Building Extensions #11: Creating widgets with the JS SDK bundle in Zoho Desk - Event API

Building Extensions #11: Creating widgets with the JS SDK bundle in Zoho Desk - Event API

This series aims to equip developers with all they need to build extensions for Zoho Desk in Zoho Sigma and publish them in Zoho Marketplace.

In our previous post, we discussed Data Storage APIs, their use in extensions, and how to use them in your Zoho Desk extensions. This post will briefly explain the next set of APIs in the JS SDK bundle, Event APIs, and show when and how to use them within Zoho Desk extensions.

Event APIs 

The extension you're intending to build may require you to perform an action upon the occurrence of a particular event in your Desk portal. In order to trigger that action in Zoho Desk, your extension needs to listen to those event occurrences. The Zoho Desk platform provides Event APIs, which is an SDK method that helps you incorporate custom functionalities in your extension when certain events occur in your Zoho Desk portal. The events can be both ticket- and call-related.
  • Ticket events: You can configure extensions to receive information when an event, such as adding a comment to a ticket or opening a different ticket, occurs on the ticket detail page.
  • Call events: You can configure extensions to receive information when a call-related event occurs in your help desk portal.
There are multiple events available both in ticket events and call events. Whenever a particular event occurs, the parameter (Event API) for that event is used to broadcast information from Zoho Desk. The information from that event can then be processed in your extension using other APIs based on your business needs. Every event can be invoked from multiple locations in Zoho Desk; the details of the locations supported by every event and the parameter to be passed to invoke the events are listed here.

Scenario: Let's say you're using Zoho Desk to handle your technical support queries and Zoho Projects to manage your internal tasks. Here, we'll explain a simple use case where an extension could create a task in Zoho Projects automatically whenever the ticket classification of a ticket is changed in Zoho Desk. In this instance, we'll say you classify a ticket as 'problem' in Zoho Desk and get a task created for that ticket in Zoho Projects automatically. Let's see how the Events API can be used to achieve this simple use case in your extension.
 
When an agent triggers an event change in Zoho Desk, the Event API broadcasts the information about the event's occurrence from that ticket and can be fetched for further processing. To create a task in Zoho Projects, you can use Request API to invoke the Create Task API of the Zoho Projects. If you need additional information from the ticket while creating a task, you can use the Data API to get those details.
 
Below are the steps involved to implement this use case:
  • Create a connection in Zoho Sigma with required scopes
  • Create a task in Zoho Projects using the required JS SDK methods
    • Events API: Listen to the event
    • Data API: Fetch required ticket details for creating a task in Projects
    • Request API: Invoke Create Task API in Projects

Creating a connection 

To build this extension, you must establish a connection between Zoho Desk and Zoho Projects with the required scopes. This will allow you to facilitate communication between these two services by invoking their APIs. Please check the Connectors post to learn more about creating connections. Once the connection is established, perform the following in the plugin-manifest.json file and save the file.
  1. Paste the JSON code copied from Sigma in zohoAuthorization
  2. Provide the Zoho Projects base URL (https://projectsapi.zoho.com) in whiteListedDomains
The plugin-manifest file with the connection and whitelisted domain details:
{
    "locale": ["en"],
    "service": "DESK",
    "storage": false,
    "type": "personal",
    "whiteListedDomains": ["https://projectsapi.zoho.com"],
    "modules": {
        "widgets": [
            {
                "location": "desk.ticket.detail.rightpanel",
                "url": "/app/widget.html",
                "name": "Desk Extension",
                "logo": "/app/img/logo.png",
                "icon": "/app/img/icon.png"
            }
        ]
    },
    "cspDomains": {
        "connect-src": []
    },
    "zohoAuthorisation": {
        "type": "connectors",
        "connectionLinkName": "deskproject",
        "connectionName": "DeskProject",
        "serviceName": "zlabs_integration",
        "userAccess": true,
        "isUserDefinedService": false,
        "sharedBy": "696258884",
        "scope": [
            "Desk.tickets.ALL",
            "ZohoProjects.projects.ALL",
            "ZohoProjects.tasklists.ALL",
            "ZohoProjects.tasks.ALL",
            "ZohoProjects.events.ALL",
            "Desk.basic.ALL",
            "ZohoProjects.tags.ALL",
            "ZohoProjects.status.ALL",
            "ZohoProjects.portals.ALL"
        ]
    },
    "connectors": [],
    "config": [],
    "moduleSupport": false
}

Creating a task in Zoho Projects 

Below are the code snippets of different APIs that are used in this extension. The Event API will get triggered whenever the ticket classification is changed by the agent. You need to fetch the response from the broadcasted message and check the value of the ticket classification. According to our use case, we need to create a task if the classification is "problem," so the Request API is called for the same.
 
App.instance.on("ticket_classification.changed", function (data) {
                        classif = data["ticket.classification"];
                        if (classif == "Problem") {
                            
ZOHODESK.request({url: "https://projectsapi.zoho.com/restapi/portal/" + xxx + "/projects/" + yyy + "/tasks/?name=" + encodeURI(ticketSub) + "&description=" + encodeURI(x) + "&priority=" + ticketPriority,
                                headers: {
                                    "Content-type": "application/json",
                                },
                                type: "POST",
                                data: {},
                                connectionLinkName: "deskproject",
                                postBody: {},
                                contentType: "application/json",
                            })
                                .then(function (response) {
                                    var resultparse = JSON.parse(response);
                                    var resultparse2 = JSON.parse(resultparse.response).statusMessage;
                                    var aaa = JSON.stringify(resultparse2);
                                })
                                .catch(function (err) {
                                    console.log(err);
                                });
                        }
                    });
 
All the required ticket details, including the ticket ID, subject of the ticket, ticket description, and the priority status of the ticket are fetched using the Data APIs and passed to the Zoho Projects API. This information will be filled in within the task that is being created.
 
ZOHODESK.get(["ticket.id", "ticket.subject", "ticket.description", "ticket.priority"])
                        .then(function (res) {
                            var result = res.data;
                            var a = JSON.stringify(result);
                            console.log(a);
                            ticketID = result["ticket.id"];
                            ticketSub = result["ticket.subject"];
                            ticketDesc = result["ticket.description"];
                            ticketPriority = result["ticket.priority"];
                            x = ticketDesc.replace(/<[^>]+>/g, "");
                            ticketNumber = result["ticket.number"];
                        })
                        .catch(function (err) {});
 




In this example (full code given below), we have given you a clear picture on when and how to use the Event APIs in building extensions for Zoho Desk. Though other APIs are used too, the core of this extension is triggering an action on the occurrence of an event, which is done by the Event API.
 


While invoking the Zoho Projects API, you would have noticed that the Create Task API takes two important parameters, namely PortalID and ProjectID. These are specific to users; they are needed to decide for which project the task should be created. You may wonder how this should be handled in your extension development. We have config params to help you in such scenarios.
 
We'll discuss the usage of config params in our following post. Stay tuned !
 

<<Previous                                                                                                                                    Next >>                                                                                       

    Access your files securely from anywhere







                            Zoho Developer Community





                                                  Use cases

                                                  Make the most of Zoho Desk with the use cases.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  eBooks

                                                  Download free eBooks and access a range of topics to get deeper insight on successfully using Zoho Desk.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  Videos

                                                  Watch comprehensive videos on features and other important topics that will help you master Zoho Desk.

                                                   
                                                    

                                                  Webinar

                                                  Sign up for our webinars and learn the Zoho Desk basics, from customization to automation and more

                                                   
                                                    
                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Ask the Experts


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner






                                                            Manage your brands on social media



                                                                  Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                      Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                        Zoho Books Resources


                                                                          Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                            Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                              Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                Qntrl Resources


                                                                                  Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                      Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                      • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                        CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                      • Kaizen

                                                                                        Kaizen

                                                                                      • Functions

                                                                                        Functions

                                                                                      • Meetups

                                                                                        Meetups

                                                                                      • Kbase

                                                                                        Kbase

                                                                                      • Resources

                                                                                        Resources

                                                                                      • Digest

                                                                                        Digest

                                                                                      • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      • MVP Corner

                                                                                        MVP Corner







                                                                                          Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                          Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                          Get Started Now


                                                                                            Zoho Show Resources


                                                                                              Zoho Writer Writer

                                                                                              Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                              Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                Zoho CRM コンテンツ








                                                                                                  Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                      ご検討中の方




                                                                                                            • Recent Topics

                                                                                                            • 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
                                                                                                            • File attachments not working - web version

                                                                                                              Since Notebook announced better file attachments, I have experienced file attachments failing. When uploaded from my pc to the web version, notebook just spins. Acting like the attachment is very large. When it's 30k. If I cancel out of this, the notecard
                                                                                                            • API - Barebones Data for Send Doc For Signiture

                                                                                                              I am learning how to use with Zoho Sign API. I am wondering if someone can give me a bare bones JSON data sample for "Send Document For Signature". Below is the blank data that is pre-populated in postman. Seems like there is more here than the bare minimum
                                                                                                            • Revenue Management: #2 How to compute revenue?

                                                                                                              In our previous post, we discussed the revenue recognition standards under IFRS 15 and ASC 606 and the five-step model. Now, let's examine three distinct business scenarios to see how the standards and model work in practice. This will help you understand
                                                                                                            • External lookup in CRM (as in Books)

                                                                                                              Hello Context: We have a CRM module, similar to Deals, but for Purchasing. Once the PO is created, a link to this PO should be updated in that "deal". In Books, you can add a custom 'external' field which can look up into CRM modules. I'm asked to have
                                                                                                            • "Undo Send" Feature

                                                                                                              Would love it if TeamInbox had an "Undo Send" feature, that gives you 10 seconds or so to "undo" the sending of an email. Many other email clients already have this feature, and my clients really miss it, as it has saved them many times in the past when
                                                                                                            • Better Notes Commenting

                                                                                                              Hi, I'd like to suggest better collaboration tools for NOTES. The current notes section for Accounts, Contacts and Deals is not ideally suitable for any degree of communication or collaboration. When responding to a note, there is no ability to leave
                                                                                                            • Zoho Sites

                                                                                                              Does anyone have experience building Zoho sites or know how I can find someone who does?
                                                                                                            • Zoho Crm Lagging

                                                                                                              Hi Zoho Support Team, Starting from today, my Zoho CRM has been extremely slow and laggy when accessing any pages or modules. This is affecting my work and overall productivity. Could you please help to check if there are any ongoing issues or if there’s
                                                                                                            • Is there a way to reference/attach mails to deals/contacts when the mails haven't come through their contacts normal email and the mail comes through software / app who use their mail system

                                                                                                              There are often system mails that come through systems or other software which use their email addresses since they use their own mail servers to mail. This causes an issue as it does not record the mail in the history of the CRM since the email is not
                                                                                                            • Recommendation

                                                                                                              I give up on Zoho. It's never going to be an all in one solution, their own apps don't even connect. Can any one recommend an alternative at least for the crm / people.
                                                                                                            • CRM - Site/Location

                                                                                                              Hi Zoho, One massive oversight of the Zoho CRM is the inability to add multiple sites or locations to one account. Many organisations have several (in some cases, hundreds) of sites across the country or even the globe. The workaround to this, of course,
                                                                                                            • An unknown error occurred. Please contact support

                                                                                                              Whenever I visit this page I see this. I changed browser and still the same. Can someone from Zoho help me please?
                                                                                                            • How to Streamline Pick & Ship

                                                                                                              Is there a way to streamline the built-in pick and ship process? I guess mostly on the ship side. Our current process allows us to choose shipping super fast. It's an EasyPost plugin for WooCommerce. You have to populate the boxes / weights / shipping
                                                                                                            • How to add, delete or rename the "payment method" drop down?

                                                                                                              When we recorded payment in invoice, there's a "payment method" drop down with choices like cash, bank transfer... We want to add and delete or rename some new selection. How to do such adjustment? Please advice.
                                                                                                            • Smarter data gathering with Query component in Wizards

                                                                                                              Dear All, Introducing the Query Component in Wizards for CRM! A smart search field that saves you time and effort, and helps you manage and gather data more efficiently than ever before. Long and complex record entries can be overwhelming and prone to
                                                                                                            • Introducing teamspaces and team modules in Zoho CRM mobile app

                                                                                                              Hello everyone, We have an exciting update to share in the Zoho CRM mobile app. As part of CRM For Everyone—a new set of features that reflect our vision to democratize CRM and make it accessible for all—teamspaces and team modules are now available on
                                                                                                            • Client Script - change page and/or section background colours

                                                                                                              Hello, Would anyone be willing to help me with a bit of Client Scripting code? I have had a go myself but only been able to alter the form field styles, not the overall page/section/heading styles. I want to set a different page background colour for
                                                                                                            • Client Script | Update - Introducing Subform Events and Actions

                                                                                                              Are you making the most of your subforms in Zoho CRM? Do you wish you could automate subform interactions and enhance user experience effortlessly? What if you had Client APIs and events specifically designed for subforms? We are thrilled to introduce
                                                                                                            • Zoho SalesIQのチャットボット、ブロックのコピー機能

                                                                                                              Zoho SalesIQのチャットボットの構築でドラッグアンドドロップで作成を行っているます。 内容は同じブロックのコピーペースト機能がないみたいなのですが、同一のブロック、同一の複数のブロックをいくつも作成する場合は、皆様はどのように行われていますか? 例えば添付の4つのブロックをまとめてコピーして、別のフローの先につなげる場合です。 教えていただけますと幸いです。よろしくお願いいたします。
                                                                                                            • Questions About Zoho Commerce Member Portal

                                                                                                              Hello, A couple questions about the Zoho Commerce Member Portal: 1. Can I add only specific pages be added to the Members Portal, and not the entire website? 2. When a customer signs up on my Zoho Commerce site, is there a setting that gives me a chance
                                                                                                            • Cancel and refund

                                                                                                              Hi, Yesterday I paid for the Zoho email subscription. Within a few minutes, I realized that the subscription counts one email ID as one user. To make another email ID for the same domain name, I'd have to pay for another user. I emailed right away to
                                                                                                            • Online Payment Fees

                                                                                                              We don't take many online credit card payments so the merchant service provider (PayPal) charges us the 2.9% fee for processing the amount. I would like the ability for the fee to be automatically added to the total amount for "ease of payment". We'd
                                                                                                            • Error occured. please try again!!!

                                                                                                              I created a new list. Added two new contact's email addresses. I try to EDIT either one of them to add their first name, last name and phone number. Whatever I try to edit and update, I get the error message  Error occured. please try again!!! And it doesn't update any of their info. I tried just editing first and last name. Still get the error. No matter what I try to update, I get the error. I tried creating a new list, and adding just one email address and then edit it and also get the error.
                                                                                                            • "Send email as" not work

                                                                                                              Hi team, I currently use ZOHO MAIL services on the MAKE platform (formerly INTEGROMAT). In MAKE I entered my ZOHO MAIL credentials but the problem is that when the emails are sent from the automation in MAKE, the emails do not come in with the name set
                                                                                                            • *UPDATE: ISSUE RESOLVED, SEE HOW FOR HELP* Issue imbedding Youtube Videos

                                                                                                              **UPDATE: RESOLVED** For anyone that is having a similar issue, try this workaround before attempting to have the Zoho techs fix it. I have been in communication with them for weeks about this and they can't seem to fix the issue. Thinking it may have just been my computer or my browser, I tried two different computers on two different networks, each running different versions of Windows, and tried it on Chrome, Firefox and IE; nothing worked. So, needless to say, it's an issue with Zoho somewhere.
                                                                                                            • Backorder For Composite Items

                                                                                                              Hello If i released SO for composite item and use backorder feature of zoho inventory then it should backorder child item items of composite and not composite item.This is basic of backordering.I conveyed this to zoho call center but no solution yet.
                                                                                                            • Paid Support

                                                                                                              We are in the process of creating tiers for our support offerings. There will be three tiers of support available - 2 paid and 1 free. The paid tiers will be purchased in allotted hours. I need to figure out how to a) work in the out of the box SLA, Contracts
                                                                                                            • Where is the desktop app for Zoho Projects???

                                                                                                              As a project manager, I need a desktop app for the projects I manage. Yes, there's the web app, which is AWESOME for cross browser and platform compatibility... but I need a real desktop app for Projects that allow me to enter offline information where
                                                                                                            • Automatically CC supervisor

                                                                                                              Hello,  in our organization agents are replying to tickets and they are required to CC their supervisor on all emails to and from customers.  is there a way to have an email address automatically populate in the CC field when reply to a ticket?  tha
                                                                                                            • Zoho One - White Label

                                                                                                              Releasing a white-label feature for Zoho One, or any software or service, can offer several advantages and benefits for both the company providing the software (Zoho in this case) and its users. Here are some key reasons for releasing a white-label feature
                                                                                                            • Are this Features included in the Road Map

                                                                                                              1. Sync between description/short description in Zoho Books/Inventory and Zoho Commerce: I am unsure how it works now. I belive the description is not pulled. 2. Pick Up: This feature is great. It is added on Zoho Commerce but not on Books/Inventory which
                                                                                                            • Reconciliation - Show Transactions After End Date

                                                                                                              I did a quick search, and I've only seen this brought up indirectly. In the reconciliation interface, transactions dated up to a week after the end date should be available for being reconciled. The use case is pretty simple... many times, transactions
                                                                                                            • Auto populate email field in zoho form

                                                                                                              Hi,  Is there a way the email field in zoho forms can be auto populated based on the name selected from a drop down list?
                                                                                                            • Option to accept and pay for estimate from Public Estimate link?

                                                                                                              Is there any way that our customers can get the Estimate in their email, click on "View Estimate" and from the public link, click Accept and Pay? When they click that, in the background Zoho would create the invoice record in the so that the payment would
                                                                                                            • Kaizen #125 Manipulating Multi-Select Lookup fields (MxN) using Zoho CRM APIs

                                                                                                              Hello everyone! Welcome back to another week of Kaizen. In last week's post in the Kaizen series, we discussed how subforms work in Zoho CRM and how to manipulate subform data using Zoho CRM APIs. In this post, we will discuss how to manipulate a multi-select
                                                                                                            • Easily track referrals with Zoho Forms

                                                                                                              Referral tracking can be a powerful way for businesses to understand where their leads are coming from. With Zoho Forms, tracking the referral sources of your leads is an easy and straightforward process. Here are some tips to help you make the most of
                                                                                                            • Add an email to an existing ticket is not working

                                                                                                              I noticed that in Zoho Desk the funcionality to add an email to an existing ticket is not working using the syntax [##12345##], has the method changed? In red is the syntax we use to add email to an existing ticket As you can see, he did not add the email
                                                                                                            • New CRM to Campaigns Sync Doesn't Continue Making Updates

                                                                                                              Changes made in CRM are not appearing in mapped fields in matching Campaign records after migrating to the new sync process. The only way we've found to get records to update is to call into Support and point out the problem. After convincing Support
                                                                                                            • Zoho Integration with UPS

                                                                                                              I have 2 questions: Firstly, is there a way to notify UPS that we have a package to collect once we have done the shipping label? Secondly, how do I get the tracking number and shipment method onto the Invoice and Package Slip for the customer? Than
                                                                                                            • Next Page