Episode I : Exploring the World of Custom Functions in Zoho Desk

Episode I : Exploring the World of Custom Functions in Zoho Desk


Hello Again!
Welcome to an Automation Adventure in the World of Zoho Desk
Join us on a journey to explore how custom functions can enhance and extend the capabilities of Zoho Desk.
Automation is everywhere. From robotic arms assembling products on factory floors to automating tasks in the software world, automation has revolutionized how we work out stuff. But what does this have to do with Zoho Desk? 
Anline, a curious resident in the Zoho Desk world, is exploring how automation can transform her workflow.

Anline’s Quest in the Zoho Desk World  

Anline is building her own world within Zoho Desk, but she’s hit a few roadblocks. She wants to perform specific operations; like updating ticket statuses, fetching data from external services, and automate repetitive tasks. She knows Zoho Desk has the tools she needs, but where does she start?
DeskAutomate Services is here as a guide to the Automation City. The citizens of Zoho Desk World operate based on their licenses. Each license unlocks different levels of automation capabilities.
Anline has the Enterprise edition, which grants her the access to the most powerful tools: Custom Functions. How can this empower Anline?

The Power of Custom Functions  

Custom Functions are like magic spells in the Zoho Desk world. They give users flexibility to tailor automation to their exact needs. While basic automation features are available to all license holders, Custom Functions are exclusive to Enterprise users. These functions let Anline go beyond the basics and create automations that meet her unique requirements. What makes them even more accessible is Deluge, Zoho’s in-house scripting language.
But there’s a catch: Anline isn’t a coding expert in Deluge. How can she harness the power of Custom Functions without getting lost in complex scripts? DeskAutomate guides Anline to the prebuilt functions and a user-friendly framework, simplifying the coding process.
Whether you’re new to coding or an experienced developer, Deluge simplifies the process of creating Custom Functions with its intuitive interface and drag-and-drop functionality.

The Deluge Script Editor: Your Coding Playground  

To access the Custom Function window, go to Setup (S) >> Developer Space >> Functions >> New Function.
When you open the Custom Function window in Zoho Desk, you’ll find a user-friendly interface designed to help you build scripts using drag-and-drop options. Here’s what you’ll discover: Each section has predefined variables which you can drag and use based on your requirements.
1. Basic Commands
The Basic section includes essential commands like setting variables, adding comments, and inserting informational text into your script. These foundational elements help you structure your Custom Function logically.
          Example: businessDaysCount = 5; //<variable> = <expression>;
2. Conditional Logic
The Condition section allows you to add conditional operators such as if, else if, and else. These operators let you program decision-making logic into your Custom Function.
Example:
  1. if (TicketStatus == "Open")
  2. {
  3.     info "This ticket is still open.";
  4. }
3. Notifications
The notifications section lets you enter values to send emails or post messages via Cliq.
Example:
  1. sendmail
  2. [
  3. from : zoho.userid
  4. to   : support@zylker.com
  5. subject : "Ticket is created"
  6. message : "Thank you for your enquiry. A ticket has been created and our experts will respond to you."
  7. ]; 
4. Integrations
Zoho Desk makes coding easy for integrations. With drag-and-drop options, you can create webhook integrations and API calls without writing complex code from scratch. The Custom Function window provides all the necessary code snippets, so you can customize them to fit your requirements.
Example: contactRecord = zoho.crm.getRecordbyId("Contacts",9876787);
5. Collections
The Collections feature lets you gather and manage strings of data or specific information within your Custom Function. This is particularly useful when you need to process or analyze multiple data points.
Example:
  1. myList = Collect();
  2. myList.insert("ID1");
  3. myList.insert("ID2");
  4. myList.insert("ID3");
  5. for each ID in myList
  6. {
  7.    info ID;
  8. }
You can also enable the Syntax Builder within your Coding playground. Enabling this option will help you choose variables from the drop-down windows having prebuilt variables/Fields.

Mapping Parameters and Testing Your Script  

Once you’ve built your Custom Function, the next step is to map it to your Zoho Desk environment:
1. Edit Arguments
The Edit Arguments option lets you map params within your Custom Function to fields in your tickets. For example, you can link the Ticket ID, Ticket Owner, or Case ID to the corresponding fields in your Zoho Desk setup. This ensures that your Custom Function interacts seamlessly with your data.
2. Authentication and Connections
Zoho Desk uses OAuth tokens to establish secure connections for Custom Functions. Commonly, this involves using Zoho OAuth to make API calls within Zoho's scope. You can choose the appropriate scopes during authorization to ensure your Custom Function has access to the necessary data and functionalities.
Note: If you choose third-party applications, please create a connection using the required default or custom services.
3. Save and Test
After saving your script, use Save & Execute Script to test it with sample inputs. This lets you test the function, ensuring functionality, debug, and refine your code before deployment.
In the upcoming episodes, we'll dive into how Custom Functions work and contribute to expanding the capabilities within Zoho Desk.
See you in the next episode,
Regards,
Lydia | Zoho Desk. 

    • Sticky Posts

    • Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

      With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features

    • Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

      Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 

    • Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

      Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 

    • Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

      Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here

    • Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

      With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing

    • Recent Topics

    • Zoho Cliq not working on airplanes

      Hi, My team and I have been having this constant issue of cliq not working when connected to an airplane's wifi. Is there a reason for this? We have tried on different Airlines and it doesn't work on any of them. We need assistance here since we are constantly

    • Tabular View Report | Scale To Fit Screen

      Please add the option to scale Tabular View reports to fit the screen. I constantly have to adjust the column size of Tabular View reports to fit various screen sizes and it just looks messy. You can see in the screenshot below there is a blank gap after

    • RouteIQ for Zoho FSM

      Beste, Zou wel top zijn dat we een RouteIQ hebben voor FSM aangezien we constant moeten zien wat de beste route is voor onze monteurs. Nu moeten we een speciale aparte programma hebben om de beste route te berrekenen voor onze monteurs aangezien de planning

    • Issue with Zoho Sheets

      Edit: Small Error of Opening doc and losing entire formatting while downloading to *.xlsx format. Also my formulas don't work while opening a document downloaded from Zoho sheets, since the colors aren't matched to the correct data. Even though the data

    • Query on Tracking Visitor Activity with Zoho Forms & SalesIQ

      I have a query regarding Zoho Forms, Zoho SalesIQ, and Zoho CRM. I have embedded a Zoho Forms form on my website, and I’m trying to understand if it’s possible to capture a user’s website activity (such as pages visited, visit count, etc.) when they submit

    • Zoho Desk - Event Calendar View

      Hi Desk team, Are there any plans to introduce a calendar or timeline view for Events in Zoho Desk? It would be very helpful if we could see Events visually in a calendar and/or timeline. This is very helpful when desk side support activities need to

    • Email notification for followers

      Is there a way to enable email notification for followers of a support ticket? ie: Ticket #123 is owned by Agent#1, Agent#2 adds themselves as a follower. Whenever ticket #123 receives an email from the customer, Agent#1 receives an email. Agent#2 would

    • Update to CRM Custom Buttons: Collect Users' Location

      Hello everyone! Buttons in Zoho CRM allow you to extend the default CRM capabilities for your bespoke business needs. It provides the flexibility to connect to any third-party application to perform necessary actions. Wouldn't it be better, if those buttons

    • Can I add Conditional merge tags on my Templates?

      Hi I was wondering if I can use Conditional Mail Merge tags inside my Email templates/Quotes etc within the CRM? In spanish and in our business we use gender and academic degree salutations , ie: Dr., Dra., Sr., Srta., so the beginning of an email / letter

    • Creating packages according to actual shipping processes

      Hi community. I would like to ask a question to see if there's a better method or workflow for the creation of packages in Zoho Inventory. There is a little confusion in some of Zoho's language relating to the use of term Packing Slip when connected to

    • Kaizen #78 : How to disable clone record?

      Hello everyone! Welcome back to another interesting Kaizen post. In this post, let us discuss a workaround solution for the use case - How to disable clone record for a user. Requirement Consider that you want to disable the clone option for the Deals

    • Connection to other user

      Zoho Cliq handles sharing of Custom OAuth Connections that require individual user logins.

    • Zoho Inventory / Finance Suite - Extend Visibility of File Names on Attachment Fields

      Hi Inventory / Finance Suite team, I noticed recently that when you add an attachment field to a module in Inventory, only the first 8 characters of the file name are visible on the details view. 8 characters is not a useful amount and there is plenty

    • Bank Feeds

      Since Friday my bank feeds wont work. I have refreshed feeds, deactivate and reactivate and nothing is working

    • Bank feeds not working properly

      My bank feeds (connected with UK Natwest bank) only refreshes with yesterdyas transactions and not giving me the transactions of today since last week, anoyne with the same problem or solition?

    • Error when subscribing to any iCal feed in Group Calendar

      When I try to add any iCal URL via Settings → Calendar → Calendars → Group Calendars → Manage → Subscribed by Group, Zoho pops up an ‘Internal Server Error’ and nothing is added in the ‘Subscribed by Group’ list. But - the feed then appears under my personal

    • Automatic Email Alerts for Errors in Zoho Creator Logs

      Hello, We would like to request a feature enhancement in Zoho Creator regarding error notifications. Currently, Zoho Creator allows users to view logs and errors for each application by navigating to Zoho Creator > Operations > Logs. However, there is

    • Feature Request: Estimated Delivery Date Display on Product Pages

      Dear Zoho Commerce Support Team I am writing to submit a feature request that I believe would greatly benefit all Zoho Commerce merchants: the ability to display an estimated delivery date directly on the product page. Today's e-commerce customers expect

    • Prefered Bin Missing in android APP

      Andoroid app dosent show preferred bin in the picklist. The workaround support reccomend is to use the computre to create the picklist. it shuld be information to be shown aas basic for the pciker.

    • UPS Label size when generated via Zoho

      We've integrated UPS with Zoho inventory. When creating and downloading the shipping labels they are created in a larger paper size. I'd like them to be generated to print on a 4x6 printer. Zoho have told me I need to do this within our UPS portal. UPS

    • Sessions

      When we close the POS Session the closing balance should be the opening balance of next session. But this auto fetching is not happening. When we do cash out for depositing cash to bank account it is recording as expenses (office supplied) in our zoho

    • Marketer's Space: Bookmarks by Zoho Campaigns

      Hello Marketers, In this week's Marketer's Space, we'll look at a simple yet powerful feature that makes a big difference in your workflow: Bookmarks. Bookmarks is a built-in feature in Zoho Campaigns that enables you to create a personalized library

    • Zoho Commerce in multiple languages

      When will you be able to offer Zoho Commerce in more languages? We sell in multiple markets and want to be able to offer a local version of our webshop. What does the roadmap look like?

    • Enhanced Collaboration and Global Web Tabs

      Hello Users, We are rolling out two key enhancements in Zoho Projects that will be part of our November release. Here’s what to expect: 1. Collaboration Section in the Left Navigation Panel What’s new? All communication and interactive tools will be grouped

    • test environment

      Hello, we want to know if Zho expense has test environment to set up new rules etc.

    • How can I transfer data from Production to Development environment?

      Hi, I am using Creator V6 and would like to bring all the data in production to the Development and Testing environments? Is there an easy way of doing that or I have to export and import each table?

    • Zoho Analytics: Clarification on Email Schedule Limits in Basic Plan

      Hi Team, I have a question regarding the email scheduling limits in the Zoho Analytics Basic Plan. The plan shows that I can create 4 email schedules. However, I understand that schedule consumption is calculated based on recipients (i.e., 1 schedule

    • Exporting All Custom Functions in ZohoCRM

      Hello, All I've been looking for a way to keep about 30 functions that I have written in Zoho CRM updated in my own repository to use elsewhere in other instances. A github integration would be great, but a way to export all custom functions or any way

    • Printing invoices using templates

      Hello. I have a sales application and i need to print invoices, delivery ntoes etc and i'm trying to use the record template feature which allow you to use all of the fields from a report. My question is how do i make calculated fields which are not in

    • Plug Sample #15 - Enable Human-Like, Contextual Interactions in SalesIQ with Zia Agents

      Zia Agents are conversational AI assistants designed to understand user intent and respond intelligently, helping businesses automate conversations and offer personalized support at scale. While Zia Agents are yet to be publicly released, access is currently

    • 【Zoho CRM】キオスク機能のアップデート

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 Zoho CRMのキオスク機能のアップデートを紹介します。これまで以上に柔軟性が増し、データ処理が高速化されたことで、リアルタイムのデータ取得が可能になりました。 目次 クライアントスクリプトで、キオスクをどこからでも起動が可能に 新規データ作成処理を使用してキオスク実行中にデータをリアルタイムで取得 データ取得画面における新しい機能強化 1. クライアントスクリプトで、キオスクをどこからでも起動が可能に キオスク向けクライアントスクリプトのサポート（第一段階）がリリースされました。これにより、Zoho

    • Standard view for every agent

      Hello there, I am facing the following challenge. I would like to provide a standardised view for all agents. This view should not be editable by the user. It would be nice for the users if the tickets were divided into columns (like prio work mode).

    • Mapping a new Ticket in Zoho Desk to an Account or Deal in Zoho CRM manually

      Is there any way for me to map an existing ticket in Zoho desk to an account or Deal within Zoho CRM? Sometimes people use different email to put in a ticket than the one that we have in the CRM, but it's still the same person. We would like to be able

    • Create a Custom view that displays the current signed on support reps Tickets

      Is there a way to create a custom view that has criteria that says Ticket Owner = [Current Signed on Support rep]?

    • Trying to validate user's age through DoB

      We have a form where a user enters their birthdate. We'd like a rule that counts whether the user is over or under 25 years of age. This amounts to 9125 days elapsed between today and an easy way to do this would be to use conditional rule Is Before [x]

    • Zoho Desk - Trial Extension Error - Insufficient Privileges to perform this operation. Contact your Administrator.

      Zoho Desk - Trial Extension Error - "Insufficient Privileges to perform this operation. Contact your Administrator." I am receiving this error above when trying to extend my trial, and I am the Administrator. Please advise on how to bypass.

    • What's new in Zoho Social - Q1 recap

      Hello everyone, We’ve rolled out a bunch of updates in Q1, and we’re excited to walk you through them. To help you explore these features in detail, we’re hosting a Q1 recap webinar where we’ll show you how to make the most of each update. Q1 recap webinar

    • Payment Card or Identity form-fill from Vault?

      Hello! I'm working on replacing Bitwarden with Vault and one issue I've run into is that I can't find any option to fill address and payment forms from Payment Card or Identity info that has been saved in Vault. Is there a way to do this? Is it a planned

    • Merging Photos from Subforms into Writer

      I've got a subform that contains uploadable photos. Im trying to merge them into a template but there is no option to pull them in. Is this possible? We are creating an inspection module where we can take photos and make notes and export to a report.

    • Add Unified Project-Wide Development & Release GitHub Dashboard

      Hi Zoho Projects Team, I am writing to submit a feature request for a Unified Development & Release GitHub Dashboard that provides centralized GitHub visibility at both the Project and Milestone levels. The Vision: We need a single "Command Center" that

    • Next Page