Extension pointers #13: Handle cases with personalized solutions using custom actions

Extension pointers #13: Handle cases with personalized solutions using custom actions

In our last post, we detailed the steps involved in creating a custom action and the workflow from the developer and end user's side. Now let's look at a working example of how we can create a custom action and implement it in a Zoho CRM account to make the end user's work simpler.
 
You are a sales representative (the end user/extension user) handling cases and their solutions in a Zoho CRM account. While cases may arrive by phone, web, or email, you must log them with basic information, such as the subject, description, and priority.
 
Issues are typically recorded in cases modules using the Subject field, which contains a brief description of the problem. You may discover an immediate solution to the issue while manually logging the cases. In those cases, you must still manually feed the solution into the Solution field. How convenient would it be if the solution for a case could be auto-populated when a case with a common issue arises? We can streamline this process by creating a custom action.
 
Note: Throughout the following example explanation, the terms "sales representative", "end user", and "extension user" can be used interchangeably, but refer to the same person. The sales representative is the end user who installs and makes use of the extension features in their Zoho CRM account. 
 
Create a custom action as part of extension development that includes a custom UI for obtaining personalized solution inputs and an action that will update the solution in the Solution field of a case. After installing the extension, the end user can simply create workflows and associate the custom action with them. 
 
Because the sales representative who installs the extension will be dealing with the cases in their Zoho CRM account, they can easily create different workflows. Each of these workflows can be assigned criteria so that when the Subject field contains specific keywords typically used by the sales representative while logging, the custom action updates the personalized solution provided as part of that workflow custom action.
 
Let's go over the steps in order to achieve this. 
  1. Create a custom user interface (widget-connected app) that allows the user to enter their personalized solution inputs. 
  2. In the Zoho Developer console, create a custom action. 
  3. Associate the custom UI to the custom action. 
  4. Define an action that performs the function of updating a case's Solution field. 
  5. Create workflows (as an end-user perspective that meets specific subject criteria (e.g., if the subject contains keywords like "widget," "not," and ''loading," then set a personalized solution in the case) and associate a custom action to them.
 
Creating a custom UI to obtain an end user's personalized solution inputs
  • Create a custom UI to retrieve the end user's personalized input for the solution field and later be updated in a case based on the workflow the user creates.
Case handling.html code snippet
 
<html>
<head>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="../css/style.css">
  <script src="../js/lib/zsdk.min.js"></script>
  <script src="../js/custom.js"></script>
  <script src="../js/jquery-min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<input type="text" id="solution" placeholder="Solution..."><br>
<button type="submit" class="submit_button" onclick="Util.save()">Save</button><br>
<script>
    $(document).ready(function(){
         ZOHO.embeddedApp.init();  
       });
   </script>
</body>
</html>
 
Case handling.js code snippet
 
Util={};
Util.save=function()
{
     ZOHO.CRM.ACTION.setConfig (
     {
               Caseid: "${!Cases.Id}",
               Solution : document.getElementById("solution").value
      })
}
 
  • The above javascript code snippet will fetch the current case's ID and set it to a variable "Caseid". The end user's inputted solution through the UI is also set to a variable "Solution".
  • These values will be passed as parameters to the custom function that will be associated with the custom action in the coming section.
Creating a custom action
 
1. Create a custom action called "Casehandling" using the Create an Action button under the Custom Actions option, available in the Components section of the Zoho Developer console. 



2. Provide a name for the custom action and a description if necessary. Click Next.



3. Associate the custom UI created earlier with the custom action by specifying the html page of the widget's connected app. Click Next.



4. Then write a Deluge function to perform the desired action by clicking the Create Function button. As shown on the right hand side of the page, the values obtained in the custom UI earlier will be passed as a JSON object parameter to this Deluge function, and then the functionalities can be performed based on these inputs from the custom page.


 
Case handling Deluge function code snippet
 
caseinfo = {"ID":config.get("Caseid"),"Solution":config.get("Solution")};
response = zoho.crm.updateRecord("Cases",config.get("Caseid"),caseinfo);
  • The above Deluge code snippet uses the current case ID and the solution input by the end user through the UI to update the personalized solution to the Solution field of the case using the updateRecord deluge task. 
  • Click Save to save the custom action.
Now that the functionality is defined, the extension can be published and installed.
 
Creating workflows in Zoho CRM as an end user

1. As an end user, install the extension.
2. Now create a workflow using Setup->Automation->Workflow rules. Create workflows for two commonly arising cases so that, as an end user, you can predefine some personalized solution inputs for these common cases. This will thereby update the solution to the case when the workflow criteria is satisfied. The two sample workflows handled for this example are:
When a widget is not loading or a 404 page not found occurs in the user's Zoho CRM account.
When a connector unauthorized error occurs.
3. First, define a workflow for "Widget not loading" case by specifying the when and condition criteria.



4. Now under "instant actions," you will find the custom action installed as part of the extension. Associate the case handling custom action with this workflow.



5. Enter the personalized solution in the custom UI displayed.


 
6. Go to the Cases module. Log a case with the Subject field, satisfying the workflow criteria.



This automatically updates the Solution field with the predefined solution entered by the end user for this workflow. 



Similarly, you can create multiple workflows for different cases for which you can define predefined solutions to make the case logging process easy. 
​

 
In this way, you can use custom actions to ease the end user's work by reusing templates created for them. We hope you find this information useful. Keep following this space for more insights!
 

 SEE ALSO

Next>>

    • Sticky Posts

    • Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

      🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! 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.

    • 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.

    • Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post

      Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQs

    • Kaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API

      🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! 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.

    • Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!

      Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands

    • Recent Topics

    • How to create auto populate field based on custom module in Zoho CRM?

      Hello, i'm still new to Zoho CRM and work as administrator in my company. Currently, I'm configuring layout for Quotes Module. So, the idea is, I've created a read-only field in Quotes called "Spec". I want this field automatically filled with Specification

    • Rich Text For Notes in Zoho CRM

      Hello everyone, As you know, notes are essential for recording information and ensuring smooth communication across your records. With our latest update, you can now use Rich Text formatting to organize and structure your notes more efficiently. By using

    • Change Last Name to not required in Leads

      I would like to upload 500 target companies as leads but I don't yet have contact people for them. Can you enable the option for me to turn this requirement off to need a Second Name? Moderation update (10-Jun-23): As we explore potential solutions for

    • Office 365 and CRM mail integration: permission required

      Has anyone run into this weird problem? My email server is Office 365. When I try to configure Zoho CRM to use this server, a Microsoft popup window opens requesting user and password. After entering that, I get a message in the Microsoft window saying

    • Tables improvement ideas / features

      Heya, I've been using Zoho Tables for a few months now and wanted to post some features that I think will be greatly beneficial for the tool: 1. Ability to delete a record in automation or move a record in automation. - Usecase: I move a record from one

    • Deluge - Can't get phone number SalesIQ

      Hey folks, I’m building a custom plug for SalesIQ that’s supposed to register leads into Zoho CRM. The SalesIQ chat is being implemented on WhatsApp, and in my plug I’m using this line: mobile_clean = session.get("phone").get("value"); From what I understand,

    • Zoho Desk - Community

      As a regular user of Zoho Cares Community I would really love to see the publish date of articles. For example, when I look at Announcements, it would be very beneficial to see which ones were posted recently, over those which have just and a recent comment.

    • access to quartz for my customers

      Hi how can I have access to the application quartz you use for us to send you screen rocording, this feature would be immensely useful for our customers support https://quartz.zoho.com/

    • Issue with Inline Images in Email Reply via Zoho Desk API

      Hi, I am attempting to send inline images in an email reply using the Zoho Desk API, but the images are not being displayed inline for the recipient. I have followed this documentation: https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Threads#Threads_SendEmailReply

    • How to search a value stored in a subform?

      Hello, We store serial numbers in subforms but now we would like to be able to search the values to be able to easily find the record with the serial number. I saw that it's not possible to search such values through global search but is it possible to do it an other way? Thank you,

    • Field Dependency Not Working on Detail Page in Zoho Desk

      Hi Support Team, I’ve created field dependencies between two fields in Zoho Desk, and they are working correctly on the Create and Edit layouts. However, on the Detail page, the fields are not displaying according to the dependencies I’ve set — they appear

    • How do the keyword critera work?

      Hi, I'm working on automated assignment of tickets based on keywords. How does this feature work? Where does this criteria look for keywords - email address, subject, email body? Can you please clarify this as I want to avoid overlapping with criteria

    • Error: Unsupported content type: text/html;charset=UTF-8 after tryeing to get the token for n8n automation

      I am working on ZOHO Desk automation and need to get the ZOHO auth token for n8n I have created the app in ZOHO Desk API, got client id and client secret. Added all data required to get a token in n8n. After I sign in with my ZOHO credentials in ZOHO

    • Improving Collaboration Features in Zoho Portal

      Hello Zoho Community, I’ve recently started exploring Zoho services and I’m really impressed with the wide range of features. However, I feel there is still room for improvement in the collaboration area. For example, it would be really helpful if we

    • Automated Shopify Emails Not Being Delivered

      I have an ecommerce store with Shopify. I recently set up my email to be served through Zoho. Since doing this, customers are not receiving some of our automated emails from Shopify itself. Our initial email that confirms their purchase goes through but our Shipping Notification that is automatically sent out upon fulfillment is not going through. Sometimes we get a notice that it's been classified as spam, sometimes nothing. I can send/receive email via Outlook on my desktop and I can send/receive

    • I can't log in to my account on Thunderbird

      I've just had to rebuild my PC (calamitous mess from Microsoft with Win10/Win 11 'upgrade' - they confirmed I had to start with a new build). I have used Zoho mail for years via Mozilla Thunderbird, but now I've had to download the latest version of TBird,

    • Send a campaign to one recipient.

      Very often I speak to a customer and they say they didn't see my email (maybe it went in Junk, maybe they deleted it). Anyway, I just want to go into the Campaign and send it to one person. You already have a feature very close to this - when sending a Test. While developing a campaign, I can send tests to anyone. Why can't we have this AFTER  the campaign has been sent? I know, there's a caveat, and that's in the use of merge tags. Most of the time I only use FNAME, but maybe you could check if

    • Try FSM again for our business

      We already have our customers individual equipment in CRM with serial numbers, install dates, warranty length and importantly next service which is generally 2 years. a month before the service date is due we get get a report and send out service reminders.

    • Use Zoho Books to bill for work done in Zoho Desk??

      I'm trying to see if something is possible (and if yes, how). We use Zoho One to manage our business. We have a lot of clients that will put in a ticket (via portal) to have work done. Out techs will pick up the ticket, do the work, and then log the time

    • Get Cliq Meetings in my O365 calendar

      Hi, we are currently evaluating to replace the Teams Messaging and Meetings with Cliq. We currently still have all our email and calendars in O365. What i want to achieve is, to create a (ZOHO) meeting from Cliq and have this meeting added to my Outlook/O365

    • Issue with Zoho Help Portal – Tickets Missing or Not Answered

      Hi, How are you? I think there may be an issue with the Zoho Help Portal. I opened a few tickets directly in the help portal a some time ago but never received any response I also opened ticket 148356451 by email. I did receive a reply to it, but the

    • DUNS & Bradstreet and Credit risk monitoring integration with Zoho books

      Small businesses not being paid by bigger clients and clients of all sizes is a huge problem. It will be nice if Zoho develops integration with DUNS & Bradstreet(D&B) and Credit risk monitoring integration with Zoho books. That have small businesses can

    • Zoho Forms - Form Rules based on attachment fields

      Many businesses use forms to collect documents and images from customers. In many cases, you may want to trigger a notification or other automation based on whether or not an attachment was added. I've noticed that attachment fields do not appear in Rules

    • Add multiple users to a task

      When I´m assigning a task it is almost always related to more than one person. Practical situation: When a client request some improvement the related department opens the task with the situation and people related to it as the client itself, the salesman

    • Can't open draft email for editing

      Last night I started composing an email and I let it save in drafts. This morning I want to continue working on the email. It is in my Drafts folder but it will not open. The only option there is to delete it. This is not the first time it has happened. On previous occasions I have just deleted the draft and started afresh, but I really want this one back. Windows 10 with Pale Moon 28.10.0 browser.

    • Open filtered deals from campaign

      Do you think a feature like this would be feasible? Say you are seeing campaign "XYZ" in CRM. The campaign has a related list of deals. If you want to see the related deals in a deal view, you should navigate to the Deals module, open the campaign filter,

    • Change scheduling emails time

      When sending an individual email there is a great feature to schedule them to send later. I could only use the one time that is suggested. Is there a way to select another time? Regards, Glenn

    • Zoho CRM: how can I control which contacts to sync with Outlook?

      I was just playing around syncing contacts from Zoho to MS Outlook (MS365 account.) The problem is our firm has hundreds of thousands of contacts and I don't want to bury my contacts list in outlook. Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

    • How to overcome limitations in meetings

      As a company, one of our deliverables is a meeting between two other companies, where we act as facilitators. So, if we recorded this meeting  in Zoho CRM, it should be connected to 2 accounts, 2 contacts, and 1 campaign (a campaign, in our use, is the

    • Different MRP / Pricing for same product but different batches

      We often face the following situations where MRP of a particular product changes on every purchase and hence we have to charge the customer accordingly. This can't be solved by Batch tracking as of now so far as I understand Zoho. How do you manage it as of now? 

    • Add a 'Log a Call' link to three dot icon in Canvas

      Hi, There's a three dot element when creating a canvas called 'More'. I would like to modify this to add a link that says 'Log a Call' in order to quickly record the details of a cellphone call. I'd also like this to be a simple 'contact' selection and

    • Syncing Zoho Forms with Bigin - Embedding issue?

      Hello everyone, I created a Zoho Form for a page on my GoDaddy website to collect leads, which then transfers the data to Bigin. However, I'm facing an issue where it doesn't seem to work properly. I've integrated Zoho Forms with Bigin and tried embedding

    • Can not add fields to a Section

      I feel like I'm missing something obvious: I can add new Sections to my form but I can not add fields to the Sections. I've tried fields already on the form as well as dragging and dropping new fields into the Section but nothing will go into it. What

    • Record Logged in User while using CRM lookup field

      Is it possible, while using the Zoho CRM lookup field, to automatically use the user account logged into Zoho CRM in a hidden field? I was hoping to add employee accounts to my current plan. But would like a record on the Form submission of who submitted

    • Form Rules for Suburb Categories to alternate landing pages or Making a Fields Contents ALL CAPS

      I need to send differentform submissions to two to three different thank-you URLs (for Meta/Google pixels) depending on which suburb a user selects in a form. I have ~400 suburbs split into two categories (A and B, based on business value). Current challenges:

    • Collaps Notes

      There are times when long/large notes are added to a record i.e. Accounts or Deals etc. Currently, the full note is displayed in the notes related list section. It would be great if by default only 5 to 10 rows of the note are displayed when the note

    • Zoho Down

      I have a drop in my Zoho One services.

    • Runing RPA Agents on Headless Windows 11 Machines

      Has anyone tried this? Anything to be aware of regarding screen resolution?

    • Problem for EU users connecting Zoho CRM through Google Ads for Enhanced conversions

      Has anyone else experienced this problem when trying to connect Zoho CRM through Google Ads interface to setup enhanced conversions? Did you guys get it fixed somehow? The Problem: The current Google Ads integration is hardcoded to use Zoho's US authentication

    • Why am I getting event Pop-up Notification for events that have been cancelled?

      Why is Calendar Notification still popping up for events that have been cancelled or changed? Each time events are cancelled or changed, I have observed that I am still getting notifications for them. Below is a sample pop-up notification for one of the

    • Next Page