Introduction

Let’s assume that you want to monitor the records in a Cerb worklist from a third-party app or service. You could use the REST API, but that requires worker authentication and custom code that you need to host somewhere.

An alternative, simpler approach is to use a Cerb bot to display any worklist in RSS¹ format. Many tools already exist to monitor an RSS feed for new content. Zapier² can run actions based on new RSS feed items. You can even subscribe to RSS feeds within Outlook.

We’ll host this RSS feed on a custom URL in Cerb using a webhook³ listener.

• Enable the Webhooks plugin in Cerb
• Create the bot behavior in Cerb
• Create the new webhook in Cerb
• Subscribe to the RSS feed from your third-party tool
• Where to go from here
• References

Enable the Webhooks plugin in Cerb

If the webhooks plugin isn’t already enabled, install it from the Plugin Library.

Create the bot behavior in Cerb

Once the Webhooks plugin is enabled, you’ll be able to create new bot behaviors on the Webhook received event.

First, let’s create a new bot to keep things organized.

Navigate to Search » Bots and click the (+) icon in the blue bar to add a new record.

Enter the following details:

(You can find an RSS icon on Google Images)

Click the Save Changes button. Then click your new bot in the worklist to view its profile.

On the Behaviors tab, click the Create Behavior button.

Select the Import tab and paste the following behavior to import it:

{
  "behavior":{
    "title":"New tickets as RSS",
    "is_disabled":false,
    "is_private":false,
    "event":{
      "key":"event.webhook.received",
      "label":"Webhook received"
    },
    "variables":{
      "var_new_tickets":{
        "key":"var_new_tickets",
        "label":"New Tickets",
        "type":"ctx_cerberusweb.contexts.ticket",
        "is_private":"1",
        "params":[
          
        ]
      }
    },
    "nodes":[
      {
        "type":"action",
        "title":"Load a page of new tickets",
        "params":{
          "actions":[
            {
              "action":"var_new_tickets",
              "search_mode":"quick_search",
              "quick_search":"status:o",
              "limit":"first",
              "limit_count":"20",
              "mode":"add",
              "worklist_model":{
                "options":{
                  "disable_recommendations":"1"
                },
                "columns":[
                  "t_group_id",
                  "t_bucket_id",
                  "t_owner_id",
                  "t_updated_date"
                ],
                "params":{
                },
                "limit":10,
                "sort_by":"t_updated_date",
                "sort_asc":false,
                "subtotals":"",
                "context":"cerberusweb.contexts.ticket"
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      {
        "type":"action",
        "title":"Output RSS",
        "params":{
          "actions":[
            {
              "action":"set_http_header",
              "name":"Content-Type",
              "value":"application\/rss+xml; charset=utf-8"
            },
            {
              "action":"set_http_body",
              "value":"<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\r\n<rss version=\"2.0\" xmlns:atom=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2005\/Atom\">\r\n  <channel>\r\n    <title>Recently updated tickets in Cerb<\/title>\r\n    <description>Tickets that need worker attention<\/description>\r\n    <link>https:\/\/example.com\/<\/link>\r\n    <atom:link href=\"https:\/\/example.com\/feed.xml\" rel=\"self\" type=\"application\/rss+xml\"\/>\r\n    <pubDate>{{''|date('r')}}<\/pubDate>\r\n    <lastBuildDate>{{''|date('r')}}<\/lastBuildDate>\r\n    <generator>Cerb<\/generator>\r\n    {% for ticket in var_new_tickets %}\r\n      <item>\r\n        <title>{{ ticket.subject | e }}<\/title>\r\n        <description><![CDATA[\r\n            <p>\r\n              <b>Sender:<\/b> {{ ticket.latest_message_sender__label | e}}\r\n            <\/p>\r\n            <p>\r\n              <b>Bucket:<\/b> {{ticket.group__label | e}}: {{ticket.bucket__label | e}}\r\n            <\/p>\r\n            <p>\r\n              {{ ticket.latest_message_content | e | nl2br}}\r\n            <\/p>\r\n        ]]><\/description>\r\n        <pubDate>{{ ticket.updated | date('r') }}<\/pubDate>\r\n        <link>{{ ticket.url | e }}<\/link>\r\n        <guid isPermaLink=\"true\">{{ ticket.url | e }}<\/guid>\r\n      <\/item>\r\n    {% endfor %}\r\n  <\/channel>\r\n<\/rss>\r\n"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

You should now see the following:

By default, this behavior retrieves the 20 most recently updated open tickets. You can edit the behavior to change the worklist type or filters.

Now we’re ready to create the webhook that triggers this behavior.

Create the new webhook in Cerb

Navigate to Setup » Configure » Webhooks.

Click the (+) icon in the blue bar of the worklist to create a new webhook.

Enter the following details:

Click the Save Changes button.

A new webhook will be added to the worklist. You can copy the URL to your clipboard, since we’ll be using it in the next step.

Subscribe to the RSS feed from your third-party tool

Paste your new URL into an RSS reader (or parse it as XML⁴ from any script). You should see a list of records from the worklist.

Where to go from here

You can repeat this process to create RSS feeds for your notifications, daily tasks, etc.

References