Convert a message on Cliq into a task on Zoho Connect

Convert a message on Cliq into a task on Zoho Connect

Message actions in Cliq are a great way to transform messages in a conversation into actionable work items. In this post, we'll see how to build a custom message action that'll let you add a message as a task to board on Zoho Connect. 

If you haven't created a board in Zoho Connect, then head over to this help document to know how to create one. 

For this example, we've created a board for the Zylker Campaigns team in Zoho Connect. The board has three sections: User Interface, Content Marketing, Customer Support. We'll see how the marketing team discusses about upcoming marketing initiatives and keeps track of tasks in their connect board. 



The workflow behind creating this message action is pretty simple. 

1. Once a user clicks on the Add Connect Task message action, the action's handler is triggered to display a form. 
2. The user fills all the information required. We use the form change handler to modify the form field values based on the users' inputs. For example, display networks that the user is a part of by default and on selecting a specific network, we'll show the list boards that the user is a part of under the selected network. The same applies for sections as well. 
3. On choosing the respective network, board and section, the user can add the task title, description, due date, assignee and more. Note that, the message on which the action was performed will be displayed as the task title by default. This can be modified.
4. On clicking Add Task, the form submit handler is invoked to create a task in Connect with all the provided details. 

Prerequisites
Create a connection between Cliq and Connect: 
You'll need an active connection between Cliq and Connect. To create a connection, 
  1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools. 
  2. Click on the Connections icon present on the left side menu of the Bots & Tools page. 
  3. Now, click on Create Connection. 
  4. In the Add Connections view, select the Zoho Oauth option. 
  5. Name your connection. For example you can name your connection: zoho_connect or zohoconnect and choose the following scopes: zohopulse.networklist.READ, zohopulse.tasks.READ, zohopulse.tasks.CREATE
  6. Make sure the Use Credentials of Login User option is enabled. 
  7. Click on the Create and Connect button to generate the invoke URL task with the connection name. 
We'll be using this invoke URL task in our code. 

Create a message action 

To create a message action on Cliq, 

  1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools. 
  2. Click on Message Actions in the left pane.
  3. Click on the Create Message Action button and fill in the required details. 
    Action Name: Provide your message action name. This field is mandatory.
    Hint: Brief explanation about the message action.
    Access Level: Decide who gets to access your message action. Choose between Organization, Team and Private. Default option is Private.
    Choose what kind of messages should have the message action. Options are Text messages, Attachments and Links. For this example, we're choosing messages of the type Text. 
  4. Click on Save & Edit Code. 
Create a form function

To create a form function on Cliq, 

  1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools.
  2. Click on Functions in the left pane. Click on the Create Function button and fill in the required details. 
  • Name: Give your function name. Ensure to use the same function name in your form's code as well. 
  • Description: Briefly describe how your function works. 
  • Function Type: Choose the component with which the function should be associated. For this example, we're using the function of the type: Form 

Step 1: Configuring the message action handler
The message handler is triggered to return the Create Task form as a response. 

  1. messageText = message.get("content").get("text");
  2. getNetworks = invokeurl
  3. [
  4. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/allScopes"
  5. type :GET
  6. connection: "" // Give your connection name
  7. ];
  8. getNetworks = getNetworks.get("allScopes").get("scopes");
  9. netWorkOptions = List();
  10. for each  network in getNetworks
  11. {
  12. networkList = Map();
  13. networkList.put("label",network.get("name"));
  14. networkList.put("value",network.get("id"));
  15. netWorkOptions.add(networkList);
  16. }
  17. inputs = list();
  18. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"networks","label":"Network","hint":"Select a network","placeholder":"Select a network!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"trigger_on_change":true});
  19. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"boards","label":"Boards","hint":"Select a board","placeholder":"Select a board!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"disabled":"true","trigger_on_change":true});
  20. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"disabled":"true"});
  21. inputs.add({"name":"title","label":"Title","placeholder":messageText,"value":messageText,"hint":"Enter your task name","min_length":"0","max_length":"50","mandatory":true,"type":"text"});
  22. inputs.add({"type":"textarea","name":"note","label":"Description","hint":"Describe your task.","placeholder":"To be done by Tuesday","mandatory":false});
  23. inputs.add({"name":"duedate","label":"Due by","placeholder":"Give your task's due date.","mandatory":false,"type":"date"});
  24. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"priority","label":"Priority","hint":"Choose your task priority","placeholder":"High","mandatory":true,"value":"High","options":{{"label":"No Priority","value":"None"},{"label":"Low","value":"Low"},{"label":"Medium","value":"Medium"},{"label":"High","value":"High"}}});
  25. addTask = {"name":"addTask","type":"form","title":"Add a task","hint":"Add a task to a board in Zoho Connect. ","button_label":"Add Task","inputs":inputs,"action":{"type":"invoke.function","name":"connectTask"}};
  26. return addTask;





Step 2: Configuring the form change handler

The form change handler will be triggered when the user is filling up the form. The handler is responsible for modifying the form field values based on the user's inputs. 

  1. targetName = target.get("name");
  2. inputValues = form.get("values");
  3. networkID = inputValues.get("networks").get("value");
  4. actions = list();
  5. if(targetName.containsIgnoreCase("networks"))
  6. {
  7. getBoards = invokeurl
  8. [
  9. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/myBoards"
  10. type :GET
  11. parameters:{"scopeID":networkID}
  12. connection:"" // Give your connection name
  13. ];
  14. getBoards = getBoards.get("myBoards").get("boards");
  15. boardOptions = List();
  16. for each  board in getBoards
  17. {
  18. boardList = Map();
  19. boardList.put("label",board.get("name"));
  20. boardList.put("value",board.get("id"));
  21. boardOptions.add(boardList);
  22. }
  23. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"boards","input":{"type":"select","name":"boards","label":"Boards","hint":"Select a board","placeholder":"Select a board!","mandatory":true,"options":boardOptions,"trigger_on_change":true}});
  24. }
  25. else if(targetName.containsIgnoreCase("boards"))
  26. {
  27. boardId = inputValues.get("boards").get("value");
  28. getResponse = invokeurl
  29. [
  30. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/boardSections"
  31. type :GET
  32. parameters:{"scopeID":networkID,"boardId":boardId}
  33. connection:"" // Give your connection name
  34. ];
  35. getSections = getResponse.get("boardSections").get("sections");
  36. sectionOptions = List();
  37. for each  section in getSections
  38. {
  39. sectionList = Map();
  40. sectionList.put("label",section.get("name"));
  41. sectionList.put("value",section.get("id").toString());
  42. sectionOptions.add(sectionList);
  43. }
  44. getMembers = getResponse.get("boardSections").get("members");
  45. if(getMembers.isempty() == false)
  46. {
  47. boardMembers = List();
  48. for each  member in getMembers
  49. {
  50. memberList = Map();
  51. memberList.put("label",member.get("name"));
  52. memberList.put("value",member.get("zuid"));
  53. boardMembers.add(memberList);
  54. }
  55. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"sections","input":{"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"options":sectionOptions}});
  56. actions.add({"type":"add_after","name":"duedate","input":{"type":"select","name":"members","multiple":true,"label":"Assignees","hint":"Add assignees","placeholder":"Assign task to a member","mandatory":false,"options":boardMembers}});
  57. }
  58. else
  59. {
  60. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"sections","input":{"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"options":sectionOptions}});
  61. }
  62. }
  63. return {"type":"form_modification","actions":actions};



Step 3: Configuring the form submit handler

We'll call the create task API in form submit handler. The submit handler typically receives all the inputs filled by the user and will be triggered on form submission. 

  1. response = Map();
  2. formValues = form.get("values");
  3. scopeID = formValues.get("networks").get("value");
  4. boardId = formValues.get("boards").get("value");
  5. sectionId = formValues.get("sections").get("value");
  6. title = formValues.get("title");
  7. priority_value = formValues.get("priority").get("value");
  8. parameters = {"scopeID":scopeID,"boardId":boardId,"sectionId":sectionId,"title":title,"priority":priority_value};
  9. desc = formValues.get("note");
  10. if(desc != "" && !desc.isEmpty())
  11. {
  12. parameters.put("desc",desc);
  13. }
  14. duedate = formValues.get("duedate");
  15. if(duedate != "" && !duedate.isEmpty())
  16. {
  17. duedate = duedate.toList("-");
  18. eyear = duedate.get(0);
  19. emonth = duedate.get(1);
  20. edate = duedate.get(2);
  21. parameters.put("eyear",eyear);
  22. parameters.put("emonth",emonth);
  23. parameters.put("edate",edate);
  24. }
  25. assignee = formValues.get("members");
  26. if(assignee != {} && !assignee.isEmpty())
  27. {
  28. userIds = list();
  29. for each  assgineeID in assignee
  30. {
  31. userIds.add(assgineeID.get("value"));
  32. }
  33. parameters.put("userIds",userIds.toString());
  34. }
  35. addTask = invokeurl
  36. [
  37. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/addTask"
  38. type :POST
  39. parameters:parameters
  40. connection:"" // Give your connection name
  41. ];
  42. if(addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").isEmpty() == false)
  43. {
  44. taskTitle = "[" + addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("title") + "](" + addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("url") + ")";
  45. taskpriority = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("priority");
  46. tasksection = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("section").get("name");
  47. taskboard = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("partition").get("name");
  48. response = {"text":"Task added in " + taskboard + ". Take a look at the task details below.","card":{"title":"Task Details","theme":"modern-inline"},"slides":{{"type":"label","title":"Task Details: ","data":{{"Title":taskTitle},{"Priority":taskpriority},{"Section":tasksection},{"Board":taskboard}}}}};
  49. }
  50. return response;






End notes: 

Message actions in Cliq are super versatile like all other Cliq platform components. You can choose to create a message action that's specific to a message type. This example can be customized even to suit messages of the type attachments and links. So go ahead and give it a try! You can download the source code file attached with this post or access this link here: https://workdrive.zohoexternal.com/external/6OxchwzzBCF-J8HFH

Useful Links: 
Zoho Connect Rest API Guide: https://www.zoho.com/connect/api/intro.html


    • Sticky Posts

    • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

      Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of

    • Convert a message on Cliq into a task on Zoho Connect

      Message actions in Cliq are a great way to transform messages in a conversation into actionable work items. In this post, we'll see how to build a custom message action that'll let you add a message as a task to board on Zoho Connect. If you haven't created

    • Cliq Bots - Post message to a bot using the command line!

      If you had read our post on how to post a message to a channel in a simple one-line command, then this sure is a piece of cake for you guys! For those of you, who are reading this for the first time, don't worry! Just read on. This post is all about how

    • Cliq Bots - How to make a bot respond to your messages?

      Bots are just like your buddies with whom you can interact. They carry out your tasks, keep you notified about your to-dos and come in handy when you need constant updates from a third party application.  So, how can you make your bot respond to a message? The bot message handler is a piece of code triggered when a message is sent to the bot. Message handlers help you customise your bot responses to make it look conversational. The message input from the user can be either a string or an option selected

    • Cliq Bots - Get notifications about any action on an application with the incoming webhook handler!

      Webhooks can be used to get notified about events happening in other applications inside Cliq. All bots in Cliq have their own incoming webhook endpoint. This makes it simple to post messages to the bot from external applications. Unlike the send message

    • Recent Topics

    • Launch Blueprint or Workflow Automation via Zoho Dataprep Import

      Greetings All, I'm curious - Is it possible to trigger a Blueprint or Workflow via Data Prep import? Thanks in Advance

    • Cross module filtering is now supported in CRM

      Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: This enhancement is being released in phases. It is now available in AU, JP, and CN DCs. Help resource: Advanced filters While the feature is being released in phases, you can also request for Early Access. Early Access

    • Posibility to add Emoticons on the Email Subject of Templates

      Hi I´ve tried to add Emoticons on the Subject line of Email templates, the emoticon image does show up before saving the template or if I add the Emoticon while sending an Individual email and placing it manually on the subject line. Emoticons also show

    • your phone line in the uk doesnt work i need help now

      i need to speak with customer service urgently

    • Bulk Delete Customer Contacts.

      Due to a config issue on my end (my fault), I have ALL contacts from CRM imported as contacts in Books. Some clients have 30+ contacts. Is there a funky way to bulk delete? Each contact has three clicks and a scroll to delete them.

    • Multiple domains for same username and password

      I've come across this situation the vault is currently suggessting the passwords autofill option by the domain. wondering whether is there any option to save one password for multiple domains since the microsoft login has two domains https://login.microsoftonline.com/

    • Introducing Bot Filtering for Accurate Email Campaign Analytics

      Dear Marketers, We're excited to announce a new feature designed to enhance the accuracy of your email campaign analytics: bot filtering. This feature helps you filter out bot-generated opens and clicks, ensuring your campaign reports reflect genuine

    • Option to specify or disable "Idle" times in preferences

      It seems strange to me that my Cliq shows me as "Idle" when I'm using the PC and available just because I haven't interacted with Cliq in a while.  I'm far from "Idle" so we're just treating "Idle" and "Available" to mean the same thing.  I'd like to suggest a setting to change the timeout or even disable the automatic "Idle" mode.

    • Lockable Due Dates

      Hello, is there a way to FIX due date of task or task list, so that they cannot be moved by linked task that are late? Like having a sort of "limit date" that would create an alert if not reached?

    • Link project tasks to tasks in CRM and/or other modules.

      Hello, I have created and configured a project in Zoho Projects with a set of tasks. I would now like to link these tasks (I imagine according to the ID of each one) to actions in the CRM: meetings, tasks, analytics). The aim is to link project tasks

    • Function #61: Automatically add free item to the invoice based on item quantity

      Hello everyone, and welcome back to another Custom Function Friday! During holiday seasons or special promotions, businesses offer deals like BOGO (Buy One, Get One), Buy 3 Get 1 Free, Buy 2 at 50% off, and much more to attract customers. These promotions

    • Regarding GST Report Issue in Zoho Books

      Hi, Right now, the very important point from my end is this Zoho Books issue. Here, you can see that we have created the invoice with the items of account sales and expenses. The journal is also correct. The profit and Loss statement is also correct.

    • Multiple Salesperson against an invoice

      Hello, Against a particular invoice, we have multiple sales people working. The reason we combine the invoice is becuase we are an exporter and often consolidate cargo for our customer to save them freight costs. How do I capture the contribution of each

    • Projectwise budget ---

      Can we have a Project wise subject in addition to the Monthly, and quarterly ACCOUNT LEVEL budget?

    • Looking back at Zoho Social's 2024: Highlights and memories

      Hey everyone, We hope you had a relaxing and joyous holiday season. Whether you're planning for the new year or still soaking in the magic of the season, we're here to share some exciting highlights from 2024 – a year that was fully packed with updates

    • Building a Zoho Extension for Webex CC - Handling URL Changes

      Hi everyone, I’m building a Zoho extension for Webex Contact Center (Webex CC) and facing an issue with handling URL changes. In telephony, I’ve set the URL of Webex CC to: https://desktop.wxcc-us1.cisco.com/ When this URL remains the same, everything

    • Remove County field from Customer Address input screen (or allow input to be deleted)

      We are in the USA and have just noticed that there is now a County field in the Customer Address input screen (and maybe other areas of Zoho Books, but this is the one affecting us at the moment). County is not important to our business, and in fact we

    • Zoho still running very slow

      I have a lead log for my company and creator seems to be running extremely slow still.

    • Bigin API Token Request ("invalid_client")

      Hi people, I tried to connect to the API without success, I've read all of the documentation multiple time and tried just about everything. I tried to do it with Python Request module and with Postman, passing the information through both the URL parameter

    • Shared Dashboard / Report Permissions : Read not Write

      hi all, We are missing a huge fonctionnalite in setting up Dashboards (and reports) on corporate level.  Currently, we can not set Read Permissions on share Dashboards (and reports) without giving write access as well When we create a corporate dashboard

    • Trying to catch error with ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.get (Response Code)

      Hello, I'm trying to get response header from ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.get, in order to catch error like 404 or something else but it seems that ZOHO.CRM.HTTP.get() method only returns the body of the response, and I see no way to access the headers returned. Is

    • Profile stitching with Zoho Marketing Automation

      When it comes to marketing, knowing who your audience is and tracking their interactions is vital. That's why Zoho Marketing Automation has taken a significant leap forward with its enhanced profile stitching feature. With this update, you can track your

    • GDPR

      Hi , I'm checking out the HIPPA capabilities and at the moment I can see only three modules that can be selected to enable HIPPA Any idea how I can add additional modules such as customers? TNX David

    • default task list for new project

      Is there any way to have a default task list already created in a project, when the project is created in Zoho Books?

    • Record less quantity than ordered in ZOHO inventory

      Lets say I ordered 100 widgets from a Vendor. I have paid the Vendor month ago and just waiting for the product to ship. I have finally received the products but have only received 80 widgets. I see no way in ZOHO to only receive 80 widgets. ZOHO is forcing

    • Stripe payments via Books invoice link missing email - affects fraud detection

      Hi, All our payments done via Books invoice link have a warning: Integration improvement available This transaction is missing customer email address, which affects fraud detection. Why doesn't Books pass this info to zohosecurepay.eu/books/... for more

    • Power of Automation: Automatically sync custom field data between two tasks.

      Hello Everyone, A Custom Function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as to when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-

    • 'View Invoice' button hyperlink taking to Google Business Maps listing

      The green "view invoice" button in my invoice emails is sending people to my Google maps business listing rather than the invoice. Both my clients and I are experiencing this as a new issue.

    • Migrating Zoho emails to Google Workspace

      Hi Is there a tool to migrate Zoho email to Google workspace?

    • Custom Functions - Calculate Commission - failure after migration from US to EU

      Hello, i would ask for help. My Custom Function - Calculate Commission stopped working and shows a failure. Mismatch of data type expression. Expected List but found String What is the problem? Could anyone help? Here is script: void automation.ObliczProwizje(Int

    • GoCardless Mandate Sync Question

      Hello, When syncing our customer database with GoCardless, some customers aren't working despite both email addresses matching in Zoho Books and GoCardless. Also what do we do about customers where they are associated with multiple accounts as these aren't

    • Create a draft in reply to an email via Emails API

      Hi, I’d like to use the outgoing webhook to automatically create a draft reply to incoming mail. How can I use the Emails API to create a draft reply that is linked to an existing email thread? I couldn’t find the relevant method in the documentation.

    • Weekly Tips: Flags for an organized mailbox

      Wishing you all a Happy New Year 🎉 As we step into 2025, it's time to refocus and set our intentions for the year straight. Whether you're already back at work or just returning from the holidays, you probably have emails that need your immediate attention,

    • Edit line item amount

      It would be sooooo much better to be able to edit the line item amount in all of the modules, if there is any variation in agreed prices it's extremely painful to calculate the rate to match ;-( The rate could be auto calculated on editing this field making life so much easier !

    • Chanel Partner

      Any Zoho channel partner or dubai based company who will help us for getting zoho services including the training for our staff

    • Refer a Friend Campaign

      I am looking to run a referral campaign that sees an initial email going to existing clients, asking them to refer a friend. For each new client referred, the existing client will get a ticket in a prize draw - the more new clients they refer, the more tickets they get in the draw.  I am wanting to figure out how this could be done via Zoho, and how these referrals can be tracked and linked to the existing client who referred them.

    • Upgrade User

      Hi Sir/Madame, I have 7 users in my organisation but I need upgrade more space only 2 users. Is it possibe? Thanks

    • Emails cannot be received

      Hey, There is an issue in my Zoho account, E-mails can be send from my side but cannot be received on my account MX, DCIM and other are added but still cant receive them. Please help me to solve this problem at your earliest convenience and this is happening

    • Newsletter in multiple languages

      Hi We are planning on starting to use Zoho Campaigns for our newsletters. Since we send our newsletters in three languages, I would need the "unsubscribe page" and other pages related to the NL (Thank you page and so on) to be available in different languages

    • i couldn't recall message as one of the receptionists didn't received the message and i want to recall it urgent

      i couldn't recall message as one of the receptionists didn't received the message and i want to recall it urgent as recall button doesn't appear

    • Next Page