. Select the icon from the Create New Application dialog.
   2. Specify the Application Name and Form Name.
   3. Select the radio-button Create From Scratch
   4. Select the Time Zone for the application from the list of time zones.
   5. Click on Create Now to create your application with a blank form.
   6. The blank form will be listed in the Forms Tab. Drag-and-drop the required fields to your form and your form is ready for use.

   Zoho Creator creates a default view for the form. The default view will be listed in the Views Tab. Both the form and view can be accessed by selecting Access this application button. The data submitted through your form will be displayed in the view.

    

   b. Using Form Template :

   Template forms are ready-made forms that you can start to use immediately. Some of the most commonly used forms like Contact form, Registration form, Feedback form etc., are provided as Templates in Zoho Creator. To see the full list of Template forms, select Use Form Template option, view the Template list and see whether or not it meets your requirement. To create an application from a Template form,

   1. Select the icon from the Create New Application dialog.
   2. Specify the Application Name and Form Name.
   3. Select the radio-button Use Form Template and select the required template from the Template list. You can use the Preview form link, to view the form contents.
   4. Select the Time Zone for the application from the list of time zones.
      
   5. Click on Create Now to create the required application with the Template form.

   Zoho Creator creates a default view for the form. The default view is listed in the Views Tab. Both the form and view can be accessed by selecting Access this application button. The data submitted through your form will be displayed in the view.

   Create application by importing data

   If you want to create an online database application from your .XLS files, you can paste data from these files and directly create your application with Form and Data. Comma separated values (.csv) or Tab seperated values (.tsv) stored in other file formats can also be used to create your application with data. The created application will be directly displayed in Live mode with data. To create an application by importing data,

   1. Select the icon from the Create New Application dialog.
   2. Copy the data from your .xls file or from other file formats that store comma seperated values or Tab seperated values.
   3. Specify the Application Name and paste the data copied from your .xls/.csv/.tsv file.
   4. If the data contains a date field, select the required date format from the list of supported date formats.
   5. Select the Time Zone for the application from the list of time zones.
   6. Click on Create Now to import the data. The "Importing Data" dialog will display the data in the following format:
      • The form will be created with the Application Name.
      • The data in the first row will be displayed as the default Label Names for each column. If you want to change a field name, type a new name in the Label Name box.
      • The default Field Type is displayed based on the type of data pasted for each column. If a field type is not correct, select the appropriate field type from the drop-down list.
      • Click Finish to create the application with the form data.

   The created application with form and view will be directly displayed in Access mode.

    

   Create application by writing Deluge Scripts

   Make use of Deluge, Zoho Creator's scripting language, to build an application by either writing deluge scripts or importing a deluge script file (.ds file).

   1. Write code from scratch. Refer FAQ -> Deluge Scripting, for more information on defining forms and fields in Deluge.
   2. Import a Deluge Script file (.ds file). To save an application as .ds file, select More Actions -> Save as Script option, displayed in the top-right corner, in edit mode.

If a ZC Admin has configured you as a shared user with developer role, you will have permission to create applications in the admin's workspace. In this case, the Create New Application dialog will be displayed with option to create your application in your own workspace or in the admins workspace, as shown below: Refer FAQ -> Business Version -> Definitions, to learn more about what is a workspace and difference between a admin user, developer and user.

2. Do you offer ready-made applications that I can install and start to use immediately?
   

   Yes, Zoho Creator Marketplace has the largest repository of ready-to-use database applications and hosts more database  applications every day. To find the right application for your requirement, click on the Marketplace tab, placed next to the Home tab, browse through the different categories listed or search by category, view the demo and install the application. Users can also contribute their applications to the gallery and get accessed by all users.

3. I have created a simple application with a Contact form. Now, how do I submit data to this form and view the data?

   A Zoho Creator application is basically made up of Forms and Views - Forms to collect the information and Views to see the collected information. The Edit mode is where the application owner creates the forms and views with the necessary configurations. The Access mode is where the owner/users submit data through the forms, and view the data submitted. Only the owner of an application can use the Edit mode, to edit the application structure. Shared users or public visitors can only use the Access mode to submit and view data, based on the Share configurations.

   

    

   • To go to access mode, select the button.
   • To go back to edit mode, select the Edit this application link, displayed on the top right corner, in Access mode.

   Refer the topic Getting Started with Zoho Creator to help you easily get started with creating an application in Zoho Creator.

4. How can I share my application with specific users?

   An application created in Zoho Creator can either be public or private. All forms and views in a public application is accessible by public visitors. A private application can be accessed only if the owner of the application shares it with specific users, from the Share tab. Refer FAQ -> Sharing, for more information.

5. Is there any way to embed an entire application, i.e the tabbed view which includes all forms and views?

   As of now, Creator does not support embedding an entire application in a website/blog. You can only embed individual forms and views. However, you can provide a link to the application (URL of the application (http://creator.zoho.com/<Username>/<AppName>), clicking on which the shared user will be able to access the entire application.

6. Is it possible to change my application name?

   Yes, you can change the application name from the Application Settings dialog. The Application Settings dialog can be invoked either from your Zoho Creator Home page or from the edit mode of your application.

   To invoke the application settings dialog from the Home page,

   1. Login to Zoho Creator.
   2. Select Settings option from the Home page, as shown in the screen-shot given below. The Application Settings dialog will be displayed.
   3. In the Application Settings dialog, specify the new application name.

   
   

   To invoke the application settings dialog,

   1. Open your application in Edit mode and select More Actions -> Application Settings option displayed in the top-right corner.
   2. In the Application Settings dialog, specify the new application name. If you also want the online link to your application to be updated with the new name, specify the same in the "Application link" text box.

7. How can I create a copy of my application?

   You can create a copy of your application either from your Zoho Creator Home page or from your application. To copy an application from the Home page,
   

   1. Login to Zoho Creator.
   2. Place mouse over the application to be copied.
   3. Select the Duplicate button to create another copy of the application.
   4. Only the application structure will be copied with name "Copy of <ApplicationName>" and will be listed in your Home Page.  

   
   

   To copy an application from the access mode/edit mode of your application,
   

   1. Select More Actions option displayed in the top-right corner as shown in the screen-shot below.
   2. Select the menu item Copy application to create a copy of the application. Only the application structure will be copied with name "Copy of <ApplicationName>".
   3. Select the menu item Save as Script to save the application as a .ds file (deluge sript file). Your entire application is saved as a deluge script and you can create a copy of the application using the .ds file, whenever required. Refer to Creating an application by Importing Deluge Script.

8. How can I backup my application with data?

   Zoho Creator supports the backup feature only in Business Free Edition and above. This backup includes the data also. To take a back up of your application,

   1. Select the Account Settings option from the Home page.
   2. Select the Backup tab and click on Start New Backup
   3. In the Backup dialog, select the application to backup and click on Backup Now
   4. The backed up applications will be listed under Completed, along with the version number and the date of backup.
      

   The backed up application can be restored anytime. Also, you can have many back ups for a single application. If you are using the Free Personal Edition, kindly upgrade to the Business Free Edition so that the Back up option will be available. Check out Why should I upgrade? for more information on the benefits of upgrading to the business edition.

9. How can I delete an application?

   To delete an application,

   1. Go to Home page.
   2. Select the delete icon displayed on the right end of each application name listed in the Home page. The application structure along with the data, will be deleted.

   
   

10. How can I set the date format for my application?

    You can select the required date format from the Application Settings dialog. This dialog can be invoked from the Settings option in the Home page or from the More Actions -> Application Settings option displayed in the Edit mode of an application.

    
    

11. Can I change the time zone format for my application according to my locale?

    Creator does have a feature that supports various Time Zones. Users have the flexibility of choosing different Time Zones for each application that they create in Zoho Creator.

    1. Go to the Edit mode of the application and click on Application Settings available in More Actions drop down.
    2. In the pop up window, select the time zone relevant to your locale from Time Zone dropdown menu.

12. How many applications can I create?

    While Zoho Creator pricing is based on number of users, we have a cap on number of applications in free edition.
    In Personal Free Edition, you can have maximum of 3 applications. In paid business editions you can create UNLIMITED number of applications.
    

13. Is there any limit on the number of records an application can hold?

    The number of records an application can hold varies with the type of plan. Refer the Pricing Plan for more information.