Building extensions #4: Fundamental features of a Zoho Projects extension

Building extensions #4: Fundamental features of a Zoho Projects extension

Hello everyone!

Thank you for visiting our Building Extensions series. As part of this series, we've already covered how to use the Sigma cloud editor and the ZET CLI to create, test, and publish extensions for Zoho Projects. You can refer to our earlier posts for more details. We will now explore the core functionalities available to customize Zoho Projects extensions using the Sigma cloud editor approach.

Extension development: Broad objective

The comprehensive goal of extension development is generally to build tight integrations that can provide additional capabilities and make end users' work simpler and more productive. By integrating functional and technical provisions at the development end, extensions can subsequently be installed as part of the end user's Zoho Projects portal, allowing them to carry out additional functionalities while ensuring a seamless user experience.
So far, we've learned how to develop, test, and publish an extension. Now, let's look at the fundamental features of a Zoho Projects extension developed using the Sigma cloud editor.

Core features for customizing a Zoho Projects extension

In general, apps require data to function properly and carry out organizational tasks. This data must be acquired from reliable sources, analyzed, modified using logic functionalities when needed, and finally saved in order to be retrieved for future operations or business reports.

Some of the fundamental elements for customizing Zoho Projects extensions to carry out the tasks outlined above are:
  1. Tightly coupled integration
  2. Customized user interface
  3. Logical functionalities
  4. Event-based executions
  5. Data storage management
  6. Handling dialog box/pop window
Tightly coupled integration: A tightly coupled integration allows applications to be dependent on each other while ensuring a seamless and optimal exchange of information.

How it can be achieved: Connections
  • The Connections feature is essential when looking to develop an integration between Zoho Projects and another application through an extension.
  • You can connect with third-party applications or other Zoho products to perform activities that use data from other applications.
  • You can also establish connections for many applications and utilize them as part of a single extension. This creates a safe connection between Zoho Projects and other applications, allowing for seamless data functionality.
Customized user interface: A customized user interface with personalized features and components allows for a more simplified and direct approach to the end user.

How it can be achieved: Widgets
  • Widgets are graphical user interface components that help users easily access a product and perform functionalities.
  • You can create custom widgets and have them embedded in different locations in your extension. View the multiple locations where you can embed a widget here.
  • Zoho Projects also offers JS SDK for your javascript widget code to communicate with your extension.


Logical functionalities: Implementing an ideal concept requires the execution of a few to several fundamental blocks of logical functions.

How it can be achieved: Functions

  • Functions are blocks of code that help you perform a functionality.
  • You could write functions, leverage connections as part of functions to perform third-party operations, or utilize Deluge integration tasks to fulfill your functionality.
  • Finally, the function must be associated with the extension in order to be used in the extension.
Event-based executions: Executing logical functionalities based on an event enables the execution of triggers, the automation of work, and the avoidance of manual supervision.

How it can be achieved: Triggers
  • Triggers help execute functions in the occurrence of an event.
  • You can create triggers, associate it with an event, and then associate a function to the trigger to have it executed on occurrence of that event.
  • Check out the list of available trigger events here.
Data storage management: Managing and storing data plays a vital role in carrying out any operation smoothly and efficiently.

How it can be achieved: Data storage
  • Data storage allows you to save data or properties of an extension or entity.
  • The extension property can be used to store app/extension-level data, and the entity property can be used to store entity-level data.
  • Data storage is accomplished through the use of key-value pairs. The keys must be unique, and the values must be in JSON format.
Handling dialog box/pop window: Modal boxes are useful in instances where you need to prompt a dialog box that communicates data from the main application while holding control until the user completes an operation.

How it can be achieved: Modal box
  • Using the modal box, you can create a new iframe instance of the extension.
  • You can use modal boxes to send and receive data from one widget to another, allowing for inter-widget communication.
  • To create a new instance for the widget, send data to a widget, and receive or listen to data from a widget, Zoho Projects provides many methods such as instance, emit, and so on.
In this post, we looked at the major features that may be achieved using a Zoho Projects extension. We hope you found this information useful. In our upcoming posts, we will explain each feature in detail with example use cases. Continue to monitor this space for updates!

Sign up for a Zoho Developer account and start developing extensions for Zoho products using Sigma.

SEE ALSO:




      • Recent Topics

      • Unable to Send Different Email Templates for Different Documents in Zoho Sign

        Hello Zoho Community, I am facing a limitation with Zoho Sign regarding email notifications sent to customers when a document is sent for signing. Currently, whenever I send any template/document for signing, the email notification that goes to the customer

      • Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values Not Available

        When I create a custom picklist field in Deals, the "Enable History Tracking for Picklist Values" option is not available in the Edit Properties area of the picklist. When I create a picklist in any other Module, that option is available. Is there a specific reason why this isn't available for fields in the Deals Module?

      • Vault crashes on Android Devices

        Vault is continuously closing after entering the master password on my Android device. After several attempts I get a system message that says there is a bug in the app. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the app, and cleared the app cache, but nothing

      • ¿Cómo puedo configurar las contraseñas creadas bajo una directiva para que nunca caduquen y no aparezcan como caducadas en los informes?

        ¿Cómo puedo configurar las contraseñas creadas bajo una directiva para que nunca caduquen y no aparezcan como caducadas en los informes? La razón por la cual contraseña estas no deben caducar es porque su actualización depende de mi cliente y no de mí.

      • Camera access

        My picture doesn't appear in a group discussion. (The audio is fine.) The guide says "Click the lock icon on address bar," but I can't find it. Advise, please

      • Are static links available

        I'm still using Zoho Meeting in trial mode. My previous webinar software provided a static link, and I made the mistaken assumption that I could send out my link and start a meeting later. Mass confusion, but my fault. With a paid version do you get a

      • Why is Zoho Meeting quality so poor?

        I've just moved from Office 365 to Zoho Workplace and have been generally really positive about the new platform -- nicely integrated, nice GUI, good and easy-to-understand control and customisation, and at a reasonable price. However, what is going on

      • How to print a label from zoho creator app?

        Hello, I would like to print a label from zoho creator app record similar to attached one. Size 74mm x 102mm. I tried record template. It leaves plenty of space around the content and also I couldn't set the height of the page. So it is not printing properly. Could someone please direct me to right direction for this requirement?

      • Integration between "Zoho Sprints Stories" and "Zoho Projects Tasks/Subtasks"

        We have two separate teams in our organization using Zoho for project management: The Development team uses Zoho Sprints and follows Agile/Scrum methodology. The Infrastructure team uses Zoho Projects for traditional task-based project management. In

      • Where can we specify custom CSS in Zoho Forms custom theme ?

        I'm using a form with a dark theme. The OTP popup window is unreadable, because for some reason, the OTP popup background fixes color to white, but still takes the font color specified in the custom theme. This ends up as white on white for me, rendering

      • Team Gamification

        Would love to motivate, engage and encourage our team with our social media posts. Would like to include Gamification features of Social Media in Zoho Social or Marketing Automation. And also bring in Social Advocacy tools/tracking/management to these,

      • Sync Data from MA to CRM

        Currently, it's a one-way sync of data from the CRM to MA. I believe we should have the ability to select fields to sync from MA to the CRM. The lead score is a perfect example of this. In an ideal world we would be able to impact the lead score of a

      • Update CRM record action

        Currently, MA only offers a "Push Data" action to push data to a CRM module. This action is built to cover the need to both create a new record and update an existing record. Because it has been implemented this way all required fields on the CRM module

      • Pro Lite Upgrade - Quick Access Tray

        Hello, I was going to upgrade to Pro Lite but the Quick Access Tray feature isn't available for Windows. Of the four features not available for Windows, the QAT is what I'm most interested in. Are there plans to add this feature for Windows anytime soon?

      • Boost your CRM communication with new font types, sizes, and default reply-to options while composing emails

        Hello Everyone, We’re excited to introduce a series of impactful enhancements to the email composer settings in Zoho CRM. These updates enable you to personalize and optimize your customer interactions with greater efficiency. So what's new? Add custom

      • Feature Enhancement Request – Text Formatting Options in Item Description (Zoho Books/Quotes Module)

        Dear Zoho Development Team, Greetings from Radiant360 Integrated Technical Services LLC. We would like to bring to your attention a functional limitation we've encountered within the Item Table / Quote Description section of Zoho Books (and Zoho CRM Quotes).

      • 3 year sick leave cycle

        How do you set up a sick leave cycle for South Africa? In SA the sick works like this for the first 6 months you get 0.83 paid sick days a month, then after 6 months you sick leave balance is reset to 30 days that can be used over a 36 month cycle.  This

      • WorkDrive and CRM not in sync

        1/ There is a CRM file upload field with WorkDrive file set as the source: 2/ Then the file is renamed in WorkDrive (outside CRM): 3/ The File in CRM is not synced after the change in WorkDrive; the file name (reference) in CRM record is not updated (here

      • Is Zoho Communityspaces now part of Zoho One?

        Is Zoho Communityspaces now part of Zoho One?

      • Bigin’s 2025 Evolution: Highlights from 2025 and What’s Ahead in 2026

        Dear Biginners, Wishing you a very happy New Year! As we stand at the cusp of endless possibilities in 2026, we would like to take a moment to reflect on what we achieved together in 2025. Your continued support, thoughtful feedback, and kind words of

      • Send Supervisor Rule Emails Within Ticket Context in Zoho Desk

        Dear Zoho Desk Team, I hope this message finds you well. Currently, emails sent via Supervisor Rules in Zoho Desk are sent outside of the ticket context. As a result, if a client replies to such emails, their response creates a new ticket instead of appending

      • Zoho Desk - Change Time Zone for all users and set default for new user

        Hi,   Is there a way to set a default time zone so that when user creates an account via the Zoho Desk invitation, they don't need to select the time zone via the hundreds of choice?   And, for already created users, can we edit the incorrect time zone selected by the user at the account creation ?   Thanks ! Fred

      • Allow Manual Popup Canvas Size Control

        Hello Zoho PageSense Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the PageSense popup editor regarding popup sizing. Current Limitation: Currently, the size (width and height) of a popup is strictly controlled by the selected

      • Why does Zoho’s diff viewer highlight parts of unchanged lines?

        Hi everyone, I’ve noticed something odd in the Zoho editor’s diff view. When I delete a single line, the diff doesn’t just mark that line as removed. Instead, it highlights parts of the next line as if they changed, even though they are identical. Example:

      • Automating Employee Birthday Notifications in Zoho Cliq

        Have you ever missed a birthday and felt like the office Grinch? Fear not, the Cliq Developer Platform has got your back! With Zoho Cliq's Schedulers, you can be the office party-cipant who never forgets a single cake, balloon, or awkward rendition of

      • Add deluge function to shorten URLs

        Zoho Social contains a nice feature to shorten URLs using zurl.co. It would be really helpful to have similar functionality in a Deluge call please, either as an inbuilt function or a standard integration. My Creator app sends an email with a personalised

      • form data load issue when saving as duplicate record is made

        Hello. I have a form with a lookup when a value is selected the data from the corresponding record is filled into all of the fields in the form. But the form is loaded in such a state that if any value is changed it will take all of the values pre loaded

      • Invoice template, how to change the text under "Notes" and "Terms and Conditions"

        In "Invoice templates", there are two text/info sections at the bottom:"Notes" and "Terms and Conditions". It is possible to change the names of these two headings, but how is it possible to change/alter the text under it. As a standard it says "Thank you for your business" under Notes - I need to change it into something different- How? Thank you.

      • Recurring Tasks and Reminders in Projects

        Recurring tasks are tasks that are created once, and then recreated automatically after a designated time period. For example, the invoice for your billable tasks is due every week. You can set that task to recreate itself every week. Also, the future

      • Unable to remove the “Automatically Assigned” territory from existing records

        Hello Zoho Community Team, We are currently using Territory Management in Zoho CRM and have encountered an issue with automatically assigned territories on Account records. Once any account is created the territory is assigned automatically, the Automatically

      • Improved Functionality PO Bill SO Invoice

        Hello, I need to enter over 100 items, it's frustrating to scroll a few item rows and wait for more to load, then scroll again. It would be nice to have buttons that scroll to the top or bottom with one click. Furthermore, these items I'm adding are VAT

      • Wishes for 2026

        Hello, and a happy new year 2026! Let's hope it's better for everyone. I'd like to share some thoughts on Zoho One and what could be useful in the short, medium, and long term. Some things are already there, but not applied to Zoho One. Others seem like

      • How to Integrate Zoho Books with Xero (No Native Connection Available)

        Hi everyone, I’m currently facing an issue with integrating Zoho Books invoices with Xero, as I’ve noticed Zoho does not provide a native integration with Xero at this time. I would like to ask: What are the common or recommended solutions for syncing

      • ZohoSalesIQ.Chat cannot send messages

        Chat cannot send messages. Our app implements the customer service chat window functionality by integrating the Mobilisten SDK. Recently, we encountered an issue: after successful SDK initialization and visitor registration, when the `startWithQuestion`

      • Markup instead of discount??

        Is it possible to have the discount field on an invoice or estimate be a markup instead? It's the very same functionality that I am looking for - to be able to markup an individual item by either a $ or a % and have that cost added (instead of subtracted) to the item cost.  Currently, I use the tax feature to accomplish this, but it's very awkward to have "Markup 15%" listed after the subtotal. Plus, if I want to markup items at different rates, I end up with several "markup" lines in the totals

      • Plan switch

        I thought I pressed the Free button, but after they set up the account, I see that I am on a Premium trial. Is this usual? How do I get onto the Free version?

      • 'Tax registration date'?

        The second question in setting up is 'Tax registration date'. My first question: which tax? My second question: why do you need the registration date?

      • What if we don't have an ABN?

        Australian business. Setting up. We have no ABN. It's not compulsory. Field not allowed to be blank. What to do?

      • Keeping track of project expenses

        I have talked to a few support techs and it is very hard for me to believe that Zoho's project accounting software can't keep accounts for my projects. I must not understand what they're saying. We get a contract to build something. So the project revenue

      • Linking Multi-UOM Barcodes to Products in Zoho Books

        Greetings, I'm using Zoho Books for retail shop and I'm running into a bit of a challenge with products that have multiple Units of Measurement (UOMs) and corresponding barcodes. For example, I sell cigarettes both as individual packets and in cartons

      • Next Page