About connections
Connections help you in integrating with other Zoho or external cloud services in a secure manner. When you create a custom function with a requirement to interact with other applications, you are required to create a connection for that particular service.
Example
Let's assume you're creating a function that allows your Zoho Sprints application to interact with Slack. Slack is an external office communication service. Your function enables you to post messages on Slack at the trigger of events like closing a work item, reopening a work item, starting a sprint, and more. Let's say an item is closed and at the item of that closure a notification is sent to your team on the Slack channel that is available for your sprint team.
To achieve this, you need to create a connection for Slack. This connection ensures that all security protocols are adhered to and the interaction between the two applications happen in a safe manner. So, you will:
- Create a connection for the Slack service with the scopes "chat:write:bot".
- Find 'slackconnection' & replace it with the connection name you've provided.
- Configure valid slack channel ID in "channelId" custom parameters.
- Disable Use Credentials of Login User and create the connection.
Once you create the connection you will be able to perform various actions like add records, fetch records, and search for records from the connected cloud service.
Default and Custom Services
Zoho Sprints comes with a list of services that are identified as potential integrations. You can search and pick the service or your choice and setup the connection with your credentials.
If the service you're looking for is not listed in the default services section, you can go to the custom service section and start creating service with the service details. Once you create the service, you can setup the connection.
Connection types
There are three sections under which connections are categorized:
- My connections: This page will display all your connected services.
- Shared connections: This page will display all the connections that are shared with you. (You can invite other workspace users to share a connection that you create. When other users invite you and you accept the invitation, that connection is shared with you and you can use it.)
- System connections: This page will display connected that are created by default when an integration action is defined. For example, when you write an integration task for an in-built Zoho service, a system connection gets created for that Zoho service.