Kaizen 202 - Answering Your Questions | Testing and Using REST APIs in Widgets

Kaizen 202 - Answering Your Questions | Testing and Using REST APIs in Widgets



Hello Developers!

Welcome back to a fresh week of Kaizen! 

Thank you for your active participation in sharing feedback and queries for the 200th milestone. This week, we will look at the following queries related to widget:
  • Widget Testing 
  • Using REST API in Canvas Widgets: Make HTTP calls in widgets (e.g., to external tax or product APIs)
Here are the queries that we have already answered for you from this milestone:
  1. Kaizen #200 - Answering Your Questions | Token generation using the Python SDK
  2. Kaizen #201 - Answering Your Questions | Webhooks, Functions, and Schedules

Widget Testing

One of the queries we received was simply stated
Quote
Widget Testing
 without any specific context. Since the user has not provided detailed input, we are assuming this is about how to test a widget during development.

You can test your Zoho CRM widget locally using the Zoho CLI. Run the following command from the root directory of your widget project:

zet run

This launches the widget on a local server where you can validate the UI and functionality before pushing it live.


Since the localhost connection opens in a new tab and is not private, you will need to manually authorize it. 

Click Advanced, then choose Proceed to 127.0.0.1 (unsafe) to continue. 

Notes
Note

If your widget needs to access data from your Zoho CRM organization, such as fetching or updating records, it must be deployed within a Zoho CRM iframe. To do this, you should upload the widget through the Zoho CRM Widgets setup page.

We recommend using the sandbox environment in such cases before deploying the widget to your production environment.

Making HTTP Calls from Widget

Following is a query we received from a user:
Quote
Using REST API in Canvas Widgets: Make HTTP calls in widgets (e.g., to external tax or product APIs)
Yes. You can make HTTP requests to external services from any type of Zoho CRM widget using the ZOHO.CRM.HTTP object from the Widget JS SDK.

Canvas Widget - What's Supported? 

Though full widget support within Canvas is on our roadmap, currently, you can invoke widgets from a Canvas view using Client Script. This lets you render widgets inside fly-outs or pop-ups. Here is a quick start guide on how you can achieve it:

Create a Widget

1. Create a widget project and code your logic using Zoho CLI as explained in our widget help page.

2. In Zoho CRM Developer Hub, create a new widget and set the type as Button.



Create a Client Script

3. Navigate to Client Scripts in Developer Hub and click New Script.

4. You can create your script either in the Modules or Commands category based on your use case. 

For assistance, refer to the step-by-step guide on Creating Client Script and Commands.



In the Category Details section, ensure to select Canvas as the page type. Canvas views are supported in the following page contexts: List, Detail, Create, and Clone. 

Choose the one that aligns with where your widget needs to appear.


5. Here is the sample script to render widget in a pop-up. 

ZDK.Client.openPopup({
api_name: 'Canvas_Widget',
type: 'widget',
animation_type: 4, 
height: '450px',
width: '450px',
},
{
data: 'sample data to be passed to "PageLoad" event of widget'
}); 

Here is the sample script to render widget in a fly-out. 

ZDK.Client.createFlyout('myFlyout', { 
animation_type: 4, 
height: '600px', 
width: '500px'
}
);
ZDK.Client.getFlyout('myFlyout').open({ api_name: 'Canvas_Widget', type: 'widget' });

For detailed guidance, check out our Client API documentation on Pop-up and Fly-out.

You can also check out the Kaizen #99 on Rendering Widgets using Client Script for a detailed guide based on a real-time use case. 

Using REST APIs from External Applications

The ZOHO.CRM.HTTP object enables you to make secure API calls directly from the Zoho CRM widget. It acts as a proxy, routing requests through Zoho servers, which eliminates the need for external applications to support CORS.

While this SDK is primarily used for integrating third-party services, it also supports Zoho CRM API calls. This provides you with greater flexibility to:
  • Customize header and parameter structures
  • Maintain a consistent calling pattern for both internal and external APIs within the widget.
Here is a basic syntax of the SDK:

ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.<method>({
  url: "<request-url>",
  headers: {
       // Request headers as Key-value pairs
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>" // example
  },
  params: {
    // Request params as Key-value pairs

   "ids": "1234567890" // example
  },
  body: "<stringified JSON>", // Required for POST, PUT and PATCH
})
.then(function(response) {
  console.log("Response:", response);
});

Supported Methods
  • ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.get({ ... })
  • ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.post({ ... })
  • ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.put({ ... })
  • ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.patch({ ... })
  • ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.delete({ ... })
For more detail check out the HTTP method section of JS SDK help page.

Samples using Zoho CRM Contact Roles API

Let us explore a complete CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) example using Zoho CRM’s Contact Roles API.

These structures have to be used within the JS function where you are executing your code logic. 

POST Contact Roles


// Prepare the API request
        var request = {
          url: "https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Contacts/roles",
          headers: {
            Authorization: "Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX265bcf20e4"
          },
          body: {
            "contact_roles": [
              {
                "name": "Sales Lead",
                "sequence_number": 1
              }
            ]
          }
        };
         // Make API call 
        ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.post(request).then(function(data) {
          console.log(data);
 })

GET Contact Roles


// Prepare the API request
var request = {
          url: "https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/Contacts/roles",
          headers: {
            Authorization: "Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX265bcf20e4"
          }
        };
        // Make API call 
        ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.get(request)
          .then(function(response) {
 console.log(response);
})

UPDATE Contact Roles

// Prepare the API request
        var request = {
          headers: {
            Authorization: "Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX265bcf20e4"
          },
          body: {
            "contact_roles": [
              {
                "name": "Evaluator",
                "id": "5545974000000006871"
              }
            ]
          }
        };
        // Make API call 
        ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.put(request).then(function(data) {
          console.log(data);
 })

DELETE Contact Roles


// Prepare the API request
        var request = {
          params: {
            ids: "5545974000002617002"
          },
          headers: {
            Authorization: "Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX265bcf20e4"
          }
        };
        // Make API call 
        ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.delete(request).then(function(data) {
          console.log(data);
 })

We hope you found this post useful. 

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments or drop us an email at support@zohocrm.com.

Cheers!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related Reading


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    • 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

    • 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:

    • Please make it easier to Pause syncing

      right now it takes 3 clicks to get there. sounds silly, but can you make it just 2 clicks to get it done instead? thats how dropbox does it, 2 clicks to pause instead of 3.

    • Customer members area

      Does FSM support a customer members area? If not what do you propose we use if we want the data used in FSM for customers to give them an area / login to see past orders, create new orders and general announcements.

    • Zoho Books-Accounting on the Go Series!

      Dear users, Continuing in the spirit of our 'Function Fridays' series, where we've been sharing custom function scripts to automate your back office operations, we're thrilled to introduce our latest initiative – the 'Zoho Books-Accounting on the Go Series'.

    • 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

    • Desktop app doesn't support notecards created on Android

      Hi, Does anybody have same problem? Some of last notecards created on Android app (v. 6.6) doesn't show in desktop app (v. 3.5.5). I see these note cards but whith they appear with exclamation mark in yellow triangle (see screenshot) and when I try to

    • Notes created in mobile can no longer be accessed in desktop

      Working with a 2013 Mac running OS 10.14.6; Desktop Notebook version 4.5.3. Using Motorola Moto G Power 5G - 2024; Android app version 6.7 I have been using Notebook for some years. Starting several weeks ago, the notes newly created ion the phone can

    • Function #49: Manage varying installment payments using Zoho Books

      . Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! Last week, we discussed automating the collection of fixed installment payments in Zoho Books. But what if your payment structure involves charging varying percentages of the invoice total as installments?

    • Open Sans Font in Zoho Books is not Open Sans.

      Font choice in customising PDF Templates is very limited, we cannot upload custom fonts, and to make things worse, the font names are not accurate. I selected Open Sans, and thought the system was bugging, but no, Open Sans is not Open Sans. The real

    • Zoho Writer - Option to Export as .zdoc format

      I've noticed that it's not possible to export a Zoho Writer Document in the .zdoc format. Isn't zdoc, Zoho Writer's own format? My use case is that I sometimes need to create quite complex documents with floating elements, which sometimes need to become

    • Is it possible for contacts to "Re-enter" a workflow in Zoho Campaign?

      We are currently working on a way to automatically add users to from one list to other lists based on specific criteria, but can't seem to find a native way of doing this so we are trying to use Workflows to do this. So, for example, if a user's status is set to "Active," then they should be added to the list "Active Users." If the same user's status is then set to "Paused," they should be added to the list "Paused Users" and removed from the list "Active Users." This works fine for the first go

    • Bulk upload images and specifications to products

      Hi, Many users have asked this over the years and I am also asking the same. Is there any way in which we can bulk upload product (variant) images and product specifications. The current way to upload/select image for every variant is too cumbersome.

    • Out of Office for Just One of My Alias Email

      Can I set up the Out of Office Reply for Just One of my Alias Email Addresses?

    • Can I map multiple Surveys into the CRM using the same fields?

      Hello, We are a healthcare practice that offers two distinct services (Nutrition and Primary Care). We use Zoho Survey for our lead generation form (Get Started Survey), which allows people to express interest in one of the two services and even allows

    • Dealing with API responses where integers have more than 16 digits

      Hi there How do I deal with an api response contaning an int or float with more than 16 digits (before any decimal places for a float). I constantly receive the response "Unable to cast the 'BigInteger' value into a 'BIGINT' value because the input is

    • 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

    • Elevate your CX delivery using CommandCenter 2.0: Simplified builder; seamless orchestration

      Most businesses want to create memorable customer experiences—but they often find it hard to keep them smooth, especially as they grow. To achieve a state of flow across their processes, teams often stitch together a series of automations using Workflow

    • To Zoho customers and partners: how do you use Linked Workspaces?

      Hello, I'm exploring how we can set up and use Linked Workspaces and would like to hear from customers and partners about your use cases and experience with them. I have a Zoho ticket open, because my workspace creation fails. In the meantime, how is

    • [Webinar] Automate sales and presales workflows with Writer

      Sales involves sharing a wide range of documents with customers across the presales, sales, and post-sales stages: NDAs, quotes, invoices, sales orders, and delivery paperwork. Generating and managing these documents manually slows down the overall sales

    • Can't change form's original name in URL

      Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the new

    • Need Inactive accounts to be visible in Reports in Zoho Books

      I N=need Inactive accounts to be visible in Reports in Zoho Books to do recons of the accounts but when i see the same they are not visible in the Accountant - Account Transactions report

    • 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

    • unblock e-mail

      please unblock my e-mails info@meatnews.gr and myrtokaterini@meatnews.gr

    • Add Zoho Mail for users who do not need Zoho One

      We have licenses for ZOho One for teams that need to use the suite of products that Zoho One offers.  We have 8 more people who only need email access and we would like to add just a Zoho Mail.  They do not need the Zoho One license.  We are currently

    • Zoho Projects - Q2 Updates | 2025

      Hello Users, With this year's second quarter behind us, Zoho Projects is marching towards expanding its usability with a user-centered, more collaborative, customizable, and automated attribute. But before we chart out plans for what’s next, it’s worth

    • IMAP Server not responding.

      Trying to connect a phone via IMAP and getting "imap.zoho.com not responding." Is the server down, for maintenance or otherwise? I've tried this on two different devices and got the same error on both.

    • ZML vs HTML Snippet - which is better?

      Are there certain use cases where one is better than the other?

    • Auto CheckOut Based On Shift.

      This Deluge script runs on a scheduled basis to automatically set the 'Actual_Check_Out' time for employees who haven't manually checked out. If the current time is past their scheduled 'Shift_End_Time', the script updates the check-out time to match

    • How to remove some users in zoho accounts

      How to remove some users in Zoho accounts.

    • how to differentiate if whatsapp comes from certain landing page?

      I create a Zobot in SalesIQ to create a Whatsapp bot to capture the lead. I have 2 landing pages, one is SEO optimized and the other want is optimized for leads comes from Google Ads. I want to know from which landing page this lead came through WhatsApp

    • Customizing Form Questions per Recipient Group in Zoho Campaigns/Forms

      Hello everyone, I would like to ask if it’s possible in Zoho Campaigns or Zoho Forms to send out a campaign where the form questions can be customized based on the group of recipients. Use case example: I have prepared 20 questionnaire questions. For

    • Importing a new list into campaigns

      I'm in the middle of switching my email platform to campaigns. I have a list that I want to import, and it overlaps with my existing Zoho CRM list. The fields in my Zoho CTM are more robust. Will this new list that I upload into my campaigns overwrite

    • Infinite loop of account verification

      Hi I can't do anything on my zoho account.  I always get this message Hi Sheriffo Ceesay As a security measure, you need to link your phone number with this account and verify it to proceed further. When ever I supply the details, it displays that the number is associated with another account. I don't have any other account on zoho so this is really annoying. 

    • Load PO_Date field (Purchase Order) with current date in Deluge

      Hi, I'm not a full time developer, just helping to customize our CRM, in the small company I work for. There must be something wrong with me, because I can't do something so simple as complete a field with the current date in a function using Deluge.

    • Zoho CRM in Microsoft Power Automate Custom Connector

      Hi everyone, I’m building a Power Automate flow that integrates Microsoft Bookings with Zoho CRM. The goal is to automatically create a meeting (event) in Zoho CRM whenever a new appointment is booked via Microsoft Bookings. To achieve this, I created

    • Spell check sucks

      Come on guys, it's 2024 and your spell check is completely retarded. You gotta fix it.

    • How to include total km for multiple trips in expense report.

      Whenever I create a mileage report it only shows the total dollar amount to be reimbursed. The mileage for each individual trip is included but I also need to see the total distance for all trips in a report? How do I do this?

    • New in Cadences: Option to Resume or Restart follow-ups when re-enrolling records into a Cadence, and specify custom un-enrollment criteria

      Managing follow-ups effectively involves understanding the appropriate timing for reaching out, as well as knowing when to take a break and resume later, or deciding if it's necessary to start the follow-up process anew. With two significant enhancements

    • Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected.

      I just made payment for my Zohomail Today and have been debited so i will like to be Unblocked because this is what it says (Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected) Thank you i await your swift responses

    • Zoho One Login Issue - Unable to receive OTP

      Hi Support Team, I am experiencing a unique login issue with Zoho One. I am attempting to log in from India using Zoho Login credentials provided by a USA-based client. Their Zoho account is hosted on a US data center. After entering the username and

    • Next Page