Using Zoho Recruit with IBM App Connect Enterprise

Zoho Recruit simplifies the hiring process for recruiters by providing solutions for finding, tracking, and hiring candidates across multiple platforms. It is ideal for both in-house recruiters and staffing agencies.

About this task

IBM® App Connect Enterprise communicates synchronously with Zoho Recruit through the Zoho Recruit Input and Zoho Recruit Request nodes, which are available on Windows, AIX, and Linux® systems.

You can use the Zoho Recruit Input node in a message flow to accept input from Zoho Recruit. For example, you can use the Zoho Recruit Input node to monitor Zoho Recruit for new candidates. When a new candidate is created, the Zoho Recruit Input node generates a message tree that represents the business object with details of the new candidate. The message tree is propagated to the Out terminal so that the rest of the message flow can use the data to update other systems or to audit the changes. For more information about configuring the Zoho Recruit Input node, see Zoho Recruit Input node.

You can use the Zoho Recruit Request node to connect to Zoho Recruit and perform actions on the following objects:
Applications
Retrieve applications and retrieve application by record ID
Candidates
Retrieve candidates, retrieve candidates by advanced filters, associate candidates with job openings, create candidate and update candidate status
Departments
Retrieve departments
Job openings
Retrieve job openings, retrieve job openings by advanced filters, create job opening and update job openings status
Users
Retrieve users
For more information about configuring the Zoho Recruit Request node, see Zoho Recruit Request node.

Procedure

The following steps show you how to connect to a Zoho Recruit account and configure a Zoho Recruit Request node by using connector discovery. You can follow a similar procedure to configure a Zoho Recruit Input node to monitor Zoho Recruit for input, by creating a flow containing a Zoho Recruit Input node and configuring it through connector discovery.

  1. In the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, create a flow that contains a Zoho Recruit Request node.
  2. Select the Zoho Recruit Request node in the flow to show the node properties in the editor.
  3. On the Basic tab, click Launch Connector Discovery.
    A panel is displayed in which you specify the name of the policy project and vault details to be used during connector discovery.
  4. Specify the details of the policy project and vault to be used during connector discovery:
    1. In the Policy Project field, specify the policy project that is used to store the policies that are created during connector discovery.
      Alternatively, you can create a new policy project by clicking New and then specifying the name of the new policy project. Then click Finish.
    2. Specify the vault to be used during connector discovery. By default, credentials that are used during connector discovery are stored in an external directory vault, which is an App Connect Enterprise vault that can be used by any integration server. Alternatively, you can store the credentials in an integration server vault, which is created in the integration server's work directory and can be used only by that specific integration server.
      To specify the vault to be used for storing the credentials, complete the steps in the Using the Connector Discovery wizard section of one of the following topics:
    3. In the Vault key field, enter the vault key that is used to access the credentials stored in the vault. The vault key must be at least 8 characters in length.
    4. Optional: By default, the specified vault location and vault key are saved as preferences in the Toolkit so that the values are preset when you launch Connector Discovery. If you do not want the preferences to be saved, deselect Save in vault preferences.
  5. Click Launch Discovery to start the Connector Discovery wizard for the Zoho Recruit connector.
    The Connector Discovery window is displayed. If existing Zoho Recruit connections (accounts) are available, a list of those connections is displayed. If there are no existing connections, the status of the Zoho Recruit connector is shown as Not connected.
    • If one or more Zoho Recruit connections (accounts) are available, complete the following steps:
      1. Select the connection (account) that you want to use by clicking it.
      2. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on the object. For example, to retrieve SMS campaigns from Zoho Recruit, click Applications and then Retrieve applications.
    • If there are no existing connections (accounts), complete the following steps:
      1. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on that object. For example, to retrieve SMS campaigns from Zoho Recruit, click Applications and then Retrieve applications.
      2. Click Connect.
        A window is displayed in which you enter the connection details for your Zoho Recruit account. Enter the following information in the connector wizard:
        • Server URL: Specify the URL for the API server that makes runtime calls.
        • Token base URL: The token URL value relative to the server URL. Select a server URL to use as the base for the token URL.
        • Application client ID: Specify the unique client identifier to use for authentication.
        • Application client secret: Specify the client secret to use for authentication.
        • Access token: The access token used to access the Zoho Recruit APIs.
        • Refresh token: Specify the refresh token that is generated from the application client ID and client secret.
        • Allow self-signed certificates: Select True or False from the drop-down menu.
        • Override server URL: Required if you want to connect to an endpoint in a private network by using the private network client, or if you want to override the server URL. Specify an override value for the host and port for the connector in the format <http or https>://<host_name>:<port>. If you are not using the private network client or do not require an override, leave this field blank.
      3. Click Connect.

      For more information about identifying these connection details, see How to use IBM App Connect with Zoho Recruit in the IBM App Connect in containers (Long Term Support Cycle-3) documentation.

  6. Set the required connector properties in the wizard.
    You can also set properties that specify the maximum number of records to retrieve and the action to be taken if that limit is exceeded.
  7. When you have finished specifying the properties in the Connector Discovery wizard, click Save.
    The credential that is used for connecting to Zoho Recruit is stored in the vault, and the other connection details are saved in the Zoho Recruit policy. The values of the properties that you set in the wizard are returned to the Zoho Recruit Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.
  8. When you finish discovery and save the property values, exit the Connector Discovery wizard by clicking the X in the upper-right corner of the window or by pressing Alt+F4.
  9. Return to editing the Zoho Recruit Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.
    The connector properties that were set in the Connector Discovery wizard (in step 6) are now visible on the Zoho Recruit Request node in the property editor. The Basic tab shows the values of the Action and Object properties that you set in the wizard. For example, if you selected Applications > Retrieve applications in the wizard, the following properties are visible on the Basic tab of the node:
    • Action - RETRIEVEALL
    • Object - getApplications_model

    The values of the Action and Object properties are displayed in read-only format. If you want to change these values, you can do so by clicking Launch Connector Discovery again and setting new values in the Connector Discovery wizard.

    The Schema base name property specifies the base name of the schema files that describe the format of the request and response messages that are sent and received from the Zoho Recruit connector. The schema base name is set automatically the first time that you run discovery for the node, and it is based on the current flow name and node name. If you set this property manually before you run discovery for the first time, the value that you set is used. If you rename the schemas after discovery, you must edit this property so that it matches the schema base name that is used by the renamed schemas in the project. If you change this property after discovery, you must either rename the schema names to match or run discovery again.

    Depending on the action that was selected during discovery, the Connector Discovery wizard generates either a request schema and a response schema, or a response schema only. A request schema is generated only if the selected action and object require a request message. The generated request schema is used for validation of the request message. If the action was RETRIEVE or DELETE, only the response schema is returned by the connector.

    The generated schema files are added to the project and can be used by a Mapping node for transforming input or output data. The full filename of the schema is derived from the schema base name (such as gen/zohorecruit.Zoho_Recruit_Request), suffixed with either response.schema.json or request.schema.json. You can open the schema by clicking Open request schema or Open response schema.

  10. Check that the property settings on the Zoho Recruit Request node are correct and then save the message flow.
  11. On the Connection tab of the Zoho Recruit Request node, the Policy property shows the name of the policy that contains the details of the security identity to be used for the connection. The policy has a type of Zoho Recruit.
    For more information, see Zoho Recruit policy.
  12. Optional: Set the Timeout property on the Connection tab to specify the time (in seconds) that the node waits for Zoho Recruit to process the operation.
  13. The Filter tab of the Zoho Recruit Request node contains properties that control how the message flow selects data. The initial values of these properties are taken from the property values that were set for the Zoho Recruit connector in the Connector Discovery wizard, including the filter options properties and any conditions that were specified (as described in step 6). Then, if you return to the Connector Discovery wizard and change the values of any properties (by adding new conditions, for example) those updates are reflected in the properties set on the node.

    The Filter Options properties control which objects are to be operated upon when the Zoho Recruit Request node executes. The Filter Limit properties control the maximum number of items to be retrieved and the action to be taken if the limit is exceeded.

    You can modify the values by clicking Edit next to the value that you want to modify in the Filter Options section, and by changing the property values that have been set in the Filter Limit section.

    The property values can be either text values or ESQL or XPATH expressions that are resolved from the contents of the message that is passed to the Zoho Recruit Request node as it executes.

  14. On the Request tab, set the Data location property to specify the location in the incoming message tree that contains the object data to be created in Zoho Recruit. This data forms the request that is sent from the Zoho Recruit Request node to the Zoho Recruit system.
  15. On the Result tab, set the Output data location property to specify the location in the output message tree to contain the data of the record that is created in Zoho Recruit.
  16. By default, request messages are validated against the request schema that was generated during connector discovery. You can turn off request validation or change the validation settings by using the Validation properties of the Zoho Recruit Request node.
  17. Save the message flow.