Zoho Creator Deploys to Google App Engine

Zoho Creator got an update today with a new feature that lets you deploy your Zoho Creator applications to Google App Engine.

Zoho Creator has been one of our applications with a good set of passionate users. The apps created in Zoho Creator have been on the rise (more than 130,000 applications created so far), which I’d like to attribute to the power, flexibility and uniqueness of the application. Today, Zoho Creator takes it one step further adding a new deployment option for the applications created in Zoho Creator.

After Google App Engine’s launch, we noted that the Cloud Infrastructure Services market is getting interesting with multiple infrastructure offerings from vendors with different layers of abstraction. We also noted…

…in principle, it would be possible to layer Zoho Creator on top of Google App Engine on top of Amazon EC2.

This is basically what we have done today with this new functionality. We have layered Zoho Creator on top of Google App Engine.

App Engine Deployment

When you open an application in Zoho Creator in edit mode, you’ll see a new option ‘Deploy in App Engine’ under ‘More Actions’ menu (on the top). This option will let you generate and download the Python code (App Engine supports deployment of Python only apps) of your Zoho Creator application which you can then deploy to Google App Engine. The following video explains this process in detail.

 

The current deployment process is a bit geeky at this time, but we are working to make this more seamless. When applications are deployed on App Engine, entire application and the data exists with Google App Engine.

The process of deploying a Zoho Creator application on to App Engine doesn’t require knowledge of Python. You don’t even have to write a single line of code to create and deploy an application either on Zoho or Google App Engine.

Zoho Creator essentially acts as an IDE  for Google App Engine.

The flexibility of generating Python code actually comes form the way Zoho Creator is designed. To be precise, it is the way Zoho Creator and Deluge are modeled in a database. This makes it easy to generate any kind of code. Currently it is Python and we can extend this to other languages in the future, if needed.

Limitations

The current version has some limitations. Applications with these features cannot be deployed on to App Engine currently.

  • File Upload & Notes field
  • Criteria based Views
  • Group by Operator
  • HTML, Summary & Calendar Views
  • Themes support as in Zoho Creator
  • Limited Deluge Scripting support (only email notifications are supported)

Examples

Here are couple of applications created in Zoho Creator and deployed in both Zoho & App Engine.

Contact Organizer:

Issue Manager:

With our CloudSQL release last month, we let the data free, giving you the control of your data. With this release, we are letting your applications free, offering you alternative deployment options. Welcome to the new ‘open’ model.

Comments

12 Replies to Zoho Creator Deploys to Google App Engine

  1. Does this mean that we can use a free Zoho Creator account, deploy the apps to Google App Engine and thus avoid the two user limit on Zoho Creator?

  2. Does this mean that we can use a free Zoho Creator account, deploy the apps to Google App Engine and thus avoid the two user limit on Zoho Creator?

  3. [...] developing apps with Zoho Creator, we are happy to announce that Zoho have made it possible to deploy these apps using Google App Engine. Zoho Creator enables you to develop data backed business applications, and once you have developed [...]

  4. [...] developing apps with Zoho Creator, we are happy to announce that Zoho have made it possible to deploy these apps using Google App Engine. Zoho Creator enables you to develop data backed business applications, and once you have developed [...]

  5. Hi Vic,What we do is basically generate the code that is compatible with Google AppEngine. Once generated its a Google AppEngine application and no more a ZC application. The generated code has no reference to ZohoCreator. So the application is basically tuned to operate in Google AppEngine Environment. Having said that we do have plans to generate the code in such a way that data is stored both in Google AppEngine as well ZohoCreator.Regarding logo, we already have a business version in ZohoCreator where we provide support for rebranding. In future we will make sure to replace the zoho logo with the rebranded logo when generating the code.

  6. Hi Vic,What we do is basically generate the code that is compatible with Google AppEngine. Once generated its a Google AppEngine application and no more a ZC application. The generated code has no reference to ZohoCreator. So the application is basically tuned to operate in Google AppEngine Environment. Having said that we do have plans to generate the code in such a way that data is stored both in Google AppEngine as well ZohoCreator.Regarding logo, we already have a business version in ZohoCreator where we provide support for rebranding. In future we will make sure to replace the zoho logo with the rebranded logo when generating the code.

  7. I'm loving Zoho Creator...I'm currently using it to develop a client database for our charity. I've got the basics down but I could do with a Zoho Creator expert giving it the once over and making some basic tweaks. I've used the help section but it's way way over my head!There's literally about 30mins of work involved I reckon. If anyone can help or knows some who can help please get in touch:ross[AT]http://familysupport.org.uk " rel="nofollow">familysupport.org.uk

  8. I'm loving Zoho Creator...I'm currently using it to develop a client database for our charity. I've got the basics down but I could do with a Zoho Creator expert giving it the once over and making some basic tweaks. I've used the help section but it's way way over my head!There's literally about 30mins of work involved I reckon. If anyone can help or knows some who can help please get in touch:ross[AT]http://familysupport.org.uk " rel="nofollow">familysupport.org.uk

  9. I have a couple of questions:1) If the ZC application queries DB tables, where will that data reside if deployed on App Engine.
    2) Is it possible to use this method to create a production web application, i.e., is it possible to compensate Zoho for removing the Zoho branding?Thanks,Vic

  10. I have a couple of questions:1) If the ZC application queries DB tables, where will that data reside if deployed on App Engine.
    2) Is it possible to use this method to create a production web application, i.e., is it possible to compensate Zoho for removing the Zoho branding?Thanks,Vic

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