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

                                                                                                              • Group Calendar as Default for adding new events, etc?

                                                                                                                Hi, I want to make the group calendar (that I created, if that makes a difference) the default for anything new I add to the calendar. How can I do that? thanks.

                                                                                                              • Bookmark Loading is Buffering

                                                                                                                Hi, i clicked on the bookmark tab, around yesterday and since then it's been constantly buffering and doesn't allow me to access the mail's i have tried login in and out but of no help also trying to share a screenshot of the issue around 232 kb size,

                                                                                                              • Zoho Webinar custom registration fields into Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                I am pushing webinar registrations into zoho crm as leads and this is working fine. I have added a few custom fields to my webinar registration and I wish for these fields values to get mapped into the resulting CRM lead record. I am not seeing anywhere

                                                                                                              • GitLab Extension for Zoho Desk: Connecting support and development for faster resolutions

                                                                                                                Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce the GitLab Extension for Zoho Desk, an integration that bridges the gap between support and development teams. This allows tickets to be converted into actionable GitLab issues for faster resolutions, better

                                                                                                              • Download Google Drive Shared Image/File Using Deluge – Complete Guide

                                                                                                                Download Google Drive Shared Image/File Using Deluge – Complete Guide When working with Google Drive share links inside Deluge, many developers face a common challenge: 👉 How can we download a Google Drive file directly using Deluge? This article explains

                                                                                                              • How to update Acuity appointment fields from Zoho Flow?

                                                                                                                Hi, I need help with Zoho Flow → Acuity Scheduling integration. What I’m doing Appointment created in Acuity Zoho Flow creates a Zoho Calendar event I want to send the Zoho Calendar Event UID back into Acuity (into a custom form field) This is so that

                                                                                                              • No horizontal scroll bar in reports

                                                                                                                Hi support team, I created a pivot table report which contains many columns (in my application about 15). The problem is that there is no bottom scroll bar to display colums that does not fit within the browser page. I saw that it was possible to resize colums, but colums sizes are not saved within the session. So could you add scroll bar, and eventually make colums sizes stored in the user session ? Best regards,

                                                                                                              • Zoho Map integration tasks have changed - you need to "Locate all instances of Zoho Map integration tasks in your Deluge scripts by searching for the v1 marker... before 16 January 2026"

                                                                                                                Details of an issue specific to Zoho CRM + Deluge Functions (originally posted in this forum) can be found here: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/zoho-map-integration-tasks-have-changed-you-need-to-locate-all-instances-of-zoho-map-integration-tasks-in-your-deluge-scripts-by-searching-for-the-v1-marker

                                                                                                              • filter broke my data

                                                                                                                I uploaded a file recently from Sheets and it has top 2 rows frozen, with table headers in second row and each one is filterable. somehow my first 2 columns became unfiltered and no matter what I do I cannot reapply the filter?? also didn't realize they

                                                                                                              • Request to remove domain "greentechcoatings.vn" from previous Zoho account

                                                                                                                Hello Zoho Support, I would like to register the domain "greentechcoatings.vn" in my new Zoho Mail account, but I receive the message "This domain is already associated with another account". Please remove the domain from any previous/unknown account

                                                                                                              • Trigger actions in third-party apps using Zoho Flow

                                                                                                                Greetings, I hope you're all doing well. We're excited to share an enhancement to Bigin's workflow capabilities. Zoho Flow Actions are now available in Bigin, enabling you to automate tasks across third-party applications directly from your workflow and

                                                                                                              • Enroll, Script, Win: Hackathon 2025!

                                                                                                                Hello CRM Developers! Are you ready to create some magic with Client Script, Widgets and Functions in Zoho CRM? Let’s make Hackathon 2025 an unforgettable adventure! The Zoho Developer Community Hackathon 2025 is here, and it’s your time to shine! REGISTER

                                                                                                              • Zoho Help Desk - Not receiving emails

                                                                                                                Hello… I am on your trial version of help desk… and I am having trouble getting emails from Zoho Help Desk to my MS Outlook Exchange Server… So when a customer sends ticket request I am not getting an email with a notification? I have read your articles

                                                                                                              • Almost all Flows are being queued

                                                                                                                A few days ago I saw one of my Flows status was Queued. This was the first time this had ever happened. Now, almost every Flow that triggers is Queued for at least a few minutes. If I re-trigger the Flow (which causes separate problems) they sometimes

                                                                                                              • Employment Contract / HRMS Documents - Zoho People

                                                                                                                How do I create customized HR documents for disbursal from Zoho People ? Example, say offer letters ? appointment letters ? Memos ? We want to be able to preset these in one or ther other form and issue them to employees who are in Zoho People.

                                                                                                              • Live webinar: Craft and deliver impactful slides with Show’s desktop apps

                                                                                                                If you love the comfort of working on your desktop and want a setup that keeps you focused and uninterrupted, this session is made for you. We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming live webinar: "Craft and deliver impactful slides with Show's desktop

                                                                                                              • Enhancements to Bigin's forms

                                                                                                                Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a few recent enhancements we've made to Bigin's forms. We'll go over each one in detail. Merge field support in auto-filled forms The auto-fill option in Bigin's forms lets you predefine

                                                                                                              • Table dimensions

                                                                                                                I try changing the dimensions of the table on my computer but it doesn't change. Do I have to be a premium member or does it only work on the app?

                                                                                                              • Direct link to Record Summary

                                                                                                                Hi everyone, In one of my reports, I have built a Record Summary template to display the details of one record. I would like to be able to link directly to this Record Summary once I submit a new record, without having to go to the list of records first and click on View. Is there a possibility to do so ?  Should I use the URL by passing some parameters ? Thank you very much for your help ! Guillaume

                                                                                                              • Verifying Zoho Mail Functionality After Switching DNS from Cloudflare to Hosting Provider

                                                                                                                I initially configured my domain's (https://roblaxmod.com/) email with Zoho Mail while using Cloudflare to manage my DNS records (MX, SPF, etc.). All services were working correctly. Recently, I have removed my site from Cloudflare and switched my domain's

                                                                                                              • API Support for Creating Invoices with Batch-Tracked Items

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho Community, I am working on an integration where we create invoices in ERPNext and push them to Zoho Books. I need to send batch-tracked items (batch numbers) when creating invoices. I could not find any reference in the Zoho Books API documentation.

                                                                                                              • Amendment effective date

                                                                                                                Hi everyone, I noticed that the amendment effective date mentionned in my amendment is not right. Indeed, when a contract is amended several times, it states the previous amendment and their effective date. However, the effective date stated is always

                                                                                                              • Show both Vendor and Customers in contact statement

                                                                                                                Dear Sir, some companies like us working with companies as Vendor and Customers too !!! it mean we send invoice and also receive bill from them , so we need our all amount in one place , but in contact statement , is separate it as Vendor and Customer, 

                                                                                                              • STOCK history in zohosheets

                                                                                                                is it possible to get historical stock value using stock function in zoho sheets? i could not see from and to period in the helper document.

                                                                                                              • Auto sync Photo storage

                                                                                                                Hello I am new to Zoho Workdrive and was wondering if the is a way of automatically syncing photos on my Android phone to my workdrive as want to move away from Google? Thanks

                                                                                                              • Agent password reset

                                                                                                                Hi Zoho support, I would like to ask if there is a way the admin can reset a password of an agent? Regards

                                                                                                              • Can receive but not send messages in Zoho Mail

                                                                                                                Hello! I was able to configure my email client successfully in that I can receive messages just fine. However, when I send messages out, they seem to go out fine (I don't receive any errors or anything), but the recipient does NOT receive those messages.

                                                                                                              • Mail is sent twice!

                                                                                                                Been using Zoho for a while now. Installed Zoho for someone else and some weird things are happening. Mails are being sent twice. He is using Thunderbird as an email client. I already read about email being duplicated in the sent folder. But in my case

                                                                                                              • Can't login IMAP suddenly

                                                                                                                Since this evening I'm getting the error: You are yet to enable IMAP for your account. Please contact your administrator... IMAP always been enabled in my account and was workign fine for the past 7 years. Already tried turning IMAP off and on again.

                                                                                                              • Sending of username did not succeed: Mail server pop.zoho.com responded: User already specified

                                                                                                                I am having issues receiving emails from Zoho in Thunderbird. I am getting the above error. The first error tells me Authentication failed, and prompts me to enter in my password. Then I get the above error. I can receive emails when I log in online to

                                                                                                              • Bug tracking

                                                                                                                Hi, does anyone know how to track errors during picking or packing? This way I can keep track and see how to improve and prevent errors in this area.

                                                                                                              • Migration of corporate mail environment from Yandex 360 to Zoho mail

                                                                                                                I have to migrate a corporate mail environment with an existing domain from Yandex 360 to Zoho mail. It is vital to migrate all users with all the data. I have read the article on this topic using MacMister Email Backup Software just now and have some

                                                                                                              • I'm unable to send mail pthrough Zoho SMTP programmatically

                                                                                                                This has been working for years, but today it's been offline all day long. I see nothing anywhere on your site about this. I'm not the only one experiencing this. Downdetector has a spike of reports today

                                                                                                              • Can no longer send email via Django site

                                                                                                                This was working fine as of 11/7/25. Now I am unable to send user verification emails from a Django site on a AWS lightsail sever. When a user attempts to register the following error occurs. I have also attempted to send a test email via the shell and

                                                                                                              • unable to send email but able to receive email

                                                                                                                my email address is info@securityforceservices.ca

                                                                                                              • Login to server failing

                                                                                                                When trying to retrieve my mail, I am getting this error message -- Login to server pop.zoho.com with username (my email address) failed. It gives me the option to retry, enter password, or cancel. Then I get this message -- Sending of username did not

                                                                                                              • Configuration failed: 200 response not received for POST request.

                                                                                                                Hello, I am trying to set up a webhook to connect with an Salesforce but I receive the following error from Zoho: Configuration failed: 200 response not received for POST request I have tried testing it on webhook.site as well and receive the same error

                                                                                                              • Zoho Migration Assistant not working

                                                                                                                Hello, I am trying to use you Migration assistant to migrate emails from Rediff to Zoho. I am stuck in the first step. After downloading the migration tool, I copied the link to verify user credentials, however, after pasting the link in the browser,

                                                                                                              • Paid Support Plans with Automated Billing

                                                                                                                We (like many others, I'm sure) are designing or have paid support plans. Our design involves a given number of support hours in each plan. Here are my questions: 1) Are there any plans to add time-based plans in the Zoho Desk Support Plans feature? The

                                                                                                              • Scheduled Reports - Do not send empty report

                                                                                                                Hello, We are intensively using reports in the CRM, especially for sales managers.  When data is empty, they still receive an email. Can you add an option to avoid sending the report when data is empty?

                                                                                                              • Next Page