zoho-analytics-connector 1.1.0.1

Zoho Analytics connector

Zoho Analytics Connector

Zoho's SDK for Zoho Reports is very old, however it is very complete. This is a version which is Python 3 ready, tested on Python 3.8 and 3.9.

A more convenient wrapper class is in enhanced_report_client. This is based on Zoho's ReportClient but provides some more convenient features. I use it mostly for uploading data, and creating and modifying tables.

AuthTokens are being deprecated, and in some Zoho domains they don't work any longer. OAuth support works, see notes below.

Authentication

AuthTokens are now retired, replaced with OAuth2.

OAuth2 notes are below. When you create EnhancedZohoAnalyticsClient or ReportClient, you need to pass ClientID, ClientSecret and a RefreshToken. The RefreshToken is the equivalent of the old AuthToken.

To use AuthToken (retired authentication method), pass the AuthToken, and set ClientID and ClientSecret to none. The test cases give some hints.

For OAuth2:

Visit https://www.zoho.com/analytics/api/#oauth and follow the steps ... in conjunction with the tips here.

Self Clients are an easy start. You choose Self Client when you 'register' (create) a new app. A Self Client means that you interactively get a Refresh Token. OAuth2 is mostly designed for flows where the user interactively approves: the Self Client approach is the equivalent of the old AuthToken, requiring no user action. However, you need to access the Zoho Analytics account as the admin user or user who owns the Workspace.

In the UI, they have purple hexagonal icons. You ae limited to one self-client, so the scope may need to be shared with your other usages amongst Zoho APIs.

The self-client needs to have access rights to the Zoho Analytics accounts, so use as an account on the target organisation with admin rights.

Site to visit

https://api-console.zoho.com/ or .com.au ...

and create a Self Client (at least, to experiment)

Choose the correct domain matching the Zoho Analytics account, e.g. api-console.zoho.com.au

Tip: The scope for full access

ZohoReports.fullaccess.all

Now with data gathered (client id, client secret, the code which expires in a few minutes, the scope, execute a POST to

https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/token?code=

You can do this from terminal with curl:

curl -d "code=1000.dedaa...&client_id=1000.2TY...&client_secret=b74103c...&grant_type=authorization_code&scope=ZohoReports.fullaccess.all" \
-X POST https://accounts.zoho.com/oauth/v2/token

and you should get back JSON which looks like this:

{"access_token":"1000....","refresh_token":"1000.53e...","expires_in_sec":3600,"api_domain":"https://www.zohoapis.com","token_type":"Bearer","expires_in":3600000}

save this somewhere, it is confidential. The refresh token is permanent, it is basically the same as the old authtoken.

NOTE!!! For Australian-hosted Zoho accounts and other regional variations:

The token URL is adapted for the server location. e.g. for Australia, post to https://accounts.zoho.com.au/oauth/v2/token

Usage

Zoho's full API is available through the ReportClient API. However, there are bugs in this code. Recent 2020 changes have fixed some of these bugs, but I have hardly any test cases; I only have test cases for a handful of the standard functions of ReportClient. So proceed carefully if you use them.

They are probably worth looking at. For instance, ReportClient.exportData now actually does use the file object you pass. But perhaps due to its python2 heritage, it expects a binary file object.

Note that for data import and export, my EnhancedReportClient has its own methods, and these are what I use in production so they are much better tested.

class EnhancedZohoAnalyticsClient(ReportClient)

is a higher level layer.

The tests show how to use it:

Setup necessary values (database is the Z.A. Workspace name)

Config class is used in the testcases as a convenience.

class Config:
    LOGINEMAILID = os.getenv('ZOHOANALYTICS_LOGINEMAIL')
    AUTHTOKEN = os.getenv('ZOHOANALYTICS_AUTHTOKEN')
    DATABASENAME = os.getenv('ZOHOANALYTICS_DATABASENAME')

Make the API instance:

def get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client()->EnhancedZohoAnalyticsClient:
    if (Config.AUTHTOKEN == ""):
        raise RuntimeError(Exception, "Please configure AUTHTOKEN in Config class")
    rc = EnhancedZohoAnalyticsClient(login_email_id = Config.LOGINEMAILID,
                                     authtoken=Config.AUTHTOKEN, default_databasename=Config.DATABASENAME)
    return rc

Australian and EU Zoho Servers

The default root of the main server is https://accounts.zoho.com and the default root of the Analytics API server is https://analyticsapi.zoho.com

You can provide alternatives via the parameters: serverURL and reportServerURL

Retry exceptions

in development: calling enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.data_upload(...) or report_client.import_data(...) can raise one of two exceptions for API limits: UnrecoverableRateLimitError RecoverableRateLimitError

Managing retries is a beta feature but I am using it in production. It is opt-in except where I was already doing retry. The retry logic is in

def __sendRequest(self, url, httpMethod, payLoad, action, callBackData,retry_countdown=0):

It attempts to differentiate between recoverable and non-recoverable errors. Recoverable errors so far are temporary rate limit errors, errors due to another update running on the same table, and token refresh errors.

It should be enhanced to use smarter retry timing, but first I will see if this works under production loads.

Do some stuff

Get table metadata

def test_get_database_metadata(get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client):
    enhanced_rc = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client
    table_meta_data = enhanced_rc.get_table_metadata()
    assert table_meta_data

Push data

def test_data_upload(get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client:EnhancedZohoAnalyticsClient):
    try:
        with open('StoreSales.csv', 'r') as f:
            import_content = f.read()
    except Exception as e:
        print("Error Check if file StoreSales.csv exists in the current directory!! ", str(e))
        return
        # import_modes = APPEND / TRUNCATEADD / UPDATEADD
    impResult = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.data_upload(import_content=import_content,table_name="sales")
    assert(impResult)

    try:
        with open('Animals.csv', 'r') as f:
            import_content2 = f.read()
    except Exception as e:
        print("Error Check if file Animals.csv exists in the current directory!! ", str(e))
        return
    impResult2 = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.data_upload(import_content=import_content2, table_name="animals")
    assert (impResult2)

Run SQL. You can join tables. The rows are returned as a DictReader. If you pass ' characters into IN(...) clauses, you need to escape them yourself (double ')

def test_data_download(get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client):
    sql="select * from sales"
    result = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.data_export_using_sql(sql=sql,table_name="sales")
    assert result

    #the table name does not matter
    sql="select * from animals"
    result = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.data_export_using_sql(sql=sql,table_name="sales",retry_countdown=10)
    assert result

You can cache a query too, if you provide a cache object which has the same interface as Django's cache. https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/topics/cache/

this is, the cache object needs to offer cache.set(...) and cache.get(...) as Django does

from django.core.cache import cache

def test_data_download(get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client):
    sql="select * from sales"
    result = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.data_export_using_sql(sql=sql,table_name="sales",cache_object=cache,
        cache_timeout_seconds=600,retry_countdown=10)
    assert result

    result = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.data_export_using_sql(sql=sql,table_name="sales",cache_object=cache, cache_timeout_seconds=600)
    assert result

Delete rows

def test_deleteData(enhanced_zoho_analytics_client):
    """ This tests the underlying ReportClient function.
    for criteria tips see https://www.zoho.com/analytics/api/?shell#applying-filter-criteria"""
    enhanced_client = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client()
    animals_table_uri = enhanced_client.getURI(dbOwnerName=enhanced_client.login_email_id,
                                               dbName=enhanced_client.default_databasename,
                                               tableOrReportName='animals')
    criteria = """ 'Rabbit' in "common_name" """
    row_count = enhanced_client.deleteData(tableURI=animals_table_uri,criteria=criteria,retry_countdown=10)

create a table

zoho_sales_fact_table = {
    'TABLENAME': 'sales_fact',
    'COLUMNS': [
        {'COLUMNNAME':'inv_date', 'DATATYPE':'DATE'},
        {'COLUMNNAME':'customer', 'DATATYPE':'PLAIN'},
        {'COLUMNNAME':'sku', 'DATATYPE':'PLAIN'},
        {'COLUMNNAME':'qty_invoiced', 'DATATYPE':'NUMBER'},
        {'COLUMNNAME':'line_total_excluding_tax', 'DATATYPE':'NUMBER'}]
    }

def test_create_table(get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client):
    #is the table already defined?
    try:
        zoho_table_metadata = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.get_table_metadata()
    except  ServerError as e:
        if getattr(e, 'message') == 'No view present in the workspace.':
            zoho_table_metadata = {}
        else:
            raise
    zoho_tables = set(zoho_table_metadata.keys())

    if "sales_fact" not in zoho_tables:
        get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.create_table(table_design=zoho_sales_fact_table)
    else:
        #get an error, but error handling is not working, the API returns a 400 with no content in the message
        r = get_enhanced_zoho_analytics_client.create_table(table_design=zoho_sales_fact_table)
        print (r)

Changes

1.1.0.1 Documentation fixes

1.1.0 Treat "another import is in progress" as a recoverable error (can be retried) Move home-made retry logic to low level: report_client.__sendRequest(), and make retry optionally available to the key functions in EnhancedZohoAnalyticsClient. Functions can pass retry_countdown to use retry. The retry handling is coping well under some intial use in high volume production loads.

1.0.4 Documentation improvements

1.0.3 Some slightly better error handling if Zoho returns an empty response