---
original_url: "https://jace.pro/blog/show-hints-for-choice-lists/"
format: markdown
ai_optimized: true
---

Show hints for choice lists# Show hints for choice lists

September 8, 2017 [servicenow](/tags/servicenow/)

  Enable AI AnimationA stakeholder asked me to show hints in a more obvious way on a form. This was my suggestion. Using the hint field on the `sys_choice` table. Have a client script onChange check for the value, if one is set, clear the message for this field, and show the found message.

`// script include global.choiceUtil
// client callable true
var choiceUtil = Class.create();
choiceUtil.prototype = Object.extendsObject(AbstractAjaxProcessor, {
  getHint: function() {
    try {
      var returnObj = {};
      var hint = new GlideRecord('sys_choice');
      hint.addQuery('name', this.getParameter('sysparm_table'));
      hint.addQuery('element', this.getParameter('sysparm_field'));
      hint.addQuery('value', this.getParameter('sysparm_val'));
      hint.addQuery('inactive', 'false');
      hint.query();
      if (hint.next()) {
        returnObj.hint = hint.getValue('hint');
      } else {
        returnObj.error = 'no choice found for ';
        returnObj.error += hint.getEncodedQuery();
      }
      return JSON.stringify(returnObj);
    } catch (error) {
      return JSON.stringify(error, '', '  ');
    }
  },
  type: 'choiceUtil'
});````
`function onChange(control, oldValue, newValue, isLoading, isTemplate) {
  if (isLoading || newValue === '') {
    return;
  }
  var field = 'state';

	var ga = new GlideAjax('global.choiceUtil');
  ga.addParam('sysparm_name', 'getHint');
  ga.addParam('sysparm_table', g_form.getTableName());
  ga.addParam('sysparm_field', field);
  ga.addParam('sysparm_val', newValue);
  ga.getXML(HintParse);

  function HintParse(response) {
    var answer = JSON.parse(response.responseXML.documentElement.getAttribute("answer"));
    g_form.hideFieldMsg(field, true);
    if (answer.hint) {
      g_form.showFieldMsg(field, answer.hint, 'info', true);
    }
  }
}`
```

Here’s the out of box hints.

Here’s the alternative.

---
[View this page on GitHub](https://github.com/jacebenson/jace.pro/tree/main/./src/posts/2017/2017-09-08-show-hints-for-choice-lists.md).

[Show hints for choice lists](https://jace.pro/blog/show-hints-for-choice-lists/) [Jace Benson](https://jace.pro) ![Jace Benson](https://jace.pro/icon-512x512.png)

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*This content is from Jace Benson's ServiceNow and tech blog at jace.pro*
*Original post: https://jace.pro/blog/show-hints-for-choice-lists/*