Building extensions #8: Improve and enhance user experience with modal boxes

Building extensions #8: Improve and enhance user experience with modal boxes


Modal box - What is it and where can you use it?

A modal box is a user interface pop-up window or dialog box that appears over the currently active UI screen. When prompted, the modal box deactivates all other page content until the user closes it. The modal box feature is commonly used to display information based on user input or to engage the user in some activity, such as an attachment picker, where they can proceed only after selecting an attachment.

Support offered in Zoho Projects for modal boxes

Zoho Projects provides support for modal boxes through extension development, which includes methods for opening and closing modal boxes, passing and receiving data to and from modal boxes, and so on. You can view the various methods offered by Zoho Projects to use modal boxes in this document.

In this post, we'll go over an example scenario for using a modal box in depth.

Scenario

A Zoho Desk ticket agent handles issue/feature request tickets in Zoho Projects to work on development-related requests. When the development in Zoho Projects is completed, the Desk agent provides a solution to the customer. In this case, it would be beneficial for the Desk agent to have all open Desk tickets associated with them displayed in a single, dedicated tab within Zoho Projects.

Goal

Improve, enhance, and simplify an agent's work in Zoho Projects by:
➤ Showcasing all open Desk tickets within a single tab.
➤ Providing them with ticket-specific details, allowing them to view ticket details and prioritize the Zoho Projects task associated with that ticket accordingly.
Solution

To accomplish this goal, use the modal box feature as part of the widgets concept discussed earlier. A Project tab widget labeled "Desk open tickets" can be created to display all open Desk tickets associated with an agent. When a specific ticket is selected, the agent can access all relevant information about the ticket, such as its status, priority, and so on. This will allow them to prioritize and work on the appropriate task in Zoho Projects that is associated with that ticket.
Now, let's go ahead and see the components that would be required to achieve this use case solution as part of an extension.

Required components
  • In order to establish a secure integration between Zoho Projects and Zoho Desk for a seamless data transfer, a connection between Zoho Projects and Zoho Desk has to be established.
  • An extension configuration process includes:
  • Creating an extension.
  • Configuring the plugin manifest.
  • Setting up the widget code.
  1. Display all open Zoho Desk tickets associated with an agent in a tab called "Desk open tickets."
  2. Incorporate the modal box feature to display ticket-specific details while the agent chooses a ticket from the list of open desk tickets.
We have already explored the steps to establish a connection, create an extension, and configure the plugin-manifest.json file as part of our earlier posts. You can refer to those resources for detailed guidance. In this case, we have already completed most of these steps (screenshots below).

Connection
We have created a connection to establish a secure integration between Zoho Projects and Zoho Desk.
                                                                  
Extension configuration
Extension creation: We have created a new extension for Zoho Projects.
                                                                  
Plugin-manifest.json configuration: Once the extension was created, we configured the plugin-manifest.json file to include the created connection and a widget.
For our extension use case, the plugin-manifest.json file is configured as shown in the below screenshot.
                                                                  

Setting up the widget code
Now that we've set up the other components, let's move on to writing our widget code and incorporating the modal box feature.

Displaying open tickets in "Desk open Tickets" tab code snippet - index.html (find attachment in post)
  • Certain mandatory parameters must be passed to the Zoho Projects Request Method, such as the third-party URL, data object, and connection. The details for the mentioned parameters in our use case are as follows:
Data object - The data that must be constructed in order to invoke the third-party URL.
Connection - The name of the secure connection link created and configured in the plugin-mainfest.json file, as described in the previous section.
  • A dropdown list displaying all open and associated desk tickets is created using the Zoho Desk API response.
  • The dropdown list value selected by the end-user (i.e. the chosen ticket) is then fetched and stored in a variable called "selected ticket ID."
  • Upon clicking Get Ticket Details, a modal box instance is created and opened using the modal.create and instance methods. The selected ticket ID value is emitted using the emit method with the keyword "stored-files" when the modal box is opened.
If you require further details on how the Zoho Projects Request method works, you can refer to our earlier post which explains the working and the required parameters for invoking this method in detail.

Modal box to display the details of the chosen ticket - file.html (find attachment in post)
  • In the code snippet, the value emitted using the emit method for the keyword "stored-files" is received by the on method in the modal box UI. Using the received value, a hit is made to the Zoho Desk Get tickets API using the Zoho Projects Request Method again.
  • From the ticket-specific details returned as the response of the Zoho Desk Get tickets API, the necessary details are fetched and then displayed to the agent for their reference. These details help them check on the status and prioritize the relevant Zoho Projects task related to that ticket.
Now, that we have completed the setup and have all the extension components ready, let's go ahead and see the output.

Sample output:
  • Enter the Zoho Projects portal and select a project.
                                                                  
  • Select the Desk open tickets option under the Projects tab. The dropdown menu appears, displaying a list of associated open tickets. Choose the ticket for which you want more details and click on Get Ticket Details.
                                                                  
  • The selected ticket details are displayed in the modal box.
                                                                  

In this example, we have used the modal box feature to display some information based on user input. Similarly, a modal box can also be used to engage the user in performing some activity, like an attachment picker, wherein they can proceed further only after choosing an attachment. We hope you found this information useful. Keep following this space for more insights!

Sign up for a Zoho Developer account and start developing extensions for Zoho products using Sigma.
      
SEE ALSO




    Access your files securely from anywhere











                            Zoho Developer Community





                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Digest


                                                  • Functions


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner


                                                  • Word of the Day


                                                  • Ask the Experts





                                                            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

                                                                                                            • Market cap

                                                                                                              Market cap formula?? Kaise nikale
                                                                                                            • Zoho Sheet for Desktop

                                                                                                              Does Zoho plans to develop a Desktop version of Sheet that installs on the computer like was done with Writer?
                                                                                                            • Option to Customize Career Site URL Without “/jobs/Careers”

                                                                                                              Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Career Site URL structure in Zoho Recruit. In the old version of the career site, our URL was simply: 👉 https://jobs.domain.com However, after moving to
                                                                                                            • SOME FEATURES ARE NOT IN THE ZOHO SHEET IN COMPARISION TO ZOHO SHEET

                                                                                                              TO ZOHO sir/maam with due to respect i want to say that i am using ZOHO tool which is spreadsheet i want to say that some features are not there in zoho sheet as comparison to MS EXCEL like advance filter and other Features which should be there in ZOHO
                                                                                                            • Auto-upload Creator Files to WorkDrive

                                                                                                              Hi everyone, I’m working on a workflow that uploads files from Zoho Creator to specific subfolders in Zoho WorkDrive, as illustrated in the attached diagram. My Creator application form has two multi-file upload fields, and I want—on successful form submission—to
                                                                                                            • Google enhanced conversions not working

                                                                                                              Hi guys, I've connected Zoho CRM through Google Ads interface with the goal to setup the enhanced conversion tracking in Google Ads. I have to Zoho related conversion goals which you can see in the images below: For the conversion goal above I've setup
                                                                                                            • Need Help to setup plugs along with codeless bot buidler. To send sms OTPs to users via Zoho Voice and to verify it

                                                                                                              Need Help to setup plugs along with codeless bot buidler. To send sms OTPs to users via Zoho Voice and to verify it. I get leads from our website and we need to make sure those are not junk. So we are using proactive chat bot and we need mobile OTPs to
                                                                                                            • Direct Integration Between Zoho Cliq Meetings and Google Calendar

                                                                                                              Dear Zoho Team, We’d like to submit the following feature request based on our current use case and the challenges we’re facing: 🎯 Feature Request: Enable meetings scheduled in Zoho Cliq to be automatically added to the host's Google Calendar, not just
                                                                                                            • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

                                                                                                              Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards
                                                                                                            • Zoho Desk - Cannot Invite or Register New User

                                                                                                              Hi who may concern, we encountered a problem that we cannot invite user or the visitor cannot register for a user at all through our help center portal, with the snapshot shown as below and the attachement. It always pops up that "Sorry, Unable to process
                                                                                                            • Zoho sheet

                                                                                                              Unable to share zoho sheet with anyone on internet with editer option only view option is show
                                                                                                            • Allocating inventory to specific SO's

                                                                                                              Is there a way that allocate inventory to a specific sales order? For example, let's say we have 90 items in stock. Customer 1 orders 100 items. This allocates all 90 items to their order, and they have a back order for the remaining 10 items which could
                                                                                                            • Mail and OS

                                                                                                              Jai Hind! Zoho is doing good by creating good software (made in india) on par with other tech giants. 🥰 Suggestion: 1. Whenever we sign up on zoho mail its asking for other mail id. It shouldn't be like that. You should ask general details of a user
                                                                                                            • Personal account created under org account

                                                                                                              Hi there, I am Jayesh. We are using ME Central, and we have an account by the email ID soc@kissht.com.. Now I have created a personal account., jayesh.auti@zohomail.in, accidentally. Can you help me to remove this jayesh.auti@zohomail.in from my organization
                                                                                                            • Add another account

                                                                                                              How to add another mail account to my zoho mail.
                                                                                                            • Recover deleted user

                                                                                                              Hi by mistake i have deleted an added user and his email associated. Please help me recover it thank you.
                                                                                                            • No connection to the server

                                                                                                              Hello! I can't add a new email address to my mailbox because your server is rejecting me. Please help. I took and added a screenshot of this problem Marek Olbrys
                                                                                                            • URGENT: Business Email Disruption – SMTP Authentication Failed

                                                                                                              Dear Zoho Support, I am writing to escalate a critical issue with my business email account: 📧 marek@olbrys.de My domain olbrys.de is fully verified in Zoho (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC all valid – green status). I am using the correct configuration: smtp.zoho.eu
                                                                                                            • Emails missing from desktop but visible on phone

                                                                                                              Subject says it all. Windows 11 laptop. Apple phone. all systems up to date.
                                                                                                            • Website Hosting

                                                                                                              Hello, I want to host my domain on Hostinger, and I want my emails to run through Zoho Mail. Please provide me with the SPF record, MX record (Type: TXT), and A record, so that I don’t face any issues with my emails. My website is on Hostinger hosting,
                                                                                                            • Can not search zoho mail after update V.1.7.0

                                                                                                              i can not search mail on to and cc box from attached picture and then search contacts box can't click or use anything. include replay mail too.
                                                                                                            • Urgent Security Feature Request – Add MFA to Zoho Projects Client Portal Hello Zoho Projects Team,

                                                                                                              Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit an urgent security enhancement request regarding the Zoho Projects Client Portal. At this time, as far as we are aware, there is no Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) available
                                                                                                            • How to retreive the "To be received" value of an Item displayed in Zoho inventory.

                                                                                                              Hi everyone, We have our own Deluge code to generate a PO according to taget quantity and box quantity, pretty usefull and powerful! However, we want to reduce our quantity to order according to "To be received" variable. Seems like this might not even
                                                                                                            • Add Support for Authenticator App MFA in Zoho Desk Help Center

                                                                                                              Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement related to security for the Zoho Desk Help Center (customer portal). Currently, the Help Center supports MFA for portal users via SAML, JWT, SMS authentication,
                                                                                                            • Payment on a past due balance

                                                                                                              Scenario: Customer is past due on their account for 4 months. We suspend their billing in Zoho books. Customer finally logs into the portal and enters a new credit card. We associate that cardwith their subscription, which will permit the card to be used
                                                                                                            • Instant Sync of Zoho CRM Data?

                                                                                                              With how valuable Zoho Analytics is to actually creating data driven dashboards/reports, we are surprised that there is no instant or near instant sync between Zoho CRM and Zoho Analytics. Waiting 3 hours is okay for most of our reports, but there are
                                                                                                            • Kaizen #211 - Answering your Questions | Using Canvas and Widgets to Tailor CRM for Mobile

                                                                                                              Howdy, tech wizards! We are back with the final post in addressing the queries you shared for our 200th milestone. This week, we are focusing on a couple of queries on Zoho CRM mobile configurations and custom payment gateway integration. 1. Mobile SDK
                                                                                                            • Remove "Invalid entries found. Rectify and submit again" modal

                                                                                                              Following up on a post from a few years back, but can the Zoho team consider either removing the 'Invalid entries found. Rectify and submit again' modal that displays for empty mandatory fields OR allow an admin to change it? I've built a custom error
                                                                                                            • Validation function not preventing candidates under 18 or over 30 from submitting the web form

                                                                                                              Hello everyone, I’m trying to create a validation rule for the Candidate Webform in Zoho Recruit. I added a custom field called “Date of Birth”, and I want to make sure that candidates cannot submit the form unless their age is between 18 and 30 years.
                                                                                                            • Remember all the ways we've posted?

                                                                                                              The world celebrates World Postal Day in 2025 with the theme “#PostForPeople: Local Service. Global Reach". The story of the “post” is a story of human connection itself, evolving from simple handwritten notes carried over long distances to instant digital
                                                                                                            • Custom domain issue

                                                                                                              I recently changed records for my support area custom domain for a few months, I then wanted to come back to Zoho, but now I can't connect it and I can't login as it's having an SSL issue. I cannot get a good response from support, as I've been notified
                                                                                                            • Cadence reports as front-end reports

                                                                                                              Hello everyone, We have built a cadence which is connected to the Leads module. There are 11 steps in total, 7 are automatic emails and 4 are tasks for the Lead owners. As admins, we have access to this (very nicely made) 'View Reports' tab where we can
                                                                                                            • Zoho Commerce in multiple languages

                                                                                                              When will you be able to offer Zoho Commerce in more languages? We sell in multiple markets and want to be able to offer a local version of our webshop. What does the roadmap look like?
                                                                                                            • Show elapsed time on the thank-you page?

                                                                                                              Is it possible to display the total time a user spent filling out a Zoho Form on the thank-you? I’d like to show the difference between the `form submission timestamp` and the `start time` (currently have a hidden Date-Time field set to autofill the date
                                                                                                            • The present is a "present"

                                                                                                              The conversation around mental health has been gaining attention in recent years. Even with this awareness, we often feel stuck; the relentless pace of modern life makes us too busy to pause, reflect, and recharge. In the world of customer support, this
                                                                                                            • Kaizen# 209 - Answering Your Questions | All About Client Script

                                                                                                              Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post! Thanks for all your feedback and questions. In this post, let's see the answers to your questions related to Client Script. We took the time to discuss with our development team, carefully
                                                                                                            • Email Integration - Zoho CRM - OAuth and IMAP

                                                                                                              Hello, We are attempting to integrate our Microsoft 365 email with Zoho CRM. We are using the documentation at Email Configuration for IMAP and POP3 (zoho.com) We use Microsoft 365 and per their recommendations (and requirements) for secure email we have
                                                                                                            • Search in Zoho Community Not Working

                                                                                                              I realize this is a bit of a meta topic, but the search for the various Zoho Communities appears to not be working. I'm under the impression that they run on some version of the Zoho Desk platform, so I'm posting this here.
                                                                                                            • I need to do crud with snippet html

                                                                                                              I need to implement a form with an improved user interface. I would like to use snippets to build a CRUD that allows me to create and update records. How could I achieve this using snippets?
                                                                                                            • Allow Stripe Credit Card and Stripe ACH payment methods to be enabled separately on an invoice.

                                                                                                              I need to be able to pick at the invoice level whether Stripe Credit Card and/or Stripe ACH payment methods are available. Currently, I'm not able to select from the two Stripe payment methods individually on an invoice. However, there are some larger
                                                                                                            • Next Page