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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

Note: Payment workflows now rely on Payment Gateways powered by Zoho Checkout. All payment services have been moved under Microservices > Operations > Payment Gateways. The existing version of PayPal, PayflowPro, and Payments Pro has been deprecated on 26th September, 2024 and none of the payment transactions will be processed after this date. To ensure uninterrupted payment processing, migrate to the latest version. Learn more

1. Navigate to the Microservices in the left pane and click + Create New.
   
2. Click Pick & Create under Connections. The list of built-in connectors will appear as cards.
   
3. Select the connector of the required service for creating a connection.
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. The Connection Name will be auto-generated on choosing the connector, this can be edited by clicking the box. Choose the level of authorization.
   If there are multiple connections with the same connector then the naming format will be as follows, <service-name> [space] Connection <sequence>.

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.
5. Configure the credentials for a connector with OAuth2 type authentication; you will be prompted to select scopes before creating a connection, as shown below. You can choose All Actions or select the particular actions that you want your service to perform by choosing Only Specific Actions.
   


Note: If you choose the credentials to enable access to All Actions then all the modules in the scope will be selected. There won't be an option to deselect the modules. 

6. By default, the same authorization will be used for all environments unless the Use different authorizations for each environment box is checked. 
   
   If you need your users to use different credentials to authorize the application across different environments, select the checkbox. Click here to learn about using different authorizations for each environments.
   
   

7. Click Create and Authorize.
   
   
8. Enter the authorization credentials in the popup that follows. If you chose to use different authorization for each environment, then select the environments for which the authorization needs to be applied. Click Authorize and the connection will be created and prompted for 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.
9. Select the environments for which authorization needs to be applied. Click Authorize and proceed to authorize access to the selected service.
Note: When you don't select the checkbox labeled Use different authorization for each environment during the connection creation process, the authorization remains consistent across all environments. As a result, all environments will be automatically selected by default.
10. For OAuth2, once you click Authorize. You will be redirected to the third-party service authorization page.
    
11. Enter your authorization credentials and accept the access permissions before the time limit of 90 seconds expire.
    
    

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. If you choose to Use different authorization for each environment, then choose the environments in the popup that follows.
   
   
   
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, requires you to select the Connection Authorization Level.
   
   
1. If you choose to Use different authorization for each environment, then choose the environments in the popup that follows. Once you click Authorize, it redirects you to the service's (Trello) authorization page, where you need to give access to the requested permissions.
4. An OAuth2 authentication service, Dropbox, requires you to select the Connection Authorization Level.
   
   
1. If you choose to Use different authorization for each environment, then choose the environments in the popup that follows. Once you click Authorize, it redirects you to the service's (Dropbox) authorization page, where you need to give access to the requested permissions.
   

Points to Note

1. Connections can be created only by administrators.
2. System connections can be authorized by super admin, admin or developers.
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