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Learn how to create a connection and authorize it to integrate with other third party services with built-in and custom connectors in Zoho Creator.

Steps to Create a Connection

To integrate your Zoho Creator application with other cloud services, you first need to configure a connection. This process of configuring a connection is twofold. The first step requires you to create the connection with the specified parameters. The next step requires you to authorize the connection for it to be functional. There are several built-in connectors available in Zoho Creator you can use to create connections. To connect with services that are not available as a built-in connector, you can create a custom connector for that service and use it in a connection. Click here to learn more about connections.

1. Navigate to the Microservices page.
   
   
2. Click Create New.
   
   
3. Click Pick & Create under Connections. The list of built-in connectors will appear as cards.
   
Note: If the required service is not available in the list of built-in connectors, you can create a custom connector and proceed further. 


4. Select the connector of the required service for creating a connection.
   
5. Enter a name for the connection and choose the level of authorization.
   

Note: You can choose to select from one of the following authorization levels based on your requirements.


1. Administrator: When this option is selected, only admins and super admin of the application have the authority to authorize the connection. Regular users or non-administrative roles cannot authorize the connection but can consume them through admin authorization, making the connection an admin connection. 
   
   
2. Any User: If this option is chosen, any logged-in user, regardless of their role, can authorize the connection. Unlike admin connections, these connections can hold individual authorization for all logged in users and can perform the integrations based on the authorization of the user who executes it. This means that both administrators and regular users have the ability to grant authorization for the connection, making the connection a logged-in user connection. Logged-in user connections can be created only for limited built-in connectors.
   
6. For a connector with OAuth2 type authentication, you will be prompted to select scopes before creating a connection, as shown below.
   
7. Select the Always use the same authorization for all environments checkbox if you need the same credentials to be used to authorize across all environments. Click here to learn about using different authorizations for different environments.
   
8. Click Create and Authorize. The connection will be created and prompted for authorization.
   
9. Enter the Name of the Authorization Account and the authorization credentials. The name provided needs to be unique; it will be used to identify the authorization.
   
Note:  The third-party service's credentials required to authorize are based on the authentication type supported by the target service. 

For built-in connectors, the parameters that are required by the service are preconfigured. While creating connections, you can simply provide your credentials. 

For custom connectors, you will need to configure the parameters required by the service while creating the custom connector. Configured parameters will be prompted as fields while authorizing the connection with the custom connector. Based on the authentication type used, there will be a difference in the authorization of custom connectors.
10. Select the environments for which authorization needs to be applied.
    
Note: When you select the checkbox labeled Always use the same authorization for all environments during the connection creation process, it ensures that the authorization remains consistent across all environments. As a result, all environments will be automatically selected by default, and their selection cannot be edited.
11. Click Authorize and proceed to authorize access to the selected service.
    
12. For OAuth2, once you click Authorize, a timer of 90 seconds will be triggered. You will be redirected to the third-party service authorization page.
    
13. Enter your authorization credentials and accept the access permissions before the time limit expires. 

After authorization, the connection is ready to be used in your applications, for example. If you want to push data from a Zoho Creator field Vendor name to the Quickbooks account's Vendor module every time the form is submitted, you can achieve this using integrations actions in form workflow. To do so, create a Quickbooks connection, authorize it with the desired account's credentials, and supply it to the connections field while configuring the integrations action. The other users of your application can also authorize and use this connection based on the authorization level set while creating the connection.

Difference in authorization of custom connectors

The authorization will differ based on the authentication type used while creating the custom connector. Let's consider a few examples:

1. A basic authentication type service, Atlassian, requires a username and password to establish a connection with it. In the case of Atlassian, the username will be an email, and the password will be an auth token. These need to be configured as parameters while creating the custom connector. The configured parameters are prompted as fields to get the credentials from the user while authorizing the connection.
   
   
   
2. An API key authentication type service, Open Weather, requires an API key to establish a connection. As with the basic connector, this needs to be configured while creating the custom connector.
   
3. An OAuth1 authentication service, Trello, directs you to its authorization page, where you need to give access to the requested permissions once you click Authorize.
   
4. An OAuth2 authentication service, Dropbox, directs you to its authorization page, where you need to give access to the configured scopes once you click Authorize.
   

Points to Note

1. Connections can be created only by administrators.
2. System connections can only be authorized by super admin.
3. Logged-in user connections can only be created in C6.
4. For creating datasources and schedulers in logged-in user connections, the primary account is mandatory to channelize integrated services through a single account. 
5. The connections created with custom connectors can be used only in Deluge invoke URL tasks, mentioning the respective action API for any specific scenario/workflow. Refer to this example to fetch files from the connected Dropbox account using an invoke URL task.
6. If a connection is used in an application, it can also be viewed and authorized in the live and edit mode of the application. Click here to learn more about accessing connections in live and edit mode.
   

Related links

1. Understand Connections
2. Manage Connections
3. Connection in Live and Edit Mode
4. Understand connectors