Kaizen #194 : Trigger Client Script via Custom buttons

Kaizen #194 : Trigger Client Script via Custom buttons



Hello everyone!

Welcome back to another interesting and useful Kaizen post.

We know that Client Scripts can be triggered with Canvas buttons and we discussed this with a use case in Kaizen#180. Today, let us discuss how to trigger Client Script when a Custom Button is clicked. Using this, you can execute Client Script when a custom button is clicked.

In this post,


1. Event Details 
2. Supported Pages
3. Use Case - Export Subform Rows to Zoho Sheet in a Single Click!
4. Solution
5. Summary
6. Related Links



Client Script support for Custom Buttons opens up possibilities for automation, personalization, and enhanced user interactions in Zoho CRM when a custom button is clicked.
Here is a detailed walkthrough to help you understand it better.

1. Event Details 

The Button event triggers the Client Script when a custom button is clicked. Each time this event is invoked, the context argument is passed to the Client Script. The context contains information about the page from which the button was clicked.


Click here to know more about Client Script Events.

2. Supported Pages

A Custom Button can be placed in different positions based on the Page.


You can add a  custom button in the Util Menu, in Each Record or in the Mass Action Menu of the List Page.


Also, a Detail Page can have a custom button either In Record or in the Related List. Click here for more details about the different possible positions of a custom button.

The following table lists the supported pages and the corresponding context argument, which provides different details based on the page type.


To create a Client Script and make it trigger when a custom button is clicked, first create a Custom button and associate it with a Client Script as shown in the following image.


 Click here to view the steps to create a custom button and configure a Client Script. 

Note:

You can configure the Client Script only from the Buttons page to trigger it when a user clicks a custom button, and not the usual way of Creating Client Script via setup page. Once a script is created, it can be edited and updated from the Client Script setup page

3. Use Case - Export Subform Rows to Zoho Sheet in a Single Click!

Zylker manufactures medical instruments, and its sales representatives frequently need to share bulk order details with distributors and hospital partners using Zoho Sheets. These details such as product names, quantities, and prices are captured in a Subform on the Purchase Order Detail(Standard) Page.
To simplify this, the admin wants to add a custom button called "Export Products" on the Purchase Order Detail Page. When clicked, it should export the Purchase Items from the Subform and move the content to the specified sheet.

4. Solution

To export subform rows to Zoho Sheet with a single click, you can add a custom button to the Detail Page of the record. When clicked, a Client Script will be triggered to fetch the subform data from the Detail Page and pass it to a Function that uses zoho.sheet.createRecords() to insert data into Zoho Sheet.

Here’s how to implement this:

  • Add  “Export Products” custom button on the Detail Page.
  • Add the script to collect subform rows which invokes the Function.
  • Write a Function to create entry in Zoho Sheets  

A. Add “Export Products” custom button on the Detail Page.

  • Go to Setup → Modules and Fields under Customization.
  • Select a Module as Purchase Order.
  • Click on Buttons → Then click + New Button.
  • Enter Button Name and select Action Type as "Client Script"
  • Choose Button Position and Layout details as shown in the following image.
  • Click Create in Configured Client Script, enter the script, and click Add.
  • Select the profiles for which these buttons should be visible.
  • Click Save.



B. Add the Script to collect subform rows and invoke the Function

Use the following Client Script when you configure the custom button.

  1. var casesheetid = ZDK.Client.getInput([{ type: 'text', label: 'Enter the Sheet ID' }], 'Sheet details', 'OK', 'Cancel');
  2. if (casesheetid == null) {
  3.         ZDK.Client.showAlert("Enter the *Case Sheet ID - Import* to import data");
  4.  }
  5. var purchase_items = ZDK.Page.getField('Purchase_items).getValue();
  6. ZDK.Client.showLoader({type: 'page', template:'spinner', message: 'Export in progress, please wait'});
  7. var c=1;
  8. if (sheetid == null) {
  9.     ZDK.Client.hideLoader(); 
  10.     ZDK.Client.showAlert("Enter the *Case Sheet - Export* ID to export data");
  11. }
  12. purchase_items.forEach((r,i) => {
  13.             try {
  14.                resp = ZDK.Apps.CRM.Functions.execute("csvWrite", { "Product_Name": r.Product_Name.name, "List_Price": r.List_Price, "Discount": r.Discount, "Total": r.Total,"Sheetid":casesheetid }); }
  15.             catch (error) {
  16.                 c = 0;
  17.                  ZDK.Client.hideLoader(); 
  18.                 ZDK.Client.showAlert("Unexpected issue occured while adding data in row number "); }
  19.     });
  20.     ZDK.Client.hideLoader(); 
  21.     if (c) {
  22.         ZDK.Client.showMessage("Export completed. Please check the Sheet");
  23.     }
  24.     else
  25.     {
  26.        ZDK.Client.showMessage("Unexpected error "); }}

In this code, several ZDKs are used for various purposes. Click on the ZDK hyperlinks to learn more.


Note

The Client Script you intend to link with the button will be saved only after the custom button is saved.

C. Write a Function to create entry in Zoho Sheets 

  • Go to Setup > Developer Hub > Functions.
  • In the Functions page, click + Create New Function.
  • Choose the category as Button.
  • Click Create.
  • In the Create Function page, enter a name as csvWrite and description for your function.
  • Enter the following function code and click Save.
  1. string standalone.csvWrite(String product,String qty,String up,String amt, String Sheetid){
  2. queryData = Map();
  3. writeData = Map();
  4. header = Map();
  5. writeData.put("Product",product);
  6. writeData.put("Quantity",qty);
  7. writeData.put("Unit_Price",up);
  8. writeData.put("Amount",amt);
  9. SheetData = zoho.sheet.createRecords("Sheetid","Sheet1",writeData,queryData,"sheetconnection");
  10. return SheetData;
  11. }

Click here to know more about zoho.sheet.createRecords().

In the code above:
  • sheetconnection refers to the name of the Zoho Sheet connection, which must have the scopes: ZohoSheet.dataAPI.UPDATE and ZohoSheet.dataAPI.READ.
  • Click here to know how to create a Connection with the required scopes.
  • sheetid is the unique identifier of the Zoho Sheet, available in the sheet’s URL.
  • Sheet1 represents the name of the worksheet (i.e., the tab name shown at the bottom of the Zoho Sheet).
  • Now, when the custom button is clicked, the Client Script is triggered. It prompts for the Sheet ID, fetches the contents of the Purchase Order subform, and invokes a function that writes the content to the Sheet.
Here's how the Client Script works.



5. Summary

In this post we have seen,
  • What is a Button event?
  • How to configure Client Script for a custom button
  • How to write data into Zoho Sheets from Client Script
  • How to create a Function and call it from Client Script

6. Related Links


We are thrilled to be nearing the 200th post in our Kaizen series. As we approach this exciting milestone, we would love to hear from you. Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your input helps us improve and shape the series to serve you better.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts using ✨ this form 

We hope you found this post useful!

Happy Client Scripting! 😊

      • Sticky Posts

      • Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

        Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this
      • Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

        Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how
      • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

        Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.
      • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

        Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are
      • Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms

        Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achieved

        • Recent Topics

        • local file csv import problem

          The issue occurs when I upload a CSV file via Databridge. In the preview, everything looks correct — the values are in the proper columns. However, after clicking Import, the first column becomes empty, and the values from that column appear in a new
        • Kaizen #227 : Client Script Support for List Page (Canvas)

          Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post lets see how Client Script can be used in Canvas List Page to mask sensitive information from specific roles and add colors to Canvas List Page records based on custom criteria.This use
        • Implement Date-Time-Based Triggers in Zoho Desk

          Dear Zoho Desk Support Team, We are writing to request a new feature that would allow for the creation of workflows triggered by specific date-time conditions. Currently, Zoho Desk does not provide native support for date-time-based triggers, limiting
        • Automation#25: Move Tickets to Unassigned When the Owner Is Offline

          Hello Everyone, Welcome to this week's Community Series! 'Tis the holiday season—a time when work often takes a brief pause. The holiday spirit is in full swing at Zylker Techfix too, with employees taking some well-deserved time off. During this period,
        • Automation#27: Retain Ticket Owner on Moved Tickets

          Hello Everyone! This week, we present to you a custom function that retains the ticket owner when a ticket is moved from one department to another. Here’s more to help you understand the custom function: At Zylker Techfix, Alex, the Support Engineer manages
        • Automation#28 Notify Agents on Article Expiry

          Hello Everyone! This week, we’re bringing you a feature that notifies your team when articles in the Knowledge Base are set to expire to keep your content relevant and helpful for customers. The Zoho Desk's Knowledge Base is an asset for customers to
        • Automation#29 Retain ticket status on moved tickets

          Hello Everyone, Hear out Zylker Techfix’s Success Story on Smoother Ticket Transitions! Zylker Techfix, a gadget servicing firm committed to quick repairs and timely deliveries, faced a challenge when ticket statuses changed automatically while moving
        • Automation#32:Auto Add New Portal Users to the Help Center User Groups

          Hello Everyone, Introducing a custom function that automates the process of adding new portal users to Help Center user groups, making user management effortless! By default, Zoho Desk allows you to assign new portal users to groups manually. But with
        • Using email "importance" as workflow-criteria

          I'd like to set up a workflow that triggers if an incoming email has been flagged as "high importance" but I'm not seeing any way to do that. Hopefully I'm just missing something obvious...?
        • Automation#34 : Automate Email threading for Ticket notification

          Hello Everyone, It's been a while since we've presented an automation. However, our community has been buzzing with ideas, use cases, and discussions with our community experts and Ask the Experts session. So, here we are again, presenting an automation
        • Automation#35 : Auto-Add Comments under the Owner's Name in Tickets via Macros

          Hello Everyone, This week's custom function provides simple steps to configure a Macro for adding comments to tickets with the name of the Comment owner. When managing tickets, you can use the Comment feature to communicate internally with your team and
        • Automation#36: Auto-create time-entry after performing the Blueprint transition

          Hello Everyone, This week’s edition focuses on configuring a custom function within Zoho Desk to streamline time tracking within the Blueprint. In this case, we create a custom field, and request the agent to enter the spending time within the single
        • Automation#33: Automate Splitting Names for Existing Contact Records

          An organized directory – who doesn't love one? Previously, we explored how to split contact names into First Name and Last Name for new contacts in Zoho Desk. But what about existing contacts already in your database? This week, we bring you a custom
        • About Meetings (Events module)

          I was working on an automation to cancel appointments in zoho flow , and in our case, we're using the Meetings module (which is called Events in API terms). But while working with it, I'm wondering what information I can display in the image where the
        • import data from Apollo.ai into zoho crm via zoho flow

          I might be asking this question in the wrong forum. We use Apollo.ai to find potential new leads for our business, there are around 10000 leads that we have initially found. We have an Apollo.ai account but just to do searches, we dont use it as a crm.
        • Fix the speed

          It takes ages to load on every step even though my dataset is quite small.
        • Workqueue

          I really like the idea of the Workqueue generally - it will be really useful. What it seems to lack however, is the ability to customise it properly. I want to be able to show a custom view rather than just "My Leads" and "Leads Assigned in Last 3 hours".
        • Webform & spam

          Hi, We set up 2 webform on our website, fowarding the content to Zoho CRM. Since it has been opened up, we are getting lot of spam message (for now about 20 a day). To lower the amount of false new leads we added the captcha field and new enquieries are
        • Zoho CRM Web form page URL

          Hi there, I am getting quite a bit of spam through my Zoho CRM Web form and want to restrict the URLs it is submittable from. I can see that I can add Location URLs but I need to be able to just add a domain so can I enter mydomain.com/* to cover all
        • Receiving too many Spam Leads. Why?

          I am receiving so many junk leads from web forms created by zoho's platform. The junk queries are increasing day by day and are affecting our business. I am continuously following up with zoho team from the past one year but not getting any satisfactory
        • Mail Merge is not working properly as far as the AUTOMATE section is concerned

          Hi there, I created a Mail Merge template for the Deal module. I would like Deal owners to mail merge their Deal records, download the Mail Merge document as a Word doc and make a few changes before sending it to the customer. Thing is, neither the "Merge
        • Canvas Detail View Related List Sorting

          Hello, I am having an issue finding a way to sort a related list within a canvas detail view. I have sorted the related list on the page layout associated with the canvas view, but that does not transfer to the canvas view. What am I missing?
        • project name field issue- n8n

          Hey guys, I have a question. I want to create a new product using the workflow. The problem is with the product name field; I don't know how to fill it in. The workflow starts with retrieving information from the leads table, retrieving links to scrape
        • Function #20: Custom calculation in item table of invoices

          When you create an invoice in Zoho Books, the 'Amount' of a line item is typically calculated as the product of the "Quantity" and the "Rate" of the item. For instance, if an item has a sales rate of $50 and a quantity of 5 is sold, then the amount would
        • Flexible Partial-Use Coupons (Stored Value Credits)

          Subject: Feature Request: Ability for users to apply partial coupon balances per transaction Problem Statement Currently, our coupons are "one-and-done." If a user has a $50 coupon but only spends $30, they either lose the remaining $20 or are forced
        • How to track repeat customers?

          I own a food business and every order is entered into Zoho with: a unique Customer ID total order amount date of order With this information, I want to be able to see a list of my "best" customers. In other words, descending lists arranged according to:
        • How to hide or archive a blog post temporarily in Zoho commerce website builder?

          I would like to temporarily hide or archive a blog post in zoho commerce website builder so that it doesnt appear on my website till I enable it again. I tried to look for this option but could not find it.  It only allows me to permanently delete a blog
        • Button to Reapply Filters on Sheet(s)

          I wrote a macro that I attached to a button to reapply the filters on all my sheets and it says it works, but it doesn't actually do anything. What is wrong with it? Is there another way? Or even make it work for one sheet? Sub UniversalFilterRefresh()
        • Zoho Books - Breaking A Working App

          We've been using Zoho for many years now. Across all apps, entering phone numbers in standard formats was enabled in all apps. These formats are: xxx.yyy.zzzz xxx-yyy-zzzz (xxx) yyy-zzzz and we were able also to add extension numbers in these formats:
        • Automate pushing Zoho CRM backups into Zoho WorkDrive

          Through our Zoho One subscription we have both Zoho CRM and Zoho WorkDrive. We have regular backups setup in Zoho CRM. Once the backup is created, we are notified. Since we want to keep these backups for more than 7 days, we manually download them. They
        • Build data protection into your support

          At Zoho, privacy is our principle. Every Zoho product is built with privacy as the foundation and the finishing touch, guiding every decision we make. Security, privacy, and compliance are woven into the software development lifecycle, starting from how
        • Conditional formatting: before/after "today" not available

          When setting conditional formatting, it only allows me to set a specific calendar date when choosing "Before" or "After" conditions. Typing "today" returns the error "Value must be of type date". Is there a workaround? Thanks for any help!
        • Zoho mail account ownership transfer

          We recently took over another company and have assumed responsibility for its Zoho account, including Zoho Mail and all related services. We would like to formally transfer ownership of this account to our organization. Could you please outline the complete
        • Display Client Name in Zoho Creator Client Portal Dashboard

          Hello Zoho Creator Team, We hope you are doing well. Zoho Creator recently introduced the option to set a client’s display name in the Client Portal settings, which is very helpful for providing a personalized portal experience. However, there is currently
        • Customizable UI components in pages | Theme builder

          Anyone know when these roadmap items are scheduled for release? They were originally scheduled for Q4 2025. https://www.zoho.com/creator/product-roadmap.html
        • Stop the Workarounds: We Need Native Multi-Step Forms

          After over 17 years of community requests, I'm hoping the Zoho team can finally address the lack of native multi-page form support in Zoho Creator. This has been one of the longest-standing feature requests in the community, with threads spanning nearly
        • Amazon.in FBA multiple warehouse integration with Zoho Inventory

          My organisation subscribed to Zoho One looking at the opportunity to integrate Amazon.in with Inventory. But during the configuration, we understood the integration has severe limitations when it involves multiple warehouses in the same Organisation.
        • Feature Request - Set Default Values for Meetings

          Hi Zoho CRM Team, It would be very useful if we could set default values for meeting parameters. For example, if you always wanted Reminder 1 Day before. Currently you need to remember to choose it for every meeting. Also being able to use merge tags
        • Issues with Actions By Zoho Flow

          Hi, I have a workflow that fires when a deal reaches a stage. This then sends out a contract for the client to sign. I have connected this up through Actions by Zoho Flow. Unfortunately this fails to send out. I have tracked it down to the date fields.
        • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

          Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage
        • Next Page