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original_url: "https://jace.pro/blog/what-are-syntax-macros/"
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What Are Syntax Macros?# What Are Syntax Macros?

September 29, 2019 [servicenow](/tags/servicenow/)

  Enable AI Animation[Syntax Editor Macros](https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/geneva-servicenow-platform/page/script/general_scripting/reference/r_SyntaxEditorMacros.html) are rarely talked about.
Effectively, they are a text replacement table for script elements.

That might not seem that big of a deal, but for me. It could have saved me some serious headaches. Let’s look at the examples provided on the docs site.

`vargr` will replace itself to;

`var gr = new GlideRecord("");
gr.addQuery("name", "value");
gr.query();
if (gr.next()) {

}`As much as I dislike the use of variable name `gr` as using just that name can cause issues, its nice!

You can change the code up so if you want to ensure a [`glideAjax`](https://sn.jace.pro/docs/scripting/glideajax/) call always uses some format like I use cause for me consistency is key.

Additionally, because I don’t believe anything is permanent online I’ll include links and Wayback links to these next resources.

This *shark711* person form Australia has had a [“sn-syntax-editor-macro”](https://shark711.github.io/sn-syntax-editor-macro/) repo public since 2016. [Wayback Link](https://web.archive.org/web/20190929002112/https://shark711.github.io/sn-syntax-editor-macro/).

In that repo its just a collection of these syntax editor macros.

## [Does it work everywhere in the platform?](#does-it-work-everywhere-in-the-platform)

Sadly, no, it doesn’t work in the Service Portal Widget Editor screen 😦

Thankfully, [Dan Gibbard’s post](http://snowguy.co.uk/2019/04/27/service-portal-syntax-editor-macros/) comes to the rescue [Wayback](https://web.archive.org/web/20190929002526/http://snowguy.co.uk/2019/04/27/service-portal-syntax-editor-macros/);

He has a UI Script that he says you just gotta add to the widget editor widget. That’s a mouthful.

Thanks jgr1ffin for sharing [https://www.cheatography.com/kipp/cheat-sheets/personal-servicenow-syntax-macros/](https://www.cheatography.com/kipp/cheat-sheets/personal-servicenow-syntax-macros/)

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[View this page on GitHub](https://github.com/jacebenson/jace.pro/tree/main/./src/posts/2019/2019-09-28-what-are-syntax-macros.md).

[What Are Syntax Macros?](https://jace.pro/blog/what-are-syntax-macros/) [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/what-are-syntax-macros/*