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

    • Error 553

      Não estou conseguindo enviar ou receber e-mail, sempre dando o erro 553, sendo que há mais de um mês o domínio está pago e liberado. Preciso de um suporte urgente

    • Automate insurance document workflows with Zoho Writer

      Insurance companies have to deal with creating and managing complex documents and forms, such as policy applications, explanation of benefits documents, brochures, renewals, and claim forms. Handling all of this manually is hugely time and effort intensive,

    • Create PDFs with Text so that we can copy from a generated PDF

      Currently, any information that a user enters into a field cannot be highlighted and copied from the PDF that Zoho Sign renders. For example, if someone were to provide a phone number in a Zoho Sign text field, you would not be able to copy the phone

    • How To Insert Data into Zoho Table using Api

      Hi Community, I have created a table inside zoho tables. How do I insert data into table using API. Please tell the exact endpoint and payload , I just have to insert data into table columns. Also tell how to find tableid, viewid, baseid etc. which are

    • How do I delete a folder in Marketing Automation?

      Folders are used across contact lists and segments, and email templates. How do I delete a folder once it's been created?

    • Portal Approval Process

      Hi Zoho team and fellow users, I am seeking a method to establish a multi-step approval process between a Zoho user and a portal user (Custom Portal) to review and approve requests through the Custom Portal. For instance, within this setup, one of the

    • Narrative 8: Intelligent in-app support that's instantly available anytime and anywhere

      Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system - BTS Series Narrative 8: Intelligent in-app support that's instantly available anytime and anywhere The App Support Across Platforms (ASAP) add-on for Zoho Desk is an independent application that integrates

    • Navigation issue — unable to return to Customer page after opening Receipt from Transactions

      Steps to reproduce: Open a Customer record. Go to Transactions tab and open a Receipt by clicking its receipt number. After viewing the receipt, clicking browser Back or closing the receipt does not reliably return me to the original Customer record (I

    • Thermal Printer Option Needed for Delivery Challan Templates

      Currently in Zoho Books, the Delivery Challan template only supports A4 and A5 page sizes. However, in many businesses (especially retail and hardware), we use thermal printers (like 3-inch or 4-inch rolls) to print delivery challans. It would be very

    • Separate Default Payment Modes for Receipts vs. Payments

      Right now, when I set a default Payment Mode via a customer invoice or Payments Received screen, that same mode shows up for vendor payments (Purchases → Payments Made). 🔹 Request: We need different default modes for: Customer receipts (e.g., default

    • Update/Change GSTIN in GST Settings of zohobooks

      We are trying to update our GSTIN under the GST settings section of our Zohobooks account Initially, we had entered a dummy GSTIN (123456789123456) to generate a sample invoice before obtaining our official GST registration. After receiving our actual

    • Link Payment Mode and Paid Through Accounts

      For most users, it's very difficult for them to understand that the Payment Mode is totally independent of the Paid Through account when paying bills. It seems (and is) redundant for them to have to select what is basically the same thing twice. The current

    • Lets enable business to choose the default payment mode

      Lets enable business to choose the default payment mode so that we do not have choose payment mode again and again for each and every transsctions

    • Add Attachment Support to Zoho Flow Mailhook / Email Trigger Module

      Dear Zoho Support Team, We hope you are well. We would like to kindly request a feature enhancement for the Mailhook module in Zoho Flow. Currently, the email trigger in Zoho Flow provides access to the message body, subject, from address, and to address,

    • South African Payment Gateways

      Since the "Demise" of Wave many South African users have moved over to Zoho and yet for years users have been requesting Integration with a South African Payment Gateway to no avail. Payfast was the most commonly requested gateway as it supports recurring

    • Has anyone verified if Zoho is PCI compliant?

      We are planning on using Zoho to process payments via Authorize.net. We have everything set up and are attempting to complete the PCI DSS SAQ-A requirement for our merchant account. This requires us to prove Zoho has completed the SAQ-D for Service Providers. We need a way to verify compliance, or a copy of an attestation of compliance signed by the appropriate officer at Zoho. I assume I'm not the first person to use Zoho to process payment, and therefore not the first to require this information

    • Support for Custom Fonts in Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to use custom fonts in the Zoho Recruit Career Site and Candidate Portal. Currently only the default fonts (Roboto, Lato, and Montserrat) are available. While these

    • Bigin Plugin for Outlook

      Could we get this added? The Gmail version already exists, and I would like to avoid having to make a switch.

    • Date does not fit the field

      Hi There. I am having fun learning zoho sign API. Today I noticed the "Signed Date" field does not fit, or alternatively the font is to large for the auto field space. See screenshot below. The signed date field is created by putting {{Signdate}} on the

    • Tip of the Week #69 – Automate your Zoho TeamInbox tasks with n8n integration.

      Don’t waste time repeating the same tasks—like sending follow-up emails or adding new contacts. Let automation save the day. With n8n, an open-source automation tool, you can connect your favorite apps and let them handle the busywork for you. You don’t

    • Multi Page/Step Forms in creator

      Greetings i was wondering if it's possible to create multipage/step forms on creator similar to what we have on zoho forms. is that possbile? Thanks

    • Package Geometry

      how can i add the dimensions and weight capacity of the available boxes to be default in the system everytime we use it ?

    • How to create a Master Kanban Board that syncs with Child Projects?

      Hello, We're currently using Zoho Sprints for managing our interdepartmental teams, and we're looking to enhance our workflow using Kanban boards as part of a company-wide productivity improvement initiative. Our goal is to implement a project structure

    • Writer.. Broken?

      Hello,  Writer has been really good to me during the months I've used it, up until now.  I usually launch the app by tapping the icon and I could immediately pick up where I left off.  Now I'm greeted by a loading circle not reaching 100% and I only have the option to create a new account.  By pressing that button it now switches to a login screen and I can access my account. However, it seems (only speculating ofc) to be stuck in cell-phone mode? everything looks scrambled.  I can't access any of

    • How to access Recruit Variables in a Deluge function?

      I have set up Recruit Variables in Zoho Recruit, and I would like to know how to retrieve these variables from within a Recruit custom function (Deluge). Could someone please explain the correct way to access them? I tried the following code, but it did

    • Upon De activate a user what name doe sthe contacts candidates go under?

      When deactivating a user, does the user name remain the same, as the candidate owner? If not what/who, does it change to? Do I need to change the user name in contacts and candidates before I deactivate the user?

    • Weekly Tips: Customize alerts from your Priority Users

      You might receive hundreds of emails daily, but messages from your manager, clients, or team leads often require immediate attention, as they may contain urgent requests or critical updates. How would you ensure you never miss important messages from

    • Maximum 100 records in Sheet View is limiting. How can I increase this?

      Thanks in advance for any help with this. There was a similar post that showed answered but it did not help with increasing the number of records you see in a Sheet View. Editing in the Sheet View is fast and efficient but I have 3500 records and I need

    • Revenue Management: #3 Revenue Recognition Simplified

      In continuation of the previous post on how to compute revenue recognition, let's explore a solution that helps businesses handle real-world complexities. While the Accounting Standards provide a clear framework for recognizing revenue, the real challenge

    • Tip #40- Strengthen Remote Support with IP-based Restrictions in Zoho Assist– ‘Insider Insights’

      Protecting sensitive data and preventing unauthorized access is a top priority for any organization. With IP-based restrictions in Zoho Assist, you can ensure that only users from trusted networks can initiate remote support sessions. Say your IT team

    • Push Invoices to Xero Manually

      Hi guys, I'm wondering if anyone has wanted to do this and has a workaround or knows of an app that may be able to help with this. I sell B2B and B2C. The customers can purchase on our website or through marketplace, all of which send sales to zoho. The

    • OpenAI error code: 1010 in a Zobot

      Please see short linked screen recording. Insights welcome. Please and thank you! https://workdrive.zohoexternal.com/external/f3247ba9c872639157b707700c0300c433c7664aea924a034f4da3c3ad2e355f

    • Ability to Create Sub-Modules in Zoho CRM

      We believe there needs to be a better, more native way to manage related records in Zoho CRM without creating clutter. Ideally, Zoho would support "sub-modules" that we can create and associate under a parent module. Our use case: We have a custom module

    • Installing EMAIL Setup in New Domain

      Respected Support team, I'm facing an issue with cloudflare in Pakistan, I want to setup Zoho Mail Setup but I Don't know how to enable Zoho mail setup without cloudflare. My Website https://stumbleguymod.com/ is using CF, and I want a different Zoho

    • Does Zoho Sheet Supports https://n8n.io ?

      Does Zoho Sheet Supports https://n8n.io ? If not, can we take this as an idea and deploy in future please? Thanks

    • Signature change

      I cannot see how to change signature or out of office details easily now in the new format.

    • Inventory API - Retrieve all uploaded product / item images

      I know that I can get the primary image for each product / item or composite item, by using the /image endpoint.  https://inventory.zoho.com/api/v1/compositeitems/<item-id>/image?authtoken=<TOKEN> This will return only one photo, even if the item has multiple images uploaded. Is there a way to retrieve all images stored for an item via the Zoho Inventory API?

    • Ebay Integration malfunction

      My eBay integration in Inventory has always worked well. It suddenly malfunctioned. It is creating its own parts in Inventory that are unavailable instead of selling the parts I've always sold. Tech help was unable to resolve this. The latest sale attempt

    • Introducing Bin Locations In Zoho Inventory

      Hello users, We are excited to let you know that your wait for the Bin Locations feature has now come to an end! Yes, you heard us right! We are here to introduce the much-awaited Bin Locations now in Zoho Inventory. But before we dive into the feature

    • how to get all the records in the custom View more than 200 records , Without using the page Concept

      how to get all the records in the custom View more than 200 records , Without giveing page as default in the Loop Concept Pls help how We can Achive this void schedule.Lead_Attempt_To_contact_schedule_10_30() { pages = {1,2}; for each pg in pages { query_map

    • Next Page