In this article, you'll learn how to connect your Higher Logic community site to your Zapier account to create two types of Triggers: 

• Idea-based Triggers
• Discussion-based Triggers

These Triggers are a great way to leverage content from your Higher Logic community into another platform, such as:

• sending Ideas to JIRA for product initiatives
• and Discussions to Zendesk to improve your knowledge base.

NOTE: Want to see more Zapier Triggers available with the HL-Zapier app? Let us know in our HUG product ideas community.

How it works

The HL-Zapier app allows you to create an Idea or Discussion Trigger, which takes the form of a button in your Higher Logic community (on Idea or Discussion details pages). For these Triggers, you'll configure an Action that occurs when the button is clicked, such as creating a Feature in Productboard or creating a case in Zendesk.

Let's walk through the steps necessary to create a Trigger and its associated Action.

Step 1 - Set up OIDC in Higher Logic

1. Access the Admin interface.
2. Navigate to Community > OpenID Connect > Manage Manage OIDC Applications.

NOTE: If this page isn't available, Higher Logic needs to enable it for you. To get the process started, create a case.

3. Click the (+) to create a new OIDC application

4. In the dialog, select Zapier from the dropdown and click Continue.

5. Next, you'll receive the client credentials you'll need to connect your Zapier account to your Higher Logic community site: client_id and client_secret.

IMPORTANT: These credentials are required later in this process. You won't be able to retrieve them past this point, so copy them somewhere easily accessible (e.g., Notepad).

6. Click Finish.

Step 2 - Connect Zapier to Higher Logic

Now that you have the OIDC client application credentials, it's time to log in to Zapier and create either a Idea or Discussion-based Trigger (known as a "Zap"). 

1. Access the Higher Logic Zapier - Beta app at: https://zapier.com/apps/higher-logic/integrations

NOTE: If you have a Zapier account, go ahead and sign in; if you don't, you'll be prompted to sign up.

2. Once logged in, scroll down to the Supported triggers and actions section and choose to create an Idea- or Discussion-based Trigger.

3. On the next screen, click the Trigger to begin configuring it. Up first, click Sign In to connect to your Higher Logic site.

4. Follow the prompts to connect:

1. Enter the domain of your Higher Logic community site (e.g., hug.higherlogic.com).
2. Enter the Client ID you annotated earlier in Step 1.
3. Enter the Client Secret you annotated earlier in Step 1.
4. Click Yes, Continue to Higher Logic.

5. You'll be prompted to test the Trigger. Proceed with the test to confirm a successful connection.
6. Once you receive a successful test message, you're ready to build your desired workflow in Zapier (you'll be prompted to set up an "Action"). For this step, search for and select an application to use in your workflow (e.g., Productboard or JIRA).
7. Then, set your Event (i.e., the Trigger's action). Based on the application you select, Event options will populate relevant to that application (e.g., create a Feature in Productboard or create a case in Zendesk). 

8. In the Account section, authenticate to the application you selected.
9. Once authentication is successful, you will see relevant fields to map your Idea- or Discussion-based Trigger to the selected application’s fields.
10. After completing the required fields, you'll be prompted to test your Zap.
11. Upon a successful test, Publish your Zap (you can turn it off later if needed).

At this point, it's time to test your Zap in your Higher Logic Community site.

Step 3 - Test your Trigger in Higher Logic

1. In your Higher Logic Community site, access the Admin Interface.
2. Navigate to Settings > Integration > Zapier Triggers.

3. The page is broken into two sections: one for Idea-based Triggers and one for Discussion-based Triggers. Applicable to your Trigger type:

1. Set the Button Visibility for the "Submit to Zapier" button that will display on the Idea or Discussion details page. This setting controls who in your community can use this button. Select Show to all authenticated users if you want it available to all users who have logins to your community site. Select Show only to security group(s) if you want more granular control, only showing the button to specific groups of users (e.g., only to Admins or specific types of members). 
2. If desired, you can customize the Button Text to something more appropriate for your use case.
3. Click Save to apply any changes.

4. On the frontend of your community, navigate to your Ideation or Discussion page (depending on the Trigger you created).
5. Create a new Idea or Discussion to test your Zap. The "Submit to Zapier" button will only be available for new Ideas or Discussions moving forward.
6. You should see the "Submit to Zapier" button after publishing your Idea or Discussion, on its Details page. Click the button to submit to Zapier.
7. Lastly, navigate back to Zapier to confirm your Zap was successful. You can check this via the History menu item to the right.

TIP: You can also navigate to the other application you included in your Zap (e.g., Productboard) to confirm the desired action took place. For example, a Zap set up to send a Higher Logic idea to Productboard as a "note" should result in a new note automatically being created in Productboard with the idea's details.

That’s it! If your Zap is published/enabled, you can continue to submit newly published Ideas or Discussions to Zapier to promote enabled workflows you set up in your Zaps.