Convert a message on Cliq into a task on Zoho Connect

Message actions in Cliq are a great way to transform messages in a conversation into actionable work items. In this post, we'll see how to build a custom message action that'll let you add a message as a task to board on Zoho Connect. 

If you haven't created a board in Zoho Connect, then head over to this help document to know how to create one. 

For this example, we've created a board for the Zylker Campaigns team in Zoho Connect. The board has three sections: User Interface, Content Marketing, Customer Support. We'll see how the marketing team discusses about upcoming marketing initiatives and keeps track of tasks in their connect board. 

The workflow behind creating this message action is pretty simple. 

1. Once a user clicks on the Add Connect Task message action, the action's handler is triggered to display a form. 

2. The user fills all the information required. We use the form change handler to modify the form field values based on the users' inputs. For example, display networks that the user is a part of by default and on selecting a specific network, we'll show the list boards that the user is a part of under the selected network. The same applies for sections as well. 

3. On choosing the respective network, board and section, the user can add the task title, description, due date, assignee and more. Note that, the message on which the action was performed will be displayed as the task title by default. This can be modified.

4. On clicking Add Task, the form submit handler is invoked to create a task in Connect with all the provided details. 

Prerequisites

Create a connection between Cliq and Connect: 

You'll need an active connection between Cliq and Connect. To create a connection, 

1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools. 
   
2. Click on the Connections icon present on the left side menu of the Bots & Tools page. 
   
3. Now, click on Create Connection. 
   
4. In the Add Connections view, select the Zoho Oauth option. 
   
5. Name your connection. For example you can name your connection: zoho_connect or zohoconnect and choose the following scopes: zohopulse.networklist.READ, zohopulse.tasks.READ, zohopulse.tasks.CREATE
   
6. Make sure the Use Credentials of Login User option is enabled. 
   
7. Click on the Create and Connect button to generate the invoke URL task with the connection name. 
   

We'll be using this invoke URL task in our code. 

Create a message action 

To create a message action on Cliq, 

1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools. 
   
2. Click on Message Actions in the left pane.
   
3. Click on the Create Message Action button and fill in the required details. 
   
   Action Name: Provide your message action name. This field is mandatory.
   
   Hint: Brief explanation about the message action.
   
   Access Level: Decide who gets to access your message action. Choose between Organization, Team and Private. Default option is Private.
   
   Choose what kind of messages should have the message action. Options are Text messages, Attachments and Links. For this example, we're choosing messages of the type Text. 
   
4. Click on Save & Edit Code. 
   

Create a form function

To create a form function on Cliq, 

1. Click on your display picture. This will open up the user panel. Now, click on Bots & Tools.
   
2. Click on Functions in the left pane. Click on the Create Function button and fill in the required details. 
   

• Name: Give your function name. Ensure to use the same function name in your form's code as well. 
  
• Description: Briefly describe how your function works. 
  
• Function Type: Choose the component with which the function should be associated. For this example, we're using the function of the type: Form 
  

Step 1: Configuring the message action handler

The message handler is triggered to return the Create Task form as a response. 

1. messageText = message.get("content").get("text");
   
2. getNetworks = invokeurl
   
3. [
   
4. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/allScopes"
   
5. type :GET
   
6. connection: "" // Give your connection name
   
7. ];
   
8. getNetworks = getNetworks.get("allScopes").get("scopes");
   
9. netWorkOptions = List();
   
10. for each  network in getNetworks
    
11. {
    
12. networkList = Map();
    
13. networkList.put("label",network.get("name"));
    
14. networkList.put("value",network.get("id"));
    
15. netWorkOptions.add(networkList);
    
16. }
    
17. inputs = list();
    
18. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"networks","label":"Network","hint":"Select a network","placeholder":"Select a network!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"trigger_on_change":true});
    
19. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"boards","label":"Boards","hint":"Select a board","placeholder":"Select a board!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"disabled":"true","trigger_on_change":true});
    
20. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"value":"","options":netWorkOptions,"disabled":"true"});
    
21. inputs.add({"name":"title","label":"Title","placeholder":messageText,"value":messageText,"hint":"Enter your task name","min_length":"0","max_length":"50","mandatory":true,"type":"text"});
    
22. inputs.add({"type":"textarea","name":"note","label":"Description","hint":"Describe your task.","placeholder":"To be done by Tuesday","mandatory":false});
    
23. inputs.add({"name":"duedate","label":"Due by","placeholder":"Give your task's due date.","mandatory":false,"type":"date"});
    
24. inputs.add({"type":"select","name":"priority","label":"Priority","hint":"Choose your task priority","placeholder":"High","mandatory":true,"value":"High","options":{{"label":"No Priority","value":"None"},{"label":"Low","value":"Low"},{"label":"Medium","value":"Medium"},{"label":"High","value":"High"}}});
    
25. addTask = {"name":"addTask","type":"form","title":"Add a task","hint":"Add a task to a board in Zoho Connect. ","button_label":"Add Task","inputs":inputs,"action":{"type":"invoke.function","name":"connectTask"}};
    
26. return addTask;
    

Step 2: Configuring the form change handler

The form change handler will be triggered when the user is filling up the form. The handler is responsible for modifying the form field values based on the user's inputs. 

1. targetName = target.get("name");
   
2. inputValues = form.get("values");
   
3. networkID = inputValues.get("networks").get("value");
   
4. actions = list();
   
5. if(targetName.containsIgnoreCase("networks"))
   
6. {
   
7. getBoards = invokeurl
   
8. [
   
9. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/myBoards"
   
10. type :GET
    
11. parameters:{"scopeID":networkID}
    
12. connection:"" // Give your connection name
    
13. ];
    
14. getBoards = getBoards.get("myBoards").get("boards");
    
15. boardOptions = List();
    
16. for each  board in getBoards
    
17. {
    
18. boardList = Map();
    
19. boardList.put("label",board.get("name"));
    
20. boardList.put("value",board.get("id"));
    
21. boardOptions.add(boardList);
    
22. }
    
23. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"boards","input":{"type":"select","name":"boards","label":"Boards","hint":"Select a board","placeholder":"Select a board!","mandatory":true,"options":boardOptions,"trigger_on_change":true}});
    
24. }
    
25. else if(targetName.containsIgnoreCase("boards"))
    
26. {
    
27. boardId = inputValues.get("boards").get("value");
    
28. getResponse = invokeurl
    
29. [
    
30. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/boardSections"
    
31. type :GET
    
32. parameters:{"scopeID":networkID,"boardId":boardId}
    
33. connection:"" // Give your connection name
    
34. ];
    
35. getSections = getResponse.get("boardSections").get("sections");
    
36. sectionOptions = List();
    
37. for each  section in getSections
    
38. {
    
39. sectionList = Map();
    
40. sectionList.put("label",section.get("name"));
    
41. sectionList.put("value",section.get("id").toString());
    
42. sectionOptions.add(sectionList);
    
43. }
    
44. getMembers = getResponse.get("boardSections").get("members");
    
45. if(getMembers.isempty() == false)
    
46. {
    
47. boardMembers = List();
    
48. for each  member in getMembers
    
49. {
    
50. memberList = Map();
    
51. memberList.put("label",member.get("name"));
    
52. memberList.put("value",member.get("zuid"));
    
53. boardMembers.add(memberList);
    
54. }
    
55. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"sections","input":{"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"options":sectionOptions}});
    
56. actions.add({"type":"add_after","name":"duedate","input":{"type":"select","name":"members","multiple":true,"label":"Assignees","hint":"Add assignees","placeholder":"Assign task to a member","mandatory":false,"options":boardMembers}});
    
57. }
    
58. else
    
59. {
    
60. actions.add({"type":"update","name":"sections","input":{"type":"select","name":"sections","label":"Section","hint":"Select a section","placeholder":"Select a section!","mandatory":true,"options":sectionOptions}});
    
61. }
    
62. }
    
63. return {"type":"form_modification","actions":actions};
    

Step 3: Configuring the form submit handler

We'll call the create task API in form submit handler. The submit handler typically receives all the inputs filled by the user and will be triggered on form submission. 

1. response = Map();
   
2. formValues = form.get("values");
   
3. scopeID = formValues.get("networks").get("value");
   
4. boardId = formValues.get("boards").get("value");
   
5. sectionId = formValues.get("sections").get("value");
   
6. title = formValues.get("title");
   
7. priority_value = formValues.get("priority").get("value");
   
8. parameters = {"scopeID":scopeID,"boardId":boardId,"sectionId":sectionId,"title":title,"priority":priority_value};
   
9. desc = formValues.get("note");
   
10. if(desc != "" && !desc.isEmpty())
    
11. {
    
12. parameters.put("desc",desc);
    
13. }
    
14. duedate = formValues.get("duedate");
    
15. if(duedate != "" && !duedate.isEmpty())
    
16. {
    
17. duedate = duedate.toList("-");
    
18. eyear = duedate.get(0);
    
19. emonth = duedate.get(1);
    
20. edate = duedate.get(2);
    
21. parameters.put("eyear",eyear);
    
22. parameters.put("emonth",emonth);
    
23. parameters.put("edate",edate);
    
24. }
    
25. assignee = formValues.get("members");
    
26. if(assignee != {} && !assignee.isEmpty())
    
27. {
    
28. userIds = list();
    
29. for each  assgineeID in assignee
    
30. {
    
31. userIds.add(assgineeID.get("value"));
    
32. }
    
33. parameters.put("userIds",userIds.toString());
    
34. }
    
35. addTask = invokeurl
    
36. [
    
37. url :"https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/addTask"
    
38. type :POST
    
39. parameters:parameters
    
40. connection:"" // Give your connection name
    
41. ];
    
42. if(addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").isEmpty() == false)
    
43. {
    
44. taskTitle = "[" + addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("title") + "](" + addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("url") + ")";
    
45. taskpriority = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("priority");
    
46. tasksection = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("task").get("section").get("name");
    
47. taskboard = addTask.get("addTask").get("stream").get("partition").get("name");
    
48. response = {"text":"Task added in " + taskboard + ". Take a look at the task details below.","card":{"title":"Task Details","theme":"modern-inline"},"slides":{{"type":"label","title":"Task Details: ","data":{{"Title":taskTitle},{"Priority":taskpriority},{"Section":tasksection},{"Board":taskboard}}}}};
    
49. }
    
50. return response;
    
51. 
    

End notes: 

Message actions in Cliq are super versatile like all other Cliq platform components. You can choose to create a message action that's specific to a message type. This example can be customized even to suit messages of the type attachments and links. So go ahead and give it a try! You can download the source code file attached with this post or access this link here: https://workdrive.zohoexternal.com/external/6OxchwzzBCF-J8HFH

Useful Links: 
Zoho Connect Rest API Guide: https://www.zoho.com/connect/api/intro.html

Forms in Cliq: https://www.zoho.com/cliq/help/platform/cliq-form.html

Form Function: https://www.zoho.com/cliq/help/platform/form_functions_workflow.html

Connections in Cliq: https://www.zoho.com/cliq/help/platform/connections.html

• Topic Participants

• Manasa Manogaran

  

• gilbert

• ROHIT MATHEW

• Mischa

• Shivam mishra

• Sticky Posts

• 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

• Automate your status with Cliq Schedulers

  Imagine enjoying your favorite homemade meal during a peaceful lunch break, when suddenly there's a PING! A notification pops up and ruins your moment of zen. Even worse, you might be in a vital product development sprint, only to be derailed by a "quick

• Bulk user onboarding for Cliq Channels in a jiffy

  As developers, we frequently switch between coding, debugging, and optimizing tasks. The last thing we want is to be burdened by manual user management. Adding users one by one to a channel is tedious and prone to errors, taking up more time than we could

• Convert a message on Cliq into a task on Zoho Connect

  Message actions in Cliq are a great way to transform messages in a conversation into actionable work items. In this post, we'll see how to build a custom message action that'll let you add a message as a task to board on Zoho Connect. If you haven't created

• Unfurling Unlimited Possibilities in Zoho Cliq 🔗

  Are you tired of your app links looking plain? Imagine if the shared links came to life with custom previews, organized data, and one-click actions, making chats more interactive. With the Cliq platform's unfurl handlers, let's see how developers can

• Recent Topics

• MULTI-SELECT LOOKUP - MAIL TEMPLATE

  Dear all how are you? We need to insert data from MULTI-SELECT LOOKUP in a email template, but I can't do that, when I'm creating the template I can't find the field to insert it. is there any solution? PVU

• Canvas translation

  We want to offer our CRM system to our users in English and Dutch. However, it seems that text in our deal Canvas isn't available for translation through the translation file. The same applies to the field tooltips. They don't appear in the translation

• Create Full-data sandbox now in ZOHO CRM

  Full-data Sandbox feature is being released in a phased manner, and is currently accessible to users of the CN data center (China Region). Hello everyone, We're thrilled to introduce the full-data sandbox for Zoho CRM's Ultimate Edition—the ultimate testing

• How to normalize CRM module when integrating with Survey?

  This question is about the problem with many-to-many relationships and Survey. One of the things our organization does is track people in our program and their jobs. We get new information from the people three times annually through Zoho Surveys. Survey

• Sales Order automatic Convert to Invoice using boolean True or false

  It is possible to convert the Sales order to an invoice using a boolean field, true or false Example: I create a field in my Sales Order, I name it QBO Invoice, and the field type is Boolean, true or false. Let's say the default is false, so when I change

• MS Teams for daily call operations

  Hello all, Our most anticipated and crucial update is finally here! Organizations using Microsoft Teams phone system can now integrate it effectively with Zoho CRM for tasks like dialling numbers and logging calls. We are enhancing our MS Teams functionality

• Introducing Rollup summary in Zoho CRM

  ------------------------------------------Moderated on 5th July'23---------------------------------------------- Rollup summary is now available for all organizations in all the DCs. Hello All, We hope you're well! We're here with an exciting update that

• For security reasons your account has been blocked as you have exceeded the maximum number of requests per minute that can originate from one account.

  Hello Zoho Even if we open 10-15 windows in still we are getting our accounts locked with error " For security reasons your account has been blocked as you have exceeded the maximum number of requests per minute that can originate from one account. "

• Try CRM for everyone button in the way of workflow

  Please consider using the bottom bar for offers. Using the top bar for offers like "Try CRM for everyone" really gets in the way of my day to day workflow.

• Free live online training from Zoho Bookings

  Hi everyone! Whether you’re just getting started or have been using Zoho Bookings for a while, there’s always something new to learn. That’s why our product experts are hosting a free live training session to help you optimize appointment scheduling for

• Leadchain BUG

  Hello i have a problem with Facebook Leadchain. All of the information is populated correctly in the CRM, except the campaign. I want to add new leads to an existing campaign, but the lead is not added to the campaign even tough i have selected the campaign

• CRM HAS BEEN SOOO SLOW For Days 05/15/25

  I have fantastic Wifi speed and have zero issues with other websites, apps, or programs. It takes an excruciatingly amount of time to simply load a record, open an email, compose an email, draft a new template, etc. Am I in a subset/region of subscribers

• Zoho Desk Validation Rule Using Custom Function

  Hi all, I tried to find the way to validate fields using custom function just like in Zoho CRM but to no avail. Is there a way to do this?

• Invalid URL error when embedded sending url into iframe for my website when using in another region

  Hi team, My site is currently working on integrating your signature feature as part of the system functionality, it's working great but recently there's been a problem like this: After successfully creating the document, i will embed a sending url into

• Validation Rules Trigger on Untouched Fields

  In Zoho Desk, validation rules trigger for ALL fields during an update—even fields that weren't modified in the current edit. This behavior is fundamentally different from Zoho CRM and other Zoho products, where validation rules only apply to fields actually

• One notebook is on my Android phone app, but not on Web or PC app.

  This problem started in stages. At first my phone was occasionally failing to sync. Then I noticed two things added to my Phone App. One was an existing notebook had a new cover, and the other was a new Note Card with an odd text in it. These were only

• Holding Shift to keep selected tickets

  It is annoying trying to change the category of tickets and then closing them. You have to select them one by one, no way to 'hold down left click and drag your mouse down to select multiple'. Once you have selected them and you change the category, you

• Custom module history is useless

  Hi I am evaluating ZOHO DESK as my support platform. As such I created a few custom modules for devices assigned to employees. I want to be able to see the whole picture when a device was reassigned to someone, but the history shows nothing Is there any

• Removed email address - can't access account

  Hi Zoho Support Team, I recently removed my email address from my Zoho Desk account (which is part of our organization's Desk setup) and then signed out. Now, I’m unable to log back in because there is no email address associated with the account, even

• Custom sender email address - doesn't receive verification email

  Hello, We've just purchased the premium backstage license plan and are setting up a test event. However when adding a custom sender email address, it backstage doesn't send the verification email!? We've tried on multiple email addresses. Please advise

• 請求書に添付されているファイルをAPI経由で取得する際の問題について

  Books APIリファレンス 現在、Books APIを利用して請求書内の添付ファイルを取得するメソッドを構築しています。以下のコードを参考にしているのですが、添付ファイルが複数アップロードされている場合、responseにおいて2つ目のファイルの情報しか取得できない現象が発生しています。 headers_data = Map(); headers_data.put("Authorization", "Zoho-oauthtoken 1000.41d9xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc2d1.8fccxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx125f");

• 5名限定 課題解決型ワークショップイベント Zoho ワークアウト開催のお知らせ(5/28)

  ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。Zoho ユーザーコミュニティチームの藤澤です。 5月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 今回はZoomにてオンライン開催します。 ▷▷登録はこちら：https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/l6xddhOoR--8rroMIgKWyA ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは？ Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目的とした「Zoho

• Zoho Sheet - Option to disable "Embed" button when publishing a sheet

  Hi Sheet Team, I've noticed that when I publish a Zoho Sheet publicly, there is an option for the viewer to "embed" the sheet. There is no option to disable this button and my idea/feature request is to include a checkbox in the Publish settings to hide

• How can I get a nested value attributes inside a key par?

  Hello! Im getting the following output when reviewing a record I am after. I am trying to put some conditions based on a data value that is inside another data. For example, lets grab the below output. Info {"Account_Name":{"name":"Liberty Construction

• Add Pinned Tickets to top of queue

  As an IT Helpdesk, we have some tickets where they will need to be looked at daily over a week or 2, and the ability to pin a ticket to the front/top of the queue would be handy as we can be reminded to take a look, rather than placing them on hold and

• Shared Snippets Everyone

  Hi, Now that the Shared Snippets have been released and I think will be the most used feature implemented in 2023 :) Creating and Using Snippets in Ticket Responses - Online Help | Zoho Desk Maintain consistency in ticket responses with shared snippets

• Quick resend/One-off send function

  Sometimes I might follow up with someone that opened an email and they say "Can you please send the email to me again?" Also, on occasion, a new person may have joined my mailing list and just missed a recent campaign, so it would be VERY handy just to send them the campaign email. Obviously, there is currently no quick or easy way to do this. So, would it be possible to have such a feature? It could work from a number of places, but probably the quickest and easiest way to implement it is under

• WhatsApp Channels in Zoho Campaigns

  Now that Meta has opened WhatsApp Channels globally, will you add it to Zoho Campaigns? It's another top channel for marketing communications as email and SMS. Thanks.

• Issue with inventory and shopify

  Hello! We're having some issues with Inventory not synchronizing all our products with our shopify store. We've tried multiple times to synchronize them. We have multiple locations and it seems to just be getting a part of the inventory. When we sell

• Advanced search for Spam tickets in Zoho Desk

  Currently there is no way to use advanced search in Zoho Desk to find content in tickets marked as spam. Please add this functionality! I believe this should not be the default, but a simple check box "Include Spam Tickets" would be helpful.

• How can I mark an account as VIP or similar for special treatment?

  I'd like to create a visual enhancement to mark an account as VIP in a way our agents can't miss it. What is your suggestion? Thanks!

• Is there a way within Desk to allow for this timeline overlapping?

  We're encountering an issue where contract timelines for the same client at the same location might overlap or follow each other sequentially. Since a single client can have multiple contracts, and we offer various contract types, is there a way within

• how can I change the font when I answer a ticket in zoho desk? thanks

  how can I change the font when I answer a ticket in zoho desk? thanks

• Lookup fields can't be used for anything important

  Hi It seems the lookup fields are mostly.... informative, you can at most link stuff between modules... You can't use lookup fields in blueprints, you can't use them in layout rules or anything... It that correct?

• Is it possible to add HTML or a button on email templates in Zoho Desk?

  Hello team, I am working on getting the best use out of Zoho Desk. I have noticed that when you hit 'reply' on a ticket, it comes with a small 'survey' to the recipient saying something like 'how would you rate your experience with us?'... so my question,

• Is it possible to add buttons on email replies to internal team members?

  Hello everyone, I am currently trying to set up some workflow rules to trigger when a ticket is created. I have noticed there is a button that can be added to email templates when sending email alerts from workflow rules, for example ${Cases.SUPPORT_PORTAL_BUTTON}.

• Widget function call not working – need help

  Hi everyone, I'm building a widget for Zoho CRM and trying to call a Deluge function from it using ZOHO.CRM.FUNCTIONS.execute, but it's not working. Here’s what I did: I created a Standalone function in Deluge. I'm calling it inside ZOHO.embeddedApp.on("PageLoad",

• Announcing New Features in Trident for macOS (v.1.19.0)

  Hello everyone! Trident for macOS is here with interesting features and enhancements to elevate your workplace communication. Let's take a quick look at them. View and manage .pst files. A .pst (Personal Storage Table) file is an Outlook Data Storage

• Item bulk update

  Why is there no "pruchase rate" to select in the field selection ? We have far more purchase increases than we have selling price amendments !

• Learning how to customize templates via code and best practices

  Hi! Our developers team want to learn how to edit our template files safely. The last time we messed with these files our site went down for a day and we had to reconfigure it from scratch. What are the best practices to do this? How can we get a template

• Next Page