dotConnect for Zoho Books

Connect Zoho Books Data With .NET Application Easily

dotConnect for Zoho Books is an ADO.NET provider for working with Zoho Books data through the standard ADO.NET or Entity Framework interfaces. It allows you to easily incorporate Zoho Books data into your .NET applications, and integrate Zoho Books services with widely used data-oriented technologies.

dotConnect for Zoho Books has the same standard ADO.NET classes as other standard ADO.NET providers: ZohoConnection, ZohoCommand, ZohoDataAdapter, ZohoDataReader, ZohoParameter, etc. This allows you to quickly get started and eliminates the need to learn any specific details of accessing Zoho Books data.

Features

Direct access to the Zoho Books data
High performance
Comprehensive security features
Broad compatibility with .NET platforms
Visual Studio integration

Compatibility

The following table shows which version of this package to use with which version of frameworks.

Frameworks	Version support
Entity Framework Core	1.x-8.0.
.NET	5.0, 6.0, 7.0
.NET Core	3, 2, 1
.NET Framework	2.0-4.8

More information here

Usage

In order to connect to Zoho Books you need to have the corresponding account, dotConnect for Zoho Books installed and IDE running. You also have to know the required connection parameters described below.

Note that if you do not use design-time (specifically, if you do not place designer ZohoBooksConnection component from the Toolbox to the form), you have to embed licensing information manually. This is described in topic Licensing.

Required Connection Parameters

To establish a connection to server you have to provide the required connection parameters to dotConnect for Zoho Books. This information is used by ZohoBooksConnection component to connect to Zoho Books. The parameters are represented as a connection string. You can compose the connection string manually or have dotConnect for Zoho Books construct it for you.

The following connection string parameters are required:

Data Center - if your Zoho Books is hosted in US, Europe, China, India, Australia, Japan, UK, Canadam you need to specify the corresponding data center.

Refresh Token - a renewable access token. Sign in with Zoho Books, the token will be assigned automatically.

Creating a Connection to Zoho Books

The following assumes that you have IDE running, and you are currently focused on a form designer.

Open Toolbox and find ZohoBooksConnection component in dotConnect for Zoho Books category.
Double-click the component. Notice that new object appears on the designer underneath the form. If this is first time you create the ZohoBooksConnection in this application it is named ZohoBooksConnection1.
Click on the ZohoBooksConnection1 object and press F4 to focus on object's properties.
Enter the required connection string parameters, described above, to the corresponding boxes.
Notice that as you assign values to these properties the ConnectionString property is automatically updated to reflect your settings. Now it contains something like Refresh Token=1000.a6fde76542bfbb5244a7e539d4390e72.87e34ea57023c2d0e7dcb9ce55e3e7f.
If necessary, click the Advanced button and configure other connection string parameters. You can find the description of these connection string parameters in the ZohoBooksConnection.ConnectionString topic.

This snippet directly configures a Zoho CRM connection using a connection string.

ZohoBooksConnection1.ConnectionString = Refresh Token=1000.a6fde76542bfbb5244a7e539d4390e72.87e34ea57023c2d0e7dcb9ce55e3e7f;

Read the full documentation for connection here.

Creating Connection in Server Explorer

To create a Server Explorer connection, you just need to:

1. Click Connect to Database on the Server Explorer toolbar 2. If the Zoho Books Data Source is not selected by default, click the Change button. 3. Select Zoho Books Data Source (dotConnect for Zoho Books) and click OK. 4. Click Web Login.

In the opened Web Login dialog box sign in to your Zoho Books account.

Power of SQL

dotConnect for Zoho Books allows you to perform SQL queries against your Zoho Books data. Use SQL statements to work with Zoho Books accounts, contacts, accounts, activities, tasks, calls, events, and other objects.

Our provider offers full CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) support and allows you to get Zoho Books data with SELECT statements and manage data with INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements.

No need to study and use complex Zoho Books API, just use familiar SQL statements. You may use complex JOINs, WHERE conditions, etc. - all the SQL benefits, not available with Zoho Books API.

Entity Framework Support

dotConnect for Zoho Books allows you to access Zoho Books data via Entity Framework - Microsoft's recommended data access technology. It supports Entity Framework v4, v5, v6, and Entity Framework Core 7.0, and enables you to use the following Entity Framework features with Zoho Books data:

LINQ to Entities (no need for Zoho Books API)
Entity relations with lazy/eager loading
No need to post each edited/created object separately - a single SaveChanges() call to persist all the changed objects

dotConnect for Zoho Books provides enhanced Entity Framework support for Zoho Books data with a bundled visual designer for ORM models with Visual Studio integration - Entity Developer. Standard Visual Studio Entity Data Model designer is also supported.

Zoho Books Data Binding

Build your data access layer without writing code manually
Configure dotConnect for Zoho Books components in powerful design-time editors
Bind data grids and other controls to Zoho Books data just by configuring the smart tags
Work with Zoho Books data just like with a database

License

See pricing options for ordering.

Trial Limitations

The dotConnect for Zoho Books Evaluation License lets you try dotConnect for Zoho Books Trial Edition for a period of 30 days. You may not use applications developed using Trial versions of the Software for any commercial purposes.

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