Zoho CRM Streaming Agent CodeLib

Introduction

The Zoho CRM Streaming Agent CodeLib offers a secure mechanism to transmit Zoho CRM data to a local machine, whether it's a private server or the user's workstation. Utilizing socket communication with HTTP long-polling to maintain connection longevity, each socket connection is treated as a client. This CodeLib exclusively relies on socket.io library. For further insights into socket.io, refer here.

Note

The Zoho CRM Streaming Agent CodeLib converts Zoho CRM data into text and then stores them in Catalyst. Each piece of Zoho CRM data is referred to as a message

Components Used in Catalyst

• Catalyst Appsail

  • zoho-crm-bridge - This serves as a connecting server linking a local machine with data produced in Zoho CRM.

• Catalyst Serverless Functions

  • zoho_crm_event_listener - This is an event function, which gathers the data generated by Zoho CRM into the Catalyst datastore.
  • message_cleanup - This is a cron function used to clean up the datastore in the catalyst.
  • message_service - This is an advancedio function used to read the messages.

• Catalyst Cloud Scale Data Store

  • Message - This table is used to store the data produced in Zoho CRM

• Catalyst Cloud Scale Cron

  • Message_Cleanup - This cron is scheduled daily to clean up the Zoho CRM data stored in Catalyst.

• Catalyst Cloud Scale Event Listener

  • You need to configure an event rule manually.

How to use

Configuring Catalyst

Before installing any Catalyst CodeLib solution, please make sure to login to the Catalyst CLI using your Catalyst account by following the steps mentioned here.

Follow all the steps mentioned below to install, configure and execute the Zoho CRM Streaming Agent CodeLib.

Step 1: Install the CodeLib solution

If you are installing the CodeLib solution for an already existing Catalyst project, navigate to its root directory from your terminal and directly proceed with installing the CodeLib.

You can also initialize a new project following the steps mentioned in this page. After you initialize the project, proceed to navigate to its root directory and continue with the installation.

Execute the command below in the terminal to install the Zoho CRM Streaming Agent CodeLib solution:

catalyst codelib:install https://github.com/catalystbyzoho/codelib-zoho-crm-streaming-agent

Upon installation, the pre-configured Catalyst resources of the CodeLib solution will be automatically deployed to the Catalyst console.

Step 2: Configure Functions Component

1. Open the functions directory of your Catalyst project in your local system.

2. In the catalyst-config.json file of the message_service function, configure the values given below for the key env_variables:

   • CODELIB_SECRET_KEY

3. In the catalyst-config.json file of the message_cleanup function, add the values given below for the key env_variables:

   • MESSAGES_MAX_RETENTION_DAYS

By default, the messages retention period would be 7 days. This step is optional.

Note

Every time you attempt to access any endpoints of the message_service function, you must include the CODELIB_SECRET_KEY in the request header with name catalyst-codelib-secret-key. This key allows you to access the Catalyst resources securely.

Step 3: Configure Appsail Component

1. Create a directory named server in the root directory of your project.

2. Execute the command below in the terminal to clone a github repository into the server directory.

git clone https://github.com/catalystbyzoho/appsail-socket-io-server ./server

3. Once the repository has been cloned, initialize the server directory as an appsail project by following the documentation provided here. During the initialization of appsail, specify the build directory as the build path, zoho-crm-bridge as the name and NodeJS 18 as the stack.

4. Navigate to the app-config.json file located in the server directory,

   1. Configure the values given below for the key env_variables

      • CODELIB_SECRET_KEY
      • PROJECT_DOMAIN

      To obtain the PROJECT_DOMAIN, navigate to the Catalyst Console, select the relevant project, then proceed to Serverless Service -> Functions -> Click on message_service function. Within the overview section, locate the invocation URL and copy the project domain from there. For instance, your invocation url would be PROJECT_DOMAIN/server/message_service/. Copy the PROJECT_DOMAIN part.

   2. Copy and paste the code given below for the key scripts

      {
          "preserve": "npm run build",
          "predeploy": "npm run build",
          "postserve": "rm -r build/",
          "postdeploy": "rm -r build/"
      }

   3. Copy and paste the code given below for the key command

      npm run start

After completing the configuration changes as instructed, proceed to deploy the CodeLib solution again from your local terminal. This ensures that the modifications are applied and visible in the remote console.

Step 4 : Creating Event Listener

Create a custom event listener with type zoho events within the Catalyst console. Then, set up a rule in the same with zoho_crm_event_listener as the target function, and provide the necessary values accordingly.

Configuring Local Machine

1. Create a directory separate from the project's root directory
2. Execute the command below in the terminal to clone a github repository

 git clone https://github.com/catalystbyzoho/codesample-socket-io-client

3. After successfully cloning the repository, navigate to the directory where it was cloned. Locate and open the .env file within this directory. Within the file, update the values for the keys:

   • APPSAIL_DOMAIN
   • CODELIB_SECRET_KEY

To obtain the APPSAIL_DOMAIN, navigate to the Catalyst Console, select the relevant project, then proceed to Serverless Service -> AppSail -> Click on zoho-crm-bridge appsail. In the overview section, you will find the appsail domain.

4. To install the necessary packages and initiate the program, follow these commands in the specified order. Ensure your terminal's current directory is the root of the cloned repository.

   1. Install Packages

   npm install

   2. Start the program

   npm run start

Note

If you need to read a message from a particular ID, include the message ID in the socket.io client query using the name last_read_message. To know more about socket-io client you can refer here. The local machine's program should remain active to receive data from Zoho CRM consistently.

Once the configuration has been completed, each time an event is generated in the Catalyst event listener, event data is transformed as a text message and stored in catalyst, and then the message will be transmitted to the local machine.

Points To Remember

• Using zoho-crm-bridge appsail for purposes other than those specified is not recommended.
• It's advisable to limit the number of socket.io clients to a maximum of 10 per appsail.