Episode IV:Handling User Inputs in custom functions

Episode IV:Handling User Inputs in custom functions

Hi Everyone,

We've been exploring custom functions which help in performing advanced automation tasks. Custom functions enable you to achieve possibilities based on your organization's requirements. Custom functions require user inputs that allow the function to operate specifically for your organization based on the data provided.

The User Inputs section

Zoho Desk team provides you custom functions in a uniform code format. We have the "user inputs section" at the beginning of most of our custom functions.
The code below demonstrates what the User Inputs section looks like in custom functions. The User inputs section lets you feed in customized inputs based on your organization/portal.
  1. // ----<<<< User Inputs format>>>>----
  2. logs = Map();
  3. deskUrl = "https://desk.zoho.com";  //Replace .com the domain based on your DC
  4. Orgid = "***********" //replace with org ID
  5. cfApiName = "cf_field_name";// replace with the API name of the custom field
  6. departmentId = ***********;// Replace *********** with your department Id
  7. templateId = "enter_the_email_template_id";
  8.  
  9. from_email = "enter_the_from_email_address";
  10. // ----<<<< Code Section >>>>----
  11.  
  12. logs.insert("templateId":templateId);
  13. if(templateId != "")
  14. {
  15. // info templateId;
 
Here's how you can add your portal-based inputs to the custom function:
  1. // ----<<<< User Inputs with data >>>>----
  2. logs = Map()
  3. deskUrl = "https://desk.zoho.au";  //DC is au
  4. Orgid = "10000000x7" //replace with the complete org ID
  5. cfApiName = "cf_country_name";// replaced with the API name of the field Country name.
  6. departmentId = 29x0x0x0x0x0x9;// Replace *********** with your department Id
  7. templateId = "1x3x00xx9x8xxx0x0x";
  8. from_email = "1x4x00xx1x0xxx0x0x";
  9. // ----<<<< Code Section >>>>----
  10. logs.insert("templateId":templateId);
  11. if(templateId != "")
  12. {
  13. // info templateId;

What makes the 'User Inputs' section valuable in custom functions?

Some developers prefer to include user inputs directly within the code in every line.  However, using the dedicated User Inputs section offers several advantages: it keeps your code clean, enhances efficiency, and separates hard-coded values from the logic, making your custom function more manageable and easier to maintain.
In the User Inputs section, you’ll need to replace the sample values or placeholders with actual data. This is necessary because the Arguments option in the Custom Function script provides access to only a limited set of field values. In most cases, inputs such as Org ID, ticket ID, and API names must be entered in the User Inputs section to ensure the function runs correctly and is tailored to your organization/portal.

User Inputs: where to get the required values?

This section explores how to fetch the user inputs required for specific parameters.  These inputs play a key role in helping you code custom functions tailored to your needs. In most cases, they include IDs related to your organization, tickets, custom views, departments, holiday lists, and more; each referring to a unique record ID within the Zoho Desk platform.

1. Zoho Desk Domain

Many user inputs begin with "replace .com based on the your DC".
The easy way to find your DC(data center) or location is from the browser's URL. Login to your Zoho account via this link, your DC is present after accounts. zoho.
For example : deskURL = "https://desk.zoho.com";
If your DC is IN, replace .com with in in the deskURL like this "https://desk.zoho.in". Based on your DC : eu/au/in, replace .com with the respective DC alone.


2. Org ID

To get the Org ID of your Zoho Desk portal, go to Setup >> APIs under Developer Space. You will find the Org ID under the API Plan details.

3. Ticket ID

To get the ticket ID, go to Tickets >> open the ticket for which you want the ticket ID. In the browser's URL, you will find an 18-digit number  after the "/tickets/details/" section, which is the ticket ID of the particular opened ticket.



4. Contact ID

To fetch the contact ID, go to Customers and choose the contact for which you wish to find the Contact ID. In the browser's URL, you will find an 18-digit number at the end of the URL after the "/contacts/details/" section. This is the contact ID for the selected contact.



5. Account ID

To get the Account ID, click on Customers in your Zoho Desk portal, then click on Account on the bottom left of the window. Click on the account for which you want the account ID. Once the account is displayed, the 18-digit number at the end of the browser's URL after "/accounts/details/" is the Account ID for the selected account.


6. Agent ID

To fetch the Agent ID, go to Setup (S) >> User Management >> Agents. You can search the Agent using the Search space on the top left. Select the Agent for detailed view. The 18 digit number in the browser URL at the end after the "/user-control/agents/" is the Agent ID of the selected ID.


7.  Department ID

Navigate to Setup >> Organization >> Departments >> select the department for which you want to fetch the ID. The URL in the browser has the department ID after the "/general/departments/" section.


8. Help Center ID

To fetch the ID of the Help Center, go to Setup >> Channels >> Help Center >> select the Help Center for which you want to fetch the Help Center ID, then click Customization. Now the browser URL will have the 18-digit number between #setup/channels/  <Help Center ID> and /hcCustomize.


9. ID of Business hours

To get the ID for a business hour configured, go to Setup >> Organization >> Business Hours. Select the Business hour to view the Business hour page. The browser's URL will have the business hour ID after "/businesshours/edit/" section.


10. ID of a Holiday list

To get the ID of the Holiday Lists configured, go to Setup >> Organization >> Holiday Lists. Click on the Edit button in the Holiday list to view the Holiday list page. You will find the Holiday list ID next to "/holidaylist/edit/" in the browser URL.


11. Email template ID

Navigate to Setup >> Customization >> Email Templates. Click on the Email template for which you need the ID. Once you've selected the Email template, you can locate the Email template ID in the URL of the email template page. It is found after the "/emailtemplates/edit/" section.
 

12. Custom field API name

When custom functions are triggered based on  a specific field or a custom field created, they require the field's API name to be included in the user inputs.
To fetch the API names, go to Setup >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields >> Field list. You will find the API name for the respective Field Name in the Fields list. 

13. Custom view ID

Some custom functions operate based on a custom view you've created. To execute the custom function based on the custom view within your portal, you'll need the custom view ID.
To fetch the ID of the Custom View, select the Module where you created the Custom View >> Views >> choose the custom view, right click on the page and select inspect. Click on Network in the Inspect tab. Click clear to clear the Network tab. Click Save on the custom view. In the Network console, the first 16 digit number you see is the Custom view ID. Click on the ID to view the headers, you can confirm the ID here.
To fetch the Custom View ID:
  1. Navigate to the module where the custom view was created.
  2. Go to Views and select the desired custom view. Click Edit on the custom view.
  3. Right-click on the page and select Inspect to open the developer tools. Click the Network tab.Click on Click Clear to empty the Network logs.
  4. Now, click Save on the Custom View. In the Network console, look for the first 16-digit number—this is the Custom View ID.
  5. Click on that entry to view the Headers, where you can confirm the ID.
 
With this episode, we bring the custom function series to a close.

Here are the links to visit the previous episodes:

We’d love to hear how these inputs have helped you! If there are any topics you'd like us to focus on, share them in the comments below.
Until the next post, see you soon!
Lydia | Zoho Desk

    • Sticky Posts

    • Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

      With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features

    • Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

      Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 

    • Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

      Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 

    • Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

      Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here

    • Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

      With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing

    • Recent Topics

    • Lost the ability to sort by ticket owner

      Hi all, in the last week or so, we have lost the ability to sort tickets by Ticket Owner. Unlike the other columns which we can hover over and click on to sort, Ticket Owner is no longer clickable. Is it just us, or are other customers seeing this too?

    • Mask Name Field in Report

      Is it possible to have the Name field as "Last Name, First Name" in a scheduled report.

    • Custom Project View by Project Group

      Hi Zoho Team, I used to have a custom project view which showed all my active projects (not cancelled or completed) and the list was separated into projects groups. Some time ago, possibly a couple of months ago, I began to see all projects even cancelled

    • Unable to attach the file via the API.

      We are trying to attach files to a Candidate in Zoho Recruit using the API. We reviewed the following API documentation: 🔗 Upload Attachment While this API does allow file attachment via a URL, that’s not what we want — we do not want to attach public-facing

    • Zoho Books (UK) needs to be able to submit a CT600 CTSA return

      As well as a VAT Return, most (if not all) small businesses have to submit a CT600 Corporation Tax Self-Assessment. There are many providers who do this (like Xero) bujt not Zoho. Can you add this to the request list please? Many thanks Steve

    • Stock Update After Approver 1 Approval in Multi-Level Approval Flow

      Hi Team, We have configured a multi-level approval process for POs/Bills. Our requirement is to update the item stock quantity based on the billed quantity immediately after Approver 1 approves the bill. Please find the script attached below. However,

    • Zoho Form Auto Fill

      I am setting up a Zoho form for my independent sales reps to request quotes. Their names are in the first field under a dropdown menu. The next field is their email address. I want the email address field to automatically be filled in when they select

    • Image Resolution Restriction Option in Zoho Forms File Upload

      Hi Zoho Forms Team, Greetings, We would like to request a feature enhancement for Zoho Forms regarding the file upload field. Currently, Zoho Forms allows us to restrict the file size of uploaded images, but not the image resolution (in megapixels). This

    • Can't select Leave type while applying a leave

      Hello, while trying to apply a leave, I can't find any leave type among the options in the Leave type select: Here are my leave settings. Daily: Hourly: Tried to clear cache and to navigate from another browser, but the problem persists. Any hint? Thank

    • Mes débuts sur Zoho Forms | 13 champs à l'export ! seulement

      Bonjour, je débute sur Zoho Forms, je viens de créer un formulaire avec tests dans la foulée et je n'ai que 13 champs qui remontent sur mon export CSV alors que j'ai plus de questions et champs qui devraient remonter. J'ai actuellement une formule payante

    • Introducing real-time document commenting and collaboration in Zoho Sign

      Hi, there! We are delighted to introduce Document commenting, a feature that helps you communicate with your recipients more efficiently for a streamlined document signing process. Some key benefits include: Collaborate with your recipients easily without

    • Adding Photos Into Form (as a form creator)

      As the form creator, is it possible to add images to my form? (I don’t mean adding an image upload field, but rather inserting a JPG file into the form so that users can view the image.)

    • [Training] AI-Powered Application Development Bootcamp 2.0 - Zoho Creator

      Hello everyone, Ready to take your app-building skills to the next level with the power of AI? We’re excited to invite you to AI-Powered Application Development Bootcamp 2.0—a 90-minute, live training session designed to help developers, business users,

    • What is the easiest/fastest way to attach an email or PDF to a Zoho record?

      Hi everyone, We use Outlook with Office 365 and have the need to either ideally attach a .msg email directly to an account or custom module in Zoho, or if not attach just the PDF that would be sent in that email. The Zoho plugin is very basic for Outlook

    • Free webinar! Close deals faster with Zoho Sign from Zoho CRM

      Hello, Are you tired of chasing down signatures and getting stuck with paperwork delays in your sales process? With the seamless integration between Zoho Sign and Zoho CRM, you can create and send documents for signing online, close deals faster, and

    • Files stores in Library Marketing Automation

      Hi, How can i switch from card view to list view in Marketing Automation My Files.?

    • Paid for upgrade and no change

      I paid the $24.99 rate to upgrade to Pro version and no change when I signed out and signed back in.

    • Issue with Code Snippet Styling Overlap in Zoho Landing Page

      Dear Support Team, I have encountered an issue on the Zoho Landing Page while working with code snippets. When I try to create a custom script and add HTML, CSS, and JavaScript within the code snippet, the styling appears to overlap and affect other code

    • Adding yearly Calander

      How to add Yearly calander and employee data from admin console

    • Zoho Leave Policy > Portugal maternity Leave 120 days or 150 days

      Hello All In this Portugal maternity Leave policy, the government allow employee to apply 120 days they will have 100% paid salary if they apply 150 days they take 80% of the paid salary minimum 1 days and maximum 120 days or 150 days Should i setup this

    • Feature Request - Copy Reschedule Link

      Hi Bookings Team, I had a client contact me today, to let me know that she can't make a meeting she booked this week. I can't remember if I included a reschedule link in email notifications, but I was thinking that it would be great if I could just open

    • eCommerce ZUG Virtual Meetup – Critical Role of e-Signatures in eCommerce

      Hello there! Are you in the ecommerce industry and looking for a secure, compliant e-signature solution to handle all your paperwork? From vendor onboarding and supplier contracts to internal HR and finance workflows, speed, scalability, and customer

    • Zoho Desk iOS app update: Archived ticket list view

      Hello everyone! In the latest iOS version(v2.10.7) of the Zoho Desk app update, we have brought in support to access the 'Archived Ticket views' on the 'Ticket Views' screen. Tickets that have been Closed and inactive for 120+ days will be automatically

    • Chart of Accounts

      Is it possible to reorder chart of accounts manually? Currently, when creating new sub accounts accounts, they appear in order they were created i.e. not in alphabetical or numerical order based on manually assigned account codes. It's very messy! Also,

    • Zoho People Candidate Unable to see Non Admin Data

      Hello All I have assign this user as specific user as Group CEO and have access all legal entity, business unit division When i login to the user and look into onboarding i do not see any data in the candidate view This is the admin view that i have 2

    • Issues With Image Formatting when Importing Word Documents as Articles

      Hello, I am having formatting issues when importing .docx files into articles. The documents look fine on Word, but once they are imported into an article, the images will overlap text and other images. Occasionally there will be added space between images

    • ZOHO COMMERCE 2.0 – Réinventer la vente, repenser la valeur

      Il y a cinq ans, nous avons lancé Zoho Commerce pour accompagner les entreprises dans la vente en ligne. À cette époque, notre objectif était clair : simplifier l'e-commerce. Aujourd’hui, le marché a évolué, tout comme les attentes des entrepreneurs.

    • Business hours in reports

      Hi. If I activate the business hours for my tickets. Does it affect in reports? I mean, if before, without working hours a ticket comes in on a Monday and closes the following Monday, in the resolution time in working hours I get 7 days. I want to know

    • Zia Field Prediction - Unable to Validate Dataset Entries

      Lastly, whenever we want to create a new field prediction, the status gets stuck in Incomplete and when I try to annotate tickets, I get an error message saying "Unable to validate dataset entries." I've tried deleting and recreating the prediction, but

    • Using an article already existing in Zoho Desk KB as a resolution for another tickets

      Hi, I've read about the Resolution tab of the Tickets and the ability of adding a Resolution to the Knowledge Base so that both agents and customers be able to access this information. However, and considering several tickets may be solved by following the same procedure, here's my question: if, for a ticket, I solved it and added the way I solved it as an article in our KB, is it possible to grab that article and use it as a resolution for another tickets with similar characteristics? If it's not,

    • How to create knowledge base article from api?

      How to create knowledge base article from api?

    • Disabling Smart Writing Assistant

      Hello, I've found this article when looking to disable the Zoho Smart Writing Assistant in our Zoho Desk environment. I appreciate that the article is for another Zoho solution, however, I was still unable to disable this feature! Could we please have

    • Append tags to records on import

      Dear Customers, We hope you're well! Tags in Zoho CRM are humble labels you can earmark your records with for quick classification and recognition. You can tag records one by one when you have only a few records to update; you can automate tagging when

    • "Recently Changed Payload Format" for webhooks in Zoho Billing

      We are seeing a message about recently changed payload format for webhooks in zoho billing. I cannot find any notification about this change can you give me more information on this?

    • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

      Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • Zoho People Created a UBO/Group CEO Profile to view all employees

      Hello All I have created a specific role UBO/ Group CEO Profile that is able to access to view all employees information Applicability i have input all the legal entity, business unit and division which most employees are added. I have also given access

    • We've updated the webhook payload format

      We’ve updated the default payload format for webhooks as part of our ongoing efforts to standardize the webhook format across Zoho Finance suite of applications. Note: This change is also applicable for the webhooks configured from the Developer Portal.

    • Zoho People > Access of Left Menu

      Hello All May I check how do i activate or de-activate of the left menu for users do i control via role or specific role? I have assign a user to Team member

    • Custom Button - Location Choice is not changeable in creation

      I created a custom button for the Tasks module that calls a function to streamline mass updates of closing tasks as "complete". I want to place it in either the utility menu or the mass action menu, but when I create the button the "select page" field

    • Workflow on Clone

      Hello. I'm interested on creating a workflow on a clone of a record in the Price_Books module that will clone also all the related Products and associate the new ones with the new Price_Book. My problem starts with that there's no On Clone event, only

    • Next Page