Signals

Signals receive real-time event notifications from third-party applications and send in-app notifications to users in your organization whenever a configured action occurs in those apps. This helps you stay updated on activities that impact your business and make informed decisions.

Create Signals

To receive notifications from third-party apps, you need to create Signals. Here’s how:

Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Data.
Click + New Signal in the top right corner.
Enter the Signal Name.
Add or select the third-party app from which you’ll receive notifications in the Service dropdown.
- Click Add New Service from the dropdown.
- On the New Service page, enter the name of the third-party app in the Service Name field and click Add. The third-party app will be listed in the Service field.
- Click the Service dropdown and select the third-party app for which you’re creating the signal.
You can upload an image for the signal. This will help in identifying notifications from a signal.
Click Upload Image next to *Signal Icon, select the, icon and click Open.
Select how you want to trigger the signal from the Trigger Type dropdown. You can trigger the signal using a function or an API.
- You can trigger the signal using an API if the signal’s message can be constructed in the third-party app itself.
- You can trigger the signal using a Function if the message and actions need to be constructed dynamically i.e., it requires data from Zoho Procurement.

Note: If you select the Trigger Type as Function and if you are using a Connection in the function, you will have to select the ZohoProcurement.Signals.CREATE and ZohoProcurement.Signals.READ scopes as these will not be included in the ZohoProcurement.fullaccess.All scope.

In the Recipients field, choose how the users of your organization will receive notifications from the signal.
- All Users: Select this option if you want all the users in your organization to receive the notification for this signal. They will not be able to disable notifications for this signal.
- Disabled by Default: Select this option if only the user who created the signal do receive notifications for it. The notification will be disabled for other users in your organization.
- Enabled by Default: Select this option if you want all users in your organization to receive notifications for this signal.
Click Save.

Trigger Details

Once you click Save, based on the Trigger Type, the following will be generated.

Function: OAuth and ZAPI Key URLs will be displayed in a pop-up.

Insight: You can use OAuth if the third-party app supports OAuth authentication. You can use ZAPI Key when the third-party app doesn’t support OAuth authentication or if you want to configure the signal easily.

API: Namespace will be displayed in a pop-up. These details allow the third-party application to securely notify Zoho Procurement when an event occurs. You can copy them directly from the pop-up.

Warning: Ensure that only authorised users have access to these details. If exposed, any user who has access to the above details can access the associated data.

You can also copy the details from the following places:

Edit Signal Page: Navigate to Settings > Developer Data > Signals. Hover over the required signal, click the More icon and select Edit. Click Copy next to the URLs, or click Preview Sample JSON to copy the namespace.

Signals List Page: Navigate to Settings > Developer Data > Signals. Hover over the required signal, click the More icon and select Copy ZAPI URL or Copy OAuth URL.

Configure Signals in Third-Party Services

After creating a signal, you must configure the generated details in the third-party service to complete the setup.

You can now configure the URL in the third-party application to set up signals. If you want to add any additional attributes to the script, you can do so at the time of the API call.

Header: The header of the API request.
Parameters: The query parameters of the API.
Body: It is a string that contains the request body of the API call. Once configured, you’ll receive in-app notifications in your Zoho Procurement organization when the third-party app performs the task that you have configured.

You can format the content in the message field of the function or the API. The following formatting options are supported:

Bold: Enclose the contents in asterisks (*). For example, *This content is bold.*
Italics: Enclose the contents in carets (^). For example, ^This content is in italics.^
Line break: Use ~br~ to insert a line break.

Manage Signal Notifications

You can manage signal notifications based on your role.

Users with access to Settings can manage the notification preference for signals from the Signals List page. Here’s how:

Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Data.
On the Signals List page, hover the cursor over the signal for which you want to change the notification preference and
- Slide the toggle next to Enabled if you don’t want to receive notifications from that signal.
- Slide the toggle next to Disabled if you want to receive notifications from that signal. Users who cannot access to Settings can manage the notification preference for signals from the Notificatoins button. Here’s how:
Click the Notifications button in the top right corner.
Click the Gear icon.
In the Signals Notification Preference pop-up, hover the cursor over the signal for which you want to change the notification preference and
- Slide the toggle next to Enabled if you don’t want to receive notifications from that signal.
- Slide the toggle next to Disabled if you want to receive notifications from that signal.

Note: If the user who created the signal selected the Recipients as All Users, all the users in your organization will receive notifications from that signal and they’ll not be able to disable it.

Regenerate ZAPI Key URLs

If a signal’s ZAPI Key URL is exposed, shared unintentionally, or needs to be rotated for security reasons, you can regenerate it. Here’s how:

Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Data.
Hover over the signal whose URL you want to regenerate.
Click the Dropdown icon and select Edit.
On the Edit Signal, click Regenerate next to the ZAPI Key URL.
In the following pop-up, click Regenerate again to confirm your action. New URL will be generated, and the old URL will be invalidated. Ensure that you update the new URL wherever it is used.

Edit Signals

You can update the details to signals by editing them. Here’s how:

Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Data.
Hover over the signal you want to edit.
Click the Dropdown icon and select Edit.
Make the necessary changes and click Save.

Mark Signals Inactive

You can temporatily disable the signals you don’t require. Here’s how:

Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Data.
Hover over the signal you want to mark as inactive.
Click the Dropdown icon and select Mark as Inactive.

Mark Signals Active

You can use the inactive signals by enabling them again. Here’s how:

Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Data.
Hover over the signal you want to mark as inactive.
Click the Dropdown icon and select Mark as Inactive.

Delete Signals

If you no longer need certain signals, you can delete them.

Warning: Once you delete a signal, you’ll not able to retrieve it and you’ll stop receiving notifications for that signal.

To delete signals:

Go to Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Data.
Click the More button next to the signal and select Delete from the dropdown.
In the pop up that appears, click Delete. Even after deleting a signal in Zoho Procurement, the corresponding configuration made in the third-party app will exist. Ensure that you delete the configuration in the third-party app as well.