Kaizen #140 - Integrating Blog feed scraping service into Zoho CRM Dashboard

Kaizen #140 - Integrating Blog feed scraping service into Zoho CRM Dashboard



Howdy Tech Wizards! Welcome to a fresh week of kaizen.

This week, we will look at how to create a dashboard widget that displays the most recent blog post of your preferred products/services, updated daily at a specific time. We will leverage the potential of  Zoho CRM's Function, Variables, and Automation Schedules to achieve this widget. 

Overview

For the use case mentioned above, 
  • Build and deploy a web scraping service on a cloud. 
  • Create a Zoho CRM variable to store the response from this web scraping service.
  • Write a custom schedule function to fetch the web scraping response and update the previously created CRM variable.
  • Create a dashboard widget that makes a GET API call to that specific CRM variable on page load and displays the response.

1. Create a Web Scraping Service 

Develop a web scraping script in your preferred language based on your products/services' blog sites. In this demo, we have used NodeJS and the blog sites of various Zoho products. Our data requirements in the dashboard widget are the title of the latest blog, its URL, and mapping these to their respective products. Since recent posts on these pages often appear first, we have applied the following logic to scrape the sites:
  • Use the axios and cheerio libraries in NodeJS to fetch and load the HTML data of the blogs in the DOM format.
  • Use a getLatestBlog function that fetches the HTML data and utilizes selectors to retrieve the required information (latest blog title and page URL). This data is then mapped to their respective products and fed into a table.
The sample code for web scrapping is provided as an attachment to this post. 

Deploy this NodeJS web scraping script to a server or a cloud function. In our case, we have uploaded it to Catalyst Serverless Function. 

Make a note of the Function URL for the NodeJS web scraping script provided by Catalyst after hosting it. We will invoke this URL from a Custom Schedule Function.

2. Create a Zoho CRM Variable

Step 1: In your Zoho CRM, go to Setup > Developer Hub > Variables.

Step 2: Click on the Create New Variable button and provide the necessary details.



Initially, set a dummy value. Make a note of this variable ID as the response from our web scraping script will be stored in it with the help of Custom Schedule Function.

For a step-by-step guide on creating a variable, check here. 

3. Write a Custom Schedule Function 

Step 1: Go to Setup > Automation > Schedules in your Zoho CRM.

Step 2: Click on the Create New Schedule button and provide a name to the schedule.



Step 3: In the Function To Be Executed field, choose Writing Function. A pop-up will appear with the necessary details to create a function.



Step 4: Once you hit the Create button, the deluge code editor appears within which you have to code the following requirements. 

First, invoke the function URL of the web scraping script. This action will run the script and provide a response. Then, use this response to update the designated CRM variable that was previously set up for this task by using the Update Variable API. 

You can also copy and paste the code from here. 

response = invokeurl
[
url :"https://blog-scrapper-789629878.development.catalystserverless.com/server/blog_scrapper_function/"
type :GET
];
info response;
scrape_response = response.toString();
variable = Map();
variable.put("id","5545974000007587001");
variable.put("value",scrape_response);
variables_list = List();
variables_list.add(variable);
param = Map();
param.put("variables",variables_list);
response = invokeurl
[
url :"https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v6/settings/variables/5545974000007587001"
type :PUT
parameters:param.toString()
connection:"crm_oauth_connection"
];
info response;

For information on invoking API URLs, please refer to the connections help page. Note that the web scraping URL does not require any authentication, as it is a public URL.

Step 5: Click the Save button to associate the function with your schedule. Configure the frequency of the scheduler to run the function every day at a specific time.



For more information about Schedules, check this help page. 

Every day at 11:00 AM, the scheduler will invoke our web scraping script hosted in Catalyst and store its response in a variable. Next, we need to create a dashboard widget that displays the response stored in this variable. 

4. Code your Widget

Step 1: Refer to this help page and initiate a widget project in your local environment using Zoho CLI.

Step 2: Everytime, the dashboard widget is loaded, the code in widget.html file executes an API call to the Zoho CRM Variable, which we updated in the Scheduled Function. It loads the response from the GET Variable API call into the widget.

Copy and paste the following code in your widget.html file. 

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<div id="blogs-table-container"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
ZOHO.embeddedApp.on("PageLoad", function () {
var conn_name = "test_api_connection";
var req_data = {
"method": "GET",
"param_type": 1
};
ZOHO.CRM.CONNECTION.invoke(conn_name, req_data)
.then(function (data) {
console.log(data)
const div = document.getElementById("blogs-table-container");
div.innerHTML = data.details.statusMessage.variables[0].value;
})
})
ZOHO.embeddedApp.init();
</script>
</body>
</html>

5. Upload the Widget and Check Your Results

Step 1: Execute the zet validate and zet pack commands to validate and pack the widget. 

Step 2: Go to Zoho CRM > Setup > Developer Hub > Widgets and click the Create New Widget button. 

Fill in the necessary details and upload the package. 



Step 3: Let us now check the dashboard widget from the Zoho CRM Home page. 



We have used the blog sites of a few Zoho products for this demo. You can replace them with your required products/services' sites. 

Hope this post was insightful and help your interest. 

If you have any queries, feel free to drop them in the comments section below or reach out to us directly at support@zohocrm.com. We eagerly await your thoughts and feedback on this!

Stay tuned until we circle back to you next Friday!

Cheers!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recommended Reads

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alert
Join us for our upcoming Zoho CRM Developer Series: Zoho CRM APIs, where you can explore more about Zoho CRM APIs. Register Now!  


    • Sticky Posts

    • Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

      Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

    • 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

    • Recent Topics

    • Detailed list of scoring rules in Zoho CRM

      Good morning Zoho community, warm greetings The reason for my message today is that I have a problem with my CRM, which I will explain below: Our organization has scoring rules designed to rate our potential customers or leads in the application based

    • Trying to access records in a custom module in Zoho Desk and not having luck

      I've built a custom module in Zoho Desk and am using a custom function to query the records in the module and I'm not having any luck. The only way I have found to retreive a record is by getting it by its recordID (the long zoho assigned one). The function

    • Composite items inside of composite items; bill of materials needed

      Hi Zoho and Everyone, I am evaluating whether Zoho Inventory will work for my small business. I grow and harvest herbs and spices but also get from wholesalers. I use all these items to make herbal teas, but also sell them as individual items on my Shopify store and Etsy. I discovered the composite item bundling and am wondering if I could get some assistance since there is no bill of materials: Our herbal company's best selling tea is a sleepytime tea. Sleepytime Tea can be purchased in three weights

    • ZOHO Books Smart Accounting Software for Travel Agency

      Dear Travel partner, Contact for Travel Agency Accounting Setup & Training Vansh Travel (ZOHO Books Authorised partner) Email: info@vanshtravel.com Mo: +91 98984 95155 Please find PDF   

    • 452 Mailbox delivery restricted by policy error

      We have been testing Zoho desk for about a week now and have been forwarding emails in via an Exchange Online Mail flow rule without issue until yesterday. Suddenly yesterday morning we started getting the vast majority of the emails stuck in Pending

    • Send Email reply on behalf of Agent

      Hi, When using the send email reply via the API I can set the reply on behalf of the customer by using impersonatedUserId in the header of the API call. Is there a way to do this for Agents too? I need to be able to send an email reply on behalf of an

    • Sharing Tickets to a team within a department

      Hi there, We have a need for one department to be able to share tickets to a specific team within a department, I'm wondering if this is possible? All the shared tickets are going into the 'Shared Tickets' view for the whole department but is there a

    • Removing To or CC Addresses from Desk Ticket

      I was hoping i could find a way to remove unnecessary email addresses from tickets submitted via email. For example, a customer may email the support address AND others who are in the helpdesk notification group, in either the TO or CC address. This results

    • Do not use isnull()

      Does not always return booleans. Can also return null. Never use this function. Just use var==null instead.

    • Organization wide Account and Contacts Visibility/Sharing Capabilities?

      Has anyone figured out a way to make visibility or sharing of Accounts and Contacts to be available across the entire organization without having to have every individual user edit their Sharing permissions? For our sales folks they need to be able to

    • Is there a way to configure dark mode for Campaigns emails that go out to customers?

      I've found a lot of information on how to configure dark mode for my (The user) personal Zoho workspace and email, but is there any way to edit dark mode settings on emails that we send out to customers via campaigns?  We sent out a test email the other

    • When Does WorkDrive integrate with Books?

      When Does WorkDrive integrate with Books?

    • How do I import Connected Records for a Deal?

      Can you point me to an example of the CSV file that would add related records to an existing CRM Deal? I imported a Deal, then tried importing a connected record using a unique ID that references the Deal ID, but it doesn't attach it to the Deal rec

    • FSM integration with Books

      Hi, I have spent a few months working with FSM and have come across a critical gap in the functionality, which I find almost shocking....either that, or I am an idiot. The lack of bi-directional sync between Books and FSM on Sales Orders/ Work Orders

    • How to close an estimate ?

      Hello, I have created estimates, and converted them to invoices to get 50% payment. Now I have 2 cases where the estimate stills shows status partially invoiced, however: 1. for one of them, project stopped half way, so the remaining part will never be

    • Power up your Kiosk Studio with Real-Time Data Capture, Client Scripts & More!

      Hello Everyone, We’re thrilled to announce a powerful set of enhancements to Kiosk Studio in Zoho CRM. These new updates give you more flexibility, faster record handling, and real-time data capture, making your Kiosk flows smarter and more efficient

    • How do you print out the invoices comments

      I have some invoices where i need to print out the comments that show when reminders and etc were sent how do we print those out in Zoho Books.

    • Unable to load a specific image

      Hi I am trying to upload an svg file, which reports that there is "a problem with the file", but does not say what sort of problem. I can't find anything which says which files are supported, so it may be it does not support svg. (which would be a real shame) The file itself will open in either Firefox or Chrome without problem. For the moment I am using a png file, which does not zoom well of course. David

    • Why does the Address field show the wrong map location even with a correct Pincode?

      I am noticing an issue with the Address field map in Zoho Creator. When I enter a city name that exists in multiple locations within the same state, the map sometimes points to the wrong area even if I have entered the correct Pincode. Currently, it seems

    • Uploaded files are not included when using "Include user submitted data" in Email Notification

      In Send Email notification workflow in Zoho Creator, there is an option called "Include user submitted data" which allows the email to contain all the form submission details. However, when this option is enabled, files or images uploaded through File

    • Books <-> CRM synchronisation with custom Fields

      Hello, We are synchronising Books Customers with CRM Accounts. In CRM Accounts I set up last year a "segments" multiselect field shown below In Books, I set up a custom multi-select field with the same value as in the CRM And set up the synchronisation inside Books. Want to synchronise the Books Segments with the CRM Segments, but the later doesn't exist, and another non-existing is there ?! First, I don't understand where the field Segmentation is coming from. Second, I set CRM Segmentation to sync

    • 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

    • Archive Option in Conversation View

      Hello, I have a suggestion\request to add an "Archive Thread" button in conversation view of Zoho Mail. The best suggestion I have is to put an "Archive Thread" button next to the "Label Entire Thread" button in conversation view. Most users don't just

    • Outlook/Hotmail Blocking Zoho SMTP IPs (S3150)

      We are currently facing a serious deliverability issue with Zoho SMTP while sending transactional OTP emails for our production application. Emails sent to Outlook / Hotmail addresses are being rejected with the following error: 550 - 5.7.1 Unfortunately,

    • Outlook is blocking incoming mail

      Outlook is blocking all emails sent from the Zoho server. ERROR CODE :550 - 5.7.1 Unfortunately, messages from [136.143.169.51] weren't sent. Please contact your Internet service provider since part of their network is on our block list (S3150). It looks

    • Track Marketing Automation Campaigns in Zoho CRM

      Hello, I've been searching but haven't found the exact answer to this question. I am looking to track Marketing Automation email campaigns and activities inside of Zoho CRM. Use Case: Action: Prospect Submits A Lead Form Outcomes: Prospect created in

    • Zoho Social API for generating draft posts from a third-party app ?

      Hello everyone, I hope you are all well. I have a question regarding Zoho Social. I am developing an application that generates social media posts, and I would like to be able to incorporate a feature that allows saving these posts as drafts in Zoho Social.

    • Temporarily rate limited due to IP reputation.

      We have suddenly started receiving the following Mail Delivery Status Notification: Diagnostic-Code: 4.7.650 The mail server [136.143.184.12] has been temporarily rate limited due to IP reputation. For e-mail delivery information, see https://aka.ms/postmaster

    • Incorrect Functioning of Time Logs API (Version 3)

      We need to fetch the list of time logs for each task for our company internal usage. We are trying to achieve it by using the next endpoint: https://projects.zoho.com/api-docs#bulk-time-logs#get-all-project-time-logs Firstly, in the documentation the

    • IMPORTANT: It doesn´t search for letters with portuguese characters.

      Some of my articles have for example the word "vídeo". But if I search for "vídeo" it doesn´t find them. If I search for "video" it does find them. Idealy, it should find the articles either way. But if I have to choose, it would be better to find the

    • IMPORTANT: It doens´t show full article name on search - Should add line break

      When we search for articles, it doesn´t show the full name. There should be a line break so the user can see the full article name, otherwise the user can´t know if that´s the article he/she is looking for. This is very important, otherwise the user has

    • Zoho Books - Payment Gateway - Revolut

      Hi Books Team, My feature request if to include the popular platform Revolut as a payment collection option on invoices in Zoho Books. Please upvote if you are also looking for this option.

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | January 2026

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From e-filing Form 1099 directly with the IRS to corporation tax support, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. E-File Form 1099 Directly With the

    • Kaizen #233 - Generating AI-powered Follow-up Emails Using CRM Functions and Widgets

      Hey everyone! Welcome back to another interesting post in the Kaizen series! Sales teams regularly capture interaction notes in CRM after speaking with prospects. However, drafting a follow-up email that reflects the conversation context can be repetitive

    • Connect Bank in Zoho Books

      Can I connect UOB or Ariwallex in Zoho Books?

    • Using MPN across multiple SKUs and inventory tracking

      I have several different SKU's that share a common MPN and would like to track inventory by MPN. SKU1 has MPN1 assigned SKU2 has MPN1 assigned Here is an example If I start with 5 of MPN 1 in stock I want each SKU1 and SKU2 to show as 5 in stock, If I

    • Extend Zoho Canvas Customization to Zoho Creator Forms and Reports

      Currently, Zoho Canvas allows users to design and customize the UI of Zoho CRM modules with a much better visual experience. This helps organizations create cleaner layouts, improve usability, and design interfaces that match their workflows. However,

    • Marketing Tip #1: Optimize item titles for SEO

      Your item title is the first thing both Google and shoppers notice. Instead of a generic “Leather Bag,” go for something detailed like “Handcrafted Leather Laptop Bag – Durable & Stylish.” This helps your items rank better in search results and instantly

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

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

    • ZOHO Books Query

      Good day, Can someone please advise. I recently migrated from ZOHO Invoice to ZOHO Books. No that I want to use the inventory on Books I cant as all my items have transaction history. The person I spoke to at ZOHO said I need to create a new Company profile

    • Next Page