Extension pointers - JS SDK Series #1: Learn how to invoke a REST API function from a widget using the execute method

Extension pointers - JS SDK Series #1: Learn how to invoke a REST API function from a widget using the execute method

Software development kits (SDK) are sets of tools that are useful when building applications on a platform. They wrap up APIs in the form of libraries, and include sample code, utilities, and documentation that guides you in building your applications. 

In our earlier posts we discussed building embeddable widgets for Zoho CRM. These widgets help to seamlessly integrate Zoho CRM with other applications and provide contextual information along with the application's data. Zoho CRM provides the JS SDK bundled with the necessary APIs and utilities to build these widgets using JavaScript. It serves as a mode of interaction between the JavaScript code and Zoho CRM. Through this JS SDK series of extension pointers, we aim to help you gain a deeper understanding of JS SDKs, and how to build efficient extensions.

The JS SDK bundle of Zoho CRM APIs is significant in helping you develop powerful widgets using JavaScript.

The Zoho CRM JS SDK, includes most of the APIs that help you operate with Zoho CRM data. It also includes event listeners that are useful for registering your application's events. The JS SDK also provides support to manage your widget's UI, handle configurations and connections with third party applications, and more. We're going to look at the different options available in the JS SDK, one at a time, throughout this series.

In this post, let's take a look at the ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute() function, its benefits,and how it can be incorporated while building extensions. It's designed to help you invoke and execute a custom function from a widget. Only a standalone REST API function can be invoked from your widget. A few major pointers regarding this API are:

➤ The ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute() function lets you invoke only the REST API function from a widget
➤ It requires that you input the API name of the function along with the constructed set of request data

Syntax

ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute(func_name, req_data)

Here, 'func_name' is the API name of the REST API function. 'req_data' is the constructed argument set that needs to be passed to the function.

Example

var func_name = "sample_function";
var req_data ={
"arguments": JSON.stringify({
"Company" : "Zoho",
"Email" : "saxxxx@xxxxx@.com",
})
};
ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute(func_name, req_data)
.then(function(data){
console.log("REST API function invoked from widget."+data);
})

Here, 'sample_function' is the API name of the REST API function. The arguments, namely 'Company' and 'Email',are constructed and passed as the 'req_data' parameter to the ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute() function.

Now let's see how the execute function can be incorporated while creating widgets to build an extension.
Note: Widgets are embeddable GUI components that help extend Zoho CRM's functionality. To get detailed information on widgets and how they work,please refer here.

To demonstrate the use of ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute(), let's assume a scenario in Zoho CRM involving raised product issues or concerns are registered as Cases by an organization. In general, cases originate through different modes, for example through phone, web, or email. Let's build a widget with a customized UI that allows a user to key in certain values pertaining to the 'Cases' module. This widget will fetch the necessary values and pass them to a REST API function that will create a record in the Cases module. This could help the support user on a phone call with the client to quickly build a case by filling out only the specific details.

Code snippet:
sdkwidget.js

Util={};
//assigning api name of REST API function to 'func_name' parameter of the execute function
var func_name="jssdkextension__executesdkfunction";
Util.check=function()
{
console.log("inside function");
//fetching the values provided in the UI
var subject = document.getElementById("subject").value;
var phoneno = document.getElementById("phnumber").value;
var email = document.getElementById("email").value;
var x = document.getElementById("cases").selectedIndex;
var x1 = document.getElementById("cases").options;
var cases=x1[x].text;
var y = document.getElementById("status").selectedIndex;
var y1 = document.getElementById("status").options;
var status=y1[y].text;
//constructing the 'req_data' parameter with the values fed by the user through the UI
var req_data ={
"arguments": JSON.stringify({
"sub" : subject,  
"phone" : phoneno,
"cases" : cases,
"status" : status,
"email" : email
})
};
//Invoking the execute function to execute the REST API function
ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute(func_name, req_data).then(function(data){
var resp=JSON.stringify(data);
})
}


executesdkfunction Rest API function

//retrieving the parameters of the request
params = crmAPIRequest.get("params");
//retrieving the set of values from 'arguments' passed as 'req_data' in the javascript code
args = params.get("arguments");
data = Map();
sub = args.get("sub");
phone = args.get("phone");
caseorigin = args.get("cases");
status = args.get("status");
email = args.get("email");
data.putAll({"Subject":sub,"Phone":phone,"Case_Origin":caseorigin,"Status":status,"Email":email});
//creating a new record in the Cases module
resp = zoho.crm.createRecord("Cases",data);
}
return args;

The highlighted text in the code snippet above is used to fetch the values provided by the user through the variable 'arguments' that is passed as the 'req_data' parameter to the REST API function.

Note: You can obtain the API name of the function from the sandbox URL or production URL obtained while using the option 'Invoke as REST API' in the script editor function.



Sample Output of Widget Screen



A new record is inserted in the Cases module according to the inputs provided.



Hope you found this information useful! For more about JS SDKs, keep following this space.

SEE ALSO:



<<Previous                                                                                                                                                    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

                                                                                                              • how to Solve Conflict Invoices in Zoho POS

                                                                                                                Hello Team, I am facing a repeated issue in Zoho POS while saving a sale that contains service-based items. My products are intentionally created as Service (Non-Inventory) items because I do not want to track stock for them. However, every time I try

                                                                                                              • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

                                                                                                                The address field will be available exclusively for IN DC users. We'll keep you updated on the DC-specific rollout soon. It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition. Latest update

                                                                                                              • Copy, Paste, Highlighted text

                                                                                                                when i copy paste text it gets highlighted. Fix this.  WTF is with this black highlight ? Fix copy pasting. Some people pay for using this mail service. 

                                                                                                              • Pricing Strategies: #6 Common Mistakes while Configuring Pricing

                                                                                                                "Why does this month's billing feel messy again?" That was the exact line Priya muttered while staring at the spreadsheet full of edited pricing, one-off discounts and mismatched subscription details. Her business was growing, but the pricing machine

                                                                                                              • Publish to LinkedIn via API

                                                                                                                Hi, Is it possible to publish a job opening to LinkedIn (paid job slots) if creating a job opening via api / deluge function? Or is the user required to manually publish via the job boards process? Many Thanks Adrian

                                                                                                              • Future Orders - Due Date

                                                                                                                Hi In my role, I can receive tickets where the work required is requested months in advance. Using a Future Orders option, which I believe was setup under the On Hold status type, hides the Due Date, in all views/ticket etc. Whilst I understand the reasoning

                                                                                                              • FSM - Associating and selecting Contacts based on Service Addresses

                                                                                                                Hi FSM team, I've come across an FSM limitation I wanted to share for improvement. I'm currently configuring FSM for a client who provides heating system install and maintenance services. The are often sub contracted by building management companies to

                                                                                                              • 日本語フォントの選択肢拡充についての要望

                                                                                                                日本語フォントの選択肢がとても少ないと感じたことはありませんか？ 多くのアプリ（たとえば Invoice）ではフォントが1種類しかなく、正直あまり使いやすい・見た目が良いとも言えません。 そろそろ、もっと多くの日本語フォントを追加してほしい、そしてすべてのアプリで同じフォント選択肢を使えるようにしてほしいと、私たちユーザーが声を上げる時期だと思います。 ご存じのとおり、現状ではアプリごとにフォント周りの仕様にほとんど一貫性がありません。 みなさん、一緒に要望を出していきましょう！

                                                                                                              • 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.

                                                                                                              • Problem in Zoho POS frontend ERP.

                                                                                                                We are facing some difficulties in our billing and inventory processes and require your support to resolve them at the earliest. Customer Advance Payments We receive advance payments from customers for upcoming sales. Please guide us on how to record

                                                                                                              • How to create estimates/Invoices with sub-totals

                                                                                                                Every other accounting package can create estimates and invoices with Sub-totals. How can I do that in ZohoBooks?

                                                                                                              • Categorize Items with Item Headers

                                                                                                                Hello customers, Did you ever want to classify items based on specific categories to help your customers understand your invoice better? With the new Item Header feature, you can easily categorize items in your invoices and estimates and give them a common title.  Item Headers are available in the Invoices, the Recurring Invoices and the Estimates module. It can be carried forward from estimates to invoices at the time of converting the estimates.  To add an item header: Go to the Estimates, Invoices

                                                                                                              • Item/service subtotal

                                                                                                                Just discovered & really pleased that we can drag to re-order the line items in Sales orders & Invoices, a very nice feature which doesn't seem to be documented? It would be nice to be able to insert a subtotal as a line item to complete this great feature

                                                                                                              • Emails sent through Bigin are not posting in IMAP Sent folder

                                                                                                                I have set up my email to work from within Bigin using IMAP.  I am using IMAP so I can sync my email across multiple devices - phone / laptop / desktop / iPad / etc.  I want all my emails to populate my email client (outlook & iphone email) whether or

                                                                                                              • Ask the Experts 26: Brighten every customer interaction with Zoho Desk all year long

                                                                                                                Hello everyone, Greetings and welcome to Ask the Experts 26. As we wrap up 2025, we are excited to invite you to the 26th episode of our Ask the Expert series. 🎄The Merry Metrics Edition = Best of Zoho Desk [Best Practices + Holiday Automation + Year-End

                                                                                                              • Painfully Slow Zoho mail

                                                                                                                Since yesterday Zoho Mail seems to have starting functioning very slowly and having a few bugs. It's slow to open mails, slow to send, slow to change between email accounts. Sometimes clicking on a particular folder (eg Sent folder) stops working and

                                                                                                              • Study in Netherlands for International Students – Admission, Costs, Visa & Experience

                                                                                                                Dutch university fees are an important factor for anyone planning to study in Netherlands, especially international students comparing costs across Europe. Tuition varies depending on nationality, program type, and whether you choose a research university

                                                                                                              • GPS tracking only or Check out facility

                                                                                                                Dear Team, Zoho CRM is quite robust CRM but till date i was waiting for the feature of having GPS tracking of Sales employees which is a common demand by all customers for thier field sales executives. We cover them by saying that CRM provides Checkin

                                                                                                              • Can I use a Standalone CRM Function as the Callback URL For Async Export Data API?

                                                                                                                I am creating an export job using this API https://www.zoho.com/analytics/api/v2/bulk-api/export-data-async/create-export/view-id.html There is a "callbackUrl" key in the CONFIG object. I tried copying the URL for a standalone function in CRM which can

                                                                                                              • Discount on the transaction level in POS

                                                                                                                "Is it possible to apply a discount on the total bill before tax in Zoho POS?" I want to apply a discount on the total transaction amount in Zoho POS, but the discount should be calculated before the taxes are applied. Is there an option to do this in

                                                                                                              • Zoho DataPrep switching Date Format

                                                                                                                When using a pipeline that is importing Zoho Analytics data into Zoho DataPrep, the month and day of date fields are switched for some columns. For example, a Zoho Analytics record of "Nov. 8, 2025" will appear in Zoho DataPrep as "2025/08/11" in "yyyy/MM/dd"

                                                                                                              • Create Tasklist with Tasklist Template using API v3

                                                                                                                In the old API, we could mention the parameter 'task_template_id' when creating a tasklist via API to apply a tasklist template: https://www.zoho.com/projects/help/rest-api/tasklists-api.html#create-tasklist In API v3 there does not seem to be a way to

                                                                                                              • Introducing Dedicated Modules for Plans, Addons, and Coupons in Zoho Billing

                                                                                                                We’ve enhanced the way you manage Plans, Addons, and Coupons in Zoho Billing. Previously, all three grouped together under Subscription Items. Now, each one has its own dedicated module, giving you a cleaner and more intuitive experience. This update

                                                                                                              • Send Automated WhatsApp Messages and Leverage the Improved WhatsApp Templates

                                                                                                                Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're excited to announce a major upgrade to Bigin's WhatsApp integration that brings more flexibility, interactivity, and automation to your customer messaging. WhatsApp message automation You can now use

                                                                                                              • Converting Sales Order to Purchase Order

                                                                                                                Hi All, Firstly, this code works to convert a sales order(SO) to a purchase order (PO) via a button, however I am running into an issue when I convert the SO where the values from the line items are not pulled across from the SO to the PO. The ones in

                                                                                                              • Gain control over record sharing with portal users through our new enhancement: criteria-based data exposure

                                                                                                                Dear Customers, We hope you're well! Portals is a self-service avenue through which your clients can access and manage their direct and related data in Zoho CRM. This empowers them to be more independent and enables them to experience a sense of transparency

                                                                                                              • Jobs at multiple locations

                                                                                                                Hi A lot of times we have same job open at multiple locations. So I would like an option where we can create a job and choose multiple locations. Currently we have to create individual jobs for each location. If we can create one job and mention multiple

                                                                                                              • From Zoho CRM to Paper : Design & Print Data Directly using Canvas Print View

                                                                                                                Hello Everyone, We are excited to announce a new addition to your Canvas in Zoho CRM - Print View. Canvas print view helps you transform your custom CRM layouts into print-ready documents, so you can bring your digital data to the physical world with

                                                                                                              • Passing the CRM

                                                                                                                Hi, I am hoping someone can help. I have a zoho form that has a CRM lookup field. I was hoping to send this to my publicly to clients via a text message and the form then attaches the signed form back to the custom module. This work absolutely fine when

                                                                                                              • Tag Adding Option in Kanban Card Customization Bigin CRM Mobile App

                                                                                                                I would like to request an option to add and display tags on Kanban cards in the Bigin CRM mobile app. This feature would make it easier to categorize deals and quickly identify priorities while working on the go.

                                                                                                              • Empowered Custom Views: Cross-Module Criteria Now Supported in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                Hello everyone, We’re excited to introduce cross-module criteria support in custom views! Custom views provide personalized perspectives on your data and that you can save for future use. You can share these views with all users or specific individuals

                                                                                                              • Canva Integration

                                                                                                                Hello! As many marketing departments are streamlining their teams, many have begun utilizing Canva for all design mockups and approvals prior to its integration into Marketing automation software. While Zoho Social has this integration already accomplished,

                                                                                                              • Ticket Status email

                                                                                                                Good day, This was discussed in the past, but it would be helpful if we could have the system assign a custom response to a status. We have various statuses for tickets, e.g. "closed due to no response", or "Pending Status", it would be helpful for the

                                                                                                              • WhatsApp Voice Message Sending Option in Bigin CRM

                                                                                                                I would like to request a feature that allows users to send WhatsApp voice messages directly from Bigin CRM. This would help improve communication efficiency and make it easier for teams to respond quickly to customer inquiries.

                                                                                                              • CRM: hosting a single html file in Zoho and displaying it as a widget

                                                                                                                I have seen that CRM offers the option of uploading a web project to Zoho itself and displaying it as a widget in CRM. The instructions then talk about setting a development environment with Node and developing an application to upload to Zoho. But I

                                                                                                              • Synchronise item image between Zoho Commerce and Zoho Books/Inventory/CRM

                                                                                                                Here is a blindingly simple idea to tie several Zoho products together. Zoho - please include a method to synchronise the item image (or images) from one Zoho application to another. For example, if you upload an item image in Zoho Inventory, a user should

                                                                                                              • How to change position button transtition of Blueprint?

                                                                                                                Hi Everyone, Look at my screenshoot, it is possible move the reject button to the right? I couldn't find that setting in the blueprint. Thank you.

                                                                                                              • Marketer’s Space - WhatsApp Pricing Update: What Marketers Need to Know and Do

                                                                                                                Hello Marketers, Welcome back to Marketer’s Space! WhatsApp made changes to their pricing model on July 1, 2025, moving from conversation-based pricing to a per-message pricing model. This week’s post focuses on what these changes mean for your WhatsApp

                                                                                                              • Zoho Desk Limitations

                                                                                                                Good day, all, I would like to know whether others share my frustration with some of Zoho's limitations. Don't get me wrong, I like Desk (and I also have a subscription for Analytics), I have been with them for close to 10 years, and unfortunately, I

                                                                                                              • Multi file upload

                                                                                                                Hi, I just wonder if one could upload multiple files in one shot, say between one and three files, without adding multiple File Upload fields? Thanks, Alalbany

                                                                                                              • Next Page