Tip 22: How to allow employees to check in and out, and then automatically calculate their total work hours
Hi everyone,
Keeping accurate track of employee hours is crucial to smoothly running business. So this week, we wanted to go over how you can automate this whole process using Zoho Creator. With this tip, you'll learn how to set up a page that will make it easy for your employees to check in and out, and help you track their work hours on a daily basis.
To do this, let's create a sample application called Attendance App, and show you how you can use it to track the total work hours of each of your employees.
Application flow
- Employees can check in and out by simply clicking on a button
- Once the employee checks out, the total working hours will be calculated and updated in the admin report
- Managers and administrators can then monitor the total work hours of each employee on a daily basis
To do this, we need to create the following components:
- Attendance form used to record the check in and check out times
- Dashboard with check in and check out buttons, and two reports
- A way for users to be given access to the application
- A report for employees to view their check-in and check-out times
- A report where the admin can view the details of all employees
Step 1: Create the attendance form
First, we need to create the attendance form to record the times. This form can be hidden, as the check-ins and check-outs are automatically recorded by clicking on the buttons on the page.
Fields on the attendance form:
- Email (Email field)
- Check-in time (Date-Time field)
- Check-out time (Date-Time field)
- Total time (Single line field)
- Status (Drop down field)
Step 2: Create functions for the check in and check out buttons
Now, let's create the two functions we need to record the check-in and check-out times. All you need to do is go to Workflows, click New Functions, and add some code snippets.
Function 1: To record the check-in time
The Check In button on the page calls a function, which adds a record to the attendance form. Use the below code to create the checkintime function:
- void login.checkintime()
- {
- fet = Attendance_form[Check_in_time == today &&Email == zoho.loginuserid];
- // This condition is to prevent an employee from checking in multiple times on the same day.
- if(fet.count() == 0)
- {
- new = insert into Attendance_form
- [
- Added_User=zoho.loginuser
- Email=zoho.loginuserid
- Check_in_time=zoho.currenttime
- Status="Checked In"
- ];
- } .
- // This adds a record in the attendance form, which captures the logged-in employee's email and the current time, and sets the status as "Checked In".
- openUrl("https://app.zohocreator.com/ownername/attendance-app/report-embed/User_report?zc_SecHeader=false&Email=" + zoho.loginuserid,"iframe","zohoview");
- // OpenURL will help you refresh the user-based report (embedded in the page) to display only the login-based entries.
- }
Function 2: To record the check-out time
Now, let's create a function that helps us record the check-out time. The Check Out button captures the check-out time, fetches the record containing the check-in time of the corresponding user, and calculates the total working time, which is the difference between the check-out and check-in times in the hours:minutes format.
- void login.checkouttime()
- {
- fet = Attendance_form[Check_in_time == today && Check_out_time == null && Email == zoho.loginuserid];
- //This condition checks the record based on the logged-in user and today's date, which has the check-out time as null. It avoids multiple check-outs and ensures the record is added by the corresponding user.
- if(fet.ID > 0)
- {
- fet.Check_out_time=zoho.currenttime;
- mil_sec = (fet.Check_out_time - fet.Check_in_time);
- actual_minutes = mil_sec / (1000 * 60);
- //1000 -> mill sec to sec, 60 -> sec to min
- mins = actual_minutes.toLong() % 60;
- // % 60 -> Exclude Hours
- hours = (actual_minutes / 60).toLong();
- // 60 -> min to hour, % 24 (optional) -> Exclude Days
- time_string = hours + " : " + mins;
- fet.Total_time=time_string;
- fet.Status="Checked Out";
- }
- else
- {
- // This part handles cases where the user checks in for a night shift, and by the time they check out, the date will have changed. In this case, we use zoho.currentdate.subDay(1) to get the previous date's record. This will be executed only if there isn't any matching record for today's date.
- fet1 = Attendance_form[Check_in_time == zoho.currentdate.subDay(1) && Check_out_time == null && Email == zoho.loginuserid];
- if(fet1.ID > 0)
- {
- fet1.Check_out_time=zoho.currenttime;
- mil_sec = (fet1.Check_out_time - fet1.Check_in_time);
- actual_minutes = mil_sec / (1000 * 60);
- //1000 -> mill sec to sec, 60 -> sec to min
- mins = actual_minutes.toLong() % 60;
- // % 60 -> Exclude Hours
- hours = (actual_minutes / 60).toLong();
- // 60 -> min to hour, % 24 (optional) -> Exclude Days
- time_string = hours + " : " + mins;
- fet1.Total_time=time_string;
- fet1.Status="Checked Out";
- }
- }
- openUrl("https://app.zohocreator.com/<workspaceName>/attendance-app/report-embed/User_report?zc_SecHeader=false&Email=" + zoho.loginuserid,"iframe","zohoview");
- // And this code refreshes the user-based report on the page to display the filtered login-based record with the updated check-out time and the total time.
Step 3: Add the buttons to the dashboard and link them to the functions
Once you've created both functions, you need to create two buttons—Check In and Check Out—on your dashboard, and link the function to these buttons. When a user clicks on them the function is executed and the time is captured.
To do that follow these steps:
- Go to the page builder.
- Drag and drop a button onto the page builder, and you'll see a new window appear, where you can add other elements.
- Choose the Action type you want to perform—in this case, Execute function.
- Choose the function that needs to be executed (refer to the screenshot below).
- Create both buttons and repeat these steps.
Step 4: Add the reports to the dashboard
Admin dashboard:
To track employee working hours
This dashboard will help the admin keep track of employee work hours. Apart from the two buttons on the page, there are two reports, which are embedded using an HTML snippet.
- The list report will dynamically display records based on the logged-in user (for example: if Employee A is logged in, they can only view their own times).
- The Kanban report will list all the users who've checked in on that day, and it can only be viewed by the admins of the application.
Now let's embed these two reports on the dashboard. To do that, we need to drag and drop the HTML snippet onto the page builder and write the script below:
- <%
- {
- a = "https://app.zohocreator.com/ownername/attendance-app/report-embed/User_report?zc_SecHeader=false&Email=" + zoho.loginuserid;
- %>
- <iframe name='zohoview' height='400' width='100%' frameborder='0' scrolling='Auto' src='<%=a%>'></iframe>
- <%
- if(zoho.loginuserid == zoho.adminuserid)
- {
- %>
- <div elName='zc-component' viewLinkName='Admin' params='zc_Header=true'>
- Loading View...</div>
- <%
- }
- }
- %>
In the code above, we're embedding the user report using an iframe, so that the user report (iframe) is automatically refreshed after a user clicks on Check In or Check Out. We've also hidden the secondary header present on the user report by setting up zc_SecHeader=false to prevent users from manually adding or modifying the record from the report. The logged-in user filter can be directly applied on the report, or by using the parameter "Email=" + zoho.loginuserid" in the URL.
The admin report is added using a DIV tag, and is displayed only to the account's super admin using the if condition. if(zoho.loginuserid == zoho.adminuserid)
If required, we can add other non-admin emails using the criteria below to make the admin report available for those particular users:
The admin will also have the option to check out users, in case they forget at the end of their shift.
Admin report
The Kanban report is created using the status field, which is a dropdown field, and you can add the code in On Update of the Status Field.For example, when the admin drags the record from the Check in time column to the Check out time column, the user will be automatically checked out.
You need to choose Edited for Run when a record is while creating the workflow.
Below is the script you need to write in On Update of the Status Field, so that when the record is dragged and dropped to the Check out time column on the Kanban report, the check-out time will be captured.
- if(input.Status == "Checked Out" && input.Check_out_time == null)
- {
- input.Check_out_time = zoho.currenttime;
- mil_sec = (input.Check_out_time - input.Check_in_time);
- actual_minutes = mil_sec / (1000 * 60);
- //1000 -> mill sec to sec, 60 -> sec to min
- mins = actual_minutes.toLong() % 60;
- // % 60 -> Exclude Hours
- hours = (actual_minutes / 60).toLong();
- // 60 -> min to hour, % 24 (optional) -> Exclude Days
- time_string = hours + " : " + mins;
- input.Total_time = time_string;
- }
We've also added a filter to the admin report, that will allow the admin to view all the employees who checked in and out for the day. And, if required, you can edit it by week or month, depending on your requirements.
Note: We will soon roll out the hoursBetween function, which can be used to find the difference between the check in and check out times. This function will return the difference of hours between the given start and end date-time values.
We hope this tip was useful for you! If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below, and we'll be happy to address them for you!
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Sejal Dattani
Muhammad Umar Akram
Sejal Dattani
jsantander
akshay motihar
Sticky Posts
ANZ In-Person Zoho User Group Meetups: Focusing on Zoho Creator & Zoho Flow (September 2024)
Hello, Zoho Community! Calling all Zoho users in Australia! We're thrilled to announce the next series of Zoho User Group (ZUG) Meetups, continuing the success of our previous sessions. These meetups are a great opportunity to learn, network, and engage[SESSION ENDED] Ask the Experts #07| Live Q&A: Building workflows with Blueprint in Zoho Creator |
Hello, Post the release of Zoho Creator Blueprint last month, we're happy to tell you that we'll be launching a new 'Ask the Experts' session on 16th September (Thursday) this month focussing on creating blueprints in Zoho Creator. The session will beZoho Creator Community Webinars | October - November 2020 [Completed]
Hello everyone, I’m happy to announce that Zoho Creator is hosting a new Community Webinar Series starting this October. This series is a learning initiative aimed at our developer community, where every session will take spotlight use cases focused onCommunity Learning Webinar - Zoho Creator Blueprint & other release updates | July 29, 2021
Dear developers, This June, the Creator team unveiled a slew of updates including UI enhancements to the Detail View of reports, an new capabilities in Data Import and Connections, and most important of all, the release of Blueprint in Creator. CustomizeCommunity Learning Webinar: Delve deep into the core concepts of Zoho Creator | 17th June, 2021
Dear developers, Every customer has unique business needs and unique problems to solve. To be able to give solutions to these problems, to get over any stumbling blocks and to be able to build applications expeditiously that tailor to specific needs,
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Unified Directory : How to Access ?
I signed in to Zoho One this morning and was met with the pop up about the upgraded directory (yay!) I watched the video and pressed "Get Started" ... and it took me back to the standard interface. How do I actually access the new portal/directory ?Zoho CRMの流入元について
Zoho CRMとZoho formsを連携し、 formsで作成したフォームをサイトに埋め込み運用中です。 UTMパラメータの取得をformsを行い、Zoho CRMの見込み客タブにカスタム項目で反映される状況になっています。 広告に関してはUTMパラメータで取得できているため問題ないのですが、オーガニック流入でフォーム送信の場合も計測したいです。メールやGoogle、Yahoo、directなどの流入元のチャネルが反映されるようにしたいのですが、どのように設定したら良いでしょうか。 また、Error While Sign in on Zoho Work Drive
Dear Team, I hope this email finds you well. I have recently created a Zoho account and started using it. But while I am trying to log in to Zoho work drive it won't log me in its crashing every time I try it. I have tried it on android app, phone browserChoosing a portal option and the "Unified customer portal"?
I am trialling Zoho to replace various existing systems, one of which is a customer portal. Our portal allows clients to add and edit bookings, complete forms, manage their subscriptions and edit some CRM info. I am trying to understand how I might bestTranslation support expanded for Modules, Subforms and Related Lists
Hello Everyone! The translation feature enables organizations to translate certain values in their CRM interface into different languages. Previously, the only values that could be translated were picklist values and field names. However, we have extendedUnified task view
Possible to enable the unified task view in Trident, that is currently available in Mail?Bigin, more powerful than ever on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and watchOS 26.
Hot on the heels of Apple’s latest OS updates, we’ve rolled out several enhancements and features designed to help you get the most from your Apple devices. Enjoy a refined user experience with smoother navigation and a more content-focused Liquid GlassImporting data into Assets
So we have a module in Zoho CRM called customers equipments. It links to customers modules, accounts (if needed) and products. I made a sample export and created extra fields in zoho fsm assets module. The import fails. Could not find a matching parentAllow instruction field in Job Sheets
Hello, I would like to know if it is possible to have an instruction field (multi line text) in a job sheet or if there is a workaround to be able to do it. Currently we are pretty limited in terms of fields in job sheets which makes it a bit of a struggleStreamlining Work Order Automation with Zoho Projects, Writer & WorkDrive
Hello Community, Here is the first post in 'Integration & Automation' Series. Use Case :: Create, Merge, Sign & Store Documents in Zoho WorkDrive. Scenario :: You have a standard Work Order template created in Zoho Writer. When a task status is chosenThe dimensions of multilingual power
Hola, saludos de Zoho Desk. Bonjour, salutations de Zoho Desk. Hallo, Grüße von Zoho Desk. Ciao, saluti da Zoho Desk. Olá, saudações da Zoho Desk. வணக்கம், Zoho Desk இலிருந்து வாழ்த்துகள். 你好，来自 Zoho Desk 的问候。 مرحباً، تحيات من Zoho Desk. नमस्ते, ZohoMulti-line address lines
How can I enter and migrate the following 123 state street Suite 2 Into a contact address. For Salesforce imports, a CR between the information works. The ZOHO migration tool just ignores it. Plus, I can't seem to even enter it on the standard entry screen.Accessing Zoho Forms
Hi all, We're having trouble giving me access to our company's Zoho Forms account. I can log in to a Forms account that I can see was set up a year ago, but can't see any shared forms. I can log into Zoho CRM and see our company information there withoutArchiving Contacts
How do I archive a list of contacts, or individual contacts?Cost of good field
Is there a way we can have cost of good sold as a field added to the back end of the invoicing procedure and available in reports?How to add image to items list in Invoice or Estimate?
Hello! I have just started using Zoho Invoice to create estimates and, possibly to switch from our current CRM/ERP Vendor to Zoho. I have a small company that is installing CCTV systems and Alarm systems. My question is, can I add images of my "items" to item list in Zoho Invoice and Estimates and their description? I would like to show my clients the image of items in our estimates so they can decide if they like these items. And I tell you, often they choose more expensive products just becauseIssue with the Permission to Zoho Form
I am getting an error by signing in to zoho form as it is stated that i don't have permission to access this is admin accountCRM templates
Hello everyone, In my company we use Zoho campaigns where we set up all newsletters and we use Zoho CRM for transactional emails. I have created some templates in Zoho campaigns but from my understanding i cannot use those in Zoho CRM, right?Pending Sales Order Reports
Pending sale order report is available for any single customer, Individual report is available after 3-4 clicks but consolidated list is needed to know the status each item. please help me.Zoho Mail SMTP IP addresses
We are using Zoho Mail and needs to whitelist IP for some redirections from your service to another e-mails. You can provide IP address list for Zohomail SMTP servers?Zoho Campaigns - Why do contacts have owners?
When searching for contacts in Zoho Campaigns I am sometimes caught out when I don't select the filter option "Inactive users". So it appears that I have some contacts missing, until I realise that I need to select that option. Campaigns Support haveemail forwarding not working
Your email forwarding service does not work. I received the confirmation email and completed the confirmation, after that nothing and nothing since no matter what I have tried. Shame as everything else was smooth. I spose it's harder to run one of these web based internet mail services than you guys thought!!! can you fix the email forwarding asap PLEASE!Google Ads Conversions Not Being Tracked in Zoho CRM
We have 3 different conversions created in our Google Ads Account. Only one of the 3 conversion types is tracking in Zoho CRM. Our forms are Elementor Forms that are mapped into Zoho CRM. It apprears to me that all leads are showing up in Zoho CRM, butEnable Locations for Expense
Hi, please enable Locations (ex Branches) for Zoho Expense so that there is consistency between this app and Zoho Books. Thanks in advance.in the Zoho Creator i have File Upload field get the file on submission of the form Get the File and upload to Zoho Books
in the Zoho Creator i have File Upload field get the file on submission of the form Get the File and upload to Zoho Books . how I get the file From zoho creator and upload to Zoho Books . using Api response = invokeUrl [ url: "https://www.zohoapis.com/creator/v2.1/data/hh/l130/report/All_Customer_Payments/"+input.IDGenerate a link for Zoho Sign we can copy and use in a separate email
Please consider adding functionality that would all a user to copy a reminder link so that we can include it in a personalized email instead of sending a Zoho reminder. Or, allow us to customize the reminder email. Use Case: We have clients we need toRate Limiting in Zoho Flow (OpenAI API)
Hi Everyone, We are facing some issues when using Zoho Flow as we have a deluge script running which is making external calls to OpenAI endpoint. Sometimes the response takes more than 30 seconds meaning the script will timeout. We want to implement aPlacing a condition before converting the LEAD
Hi, I need some assistance with Lead conversion. I need to place certain conditions before allowing the user to convert the lead. For example: up until the certain status's doesn't equal "green" don't allow to convert lead. I tried creating this usingit is possible to open a widget via deluge script function
I have one function that is workflow action I call my fucntion I need to call the internal widget it is possible to open or it have to please tell me the solutionCreator - Portal Custom Domain
I will pay $100 in crypto to anyone who can actually get my Creator Custom Domain to function (actually tell me how you got yours to). Domain verifies, Nothing. I've been fighting it a week, multiple chats to customer service. Clearly I'm doing something wrong. Some datapoints Domain name itself unimportant, can be a string of numbers. I need to know what registrars are working for you because GoDaddy does NOT. Do I need hosting? I've tried both ways and nothing works. I pushed through Cloudflaresteps and options to change Domain DNS/Nameservers settings
Please share the options or steps to change Domain DNS/Nameservers settingsEmployees in Leave Policy exceptions
In the Leave Policies we should be able to add specific employees to the exception list So it will be like All Employees except A,B,C in the exception list, currently we can only add departments etcHow get stock name from other column ?
How get stock name from other column ? e.g. =STOCK(C12;"price") where C12 is the code of the stockAdding a developer for editing the client application with a single user license
Hi, I want to know that I as a developer I developed one application and handed over to the customer who is using the application on a single user license. Now after6 months customer came back to me and needs some changes in the application. Can a customerDownload an email template in html code
Hello everyone, I have created an email template and I want to download it as html. How can i do that? I know you can do it via the campaigns-first create a campaign add the template and download it as html from there. But what if i don't want to createAttachment is not included in e-mails sent through Wordpress
I have a Wordpress site with Zeptomail Wordpress plugin installed and configured. E-mails are sent ok through Zeptomail but without the included attachment (.pdf file) Zeptomail is used to send tickets to customers through Zeptomail. E-Mails are generatedUpcoming Changes to the Timesheet Module
The Timesheet module will undergo a significant change in the upcoming weeks. To start with, we will be renaming Timesheet module to Time Logs. This update will go live early next week. Significance of this change This change will facilitate our nextBest way to schedule bill payments to vendors
I've integrated Forte so that I can convert POs to bills and make payments to my vendors all through Books. Is there a way to schedule the bill payments as some of my vendors are net 30, net 60 and even net 90 days. If I can't get this to work, I'll haveCant update image field after uploading image to ZFS
Hello i recently made an application in zoho creator for customer service where customers could upload their complaints every field has been mapped from creator into crm and works fine except for the image upload field i have tried every method to makeBilling Management: #4 Negate Risk Free with Advances
In the last post, we explored how unbilled charges accumulate before being invoiced. But what happens when businesses need money before service begins? Picture this: A construction company takes on a $500,000 commercial building project expected to lastNext Page