Signals

The Signals feature in Zoho Expense sends in-app notifications to users in your organization whenever an action is performed in a third-party app that you had configured. Signals will help you stay updated on activities that will affect your business and take informed decisions.

Create a New Signal

To create a signal in Zoho Expense:

Go to Settings on the left sidebar.
(OR)
Click Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Space.
Click + New Signal in the top right corner of the page.
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.
- On the page that appears, 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 Expense.
In the Recipients field, you can choose how the users in your organization will receive notifications for 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. They can enable notifications for this signal from the Signals list page if required.
- Enabled by Default: Select this option if you want all users in your organization to receive notifications for this signal. Users can disable notifications for this signal from the Signals list page if required.
Click Save.

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 ZohoSpend.Signals.CREATE and ZohoSpend.Signals.READ scopes as these will not be included in the ZohoSpend.fullaccess.All scope.

Insight: 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.

If you selected the Trigger Type of the signal as Function, the OAuth URL and ZAPI Key URL will be generated and displayed in a pop up. You can copy the URL from the pop up.

If you selected the Trigger Type of the signal as API, the namespace will be generated and displayed in a pop up. You can copy the namespace from the pop up.

For both function and API trigger types, the OAuth URL and ZAPI Key URL will be displayed on the Edit page of the signal. You can copy them from there as well.

You can also copy the URLs by clicking the More button next to the signal on the Signals list page.

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

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.

Pro-Tip: Limit access to the URL to a few trusted and authorized users. If exposed, any user who has access to the URL can use it to trigger notifications for the signal.

Now that you’ve created a signal, you’ll receive in-app notifications in your Zoho Expense organization when the third-party app performs the task that you have configured.

Manage Signal Notifications

A user with access to the Admin View can manage the notification preferences for signals from the Signals list page. Here’s how:

Go to Settings on the left sidebar.
(OR)
Click Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Space.
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.

A user with access to My view can manage the notification preferences for Signals from the Preferences tab in My Settings. Here’s how:

Click My Settigs on the left sidebar. (OR)
Click Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Go to the Preferences tab.
In the Notification Preferences section, 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

Edit a Signal

If you want to make any changes to the signal, you can do so by editing it. Here’s how:

Go to Settings on the left sidebar.
(OR)
Click Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Space.
Click the Edit button next to the signal.
On the Edit Signal page, make the necessary changes and click Save.

Mark a Signal as Inactive

If you don’t need a signal but you don’t want to delete it, you can mark it as inactive. Here’s how:

Go to Settings on the left sidebar.
(OR)
Click Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Space.
Click the More button next to the signal and select Mark as Inactive from the dropdown.

Mark a Signal as Active

You can mark an inactive signal as active. Here’s how:

Go to Settings on the left sidebar.
(OR)
Click Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Space.
Click the More button next to the signal and select Mark as Active from the dropdown.

Regenerate ZAPI Key URL

The ZAPI Key will be included in the invoking URL as a part of the query parameter. Since it’s included in the invoking URL, it requires no extra configuration. However, if the ZAPI Key URL is exposed, any user can use it to trigger notifications for the signal. If the ZAPI Key is exposed, you can regenerate it. Here’s how:

Go to Settings on the left sidebar.
(OR)
Click Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Space.
Select the Edit button next to the signal.
On the Edit Signal page, select Regenerate below the ZAPI Key URL field.

The ZAPI Key will be regenerated. Ensure that you replace the old ZAPI Key with the new one in all the other places where you used it.

Delete a Signal

If you no longer need a signal, you can delete it.

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

To delete a signal:

Go to Settings on the left sidebar.
(OR)
Click Settings in the top right corner of the page.
Click Signals under Developer Space.
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 Expense, the corresponding configuration made in the third-party app will exist. Ensure that you delete the configuration in the third-party app as well.