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

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.






                              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 #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

                                                                Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

                                                              • Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

                                                                Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

                                                              • Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

                                                                Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

                                                              • 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


                                                              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

                                                                                                                • CRM project association via deluge

                                                                                                                  I have created a workflow in my Zoho CRM for closing a deal. Part of this workflow leverages a deluge script to create a project for our delivery team. Creating the project works great however, after or during the project creation, I would like to associate

                                                                                                                • This user is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

                                                                                                                  Hi Team, when I,m trying to create a email account (imagixmidia.com.br) it's showing this error >>  This user is not allowed to add in Zoho. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details plz help me  thanks

                                                                                                                • How to manage task lists in Zoho Desk?

                                                                                                                  Hello, I use Zoho Desk for IT customer support. I have a list of standard operating procedures (SOPs), including SOPs for onboarding new users, offboarding users, losing a device, etc. These are lists of tasks to be performed depending on the situation.

                                                                                                                • Activating Zobot instead of chat

                                                                                                                  Hi folks, I know this will be obvious, but I have not been able to locate the details on this via google or youtube. We've had SalesIQ life chat set up for a while now and it is working perfectly. I have just finished development of a Zobot (using codeless)

                                                                                                                • Adding a new section to the related details sidebar when creating a new ticket.

                                                                                                                  Hello, I was wondering if you can add a new section to the related details sidebar when creating a new ticket. I was wanting to have it to where it also shows the account information related to the contact chosen as well. This is the section I am referring

                                                                                                                • Is Zoho Shifts included in the Zoho One plan?

                                                                                                                  In case the answer is no: there's any plan to make it available via One? Thank you

                                                                                                                • 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

                                                                                                                • Creating an invoice to be paid in two installments?

                                                                                                                  Hi there, I own a small Photographic Services business and have not been able to find a way to fit my billing system into Zoho, or any other Accounting software. The way my payments work is: 1. Customer pays 50% of total price of service to secure their

                                                                                                                • Zoho Tables is now live in Australia & New Zealand!

                                                                                                                  Hey everyone! We’ve got some great news to share — Zoho Tables is now officially available in the Australian Data Center serving users across Australia and New Zealand regions! Yes, it took us a bit longer to get here, but this version of Zoho Tables

                                                                                                                • Delivery and handling of documents e-stamped using Zoho Sign

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone! Zoho Sign makes it easy to pay non judicial stamp duty online and automatically attach the digitally generated e-stamp challan to electronic documents. We also manage the delivery of physical e-stamped papers. We periodically receive these

                                                                                                                • 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

                                                                                                                • Sortie de Zoho TABLE ??

                                                                                                                  Bonjour, Depuis bientôt 2 ans l'application zoho table est sortie en dehors de l'UE ? Depuis un an elle est annoncée en Europe Mais en vrai, c'est pour quand exactement ??

                                                                                                                • Drop Down Value

                                                                                                                  Hi, May I know why Zoho Flow treat this drop down as number and not as string. If so, how can I fetch the right value for filtering. This field is from Creator, in Creator upon checking by default it is a string since it's not a lookup field.

                                                                                                                • Zoho CRM's mobile apps: A 2025 Recap

                                                                                                                  2025 marked a year of steady progress for Zoho CRM's mobile apps. We rolled out several updates and features to improve usability and make everyday CRM work a lot easier to manage. Here’s a look back at some of the key releases from 2025. Android releases

                                                                                                                • Facebook follower count doesn't match FB Analytics

                                                                                                                  Hi all, I am wondering if anyone else has issues with follower counts for Facebook not matching FB's native analytics tool. On the Zoho dashboard, it's showing 1,007, but FB shows 1,060. All the other channels match up. Any insights are much appreciated!

                                                                                                                • Meta and Facebook data report discrepancy

                                                                                                                  I have been currently gathering manually facebook follower data thru meta. In zoho marketing plus the social media reporting only allows for page likes, and so there is a discrepancy with the data. please the difference in files attached. Is there way

                                                                                                                • Unlocking New Levels: Zoho Payroll's Journey in 2025

                                                                                                                  Every year brings its own set of challenges and opportunities to rethink how payroll works across regulations and teams. In 2025, Zoho Payroll continued to evolve with one clear focus: giving businesses more flexibility, clarity, and control as they grow.

                                                                                                                • Can I export all attachments from Zoho CRM?

                                                                                                                  Can I export all attachments from Zoho CRM?

                                                                                                                • Community Digest — Noviembre y Diciembre 2025

                                                                                                                  ¡Hola, Comunidad de Zoho en Español! Cerramos el año de la mejor forma con nuestro último Community Digest de 2025, donde podrás encontrar las últimas novedades de nuestros productos. ¿Todo listo para empezar 2026 con el mejor pie? ¡Vamos a ello! Zoho

                                                                                                                • Zoho Projects Plus’ 2025- the year we launched

                                                                                                                  We’ve been building project management tools for the past 19 years, and a question we often hear is: Different teams in our organization prefer different project management methods; while the development team prefers agile, the marketing and sales teams

                                                                                                                • Company Multiple Branch/ Location Accounting

                                                                                                                  Hi All, anyone know whether company can maintain their multiple Branch Accounting in Zoho  Books. It will be chart of Accounts & Master Data will be same but different report available as per per Branch. Thanks & regards, Vivek +91 9766906737

                                                                                                                • Email Administrators! Join our tips & troubleshooting series

                                                                                                                  Greetings to all the admins out there! This announcement is exclusively for you. As we step into the New Year, we’re excited to start a dedicated series of admin-specific tips curated to support you. These posts will help you overcome everyday challenges

                                                                                                                • Free Webinar : Unlock AI driven business insights with Zoho Inventory + Zoho Analytics

                                                                                                                  Are you tired of switching between apps and exporting data to build customized reports? Say hello to smarter & streamlined insights! Join us for this exclusive webinar where we explore the power of the Zoho Inventory–Zoho Analytics integration. Learn

                                                                                                                • Import Function: ONLY update empty fields

                                                                                                                  When setting up an import from a spreadsheet to CRM, there is a checkbox "Don't update empty values for existing contacts" (see screenshot below). While I see some limited benefit from this functionality, I think there should also be an "ONLY update empty

                                                                                                                • Begin the year with best practices in the Zoho Desk mobile app : Part 2

                                                                                                                  In focus: Optimizing collaboration and supervision Let's begin 2026 with Part 2 of our tips series on driving your ticketing operations at your fingertips. In Part 1, we explored streamlining operations within tickets. This helped individuals at Omniserve

                                                                                                                • JWT Token authentication problem that sometimes generates infinite redirect loops

                                                                                                                  Description : Nous proposons un bouton sur notre plateforme permettant de rediriger l'utilisateur vers le portail ZohoDesk via un jeton JWT pour une authentification transparente. Cependant, il arrive que certains utilisateurs soient pris dans une boucle

                                                                                                                • ZOHO Work Drive Back Up

                                                                                                                  I am looking for a ZOHO Work Drive backup solution. Something that is cloud based. There's lots of these kinds of options for Google Drive and other providers, but I have not seen anything for WorkDrive. Any suggestions?

                                                                                                                • ZOHO Reports - Filter Logic?

                                                                                                                  Hi, I need a way to apply filter logics such as ((1 AND 2) OR 3). All I can see as of now is a way to enter different AND filters in the respective filter column. But how can I add an OR filter? Any advice would be highly appreciated. Mark

                                                                                                                • Recruit API search

                                                                                                                  Hi all, Attempting to call the search api endpoint from Postman using the word element as mentioned in api docs Search Records - APIs | Online Help - Zoho Recruit When making the call to /v2/Candidates/search?word=Saudi receive response of { "code": "MANDATORY_NOT_FOUND",

                                                                                                                • Saving reading position + Keep screen on

                                                                                                                  While Zoho Notebook is excellent for saving and annotating articles, its utility is severely limited by the lack of reading progress synchronization. On the Android app, if a user exits a long note after reading 50%, the app fails to save the position.

                                                                                                                • Zoho LandingPage is integrated with Zoho One!

                                                                                                                  Greetings to the Zoho One users out there! We're delighted to let you know that Zoho LandingPage is available in Zoho One too! With Zoho LandingPage, you can host custom-made landing pages, and persuade the visitors to dive deeper by making further clicks,

                                                                                                                • Android app sync problem - multiple devices have same problem

                                                                                                                  Hello, I am having a problem with synchronization in the Android app. When I create a drawing, the data does not sync correctly—only a blank note is created without the drawing. I tested this on multiple devices, including phones and tablets, and the

                                                                                                                • How can i resend a campaign to only one of the recipients on the original campaign

                                                                                                                  How can i resend a campaign to only one of the recipients on the original campaign ? Sincererly, Mike

                                                                                                                • How to show branch instead of org name on invoice template?

                                                                                                                  Not sure why invoices are showing the org name not the branch name? I can insert the branch name using the ${ORGANIZATION.BRANCHNAME} placeholder, but then it isn't bold text anymore. Any other ideas?

                                                                                                                • Marketing Automation Requirements Questions

                                                                                                                  I would like to set up a multi-email drip campaign- please see the structure below and confirm if I can achieve this set up in Zoho marketing automation. Where applicable, highlight gaps and workarounds. Thanks Drip email campaign- Can I create one drip

                                                                                                                • Question about using custom_fields in Storefront Add-to-Cart API (error 2003 – required details)

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, I’m working with the Zoho Commerce Storefront API, specifically the Add to Cart endpoint: POST /storefront/api/v1/cart According to the documentation, this endpoint supports a custom_fields parameter for adding line-item custom data. I’m

                                                                                                                • Can a project be cloned?

                                                                                                                  Good afternoon, greetings. I would like to ask if it's possible to clone a project in Microsoft Project. I found a way to do it using templates, but I'm not sure if there's a direct way to clone a project. Thank you in advance for your attention, and

                                                                                                                • Timesheet Tasks in Zoho Books: associate to service item

                                                                                                                  How do we associate a service item to timesheet tasks in Zoho Books? For example: Joe spent 5 hours on project:task1 which is Service Item#1 (Income:Service1). When the invoice is issued thru the Project Invoice section, this is not available. When the

                                                                                                                • Task/Activity indicator in SalesPipeline overview has disappeared

                                                                                                                  I Just logged in my ZOHO CRM first 2026 checking my salespipeline overview , Every record card used to show an indication that there was an open task (Yellow if the expiry date was close, red if the expiry date was today and grey when it had expired).

                                                                                                                • Tip #56- Accessibility Controls in Zoho Assist: Hearing- 'Insider Insights'

                                                                                                                  As we begin the new year, it’s a great time to focus on making our tools more inclusive and accessible for everyone. Remote support often involves long hours in front of screens, varying lighting conditions, and users with diverse accessibility needs.

                                                                                                                • Next Page