Title: Store, retrieve, and access entity-specific data in widgets using | Community | Zoho Projects

Title: Store, retrieve, and access entity-specific data in widgets using | Community | Zoho Projects

Data storage - Overview

Storing data related to the extension you are working on is essential. It can be saved as key-value pairs for an entity or extension, known as entity and extension properties, respectively. Data can be saved for the following entities using entity properties: projects, tasks, issues, and milestones. Similarly, using extension properties, data can be recorded for an app and stored for the extension.

Support and Limitations

The entity properties allow you to store, retrieve, update, and delete data for an entity, while the extension properties allow you to do the same with an extension. Learn more about data storage functions that can be performed using entity and extension properties.

The data stored for an entity using entity property will be retained if the extension is uninstalled. However, when an extension is uninstalled, any data stored using the extension property is lost. You can refer to the limitations of entity properties and limitations of extension properties for additional details.

Scenario

A manufacturing firm uses Zoho CRM to manage its production and sales units, and also uses Zoho Projects for task management. Customers of the firm may raise cases of the"feature request" type to the solution experts for an enhancement or a request for a new feature for the existing products. The solution expert logs these requests as cases in Zoho CRM and begins working on the feature request through a task in Zoho Projects. In this way, the Zoho CRM solution expert who is the task owner in Zoho Projects can handle and manage the development-related activities to provide the feature as a solution to the customer through the Zoho Projects task.

Additionally, multiple customers may request the same feature for a product. In this scenario, it would be easier for the task owner or solution expert to keep track of all their CRM cases related to a feature request in one space, so that whenever a requested feature is completed, this can be communicated with customers of these tracked cases.

What can be done to ease the solution expert/task owner work?

The task owner would benefit from viewing a list of all their open Zoho CRM cases from inside the Zoho Projects task tab. This would allow them to view and associate the cases related to the feature request they are working on from within the task.
Once they have completed the feature enhancement and come up with a solution for the request, they can simply preview all of the Zoho CRM cases related to that feature request from within the task itself and offer an update to the customers.

Goal: Ease user experience by allowing them to view and associate Zoho CRM cases within the task details tab.

Solution

To accomplish this goal, we are going to use data storage along with a few other features in our extension.
  • First, allow the task owner to view case-specific details from the list of CRM cases. For this, we can create a task details tab widget named "CRM Cases". In this widget, we can include a drop-down menu and select a case to access case-specific details. This can be accomplished using the widgets approach explained earlier in this post.
  • Using the data storage concept, store the associated case for the task entity, allowing the task owner to view it as "Associated CRM Cases" alongside the drop-down selection the next time the widget loads. This enables the task owner to associate several cases with the task and view them all in a single widget.                                                              

Required components
  • A connection between Zoho Projects and Zoho CRM needs to be established to establish a secure integration between the products.
  • An extension configuration process includes:
  1. Creating an extension.
  2. Configuring the plugin manifest.
  3. Setting up the widget code.
  • Display all open Zoho CRM cases of the task owner as a drop-down list in a task details widget tab called "CRM Cases", and thereby allow the task owner to choose a case for which they want to view further details.
  • Implement the modal box feature to display case-specific details of the chosen case and also allow the task owner to associate the case to the task through a button in the modal box
  • Store the associated case for the task using the data storage concept (entity.store) in the modal box.
  • Display the associated cases by retrieving (entity.retrieve) it from the stored data and having them displayed as part of the widget along with the drop-down that displays the open cases.
Let's explore these components now.

Connection

We have created a connection to establish a secure integration between Zoho Projects and Zoho CRM. You can refer to this post for detailed guidance on establishing a connection.
                                                                  
                                     

Extension configuration

Extension creation: We have created a new extension for Zoho Projects. Learn more about the steps to create an extension

                                      

Plugin-manifest.json configuration: Once the extension was created, we configured the plugin-manifest.json file to include the created connection and a widget. For detailed understanding on configuring the plugin-manifest.json file, refer to our earlier post.
For our extension use case, the plugin-manifest.json file is configured as shown in the below screenshot.
                                     
                                                                  
Setting up the widget code

Now that we've set up the other components, let's move on to writing our widget code and incorporating the data storage and modal box feature.
Displaying CRM cases in "CRM Cases" task tab - Please find the index.html code snippet attached in the post.
  • In the code snippet, the current Zoho Projects user's email is retrieved using the current_user instance of zohoprojects.get JS SDK method and saved in a variable called "currentuseremail".
  • The user's CRM org ID and their CRM cases are then fetched by invoking the Get Organization Details and Get Records APIs, respectively, using the Zoho Projects request JS SDK method. Certain mandatory parameters must be passed to the SDK method to invoke the mentioned CRM APIs, such as the third-party URL, data object, and connection. If you require further details on how the Zoho Projects Request method works, you can refer to our earlier post, which explains the working and the required parameters for invoking this method in detail.
  • From the Zoho CRM get records API response, a drop-down list is generated in the widget, with the Zoho Projects task owner's open CRM cases.
  • The end-user can select a value from the drop-down list to view the case-related details. This selected value (the selected case) is then fetched. When the Get Case Details button is clicked, a modal box instance is created and opened using the modal.create and instance methods. When the modal box opens, the selected case ID value is emitted using the emit method and the keyword "stored-files".
  • Using the emitted values, the case details is populated in a modal box, and if the solution expert finds that the case is related to the feature request handled in the Projects task, the case ID is saved using the entity.store method and associated with the current task. (This is addressed in the casedetails.html code in the next section).
  • The associated value stored in the modal box using the entity.store method is then retrieved in the index.html page using the entity.retrieve method. Using the retrieved associated case ID, when the widget loads, the Zoho CRM Get Records API is invoked again. From the response, the unclosed cases and the cases which have the email ID as that of the current Zoho Projects user's email address (fetched earlier and saved in variable currentuseremail) are filtered and displayed as the "Associated CRM cases" in the widget.

Modal box to display the details of the chosen case - Please check casedetails.html code snippet attached in this post
  • In the code snippet, the value emitted from the index.html, using the emit method for the keyword "stored-files" is received by the on method in the modal box UI. Using the received value, a hit is made to the Zoho CRM Get Records APIs using the Zoho Projects Request Method again.
  • The essential details are retrieved from the case-specific details returned by the Zoho CRM Get Records API and displayed to the task owner for reference. These details allow them to check on the case and associate it with the current Zoho Projects task if it is related to the feature request.
  • If the case is associated, the associated case value ID is saved with the entity.store property.
  • This stored and associated value is then received and retrieved using the entity.retrieve in index.html, from which the Associated CRM cases value are populated in the widget as mentioned earlier. This is addressed in the index.html code in the previous section.
Now that we have completed the setup and have all the extension components ready, let's go ahead and see the output.

Sample output: 

                                     

In this example, we used the data storage for an entity feature to save task-related data and retrieve it when needed. Similarly, we can store data for an app to perform various storage functions such as save, retrieve, update, and delete. We hope you found this information useful. Keep following this space for more insights!

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


SEE ALSO


Next>>



        • Recent Topics

        • Syncing with Google calendar, Tasks and Events

          Is it possible to sync Zoho CRM calendar, task and events with Google Calendar's tasks and events. With the increasing adoption by many major tool suppliers to sync seamlessly with Google's offerings (for instance I use the excellent Any.do task planning

        • Filtert products by multi select custom field

          Hello, this is seems like a must addition, why it can not be done now?

        • CRM quotes and sub forms.

          Recently upgraded to Enterprise CRM - now some added hopes/questions * In a subform in quotes, if I add a "Percent" field, called Overage for instance. I would expect it to allow me to enter a percent like "10%" and carry the percent forward to formulas

        • Is there a notification API when a new note is addeding

          Trying to push to Cliq, or email notification when there's a new note added in module. How to implement this?

        • Problem with WorkDrive and Vivo X200 Pro

          Hey there, after a long odyssey of searching for a new phone, several issues and defects with a phone from another brand and many reinstallations and transfers I stuck to the Vivo X200 Pro. So far, so great. Only thing not working is the Zoho WorkDrive,

        • Cambiar nombre de usuario

          Hola. Tengo una cuenta en zoho, por ejemplo Minombre @ midominio.es Y quiero cambiarlo a Miotronombre @ midominio.es Se puede cambiar??? Con la cuenta gratuita de zoho, cuantos nombres puedo tener en un dominio??? Gracias y buen dia

        • Can't add company logo and favicon as a superadmin

          I am logged in as the superadmin but can't add company logo and favicon - the fields are greyed out. Any idea as to what the problem could be?

        • Inquiry regarding B2B website through Zoho Commerce

          We are looking to build an online B2B customer portal for Consumer Goods primarily for order placement, with an e-commerce-style layout. Additionally, we would like to offer our customers features such as: 1.Viewing past orders and order updates 2.Accessing

        • ASAP Chrome Extension not loading

          We have ASAP enabled in Zoho Desk. I installed the ASAP Chrome Extension (Windows 10), but when I click the extension button while on our site, it never fully loads. I just get what's shown below.

        • Why is the Zoho portal not mobile friendly?

          I just got started with the portal and im sort of shocked how it looks. I already filled a hint/complaint about this. On the website you see a wonderful site with a modern design. Yet in real life its a mid 2000 look and feel. One major issue i see thats

        • New Asap Widget How to update my code

          I know you're still working on updating the documentation for calling the Asap Widget, the existing documentation is no longer valid. In the old 1.0 version I was able to do many things programmatically in javascript. I could open an article directly

        • Condition in templates

          Is it possible for me to add merge field conditionally in my templates. For example Dear ${Leads.Gender == "Male" ? "Sir" : "Ma"},

        • How to Dynamicaly display image in the Detailed View Report ?

          I have an "Add Employee" form that includes an image field for uploading an employee's profile picture from their local computer. In the "Apply Leave" form, I also have an image field where I want the employee's profile picture to be auto-populated based

        • Zoho Flow Custom Function to Register Sale in Zoho Thrive

          Hi Thrive team, I want to create a custom function which sends purchase information back into Thrive for Affiliate commission. I'm stuck on how to setup the connection, specifically creating an OAuth connection through https://api-console.zoho.eu/ Please

        • Sending User-centric reports to all users

          I would like to automate an e-mail report to all users that sends them a weekly e-mail listing their open Potentials.  I've created a Report that uses the ${CURRENTUSER} criterion and scheduled the report to send to several users, but they all receive

        • How do I add new line and format text in zoho desk ticket?

          I am generating a ticket via API and looking to update "description" field of ticket whenever I need. Is there a document where I can find supported formatting for description field on a ticket.  I need to find: Adding a new line and adding bold text,

        • Automation #6 - Prevent Re-opening of Closed Tickets

          This is a monthly series where we pick some common use cases that have been either discussed or most asked about in our community and explain how they can be achieved using one of the automation capabilities in Zoho Desk. Typically when a customer submits

        • Feature Request - Insert URL Links in Folders

          I would love to see the ability to create simple URL links with titles in WorkDrive. or perhaps a WorkDrive extension to allow it. Example use case: A team is working on a project and there is project folder in WordDrive. The team uses LucidChart to create a drawing/s for the project. The team member could create a link to the LucidChart drawing/s and allow WordDrive to truly be a repository for ALL the project documents, even those outside of WorkDrive. A folder is dedicated to a CRM account. A

        • ZOHO DESK ヘルプセンターの言語選択メニューの表示方法

          ZOHO DESK のヘルプセンターを構築し、多言語化設定をしました。 顧客のヘルプセンター画面右上に言語選択メニューが表示されないため、弊社の契約先会社に問い合わせましたが、「通常は多言語化をオンにすると表示するためCSS を触り過ぎではないか」 という指摘のみでした。 試行中ですが表示できません。 何か要因となる情報をお持ちの方がいましたらご教授いただけますと幸いです。 ↓の赤枠を表示したいのですが、表示できません。

        • How to reply to thread via API

          We have built a webapp for our customers that uses the Zoho Desk API to enable each customer to view their full list of tickets, view individual tickets and raise new tickets. The Zoho Desk API doesn't have the ability to reply to a ticket/thread. Replies

        • Email Builder Editor is not functioning or loading correctly

          Email editor function is not working or loading correctly in any template, new or old. Cleared my cache, restarted browser, problem unchanged.

        • Create Tasklist with Tasklist Template using API v3

          In the old API, we could mention the parameter 'task_template_id' when creating a tasklist via API to apply a tasklist template: https://www.zoho.com/projects/help/rest-api/tasklists-api.html#create-tasklist In API v3 there does not seem to be a way to

        • Issue in downloading the sent logs

          Hi Team, I'm unable to export the sent file for any email campaign. When selecting all fields, the system indicates that the document will be sent via email, but I haven't received it. At times, it shows a download option, but the file doesn’t get downloaded.

        • Integrate Google Chat with Zoho CRM for seamless collaboration

          Hello everyone, Sales is a team sport and sales reps have to be in constant communication with people inside and outside their organization. While email remains the most effective channel for important conversations, sales reps often collaborate via chat.

        • customers enter orders?

          Anyway we can let a customer into CRM and enter their own orders , no access to anything else except history reports, no access to any other contacts. Greg Aanes 2109 Queen Street Bellingha WA USA

        • Zoho Learn - URL Parameters for Externally Shared Articles?

          Hey Folks, Are there any parameters one can append to URLs for externally-shared articles? Specifically, can I add a parameter that hides the Manual name (use case being I want to embed the article in another webpage)? Also, can one password-protect an

        • Why Sharing Rules do Not support relative date comparison???

          I am creating a Sharing Rule and simply want to share where "Last Day of Coverage" (Date field) is Greater than TODAY (Starting Tomorrow). However, sharing rules don't have the option to compare a date field to a relative date (like today), only to Static

        • Post message to a channel using a simple one-line command!

          Hi Everybody! This post is all about posting a message in a Channel using cURL, Wget and PowerShell. cURL is a light-weight, command interface used to transfer data to a server. The steps are pretty easy!  The three most important points here are  Generating an Auth token Get your Channel Unique Name Form your message as a JSON structure Generating an Auth token To use the 'Messaging API' you'll need Cliq's authentication token from Zoho Accounts. Generate an auth token by hitting the below-given

        • Activity or History Log User Login

          Hi Everyone, I have Zoho Customer Portal, which has pages and reports. Is it possible to create 1 field such as true/false to find out users who have opened the customer portal? Like a kind of user activity log. Thank you so much.

        • How to associate a document sent in Zoho Sign with an deal in the CRM?

          Hi, often documents are loaded in Zoho sign and sent for signature. These sometimes are linked to a deal in the Zoho CRM and would be nice to see the status of the document within the CRM. I am aware of the integration, but that assumes that the document

        • Invalid Emails in CRM

          Is there a way to get a report or create a view that shows all email addresses that are invalid for any reason? I keep coming across them and want to ensure that they are flagged with users to update. This is on a custom module.

        • Add Custom Reports To Dashboard or Home Tab

          Hi there, I think it would be great to be able to add our custom reports to the Home Tab or Dashboards. Thanks! Chad

        • Associating an Email from CRM Email Parser to Contact Record via Function

          Is it possible to create a custom function that will associate email records from zCRM's Email Parser functionality to a contact record where specific fields match? Our use-case is that we have service providers using third-party event booking systems

        • Update Client Record based on creation of custom module record

          Hi! Hoping for someone's help with this one. I have a custom module called 'Agreement History. Whenever a deal is won, it creates a new record in this module with associated 'Products' and 'Clients' to track rental history and contracts. What I'm trying

        • Inputting VAT Pre-Registration expenses for first VAT Return

          Hi Zoho, I've just registered for VAT and am setting up Zoho to handle calculations and VAT return submissions. I'm struggling to figure out how to input the last 4 years worth of expenses into Zoho so that they're calculated in the VAT module. When I

        • How to Bring to front the picture?

          I have 2 pictures that have to layers but i can't find bring to front button, Thank

        • setting owner of note when adding via deluge

          My organization has requested the ability to mass update the notes related list in the deals module. Since this can't be done with the mass update feature, I created an update "notes single" line field and created a workflow rule that triggers a function

        • Creating email schedules with custom filters for Pivot/Summary Reports in Zoho Analytics

          Hi Zoho, I have a Weekly Inventory Report that I'd like to send out to various vendors. Is it possible to create an email schedule for each vendor with customized filtering at the scheduling level? Currently, we generate two pre-filtered reports (copies

        • Can Client generate Sales Order by himself?

          My business primarily operates in the B2B sector, and I've observed that my sales team and I spend an excessive amount of time obtaining sales orders from our customers. This is particularly relevant in a product-based business with multiple SKUs. I am

        • Python - code studio

          Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already

        • Next Page