Understand form workflows | Zoho Creator Help

Understand Form Workflows

Form workflow refers to the workflow triggered when there is an activity on a form. The activities that you can perform on a form are listed below.
  • Created - Create a new record in the form
  • Created or Edited - Create a new record or edit an existing record in the form
  • Edited - Edit an existing record in the form
  • Deleted - Delete an existing record in the form

A form can have multiple workflows that get triggered when the above mentioned activities are performed. There needs to be a sequence for the workflows to be executed one after the other. So, the workflows get executed in the order of creation. Let's assume you have created three workflows in the following order:

  1. When the form is created.
  2.  When the form is created or edited. 
  3. When the form is edited.

The first workflow (when the form is created) is executed first, followed by the second and third workflows. 

Actions

You can create a form workflow and associate actions. The workflow is triggered when there is an activity on the form, and the associated actions are executed.

Let us assume the form workflow is to create a new lead in your CRM account when visitor information is added to Creator. In this workflow, adding visitor information is the form activity which in turn triggers the creation of a new lead in CRM. Similarly, you can create form workflows by specifying the form activity and add the action to be executed. There are five action types that you can associate with a form workflow. They are:

Action types Action
Notification
  1. Send Email
  2. Send SMS
  3. Send Mobile Notification
  4. Show Success Message
  5. Redirect to a URL
Field Actions
  1. Hide fields
  2. Show fields
  3. Enable fields
  4. Disable fields
  5. Set Field value 
Data Access
  1. Add record
  2. Update record
  3. Delete record
Integrations
  1. Push data to Zoho CRMx
  2. Push data to Zoho Recruit
  3. Push data to Salesforce
  4. Push data to Quickbooks
Custom Action
  1. Trigger custom action on form load
  2. Trigger custom action on form validation
  3. Trigger custom action on form submission  

Integration Form Workflows

Integration forms in Zoho Creator establish a seamless link between two services, allowing dynamic data transfer without the need for custom scripts. These forms pull fields directly from third-party modules, ensuring a smooth integration process. Learn more about integration forms

Workflows for integration forms automate processes to enable real-time data exchange between Zoho Creator and third-party systems. This streamlines data transfer, reduces manual intervention, and accelerates operations with greater accuracy.
In addition to automating processes, integration form workflows enable businesses to focus on key outcomes like:
  1. Seamless Third-Party Integration
  2. Intelligence for Dynamic Third-Party Data Handling
  3. Improved Operational Efficiency with Integration Forms

Supported Triggers

  1. Load of Form: Execute actions when the form is loaded.
  2. Field Rules: Enable dynamic form behaviour by applying conditions to specific fields, triggering actions such as hiding, showing, or updating values.
  3. User Input: Execute actions on input of a value.
  4. Validations on form submission: Execute actions to validate field values on form submission.

Use Case

Automated stock calculation between e-commerce and inventory management systems:
Scenario: A retail business sells products through multiple channels, including an external e-commerce platform (such as Zoho Commerce) and offline orders. To prevent overselling, streamline restocking, and enhance order fulfillment, the business integrates its e-commerce "Sales Details" into Zoho Creator’s inventory management system.

Workflow Automation:
  1. Trigger:
    When the "Payment Status" field is set to "Paid" in the Sales Details Form.
  2. Action:
    The purchased quantity is automatically deducted from the stock count in inventory management in Zoho Creator.
By seamlessly synchronizing inventory data across sales platforms, this automation prevents overselling, maintains accurate stock levels, and optimises order fulfilment. As a result, businesses can ensure a smooth purchasing experience, minimize stock discrepancies, and improve overall operational efficiency.

Key Benefits

  1. Automation of repetitive tasks: Streamline processes by automating workflows triggered by specific actions, reducing manual effort and saving valuable time.
  2. Improved data accuracy and consistency: Ensure accurate and consistent data entry with robust validations during form submissions, enhancing overall data reliability.
  3. Enhanced flexibility and customizable logic: Apply dynamic field rules or execute workflows on form load to tailor operations according to unique business needs.
  4. Simplified workflow handling: Simplify the management of complex workflows, including third-party data integration, within Zoho Creator. This improves operational efficiency by saving time and reducing effort.
  5. Reduced dependency on technical expertise: Empower businesses to create powerful workflows without requiring custom code, minimizing development costs, and lowering reliance on technical teams.

Points to note:

  1. The On Deleted record event is not supported in integration form workflows. This means actions triggered by the deletion of a record in an integration form cannot be executed.
  2. The On Successful Form Submission and On Update of a Field form events are not supported in integration form workflows. Meaning, workflows cannot be triggered when a field is updated or when a form submission is completed successfully.
  3. Lookup fields in an integration form aren't supported in workflows.
  4. Fields in integration forms that are not linked to the Creator form cannot be used in workflows. This includes fields that exist in third-party modules but are not added to the integration form in Zoho Creator.
  5. Deluge:
    1. Deluge scripts cannot access system fields such as input.Modified_date or input.ID, in integration form workflows.
    2. Deluge's Data Access tasks cannot be used to add, modify, or delete data from integration forms.
    3. Fetching the previous multiselect value with the 'old' keyword is not supported in integration form workflows.
    4. Add, update, and delete access tasks are not supported for On Load and On User Input events in integration form workflows.
    5. Only invokeURL is supported for fetching web data in integration form workflows.
    6. Adding and modifying dropdown choices dynamically is not supported in integration form workflows.
    7. System fields in integration forms are not supported in workflows.
    8. The ID field of an integration form is supported only as a subfield within an integration field.
    9. Integration reports cannot be attached in the Send Mail task.

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