Building extensions #9: Store, retrieve, and access entity-specific data in widgets using data storage

Building extensions #9: Store, retrieve, and access entity-specific data in widgets using data storage

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

    • Forms data export bug

      The export csv with a password has changed for the worst. It is less secure by not allowing complex passwords. Just last week and the last year (at least) I was able to use a complex, secure password. Export CSV moreover doesn't even work if I use a simple

    • Fax and email questions

      Does Zoho offer faxing capability? If so, how to do it? And, why is has my email inbox stopped in 2019? There are no more emails since then. Also if I delete all of those emails, will they delete it from my gmail account (I'm linked to a gmail email address).

    • Create a single record from multiple images with ICR

      Hello all, Zia's Intelligent Character Recognition can now create a single record from multiple images. Users can upload up to three images at once, such as an ID, a passport, and a business card, and Zia will extract the relevant information from all

    • How to present an Analytic on a CRM dashboard and filter it on loginuser id

      How to present an Analytic on a CRM dashboard and filter it on loginuser id? I want to display an Analytics pivot table (as a widget) on a CRM dashboard and have the pivot filtered on the loginuser. I want additional user-filters available, such as date,

    • CNIL - Suivi de Pixel

      Bonjour à tous, À la suite de la nouvelle recommandation de la CNIL sur les pixels de suivi dans les e-mails, savez-vous si Zoho Campaigns permet : de conditionner le suivi des ouvertures au consentement de chaque contact ; de proposer un lien permettant

    • Convert MBOX to PST File Using Free Methods

      MBOX is a mailbox format that is used by various email clients and services, such as Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Eudora, and Google Takeout. Yet, in order to be able to open your MBOX emails in Microsoft Outlook, you have to convert them from MBOX to PST

    • Live connection to DS files in Zoho Creator / ChatGPT

      As an idea, we are using ChatGPT to build with Zoho Creator (outside of Zia), which is works brilliantly to assist write deluge, provide test suggesitons etc. Currently we are uploading the DS files which are very point in time, it would be great to have

    • Setting default From address when replying to request

      At the moment, if I want to reply to a request, the From field has three options, company@zohosupport.com, support@company.zohosupport.com, and support@company.com. The first two are really internal address that should never be seen by the customer and

    • Zoho Payroll: Product Updates - Q3, FY2026

      Over the past quarter, Zoho Payroll has added several updates to make payroll easier to process, configure, and manage. The most notable improvements cover bank integrations, reimbursement support, payslip enhancements, employee exit documentation, payroll

    • Convert OLM to PST on Mac and Windows Using Free Methods

      When your Outlook for Mac data is stored in an OLM file and you want to use it with Outlook for Windows, the simplest approach to transfer your emails and other mailbox information is to convert the OLM file to a PST file. OLM is primarily associated

    • Add Payment Information (like Bank details)

      I am using the Free plan of Zoho Books. I need to add the bank details/ UPI details on the invoice. How can I do that. I have added the details in the Bank Section.

    • Placeholders for Multi-Level Discount

      I am using custom templates for Invoices and all other modules. Since i have activated multi-level discount (an early-access feature from zoho) "discount at line-item and transaction level", I need placeholders for using them in my custom templates. With

    • Running Balance

      Please add automatically Running balance in ledger view. Taking lot of time, every time to add manually

    • Accounting on the Go Series-47: Effortless GSTIN Management- Auto Populate TaxPayer Details in Zoho Books Mobile App

      Hello everyone, Welcome back! Today, we're focusing on a feature specifically designed for our Indian users in the Zoho Books-Indian edition, particularly those who deal with GST compliance regularly. We understand the importance of accurate and efficient

    • URGENT: Stalled DC Migration >72 Hours - Records Locked [Ticket #: 167813877

      The DC migration was started on 1st October at 6 pm and we were informed migration period as 48 hours but even after more than 72 hours, the migration seems still in progress. We sent two emails to check the status but no responses. We need the migration

    • Zoho Webinar - Sharing System Audio (NOT AVAILABLE)

      Hi, We are having a serious problem with Zoho Webinar. In the webinars we run, we very often share the audio from a video we are streaming directly from YouTube or other applications. Until recently we were using Zoom, but as we use other Zoho applications

    • Cash Recipt

      You can not receive cash more than 10000 from one party in a day and two lakh in a year. In statement you can't differentiate cash or bank receipt. zoho does not support this

    • Need to set workflow or journey wait time (time delay) in minutes, not hours

      Minimum wait time for both Campaigns workflows and Marketing Automation journeys is one hour. I need one or the other to be set to several minutes (fraction of the hour). I tried to solve this by entering a fraction but the wait time data type is an integer

    • Concern Regarding Stock Validation in Inventory Management

      Hi Zoho Team, We would like to highlight a concern regarding stock validation in the inventory system. As per standard inventory management practices, if the stock level is zero, the system should not allow users to create a shipment, packing slip, or

    • Change from OST to PST on Windows 10/11 Using Free Method

      There is an advantage in converting OST files to PST format if you need to access your Outlook data on a different computer, want to keep a local copy, or are trying to recover items from an old Outlook profile. The good point is that users of Windows

    • Meet PageHealth by Zoho PageSense: a free way to find out what's holding your page back

      We all know the feeling. You've spent days tweaking headlines, moving buttons, and rewriting copy, and you're still not sure why visitors aren't sticking around. Revamping your website is hard, and figuring out what's actually getting in the way is even

    • Important: Whitelist new proxy outgoing IPs for IN, SA, and UAE data centers

      Hello everyone, We're expanding the pool of proxy outgoing IP addresses for our IN, SA, and UAE data centers by introducing new IPs alongside the existing ones. This helps ensure high availability, optimal load distribution, and redundancy for outgoing

    • Zoho Flow Custom Function Issue

      I have a use case where I will be needing to post data to a wordpress site. Specifically to a custom post type with a bunch of ACF fields. I have setup trigger event correctly for Tookan and can receive data from the webhook. In order to post the data

    • How to Open .mbox file in Gmail with Attachments?

      Gmail offer users to backup INBOX folder in .mbox file format via Google Takeout Feature. Howver there is no such option to Restore Gmail MBOX. Thus I would like to suggest you to choose an alternate approach i.e. MBOX to Gmail Wizard. This utility will open .mbox file in Gmail with attachments.  Steps to open MBOX file in Gmail are; Run MBOX to Gmail Wizard Click Add File and add .mbox file. Enter your Gmail login credentials. Click Convert button. Finished! This is how you can open MBOX file in

    • Custom Validation for On Duty

      Hi Team, We would like to have custom validation support for the On Duty form in the Attendance module. We need to apply some restrictions, such as: Limit the number of On Duty requests per month. Restrict On Duty requests on selected days. Allow employees

    • Integrating FaceBook Ads into MarketingHub

      I would like to track the clicks from a FB Ad campaign into my website via marketinghub.  I cannot currently add a MH form directly to my FB page, as I receive an error telling me I need at least 2000 subscribers on FB to be allows to do that (yikes!) What is the best way to set up MH so I can track which FB are converting well?  I know I can reach the FB reports directly, but these do not track conversions from the MH forms on my website. Best regards, Joe

    • Migration from GoDaddy to Zohomail

      Hi All, I am trying to migrate all the emails from Go Daddy to zohomail account using the migration tool. i tried with imap method, its not working. when i try it with pop method, then only the emails from the go daddy account inbox ( not other folders), is getting transferred, how can i transfer all the folders in the email account from go daddy to zoho. and also the emails which are coming from go daddy are like new unread emails ( is there any where i can differentiate from read and unread emails)

    • How do I migrate from Office 365 to Zoho Mail?

      Check out Advik Email Migration Wizard, this software is specially developed to move mailboxes from Office 365 to Zoho Webmail. In addition you can migrate from Gmail, Yahoo, Rediffmail and 80+ webmail servers to ZOHO MAIL. Isn't it amazing? This is an all in one email migration solution. Steps to export emails from Office 365 to Zoho Webmail are as follows; Run Advik Email Migration Tool in your system. Select Office 365 as source and enter its login credentials. Select mailbox folders and choose

    • How to Backup Zoho to PST?

      I'm looking for a simple way to backup Zoho Mail emails to PST format. I tried the IMAP method with Outlook, but it seems slow and complicated for large mailboxes. I need a solution that can: Export Zoho emails to PST Preserve attachments and folder hierarchy

    • Shopify connector – product cost ("Cost per item") not synced, so COGS/gross margin can't be calculated

      Hi Zoho Analytics team, I use the native Shopify connector in Zoho Analytics (cloud) to build reporting dashboards for Shopify stores. As far as I can tell, the connector does not sync product cost, so there's no way to calculate Cost of Goods Sold (COGS),

    • Zoho Sprints - Q3 Updates for 2026

      Another quarter, another set of productive features. This time our focus was mainly to simplify in-app navigations and control all your work related activities within Zoho Sprints. We delivered 7 major features and 9 enhancements, which include Zoho Sprints

    • Which Zoho CRM tasks would you want an AI assistant to handle?

      I’ve started delegating my Zoho CRM work to AI – and many tasks now take me half the time. It has been so useful that we’re now working to make it available to everyone. Instead of clicking through records and tabs, I simply describe what needs to be

    • The Social Wall: August 2024

      Hi everyone, We're thrilled to bring you the latest updates, features, and improvements to help you get the most out of Zoho Social. Let's see what was new for us at Social in August. Post documents on LinkedIn You can now reach a lot more people and

    • Free PST Password Recovery Tool

      Recoveryfix PST Password Recovery is a specialized standalone utility designed to instantly unlock encrypted Microsoft Outlook PST files . It provides an efficient way to recover, reset, or entirely remove passwords when access credentials are lost or

    • How can I add a Custom Field (or Customer_name) to a picklist?

      Our workflow is Shopify-->SO -->Picklist-->Package-->Shipment. We would like to have the Picklist template to include a custom field "Customer_Notes" (we have created this field already). This way we get alerted when a customer has notes on their account.

    • Cash Flow Statement : Direct Method

      I can not see how can I see the cash flow statement using direct method. AS 3 recommends two formats of cash flow statement. The indirect method is there on Zoho but there report in Direct method. How can I see that by Direct method.

    • ZeptoMail is now Zoho CPaaS!

      ZeptoMail has a new name and it’s expanding beyond email. With ZeptoMail, our focus was simple : help developers and businesses with reliable transactional emails. At the time, email handled a big part of those customer moments. But transactional communication

    • Button Display Conditions

      Hi Guys, Is it at all possible to have extra button conditions? Context: We have data in our deals module which has a custom button which converts the deal into contacts + set up relationships between them. At the end of the conversion we set a field

    • WhatsApp Business Message Pricing Update: Effective October 1, 2026

      Hi everyone, Starting October 1, 2026, Meta is updating how WhatsApp Business messages are charged. This guide explains the new per-message pricing model, how message categories work, and what changes for service messages specifically. How Meta charges

    • Cannot login to Zoho Mail on Mobile App

      Hi, I am the super administrator for our company's email account. I just created 4 new email accounts, and my users have downloaded the zoho mail app. However they are unable to login to their email on the app. It kept saying "User does not exist". Please help! Thank you.

    • Next Page