Custom form app tiles

Simpplr introduced support for Custom form app tiles, enhancing the existing Tile Builder and Bring Your Own Integration (BYOI) framework. This capability allows app managers to design form-based tiles that enable employees to submit information directly from the intranet dashboard to any third-party application.

This builds on the current ability to create custom display tiles and empowers organizations to embed dynamic, interactive forms into their home or site dashboards.

Access Custom App Tiles

You can access Custom app tiles by simply navigating to the Manage features icon on the extreme left Role-aware mode nav. You can use this, only if you have access. 

Follow the given steps to access the Custom app tiles seamlessly:

1. From your role-aware mode nav on the extreme left-hand side (vertical menu), click Manage features > Custom app tiles.
2. Click on Create custom app tile.

Create Custom Form App Tiles

To get started with creating custom form app tiles, make sure you're logged in with App Manager access. Only App Managers can create, configure, and publish these tiles using the Tile Builder. Follow the guided steps to set up a new form, connect it to a third-party app, and customize the fields and messages for your users.

1. Click on the Manage features > Custom app tiles, on the extreme left vertical menu
2. Click on the Create custom app tile button on the upper right side

3. From the Create custom app tile modal, input the following required values to the fields:

   • Tile Name: Enter a clear name for the tile (e.g., “Submit IT Ticket”).
   • Tile Description: Briefly describe what the tile does (e.g., “Create Zendesk ticket”)
   • Tile type: Select the desired Tile form from the two options i.e. Display and Form from the Tile type drop down menu. Select the 'Form' option to create Custom form app tile.
   • In the API section, select:  
     • App: Select the app to connect, the app is automatically available in the dropdown
     • If it’s not listed, click 'Add custom app' to set it up in the Integrations menu
4. Click on Save to save the tile as draft or Next to create the tile using the tile builder. You have to configure the API action first before you start building the Tile.
5. Click on the 'Configure API action' button:

• • Choose an available API Action from the list to define what the tile will do (e.g., submit a request, create a task)
• Fill in the values like:
  • Description
  • Priority
  • Subject

  Note:

  For each value the tile author has to select from 'Add here' and 'Get from user'. Add here value has to be entered by the tile author but it won't be visible to the end user in tile when published to the dashboards. While the Get from user value will be entered by the end user on the dashboard.
• If you can’t find the action you need, click 'Create API Action' to set up a new one manually based on your app’s API

Example use case: Zendesk integration

These are the steps which we followed for ZenDesk integration for Custom form app tiles: 

1. 1. Create a custom app

      • Use Custom Connectors to define the third-party service (e.g., Zendesk).

      • Ensure the correct scopes and permissions are defined according to the provider’s API documentation (e.g., scope=write for Zendesk).

   2. Configure the API action

      • Endpoint: https://simpplr.zendesk.com/api/v2/tickets

      • Method: POST

      • Body: JSON input (required fields like subject, description, priority)

   3. Map fields in the tile builder

      • Configure each form field with appropriate:

        • Labels

        • Input types (text, dropdown, etc.)

        • User configurability

      • Example: Priority field can have values like "Urgent", "High", "Normal", "Low"

   4. Deploy the tile

      • Add it to a home or site dashboard for targeted access.

      • Employees can submit tickets with a simple form from within Simpplr.