---
original_url: "https://jace.pro/blog/using-processors-to-download-files/"
format: markdown
ai_optimized: true
---

Using Processors to download files- # Using Processors to download files

July 12, 2019 [servicenow ](/tags/servicenow/)[processors](/tags/processors/)

  Enable AI AnimationI was talking to Nthumma about a problem. It was the need for a custom XML file for each incident. I knew of a way to do this, but it’s **old**. Enter Processors.

If you ever have a need to make something auto-download, that would seem pretty difficult as you need to set headers as mentioned [here on StackOverlow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/386845/http-headers-for-file-downloads#386904).

With processors this is a non-issue. Here’s how to do it.

`// Processor code
(function process(g_request, g_response, g_processor) {
    try{
    var filter = g_request.getParameter("filterQuery");
    var fileName = filter + '.xml';
    var contentType = 'xml/plain';
    var fileContent = '';
    var incident = new GlideRecord('incident');
    incident.addEncodedQuery(filter);
    incident.query();
    fileContent+='<root>';
    while(incident.next()) {
        //generate XML format
        fileContent+='<record>';
        fileContent+='<message-type>'+ incident.getValue('short_description')+'</message-type>';
        fileContent+='</record>';
    }
    fileContent+='</root>';
    if(contentType == 'xml/plain'){
        fileContent = new XMLDocument(fileContent);
    }
    g_response.addHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment;filename=' + fileName);
    g_processor.writeOutput(contentType,fileContent);
    } catch(error){
        g_processor.writeOutput('text/html',error);
    }
})(g_request, g_response, g_processor);`## [UI Action](#ui-action)

```
`// Client side ui action
downloadXML();
function downloadXML() {
    var sysparm_query = g_list.getQuery({orderby: true, fixed: true});
    var url = '/customprocessor.do?filterQuery='+sysparm_query;
    window.open(url, "_blank");
}`
```

Thanks Nthumma for the idea to make this post and the code above.

Further Reading;

[http://www.john-james-andersen.com/blog/service-now/create-your-own-rest-based-servicenow-web-service.html](http://www.john-james-andersen.com/blog/service-now/create-your-own-rest-based-servicenow-web-service.html)
- [https://www.servicenowguru.com/scripting/download-attachments-zip-file/](https://www.servicenowguru.com/scripting/download-attachments-zip-file/)

---
[View this page on GitHub](https://github.com/jacebenson/jace.pro/tree/main/./src/posts/2019/2019-07-12-using-processors-to-download-files.md).

[Using Processors to download files](https://jace.pro/blog/using-processors-to-download-files/) [Jace Benson](https://jace.pro) ![Jace Benson](https://jace.pro/icon-512x512.png)

---

*This content is from Jace Benson's ServiceNow and tech blog at jace.pro*
*Original post: https://jace.pro/blog/using-processors-to-download-files/*