Extension pointers #10: Define and raise a signal to receive timely notifications in Zoho CRM

Extension pointers #10: Define and raise a signal to receive timely notifications in Zoho CRM

Customer relationship management is a significant factor involved in the success of a business. When interaction with customers at all touch points is properly targeted, customers are satisfied and business flourishes. This makes it a necessity to stay updated about your customer interactions.

The Signals feature in Zoho CRM provides real-time notifications, helping you keep track of all your customer interactions from different channels in a single platform. It supports actionable alerts, so you can respond to notifications instantly and resolve them right away. Signals also enable alerts from integrated third-party apps to simplify the process of handling multiple applications. You can build customized notifications for different events and keep track of them in your Zoho CRM account.

Suppose a Zoho CRM user plans to pull their prospects from Zoho Desk, their customer support solution. Let's consider a possible scenario they might face and look at the solution.

Say that whenever a new customer/contact is added under the type "Prospect" in Zoho Desk, it is pushed into the Leads module of Zoho CRM. Once it's there, the sales rep needs to be notified that there's a new lead to process. The sales rep will also want to be able to visit the lead source page (in this case, the Zoho Desk page where the customer was created) to view the complete lead details.

In order to implement this solution, the Zoho Developer platform provides a feature called Signals. Creating a signal on the platform involves two major steps:
  • Defining a signal
  • Raising a signal
Now let's look at the steps in detail.

Defining a signal

In order to receive Signal notifications in Zoho CRM, it is necessary to create a signal.
  • Log in to Zoho Sigma, then go to the Extension Details page.
  • Expand the Automate options under Build in the left panel of the Zoho Developer console, and choose Signals.
  • Click Define Signal.

  • Enter the name for the signal and choose an icon for it. Click Save.

  • The signal is now defined and a namespace is auto-generated for it.


Registering a webhook request and raising a signal

In our example, Zoho Desk sends an alert to Zoho CRM, so it is necessary to register a webhook. The webhook posts a callback request whenever a new customer with type "Prospect" is added in Zoho Desk. The response from Zoho Desk will be handled via a REST API function. Using the response data, we can push the lead to Zoho CRM and raise a signal. Now, let's see how.

     1. Establishing a connection between Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk
  • Create a connector between the two applications.
  • Add the CreateWebhook API with the parameters specified by Zoho Desk. Learn about connectors.

API Name
Method
URL
CreateWebhook
POST

Refer to the Zoho Desk API documentation for the header and body parameter specifications of the API. 
  • After creating the connector and adding the APIs, publish and associate the connector with the extension. 
     2. Defining a REST API function and raising a signal
A webhook needs to be created to receive real-time notifications from Zoho Desk. But before creating the webhook, you need to define a REST API function that will provide the subscription URL parameter required to construct the CreateWebhook API.
  • Expand the Automate options under Build in the left panel of the Zoho Developer console, and choose Functions.
  • Provide a name for the function and choose Yes for Invoke as REST API. Click Next.
  • Enter the code for the function.

Code snippet
crmAPIRequestMap = crmAPIRequest.toMap();
request_body = crmAPIRequestMap.get("body");
data = Map();
leadsource = "";
for each item in request_body
{
payload = item.get("payload");
firstname = payload.get("firstName");
lastname = payload.get("lastName");
type = payload.get("type");
email = payload.get("email");
title = payload.get("title");
leadsource = payload.get("webUrl"); 
if(type == "Prospect")
{
data.putAll({"First_Name":firstname,"Last_Name":lastname,"Email":email,"Designation":title,"Lead_Source":"Zoho Desk"});
resp = zoho.crm.createRecord("Leads",data);
}
}
signalMap = Map();
signalMap.put("signal_namespace","desksynccrmsignal__testsignal");
signalMap.put("email",data.get("Email"));
signalMap.put("subject","New Notification");
signalMap.put("message","A new lead from Zoho Desk");
actionsList = List();
actionMap = Map();
actionMap.put("type","link");
actionMap.put("display_name","Lead Source");
actionMap.put("url",leadsource);
actionsList.add(actionMap);
signalMap.put("actions",actionsList);
//Raising a signal
sigResp = zoho.crm.invokeConnector("raisesignal",signalMap);
return "";

  • In the code snippet, the response from Zoho Desk is obtained through the input variable of "signalfunction", crmAPIRequest. The required parameters are retrieved from the response and pushed as a new lead into the Lead module if the customer type is "Prospect." A signal map variable is created and the required specifications to raise a signal are assigned to it. In our example, we have also included an actionable item, a lead source URL. When clicked, it will redirect to the Zoho Desk page of the newly created lead, indicating its source and holding its complete details. Finally, the raisesignal task is invoked in order to raise the signal whenever a new lead is created from Zoho Desk.
  • After the code is defined, click Invoke as REST API. The sandbox URL obtained is used for locally testing the functionality in the sandbox environment. Meanwhile, the production URL is used as the subscription URL while creating a webhook.

  • Close the Invoke function dialog box. Click Save & Close to save the function. 
    3. Creating a webhook
Now that we have obtained the subscription URL, let's go ahead and create a webhook. We have chosen to create a webhook during the authorization of the connector.
  • Expand the Install Actions options under Build in the left panel of the Zoho Developer console, and choose Connectors.
  • Enter the code for creating a webhook under the On Authorization tab. Click Save to Connector.

m = {"nameSpace":"xxx.desksynccrmsignal"};
apikeyresp = zoho.crm.invokeConnector("crm.zapikey",m);
zapikey = apikeyresp.get("response");
dynamic_map = Map();
dynamic_map.put("url",subscription_url);
resp = zoho.crm.invokeConnector("desksynccrmsignal.deskconnector.createwebhook",dynamic_map);

  • In the code snippet above, the subscription URL obtained from the REST API function is constructed as a parameter for the CreateWebhook API. The ZAPI key value required for the subscription URL is fetched and passed to the URL. Finally the Create Webhook API is invoked and the webhook is created. 
  • After a new customer is added to Zoho Desk with the type "Prospect," a signal is raised in Zoho CRM and the customer is added as a lead in the Lead module.

  • On clicking the notification symbol, the signal appears, along with the subject. On further clicking the SalesSignal region, the details contained in the signal are displayed along with a link pointing to the lead source.

  • On clicking the lead source link, the user is redirected to the Zoho Desk page.


You can further modify the functionality of the signal based on your business requirements. Hope you found this information useful! For more extension tips, keep following this space.


Next>>

    Access your files securely from anywhere








                            Zoho Developer Community



                                Bootcamp
                                Community
                                Pricing
                                Webinars
                                What's New
                                Integrations
                                Contact Support
                                Contact Sales
                                  Zoho Survey Resources
                                    Features
                                    Survey Templates
                                    Integrations
                                    Community
                                    iOS Mobile Surveys
                                    Pricing
                                    Android Mobile Surveys
                                    Insurvey Blogs
                                    Insight Blogs
                                    Tips & Tricks





                                                Latest Feature Updates

                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Digest


                                                  • Functions


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner


                                                  • Word of the Day


                                                  • Ask the Experts




                                                      Zoho SalesIQ Resources

                                                            • Sticky Posts

                                                            • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

                                                              Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

                                                            • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

                                                              Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

                                                            • Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms

                                                              Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achieved

                                                            • Kaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script

                                                              Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.

                                                            • Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

                                                              Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the


                                                            Manage your brands on social media
                                                            Access Zoho Social

                                                              Zoho Pagesense Resources


                                                                  Zoho TeamInbox Resources

                                                                    Zoho DataPrep 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

                                                                                              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

                                                                                                              • Open Form in Same window as Page from embedded Report

                                                                                                                I have a page that has an embedded report, as shown below. When I click the + sign to add a new record, the form shows up inside the page where the report was embedded. I know that I can add a custom action to the report grid or report detail view and

                                                                                                              • Weekly Sales Summary

                                                                                                                Is it possible to generate a weekly report in Zoho Books to show -$$ amount of estimates generated -# of estimates generated by Salesperson -$$ amount of Sales Orders created -$$ amount of Invoices generated

                                                                                                              • Systematic SPF alignment issues with Zoho subdomains

                                                                                                                Analysis Period: August 19 - September 1, 2025 PROBLEM SUMMARY Multiple Zoho services are causing systematic SPF authentication failures in DMARC reports from major email providers (Google, Microsoft, Zoho). While emails are successfully delivered due

                                                                                                              • Pricing Strategies: #4 Counting on Discounts

                                                                                                                "Is there any chance I can get a little discount on this month's service?" Maya hears this almost every time at her fitness studio. She offers monthly subscription plans for various services, including yoga, strength training, wellness sessions, and personal

                                                                                                              • Do Unpublished Products in Shopify Sync to Zoho POS?

                                                                                                                Will an unpublished product in Shopify sync to Zoho POS? I would like to know how Zoho POS handles products that are in draft/unpublished status in Shopify.

                                                                                                              • Hide Contact Number for Field Users & Agents

                                                                                                                Is it possible to hide the contact number in both the Service Appointment and Work Order modules for field users and agents? The agents are using the Zoho FSM mobile app, and we want to restrict them from viewing the contact number.

                                                                                                              • Introducing Query Workbench in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce the Query Workbench, a brand-new interface designed to improve developer experience of building Queries in Zoho CRM faster, simpler, and more intuitive. In the past, constructing queries required navigating across

                                                                                                              • ABN with Legal Entity Name

                                                                                                                Hi, How can I execute this? The ABN number is entered in Accounts Module and ideally, it should display or suggest the correct Legal Entity Name based on the ABN lookup. ex. Account Name: JPG Resources ABN Number: 65 067 761 871 Legal Entity Name: (auto

                                                                                                              • Whatsapp Connection Status still "Pending" after migration

                                                                                                                Hello, I migrated my WhatsApp API to Zoho from another provider a day ago. So far the connection status is still “Pending”. There is a problem? How long does it usually take?

                                                                                                              • Limitation with Dynamic Email Attachment Capture

                                                                                                                I've discovered a flaw in how Zoho Creator handles email attachments when using the Email-to-Form feature, and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. The Issue According to the official documentation, capturing email attachments

                                                                                                              • Add Customer in Books on Creator Form Submit Params

                                                                                                                Hi guys, Were integrating a creator app with books however what were doing is adding a books customer on submit of creator form.  We have some parameters but some fields aren't coping, All were seeing is the contact name in books,.  Any help of the params for this would be great. below is a sample of the script... response = zoho.books.createRecord("contacts", "XXXXXXXXX", { "contact_name" : input.Name, "address" : input.Email }); 

                                                                                                              • Admin asked me for Backend Details when I wanted to verify my ZeptoMail Account

                                                                                                                Please provide the backend details where you will be adding the SMTP/API information of ZeptoMail Who knows what this means?

                                                                                                              • Suggestion : link KB with Accounts

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho teams.  I think it could be good to link KB articles with  : accounts in order to easily  find articles dedicated to some account specificities. I tried to use tags , but tags are free text with not easy way  to retrieve it directly from ticket or list article for one tag. Tickets : It would be a good way to measure usage of KB directly from ticket when we don't need to copy/paste KB in solution. And : Great Tool , keep going ! 

                                                                                                              • Drag and Drop in Creator Application

                                                                                                                Hi, I am in the planning phase of a new application and I would like to use 'Drag and Drop' in the user interface of my new Creator application that I am sketching out, but I don't seem to be able to find any reference that this is available to developers. In my instance I have table of entries and I would like to be able to allow users to move an entry to another table (much like you do in your own interface when creating a Pivot Table report. In addition, I would like the user to be able to re-order

                                                                                                              • Is there any way to integrate Zoho with Zapier?

                                                                                                                Is there any way to integrate Zoho with Zapier? I'd like to use it to create a workflow, sharing posts from our Wordpress website to all our channels.

                                                                                                              • Can we add custom fields to portal community profiles?

                                                                                                                How do we add custom fields to our profile pages in our portal community? If we have the ability to add custom fields, will we be able to access those fields via API? We want to use our Desk community in our help portal as our primary community and would

                                                                                                              • Popular Articles Report

                                                                                                                From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports Content management teams can use various metrics to assess the effectiveness of knowledge base articles, improve content quality, and ensure articles are regularly updated. Predefined article

                                                                                                              • Invoice Ref. Field

                                                                                                                Hello Team, Currently, the Invoice Ref. field is set to a Number type with a maximum limit of 9 digits. However, we often receive customer invoices that contain up to 12 digits. In some cases, the invoice reference includes not only numbers but also letters

                                                                                                              • 60 Days Into Zoho - Tiktok Branding Startup -7 Questions?!

                                                                                                                Wsp Everybody I co-own a TikTok Branding / Consulting Startup & have been using Zoho for the past 60 days - Am now looking to make our overall operations & processes more Efficient & Effective! Curious to know how others are using the platform & what's

                                                                                                              • Add Lookup Field in Tasks Module

                                                                                                                Hello, I have a need to add a Lookup field in addition to the ones that are already there in the Tasks module. I've seen this thread and so understand that the reason lookup fields may not be part of it is that there are already links to the tables (

                                                                                                              • Turning off the new UI

                                                                                                                Tried the new 'enhanced' UI and actively dislike it. Anyone know how to revert back?

                                                                                                              • XML format to import knowledgebase into Zoho Desk

                                                                                                                Hi, We just started to use Zoho Desk and want to import our knowledgebase from our old support system (Freshdesk) to Zoho Desk. Can anyone give us information about the format of xml file to import? There is no explanation on the related page.

                                                                                                              • Pushing Zoho People leave into Microsoft calendar: how to chose how "event" is shown (busy, free etc)

                                                                                                                Hi, how can I select how a "leave" event is pushed into Microsoft calendar? I want for leave "working elsewhere" to show as working elsewhere and NOT as busy.

                                                                                                              • Duplicate Accounts

                                                                                                                Hi There, I am looking for a solution, script, workflow or anything to solve an issue we have - in our customers section we have a rule that doesn't allow duplicates, however Zoho will allow customers with xxxxx and xxxxx PLC or LTD so effectivley we

                                                                                                              • Error with If formula

                                                                                                                I've got this super simple If formula, what is the reason for the error? If ( LEN(${Leads.Trial Slot Option}) == 3,'y','n') Syntax Error. Check the examples for any functions you're using to see if you formatted them correctly. Make sure your fields are

                                                                                                              • Announcing Multi-language Support in Zoho FSM

                                                                                                                Zoho FSM now speaks your language. The much-awaited multi-language support is now available in Zoho FSM. The following languages are supported in Zoho FSM: Dutch (Nederlands) English - United Kingdom English - United States French (français) French -

                                                                                                              • Creating multiple CRM leads from a Zoho Forms subform

                                                                                                                Hi all, We have a heavily used intake form that is used for new leads as a part of our intake. There is a subform that allows the lead to add additional team members, their titles and other basic info. That form submission creates a new Lead and the subform

                                                                                                              • Free webinar! Build smarter apps with Zoho Sign and Zoho Creator

                                                                                                                Hello, Bring the power of digital signatures to the apps you build in Zoho Creator! Connect Zoho Sign as a microservice and enable seamless e-signature workflows in your applications. This integration allows you to automate signing tasks using Deluge.

                                                                                                              • Restrict Addresses in Zoho Forms?

                                                                                                                In the address field, is there a way to restrict the addresses that auto populate (via Zoho Maps or Google Maps) to a specific state (I know it's possible with the country). Additionally, how often does the address in Zoho Maps get updated? Certain addresses

                                                                                                              • Appraisals on Employee Information Profile

                                                                                                                Is it possible to show completed appraisals on each employee's "Employee Information" page? I would presume at the bottom - similar to the "Related Lists" concept in Zoho CRM. Obviously view access would be limited to employee and appropriate other roles

                                                                                                              • Zoho Tracking Image location

                                                                                                                So we've been having an issue with tracking email opens. Specifically in Gmail. Our emails are not that long either, maybe 4 sections of image/250 characters of text/button per section.  But all my test accounts I used via Gmail we're showing opens. But then come to find out the tracking image is at the very bottom of the email. So If the message is clipped (It always just clips our social icons on the bottom) and the user doesn't click the show more button it never tracks the open.  Looking at other

                                                                                                              • Weekly Tips: Secure your attachment downloads with Zoho Mail

                                                                                                                Safety is one of our main concerns, whether it’s about device security or online protection. We use tools like fingerprint scanners, facial recognition, and two-factor authentication to keep our devices and email accounts secure. We use methods like OTP

                                                                                                              • Resume Harvester: New Enhancements for Faster Sourcing

                                                                                                                We’re excited to share a set of enhancements to Resume Harvester that make sourcing faster and more flexible. These updates help you cut down on repetitive steps, manage auto searches more efficiently, and review candidate profiles with ease. Why we built

                                                                                                              • Can Zoho Flows repeat Actions more than once?

                                                                                                                I'm attempting to make an intentional Zoho Flow loop using the below layout. However, when "WithinLimit" condition is met, the program fails to execute the action "Get & Add Request Co..." again. Is this by design? Is Zoho Flows unable to repeat actions

                                                                                                              • Looking for best practices to import data from SAP Business One (on-prem) into Zoho Analytics via Zoho DataPrep / Databridge — daily automated schedule

                                                                                                                Hi all, I’m using SAP Business One on-prem (SQL Server / or HANA — depending on DB backend) as our ERP. I want to build a pipeline that, every morning at 9:00 AM IST: pulls transactional data (invoices, customers, products, stock, etc.) from SAP B1, loads

                                                                                                              • Zoho One Unified Portal - Applications

                                                                                                                Hello, It is great to see the work on the New Unified Customer Portal. Thanks for that. The number of applications is limited though. It is now only around the Zoho Books ecosystem (Books, Expense...) and Zoho Social. = Are other applications planned

                                                                                                              • Marketing Tip #10: Start a customer loyalty program

                                                                                                                Winning a new customer is great, but keeping them coming back is even better. A loyalty program rewards repeat buyers with points, giving them more reasons to shop again. Over time, this builds trust and long-term relationships. Try this today: Set up

                                                                                                              • Zia Actions: AI-powered Workflow Automation for Faster and Smarter Execution

                                                                                                                Hello everyone, Workflows got a notch better with AI-based actions. Actions such as field extraction, prediction, auto reply, and content generation facilitate quick execution with improved speed and accuracy. Zia can intercept useful details in newly

                                                                                                              • Unable to access my Zoho forms account

                                                                                                                For some days now, I haven't had access to my Zoho Forms account. I keep getting an error that says, "You are an inactive user in your organization" via the mobile app and "You don't have permission to access this organization" via the web. I was removed

                                                                                                              • Do Individual Forums within Categories, in Desk Community, Produce Their Own RSS Feed?

                                                                                                                Do Individual Forums within Categories, in Desk Community, Produce Their Own RSS Feed? If not, can anyone share a work-around that could help me get an RSS feed for individual category forums?

                                                                                                              • Next Page