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Automation - Workflow Action - Webhook

Learn to alter or augment the behavior of a web page or a web application by using a webhook method.
R
Ruba
4 Jan, 2024 - Updated 2 months ago
Table of Contents

Introduction

A webhook is a user-defined HTTP callback that is triggered when an event occurs. A web application that implements webhooks will POST a message to a URL when a particular event occurs at the source site. 

In simple terms, you can alter or augment the behavior of a web page or a web application by using custom callbacks with a webhook method.

To learn more about webhooks, click here.

 

Why Webhooks?

You can use webhooks to notify your software application of changes that occur in Vtiger.

 

Business scenarios: 

  • Closed a potential deal in Vtiger? Then use webhooks to push customer information to a third-party application (maybe an accounting software) to automatically generate an invoice.
  • You can push a newly created lead to a marketing list in your email marketing application.
 

How Webhooks work?

Webhooks help in communicating with third-party applications by sending instant web notifications. With webhooks, you can configure HTTP URLs and associate them with workflow rules to automate the notification process.

Webhooks supports all workflow-enabled modules. 

 

Feature Availability


Click here for the availability of Workflow Actions for different editions of Vtiger CRM.

Setting up Webhook Action

Let us learn how to set up webhooks by considering Freshbooks as the third-party accounting software. 

Follow these steps to set up webhook action:

 
  1. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
  2. Click the Settings button.
 
 
  1. Look for the Automation section.
  2. Select Workflows.
 
 
  1. Click the +New Workflow button.
  2. Select Standard.
 
 
  1. Specify the basic information, workflow trigger, and entry criteria. To learn about them, click here
 
 
  1. Set up the webhook action by clicking the Add Action drop-down.
  2. Select Webhook.
 
  1. Enter the Action Title and Description.
  2. Specify the URL of the third-party application under URL to Notify
    • This supports two methods: 
      1. POST - Creates a record in third-party
      2. PUT - Updates a record in third-party
    • In our example, the closed deal’s data is sent to Freshbooks to create an invoice
    • Example URL: POST - http://accounting_software_example_url.com
  3. Select the format in which you want to notify under Content Type
    • Vtiger supports four content types: XML, JSON, JSONARRAY, and FORM
  4. Choose the Authorization Type
    • Select the Basic Authentication radio button if the third-party provides an authenticated service. Otherwise, choose No Authentication
    • If you choose Basic Authentication, then you must specify the username and password for the third-party account
  5. Provide the entity Parameters of the third-party and their values that you want to push. 
    • You must enter the following for the example considered: Accounting Software ID, Account ID, Public ID, Authtoken, Fields present in third-party and their respective values in Vtiger
  6. Click Save
 

Note

  •  You can add up to three Webhooks per workflow.
  • You must add all the fields present in the third-party as parameters during the configuration.
  • Authentication fields and Public ID are the mandatory parameters.

Webhook Logs

Vtiger records every activity triggered when the configured event occurs. The log tables help you track the data that you send to the third-party application.

Follow these steps to view webhook logs:
 

 
  1. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
  2. Click the Settings button.
 
 
  1. Look for the Automation section.
  2. Select Workflows.
 
 
  1. Open the workflow that has the webhook action configured.
 
 
  1. Scroll down to the Actions section of the workflow.
  2. Click the View Webhook log link shown beside the action.
 

You will see the following details in a webhook log. You can filter the log according to different statuses.


Different log statuses

Here are the different log statuses:

  • Queued: When the data is yet to be dispatched 
  • Dispatched: When the data has been dispatched to the third-party 
  • Success: When the data has been delivered to the third-party
  • Failed: When webhook fails to send the data

Note:

  1. The web notifier service handles retries. There can be three retries: 
    • 1 hour for the first retry
    • 2 hours for the second retry
    • 4 hours for the third retry
  2. Every retry is logged in the webhook log.
  3. The record owner and all active admins are notified via email when a webhook fails.
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