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Build Time to Error

Build Time per Month

Concurrent Builds

🤷‍♂️

Deploy Limits

Core Features

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

🤷‍♂️

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

Yes

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Usage Limits

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

🤷‍♂️

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

Yes

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Collaboration

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

🤷‍♂️

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

Yes

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Extras

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

🤷‍♂️

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

Yes

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

GitLab

Hosting Facts

Build & Deploy

Build Limit

Build Time to Error

Build Time per Month

Concurrent Builds

Deploy Limits

Core Features

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

gitlab.io

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Usage Limits

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

gitlab.io

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Collaboration

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

gitlab.io

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Extras

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

gitlab.io

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Netlify

Hosting Facts

Build & Deploy

Build Limit

Build Time to Error

Build Time per Month

Concurrent Builds

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

Core Features

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

netlify.app

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Usage Limits

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

netlify.app

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Collaboration

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

netlify.app

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Extras

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

netlify.app

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Vercel

Hosting Facts

Build & Deploy

Build Limit

Build Time to Error

Build Time per Month

Concurrent Builds

Deploy Limits

100/Day

Core Features

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

100/Day

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

Yes

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Usage Limits

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

100/Day

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

Yes

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Collaboration

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

100/Day

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

Yes

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Extras

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

100/Day

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

Yes

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

CloudFlare

Hosting Facts

Build & Deploy

Build Limit

Build Time to Error

Unlisted

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

Concurrent Builds

Deploy Limits

Core Features

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

Unlisted

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

Yes and No

feature[0] in

Analytics

Yes

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Usage Limits

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

Unlisted

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

Yes and No

feature[0] in

Analytics

Yes

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Collaboration

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

Unlisted

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

Yes and No

feature[0] in

Analytics

Yes

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Extras

feature[0] in

Build Limit

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

Unlisted

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

Yes and No

feature[0] in

Analytics

Yes

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Firebase

Hosting Facts

Build & Deploy

Build Limit

Not Applicable

Build Time to Error

Not Applicable

Build Time per Month

Not Applicable

Concurrent Builds

Not Applicable

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

Core Features

feature[0] in

Build Limit

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

Yes

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Usage Limits

feature[0] in

Build Limit

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

Yes

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Collaboration

feature[0] in

Build Limit

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

Yes

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Extras

feature[0] in

Build Limit

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Not Applicable

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

Yes

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Render

Hosting Facts

Build & Deploy

Build Limit

Unlisted

Build Time to Error

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

Concurrent Builds

Unlisted

Deploy Limits

Unlisted

Core Features

feature[0] in

Build Limit

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Usage Limits

feature[0] in

Build Limit

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Collaboration

feature[0] in

Build Limit

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

Extras

feature[0] in

Build Limit

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Build Time to Error

feature[0] in

Build Time per Month

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Concurrent Builds

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Deploy Limits

Unlisted

feature[0] in

Deploy Previews

feature[0] in

Serverless Functions

feature[0] in

Invocations/Month

feature[0] in

Duration Allowed

feature[0] in

DNS Management

feature[0] in

HTTPS Available

feature[0] in

Bandwidth/Month

feature[0] in

Site Limit

feature[0] in

Default URL

feature[0] in

# of Team Members

feature[0] in

Team SSO Available

feature[0] in

# of Users

feature[0] in

User SSO Available

feature[0] in

Form Submissions/Month

feature[0] in

Analytics

feature[0] in

Split A/B Testing

feature[0] in

Allowed for Business Use

The docs also say, “you cannot use reserved words”.

Comments

yashwanth2804 commented on Jul 3, 2021
Great JOB, please also include the if the free tire allows to have commercial website

jacebenson commented on Jul 6, 2021
@yashwanth2804 I thought I did include that… Allowed for Business Use is the label.
I can relabel it or you can make a PR.
Just modify this file as needed. https://github.com/jacebenson/jace.pro/blob/master/src/_data/ssg.js

fmartins-andre commented on Aug 18, 2021
Vercel free tier is not allowed to business use! Netlify and CloudFlare Pages are.
These I checked.

jacebenson commented on Aug 18, 2021
Thanks I’ll update the page

jacebenson commented on Aug 19, 2021
Can you share your sources for this?
fmartins-andre commented on Aug 19, 2021
https://vercel.com/docs/platform/fair-use-policy#commercial-usage
Here, mate.
I didn’t find anything like this in Netlify or Cloudflare Pages.

jacebenson commented on Aug 19, 2021
For Vercel, I didn’t see that when I looked before.
I’ve updated it.
I looked again for Cloudflare, they dont say aynthing one way or the other. Where as Github explicitly says you can’t. So I’m making an assumption. Below the table I add a comment to each element.
I looked again at Netlify and like you said it’s not explicitly stated, but they also don’t say you cannot. There’s a post about it on their answers site here where they say, don’t break the TOS and you wont have an issue

fmartins-andre commented on Aug 19, 2021
I think it’s secure to assume that if they say nothing, you can use it for business purposes. But it seems to these free tier solutions are all under the same kind of discretion about the termination of the offer. Vercel also has some statements about this:
Hobby Plan. We offer a free hobby plan at our sole discretion. We may change the terms and conditions applicable to the hobby plan or discontinue offering the hobby plan at any time. We reserve the right to disable or remove any project or website deployment on the hobby plan with or without notice at our sole discretion. We may shut down and terminate projects or deployments using the hobby plan without notice for any reason or no reason.(…)
–(https://vercel.com/legal/terms)

dacog commented on Oct 21, 2021
Great comparison! Thank you!

New ServiceNow CLI

2020-11-20T00:00:00Z

Tonight I popped in the latest Let’s Code Happy Hour on ServiceNow’s Youtube channel. They were going to “Enhance the Karaoke App” that Chuck Tomasi maintains.
It’s great fun. The technology they choose to preview is not available yet. It’s neat. I wanted to write about it before I forget since THIS IS NOT DOCUMENTED ANYWHERE YET.

At 9:07 on the stream Chuck starts summarizing what this is. Below I have that quote;

We are going to be using the new cli.
Which will be coming out shortly.
This is a preview.
I did ask our product people, “Can I show this 'cause its not publicly available yet?” It will be available in the store, you install the plugin, or the module, or whataver it is.
And you will be able to configure endpoints.
Think of it as a custom curl if you will, but you dont have to specify the full url or your credentials and all the stuff to be able to run macros.
From a command line (linux mac windows) you could automate some more stuff and integrate with scripted rest apis or the table apis or any of the built in apis to be able to carry out actions
and trigger them in the instance from a command line.
Chuck Tomasi

This seems pretty sweet. During the stream I was thinking about some possible use cases;

Start up script on a server to check in with ServiceNow
Generate Release Notes for ServiceNow Releases
Create a task (change request, item, incident)
Update a record

That all seems … powerful.

I can see this getting some good usage.

I asked “where do I get this?”. It’s not out yet and will be release soon.

One other thing mentioned about how to get new commands snc;

Yea and so what that does right is that
connects to the instance and goes and
you know introspects those table in which
you were editing those records and pulls
down any new command so that you can engage
with them here.
Andrew Barnes

What does this look like on the terminal?

I typed out what was on his terminal below.

--> --> -->

This new thing uses three tables

End Points [sn_cli_metadata_end_point]
Command Groups [sn_cli_metadata_command_group]
Commands [sn_cli_metadata_command]

--> --> --> -->

What are my thoughts?

Well this is cool. I wish I could play with it. I hope it isn’t attached to some random SKU.

This might get some serious usage if non-admins get permissions to use it.

Could I have used this in the past. Yes.

In the past when I’ve needed to connect to ServiceNow send up data to the instance. In those cases, this could have been helpful.

The ServiceNow CLI looks cool. It’s a new feature I will mess with.

Listacle of interesting posts

2020-10-23T00:00:00Z

I think I’m going to start some sort of review of the content from my news aggregater.

I’m not sure what format this will end up in but I’ll start here in written form.

Let’s dig in.

There’s some great content for the Creatorcon 2020 event. So far

Prosenjit Sengupta - UI Builder: Build a Space App dashboard for Mars Rovers, Astro Images and NEOs
This is great. He shows a lot of the functionality of the Now Components and Experience with the builder. It’s 22 minutes, or 11 if you can run at doublespeed.
TechNow Ep 80 - Process Automation Designer/Playbook Part 1
If you’re curious about how the PAD system will look and work, this should meet the need.
Brad Titlon - Paris - GraphQL API Framework
Brad went deep in here to help share this understanding of graphQL. If you don’t get it. I’d look here.
Travis Toulson has been doing some live streams to tackle the Salary Survey he ran through. It’s not on ServiceNow but it’s related.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Mark Roethof dives deep into g_form.setValue I love these smaller scoped topics. Check it out here.
Madison writes about “Storing And Using System Properties As Objects”
Mike Moody has been putting out the kind of content I want to see at K21. Recently, Triggering client-side UI Notifications on Async API response or long running job completion.
Nia McCash is killing it with her posts about Now Components. How I’m Learning to Build Now Components, Demistifying Now Components Slots - Named vs Default (Unnamed) and How to idenfity which Now Component Button was clicked

Oh and if you want to hear some tough times Fedoruk and CJ went through their most recent pod about the worst things they’ve seen

How to override a UI Action

2020-10-13T00:00:00Z

Someone asked the other day, how to override the “Submit” ui action for incident.

Let me start with why you shouldn’t change the oob “Submit” ui action. There is no specific “Submit” ui action for incident. So if you change the one on “global”, it will change it for all tables. That is not the desired outcome.

Instead you should create a new UI action against the table you want with the same “Action Name”. The new UI action should be all set then.

Chuck Tomasi discusses this on a stream here

Hacktoberfest 2020 - lets get started

2020-09-29T00:00:00Z

I was thinking something about your past experience and why you think people should participate, but it could really be whatever you want.
What is it, why do you think it’s worth participating, how did you get started, what does it typically look like, what is a quality pull request, then how do they get started at the end.

What is Hacktoberfest

Hacktoberfest is a event run by stewards of open source to encourage contributing to projects that are also open source.

Why participate in Hactoberfest

The more able you have your community, the more that community can contribute.
When you have that, you can help any number of open source projects.
There’s a free t-shirt. We’re all very well paid,
but this shirt will convince most of you.

Okay now that your convinced (if you’re not see the third bullet, it’s, um enticing).
What kinds of contributions do you have to make for this?
GitHub focuses on “Quality contributions”.
What does that mean? Does this solve a problem or issue on the project, sounds good to me.

Quantity is fun, quality is key" - Hacktoberfests Value #2

What is a quality pull request

I’d wager anything is meaningful.
That could be something as simple as cleaning up the CONTRIBUTORS.md file to something as complex as adding an integration to read the public Known Errors out of ServiceNow.

How did I get started

Why did I start doing the Hacktoberfest events? For me, it’s all about doing something, anything.
Hacktoberfest started in 2013. I didn’t know about it until 2016. I’m pretty sure I got the shirt that year, but I can’t find the evidence.

Do you want get more familiar with git? Do you want to learn something new? Great, nothing like Hacktoberfest to push you into something. That’s my take on it.
Git can be confusing. Heck, I still have problems. I’d never had done it without something to do.

I try learn something every October with this event. This year my focus is Now Components.

How do you get started?

Find a open source project you’d like to contribute to.
I know I’ve had some.

Here’s a short list of projects I’d suggest looking at;

Slacker on SNDevs, you know you want to make this better.
Libra is a toolkit of utilies to use on development instances.
NowComponents Catalog of open source Now Components for the Now Experience.
Cajunbot on Discord (used on the unoffical ServiceNow Discord)
ServiceNow News Aggregetor See it in action here news.jace.pro
ServiceNow Version Tracker
Workflow is tool to visualize diagrams in a markdown like text where there’s also some standard flows

If none of those stand out, here’s the link to issues from the official site

What does it typically look like

Most projects follow the “GitHub Flow”.

Find an issue, comment on it to claim it.
Fork the repository
Clone the repository
Create a branch
Make the changes to address the issue
Commit the changes to your fork’s branch
Push your changes to your fork’s branch
Open a Pull Request
Answer questions by the project maintainer and help where you can to get the work accepted

That seems like a lot but really it isn’t that much. Generally that’s as complicated as it gets.

I’d love to see more folks contribute in the groups I watch. (I’m looking at 8000 strong from SNDevs Slack, and you smaller Discord community).

There’s great content on Dev.to about starting from nothing.

Go contribute

Add text here about contributing or creating a project.

GraphQL in a way I understand

2020-09-15T00:00:00Z

I have been dabbling with GraphQL for some time now but I still don’t know much about it. Now that we, ServiceNow Developers, have to make the definitions for them we need to know a lot more. I was going to try to write a post about all that but Marcus Reinhardt has an amazing resource. https://github.com/noxify/ServiceNow-GraphQL-Example

This is a short post and something so I can find it easily but again thank you Marcus!

Other Resources

Undocumented - Setting User Preferences via URL

2020-09-03T00:00:00Z

The other day on slack I read that you can set any user preference via URL by using this parameter scheme;

https://hi.service-now.com/incident_list.do?sysparm_userpref_literally_anything=whatever

Just replace literally_anything with the preference name, and the whatever with the value you want.

This seems like something you could use to possibly change language, timezone, update set, row limits. With that being said, anyone can do this so be careful.

I don’t know that I trust anyone’s links but I will take more care to look at them now. I am not sure if this works with the tiny url support

I did a quick search on the docs site for sysparm_userpref and you can see it’s used in a number of pages but not really clear what it’s doing. According to the Genava Patch 6 page it can disable concourse which goes to show you, it does in fact set prefrences.

The more you know!

Careful with reserved words

2020-09-03T00:00:00Z

If you have a variable say “class” or “package” when calling them via a script you will get weird results. I’d advise to avoid this list of names for columns.

Javascript Reserved Words


`abstract`	`arguments`	`await`	`boolean`	`break`	`byte`	`case`	`catch`
`char`	`class`	`const`	`continue`	`debugger`	`default`	`delete`	`do`
`double`	`else`	`enum`	`eval`	`export`	`extends`	`false`	`final`
`finally`	`float`	`for`	`function`	`goto`	`if`	`implements`	`import`
`in`	`instanceof`	`int`	`interface`	`let`	`long`	`native`	`new`
`null`	`package`	`private`	`protected`	`public`	`return`	`short`	`static`
`super`	`switch`	`synchronized`	`this`	`throw`	`throws`	`transient`	`true`
`try`	`typeof`	`var`	`void`	`volatile`	`while`	`with`	`yield`

Try it out. make a catalog item. make a variable, call it “class”, try to use that variable in a refernce qualifer and observe weird things.

Other’s have had issues using these terms for column names. If you can, avoid that so you don’t have the same problem here as Detlef.

MysQL Reserved Words

Database view reserved words seems to be different and dependent on MysQL’s list

State of Ideas

2020-08-18T00:00:00Z

The Idea portal is great in that we can share these … what were enhancements on HI with eachother. However, it still feels like a black box of not happening. Most ideas aren’t actioned on and the ones that are, are confusing. Here’s a list of ones I’ve been tracking. There is no way to comment on a idea once closed so no way to add context or respond. This is frustrating when it’s closed without handling the specifics the original question or ask.

At 417 upvotes, and submitted 10 months ago by me. Now in “Under Review”, Create a public ROADMAP of features/plugins for upcoming releases. This is still outstanding. According to the Idea Portal page, things in this state should be dispositioned in 6 weeks.

At 285 upvotes, and submitted 10 months ago by Matt Warwick. Sometime in June, it was closed with “Unlikely to implement”, “Improve WYSIWYG HTML Editor/TinyMCE”. This is long overdue. Paris release notes have some TinyMCE enhancements but also the comment says, “This feature has been added in the Paris release.”. Which is it? I asked on Twitter. It’s still unclear.

At 184 upvotes, and submitted 10 months ago by Alexander. On 2020-08-18 it was changed to “In Consideration”, "
Copy / Paste images and attachments from clipboard". This idea is not new. I am actually suprised it’s not already done yet. The change is not large to do it. I’ve two posts for implementing it but we shouldn’t have to do this. It should be standard.

At 80 upvotes, and submitted 9 months ago by Drew. On 2020-08-12 it wsa changed to “Unlikely to implement”, “Document all of the ServicePortal directives…”. This is truely unfortunate. As developers knowing what we have access to use is critical. When we have to interrogate directives that are there, but just not documented means we have to explore. Yansa has made one of their products a well made, maintainted and documented set of components for service portal their deal. We should have that kind of experience with all directives in Service Portal. Not just the ones ServiceNow deems are important. I’m unsuprised by this as it’s my opinion that Service Portal will see less and less updates as the Seismic framework gets more time.

At 40 upvotes, and submitted 11 months ago by Hatmaker. Now “In Consideration”, “Make the HealthScan (ACEReport) available to customer within the tool”. This was listed as a feature for a hot minute with either Madrid or Orlando but was pulled from the PTR notes. I’m not sure why but if the feature was nearly ready with one of theose two releases this should have been a fast one to get out. I’m glad its in consideration, but I wish it were here now.

At 39 upvotes, and submitted 10 months ago by Marco. Sometime in June, it was closed with “Unlikely to implement”, “Pre- & Post-script for update set”. This is available with plugins you can see it in the messages when installing something. We should have the same tools that available to plugins authors. As an administrator of ServiceNow, it’s OFTEN I have to write a piece of code to fix data as part of a release for an update set. This is unfortunate ServiceNow wont give us the tools we are asking for.

At 38 upvotes, and submitted 10 months ago by Blake. Sometime in June, it was closed with “Unlikely to implement”, “Allow Multi-Row Variable Sets to be ‘Global’”. This is also terribly sad. As folks want to use Multi-Row Variable Sets, this is just another reason not to. What does this actually mean? Well in Workflow, to show variables on catalog tasks, you must checkout the workflow and add each variable on to each task manually, or… set the variable to Global. This is a convience method that worked for all things up until Multi-Row Variable Sets. The fact it’s now caveated makes them worse. Also the answer here doesn’t even address the problem described which is the use of Multi-Row Variable sets on Workflow.

At 6 upvotes, and submitted 5 months ago by Ian Mildon. Sometime in June, it was changed to “In Consideration”, “Add Business Calendars (Fiscal Calendars) to reporting tools”. This should not need to be asked for. Anything you can do on a list filter, you should be able to do on a standard report. Anything you can do on a report, you should be able to do on list. I was going to leave that alone but I went ahead and made the idea for that.

At 1 upvote, and submitted moments ago by me. Lists filters and Report Filters should have feature parity.

Opportunity is out there

2020-07-30T00:00:00Z

The other day I was on my computer when I got a message.

“Hey Jace, Do you have any thoughts on getting a job working on ServiceNow during these times?” (I wasn’t asked this specifically but the conversation went down that way)

Oof, when asked this the first thing I do is consider myself losing my employment. I cannot begin to know the worry they have.

These are terrible times. I wish you all best, but every time I try to get involved getting someone a gig or job things go sideways fast. So I stopped doing that. Now I just tell people… the stuff below. That’s why I’m writing this. So I can share it use it to cover all the things.

Since March I’ve been watching slack cautiously. Reading about lay offs and furloughs.

I encourage everyone in this space to listen to Robert Fedoruk and CJ Wesley’s podcast featuring Kyle Carson.

Thoughts on getting a job working on ServiceNow

First you need to land an interview. To do that, make an amazing resume. Some say a resume isn’t important, some say it is. I like my resume and trying to make it look good, but it’s a weird thing. A piece of paper listing skills, history, accomplisments and why you want to work there.

Resumes are the tickets to interviews

There’s lots of things online about resumes. I don’t have concrete evidence on what works and what doesn’t, so I’ll share my thoughts from my experience.

I have a “Base” resume I keep up to date with all my experience and such, and I make copies of it tailored to companies needs.


1. Keep it current.	Update that resume anytime you get a job with the tasks or skills they list.
2. Don’t lie.	It’s easy to lie, not so easy to get away with it. I wouldn’t want to hire a liar.
3. Describe creatively.	“Handled integrations.” becomes, “Saved 5 hours per week per person automating ServiceNow to Payroll feeds.”
4. Know your skills.	An admin and a developer can look the same on paper.
5. Clean up your social media.	If they look you up, you don’t want controversial things coming up.
6. Know your resume.	BE READY TO SPEAK ON EVERY THING YOU PUT ON THE RESUME.
7. Make it personal.	Tailor the resume to the job. Use their lingo from their job posting.
8. Quantify your successes.	Numbers will find attention.
9. Enlist your community.	Share the details where you help others and they help you.
10. Pair your resume down.	Be concise. This isn’t an biography.

You should update your resume per position applied. Show your best sides to the potential employer. I’ve done this but not every time.

Interviews are just conversations to give and get information

So since I’m still loving Hamilton I’m going to try something new;

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… It’s the ten jobby commandments.


1. Focus and elevate.	Know your worth and expect it.(I read this to get there. Every. Single. Time).
2. Ready questions for people.	Screening call: benefits, culture, company expectations. Interview: team, and technical specifics.
3. Apply to at least three places.	One you don’t want work at, and the rest you do. Practice with the “don’t” place.
4. Take notes.	Write down notes during the all interview steps. You won’t regret it, and then you’ll have it to reference later.
5. Research. Research. Research.	Understand the goals of each company. What their lines of business are, and consider would you fit in there.
6. Never give a number first.	Goal: Verify you want to work here and if they want to hire you a lot. When that’s true, numbers are flexible.
7. Listen and repeat.	Use keywords from the job posting, and use them where appropriate.
8. Money isn’t everything.	It’s important. Some places can’t offer you what you need. Consider negotiating extra time off then.
9. “Interesting” is a great word.	Them: We can offer you 80k. You: 80k is interesting. It’s not quite where we need this.
10. Defer to a EXTERNAL_AUTHORTY.	This gives you a scapegoat for refusing a request while not being guilty of the refusal yourself.

TechNow Ep77 | Review of Paris Features

2020-07-28T00:00:00Z

The Topics from the Registration page;

On the registration page they mention;

OpenID SSO
Flow Designer
Integration Hub
Source Control
Instance Data Replication
Automated Test Framework

-->

So I watched the “TechNow Tuesday: Discover the Paris Platform features Review”

They hit a lot of things. Here’s what I noted from the video.

ATF

Custom UI versioning support This is to version the Custom UI stuff like flows and workflows. You may want to update old tests for that version if you make tests
Improved indexing Similiar elements are not easily identified
Page inspector enhancements Better error messaging

Authentication

Connections tab on Flow designer Very nice. Also, you can add child aliases.
OpenID Connect SSO Authenticate against Google, Facebook or whatever. To do that, Create an OpenID Connect configuration.
External self-user registration This is great - lets user self register. All you need to do is turn on the plugin\

Once enabled create a User Registration Configuration and you’ll get to set up these if you want;
- Terms and conditions
- ReCaptcha (requires Configuring Google reCCAPTCHA)
- Multiple instances of this per portal

Core Platform

Schedule Jobs - Business Calendar offset If you need to run something on a recurring basis for business offsets
Performance dashboard - instance view Now displays for entire instance and you can turn on and off for specific nodes
Robust transform engine (RTE) wildcards
Robust transform engine (RTE) nested structure Previously only support flat json structures

Scoped data administration

Domain separation

Application properties Different value for different domains for specific applications
Scheduled jobs - Domain iterator

Flow Designer

Action instance order renaming No longer nested. 3.2.1 => 8. Copy the flow if you’re worried before you update the flow
Duplicate actions instance huge time saver
FlowAPI enhancements Older FlowAPI calls will work but please use the new stuff
FlowScriptAPI These are used within the flow
Ghost actions Have you ever noticed in production flows fail to open if referencing missing actions
Decision flow - Turn off branches _This is nice
Decision flow - Avoid repetitive “Update record” actions by applying the answer data
Multi-row Variable Set (MVRS) support
Run with roles
Send SMS action
Submit catalog item request action Another nail in the order guide coffin
Support multiple active connections
Update and delete multiple step Chuck uses it as a cleanup to delete the logs
User access control criteria Only show actions they can use

IntegrationHub

Data sources - data stream Objects can be flattened into import table. Or nested in a field. Pre-import script needed for this.
Dynamic object support and data stream output This can be great to do introspection of other data
Data stream Support for outputs in script parser. You now have access to action_inputs and action scripts
JSON Parser Flow Designer/IntegrationHub step Used live on lchh week of 7/23
JSON Payload Builder Builds file contents for api calls
XML Payload Builder Builds file contents for api calls

Integration Security

Outbound IP access controls A poor mans firewall - stops the instance and Midservers from hitting the IP.

Platform

GraphQL
Archiving Multi-consumer archiving
Archiving - Destroy related records
Archiving - Restore related records
MetricBase - Non sys_id based subjects for MetricBase
Instance data replication - bidirectional Now it’s bidirection by one checkbox (Technow planned in December)
Instance data replication - discrete sets

Notifications

Inbound / outbound email address filters

Platform security

Explicit roles Requires HI to enable
Mutual exclusive roles

Process Automation Designer

Process Automation Designer
Playbook experience Visual experience for Process Automation Designer in workspace\

Service Portal

Portal Analyzer

Source control

Global support Set sn_g_app_creator.allow_global property to true allow global apps in studio.
Delta loading - No good link This is big. You don’t need to worry about destroying the tables and such on branch switches.

Script debugging enhanced

Console debugger Video by Brad Tilton Training

Upgrades

Skipped update records resolution tracking You just upgraded paris those changes are now captured in update sets.

Upgrade Center

Preview your upgrade Video coming in September on Technow.
Review completed upgrade
Manage skips with VTB

Workspace

Agent email client Recipient fields/picker. Attachments. Quick messages.
Activity stream Filter by conversation. Attachments. Single scrollbars - was double before.
Condition BuilderWas a angular thing now its now-exp thing
Domain separation Is asked when making new records.
TinyMCE Updates Default toolbar. Table specific attributes. TinyMCE plugins for specific table.
Lists Live badges with refresh icon. Column resizing.

Question and Answers

Any recommendations for when to upgrade as a new customer? Right now, you don’t have any data.
Flow designer rollback - up vote the idea it’s coming
Lots of questions about IDR and e-bonding
Q’s will be answered later on the community post for Technow ep77.

Slides

Link to the deck

Paris feature - Requested For variable

2020-07-27T00:00:00Z

Does this sound familiar?

Customer: “I need a request form.”
Me: “Yea, what it’s for?”
Customer: “Access to MyAmazingApp”
Me: “Okay. No problem. It’ll have a field to say give access to this user, sound good?”
Customer: “UGH, do I have to click ‘Add to cart’ for each user then?!”
Me: “Sorry.”

There’s a fix for that. ServiceNow calls it a feature. I call it long over due. Requested For variable is the name of it.

I was reading /news for Paris. This caught my attention. Jenny Hu’s “A Day in Paris Series: Exploring Delegated Request Experience”.

I started my work on ServiceNow in Service Catalog. This is actually one of the first problems I had to address. In this post I’m going to focus on how this works.

Steps to set up “Requested For” variable

Add a “Requested For” variable to the catalog item.
- Decide who you want to be able to pick these values (they have a field for that control)
- Set up the reference qualifier
That’s it.

Limitations

It does come with a few limitations.

Selecting many users only appears to work in Service Portal
It is not available for record producers. (They added requested_for on sc_req_item. Generally, target table will not have that.)
It is not available for order guides. (features for these generally take an extra release. If you want this submit an idea.)
It is not available for Now Mobile.
It is not available for Workspaces. (This surprises me. I’d thought ServiceNow would only be making net new features with Workspace support.)

Thoughts

This is amazing and here’s why. This feature reduces complexites added by;

List Collectors
Multi-Row Variable Sets (MRVS)
2-step checkout.

How does this reduce that need?

“Add to cart” is no longer needed as you can make the request and ServiceNow makes an item per “Requested For”. That means workflow and flows are properly followed per person.
List collectors have their own problems. Generally they decide who gets access. This removes that.
Multi Row Variable Sets also have problem (less than List collectors). Like List Collectors a lot of the time they decide the who. This removes that need.

TechNow Ep76 Review of Flow Designer

2020-06-26T00:00:00Z

Slabodnick is amazing. A long long time ago I had the opportunity to work with him. We did some great stuff there. I’m always happy to catch a session where he’s excited about what he’s working on. It seems that this is flow designer. I still don’t use flow designer much. I should use it more.

Hopefully this is my turning point. This post isn’t about me and how I will start using Flow Designer. It’s about this video. They go over 5 powerful features in ServiceNow’s Flow Designer system.

Here’s the link to TechNow Ep 76. I breakdown what is gone over below.

Decision Tables

When I first read about these I was really hoping they could solve a complicated problem I have and I think many share with me. How to handle the churn of groups in ServiceNow. Turns out they can probably do this but just not well with workflow. In this video Slabodnick highlights what needs to be set up and how to use them.

Here’s a link to the decision tables spot in the video.

Transform Data

I didn’t know there even was this feature. You can simply transform the data without writing any code. I don’t have much else to say.

Again, link to the transform data spot in the video.

Dynamic Inputs

This is a really interesting feature. I’d like to know what have you used for dynamic inputs in flow designer that saved you amazing amount of work. Seriously. Comment below or send me a message on Twitter @jacebenson.

Link to the dynamic inputs section of the video.

Power of SQL

Doing SQL stuff without writing powershell or another local language for the midserver? Really?! Cool.

Check it out here: Power of SQL

Dynamic Subflows

Dynamic Subflows - You just have to see them.

Q & A had some great questions

We want a convert flow to subflow button
Lookup Record and Lookup Records Question - Flow designer stops if it fails to find Lookup Record
Is there anyway to create a variable and update it in subsequent steps - It’s “in the pipeline” #fansOfScratchpad
On July 28th Paris Platform Features Technow Ep79. Don’t miss it. If you miss it you wont see it until Sept for it on demand

Form Layout vs Form Designer

2020-06-16T00:00:00Z

Feature	Form Designer	Form Layout
Creating Fields	✅	✅
Creating Sections	✅	✅
Creating Views	✅	✅
Removing Views	❌	❌
Adding Related Fields	❌	✅
Removing Fields	✅	✅
Removing Sections	✅	❌
Adding Annotations	✅	✅
Adding Scripted Annotations	❌	✅
Removing Annotations	✅	✅
Adding Embedded Lists	❌	✅
Removing Embedded Lists	❌	✅
Adding Related Lists	❌	❌
Removing Related lists	❌	❌

Own Your Content

2020-06-15T00:00:00Z

Have you ever had a something you made and loved? Then did you ever look for it later and find it gone?

I have. It’s a terrible, terrible feeling. For me it was my Geocities site. Thinking back on it now, it was my ten year old me writing my thoughts and feelings. But it was mine.

I know their was a project to save geocities content somehow, but for me, that site is long gone.

There’s other things like this. A lot of my early work on ServiceNow also is gone. Not because the code is gone. I assume those solutions are still on those instances.
But, my access to those are gone, my reasons for those solutions are gone. If I’ve learned anything about other peoples platforms, it’s that you can’t trust they will be there forever.

If you want that level of security, you need to always own your platform.

Why should you own your own content

Simple. When it’s yours, you have ultimate control of it’s distribution.
If you post it on Facebook, you are conceding to the fact that users have to also be on Facebook.
If you post it on ServiceNow’s community, you’re giving up things like;

canonical URL
social media image control
the ability to see traffic via Google Analytics, Plausible, or Clicky

Don’t get me wrong. ServiceNow isn’t going away anytime soon. Since I’ve worked with them their community has had at least three versions. With each one, some things were never saved when they moved.

If you blog about whatever, you should host it yourself.

The easiest way to do that is with the JAMStack.

How do I get started

Ok Jace, I’m in, how do I get started?

Short answer: click this link to deploy a site to Netlify for free.

Longer answer;

So there is some set up, however if you’ve been doing any scoped app development, it’s literally a click away. No joke. I’m a big fan of Netlify. They have a site with templates and everything to get started. This site, as it is now uses Hugo. I’m working on moving to 11ty. If you’re getting started, I’d go to Phil Hawksorth’s github repository for eventyone, and click -->

Jace, I don’t like Javascript!

Okay, okay there’s tons of generators.

Hugo uses Go.
Gatsby uses React.
11ty uses javascript.

Each one has it’s pros and cons. I’ve used all of these. Effectively they are the same.

What else can I do with one of these sites

Lots of things. You know that news.jace.pro site I have. Yep, that is actually built daily using this stuff. The code feels ugly but it works. I plan to move it around a bit, but that’s a more complicated thing you can do. Phil Hawksworth has a site showing the same kinda of stuff called vlolly.net working the same kind of stuff.

This post was inspired by Sean Blanda

Thank you Sean Blanda for www.alwaysownyourplatform.com

How to remove options from a select box

2020-06-15T00:00:00Z

In the past people have asked How do I Remove an option from select box variable in the catalog item form? And you’d think it would be something as simple as a active flag. However if you look there is no active flag on select box options. That is truly unfortunate.

If you delete it, the values will still hold their value but if there was a display for the value it won’t show that.

How do I go forward?

There’s really only one way I know of. Client script and remove the option until you can safely delete it.

The client script would be really small

function onLoad(){
  g_form.removeOption('duration','twelve_months');
}

Another way… that is really overkill but I think handles it the best, is to disable the item and make a new version of the item.

Deactivate the item
Make a Copy - this ensures all past requests work as they were intended. It’s a big change for a little bit of work I have seen this.
Delete the option on the new version of the item

K20 Weekly Review for the week ending on June 5th

2020-06-05T00:00:00Z

Success Meetup: Community MVP Paul Morris - Automated testing and the role of community as a guide
- @0:00 - 21:00 History
- @22:40 demo of submitting an item -
- @23:00 make atf test
- @30:00 test atf test
- @34:00 demo of atf recorder
- Wow… in one minute it generated 27 steps and the steps you expected
Theater Podcast: Flow Designer and why use it? (THS5022)
Theater Podcast: What’s new in Orlando (THS5023)

Always Negotiate

2020-06-02T00:00:00Z

Patrick McKenzie wrote a blog about this. His post inspires this one. I am writing this down so those who follow me may see it.

For me this has always been “get my mind in the interviewing mindset” piece.

I’ll start this with a quote from another older post of mine;

So interviewing is exciting.
It’s a way to get uncomfortable and see what is available in job-land.
Something to keep in mind, interviews are a way for you and your employer to find a great fit for this position.

I enjoy interviewing, and some don’t but this will help you navigate this time better.

If you read nothing else read this;

Salary negotiations started as soon as you applied.
Salary isn’t the only thing being negotiated.
If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.
Never give the number first, if pressed, deflect, if you can’t give a range.
Take notes when researching and interviewing.
Use your significant other or family to buy time and think about the offer.

When does the salary negotiation start?

Salary negotiations start the moment you apply for a job. So don’t submit a number on any form when you apply. That gives them a heads up where to start.

You might be thinking, “Jace, they need a number on the form. What do I put in there?” Yea, they generally have that. Put $1. They know that can’t be right.
This will start the dialog. That dialog is critical.

You should know about what your average pay range is. Be aware of the range of pay for your skills demand.

At this point you might also be wondering what can you expect that conversation to go like. For me I’ve always been able to use the line from Patrick’s article, and I’m paraphrasing;

I’m more concerned at the moment with talking to you about discovering whether we’re a mutual fit.
If we’re a great fit, then I can be flexible on the numbers with you and you can be flexible on the numbers with me.

Why negotiating matters

My first job into tech was help desk.
They paid me a few dollars more an hour than I made as hospital clergy.
Then I got a jump on to actual tech work. I didn’t know then what I know now.
I would tell myself, “Jace, you could ask for more.
You might not want to, but if you don’t you wont know unless you get another job after.”

If you don’t ask the answer is always no.
That’s something I’ve come to learn over time.
This is true with negotiating.
If the salary isn’t up to your needs and you still want to spend more time checking out the offer.
Take a few hours, or a few days and think about other benefits that are negotiable. Some ideas might be;

Paid time off - Recurring expense
Signing Bonus - One time expense
Relocation Stipend - One time expense they can limit
Equity/Stock options - A future expense that could be reduced over time
Flexible work schedule - Costs nearly nothing

I mean I never had any of success asking for these things but, you can’t get those things if you don’t ask.
If you’re walking away anyways, then ask.

“Interesting” is a wonderful word

It’s positive and non-commital. They give you a number you can tell them it’s interesting without giving the wrong impression.

Using a significant other and family can help buy time

Saying things like “This sounds great. Let me talk it over with the wife/husband.” will buy you time. Time to consider and after a call I’m generally
excited willing to agree to most things.

The first rule is what everyone has told you: Never give a number first

This is true. When forced deflect. If you can’t deflect, give a range. I don’t think I have much more to add here.

Listen to what people tell you. Repeat it back to them.

When you see the job posting there are key phrases they use. You should note and use them with the company. See if any of those phrases jive with things you did in the past or are remotely like it, own it.

Bring a notebook

Nothing stops you from bringing in a notebook to take notes while interviewing. Taking notes is important. I know my memory is my worst enemy. This is literally why I write this stuff down to better remember. Point is, write down the things they say that stand out. Those notes are great things to follow up on, and think about.

Research the company

Look up the company, try to figure out how their lines of business. This helps frame what will be important to the business. I like to try to find who my co-workers might be ahead of time. Some sites offer past questions asked for the employer. I’ve never had success with those but it gives you an idea of what might be asked.

Thoughts and sources

I just found the author at some point updated his post with a link to this great book(Fearless Salary Negotiation) and resource.

If you’ve found this helpful, let me know.

K20 Session Review

2020-05-29T00:00:00Z

This is “Connect Week”. Here’s what I watched and my very rough notes.

GlideQuery: A modern upgrade to GlideRecord
Lab/Workshop Advanced Scoped Development Techniques (CCW2583)
- Lab
- Guided Application Creator
- Code Search
- Source Control
- Adding files to the studio project
- Deployment Best Practices
KEY4943
- Encourage networking
- K20’s whole event’s objective is “focused on helping customers to achieve their business objects through digital transformation” - David Schneider
  - What does that really mean?
  - I mean, does that mean showing customers how others have gotten there?
  - Or does that include …
- 85-90% of the content is given by customers
- Themes for customers needs.
  - Customers need to be able to help themselves via on-demand resources
    - Customer Success Center is a curated list of the best content based on usage and customer’s telling us.
  - Customers want community-based success experiences
    - ServiceNow User Groups (Globally available)
    - Knowledge
    - Now Community … stats okay, its a big and busy community.
    - Success webinars
    - Success consultations
    - Genius Lounges
    - Meetups (this developer meetups?)
  - Wants access to access to ServiceNow experts, blueprints for success that will help them
    - Sept 2019 NowLearning was released. Over 600k courses completed.
      - Catalog of NowLearning content is just getting added too, so the catalog is only going to get bigger and bigger as time continues.
    - Other Sites to help
      - Developer portal
      - Product docs
      - Now support portal
      - Now support mobile app
- Calls to action
  - Visit the Customer Success Center
  - Get involved of “Success experiences”
  - learn about success services
- Jace’s take. Community is big, you can get a lot from local events like the ServiceNow User Groups, and meetups. You can encourage people to use NowLearning to up their skills. However, ultimately, they recommended to buy success services from ServiceNow.
Knowledge Management
- Provide consistent resolutions for self-service
- Encourage employees to create knowledge from their work
- Identify gaps, curate new content, track usage, gov’, and quality trends
- This Shows how it can be used from desktop/mobile/chat apps
Augmented Reality for Field Service Management via CareAR
- Primary user servicing expectations
  - Fast
  - Personalized
  - Consistent
- So this is all about making video/collaborate, not using 3rd party consumer apps, aka FaceTime, Facebook messaging etc. It is pretty cool @ 18:20 you can see a demo of it.
Lab/Workshop Story Testing Scripts - Scoped Application (CCW2554)
- This appears to be a lab to create a scoped app to build test scripts… Not sure how this is different than Test Management
- Best Practices for this* (@55:16)
  - Define involved users and roles of the story
  - Create a Test Script
  - Create Scenario for the Story
Lab/Workshop Working with Remote Tables (CCW1735)
Theater Generating Ideas Fast with Crazy 8’s (THS3220)
- What are Crazy 8s
  - Crazy 8’s is a brainstorming exercise that challenges people to sketch 8 distinct ideas in 8 minutes. The goal is to push beyond your first idea, and generate a wide variety of solutions to any challenge.
- When you use these? Early on in the ideation process. Or anytime you are stuck on a problem.
  - At ServiceNow they typically do it here; -->
- Conducting Crazy 8’s
  - Pre session
    - Gather Stakeholders. Anyone invested in the project. Crazy 8’s session can dbe done alone, it’s best with 3-4 people.
    - Review previous activities. A good way to get the team aligned is to review some of the projects past activities.
    - Understand the problem. Have key stakeholders deliver the problem.
    - Warm up. Allow the team to do some research and walk through existing solutions to similar problems.
    - Use Prompters. Share a few prompter ideas for people who have a hard time thinking through 8 variations.
    - Collate materials. Sheet of paper for each stake holder, pens, and a way to track time. Digitally, Video conf. with google slides.
  - During the session
    - Fold paper into 8 segments (first in 4 parts, then in half.)
    - Set the timer 60 seconds per segment (8 minutes total)
    - Participants sketch on the first segment until the timer dings. Then they move the next until all 8 segments have been filled.
    - Have participants Explain ideas individually.
    - Give participants a set number of votes on for things they like e.g. green dots.
    - Give participants a set number of votes on for things they dislike e.g. red dots.
    - As a team discuss where the ideas coalesced
  - Post session
    - Story board the workflows
    - Add more details to the better ideas
    - Build out prototypes
    - Consider a second crazy 8’s session with a different group
Creating products on the Now Platform® to drive company growth

Non SN stuff;

Lockdown Productivity: Spaceship You

Glide Freaking Query Wow

2020-05-24T00:00:00Z

A month ago I wrote about GlideQuery, asking "… is GlideRecord going away? No. I don’t think so. "

Well, I need to revise my thoughts on this. Before I go into why, lets first link to the sources and you can watch the 20+ minute video of the genius (Peter Bell) behind GlideQuery.

Link to that is here: GlideQuery: A modern upgrade to GlideRecord

Okay. Now that is out of the way lets talk about some of the major points here so if we lose the video we still have this somewhere since as of right now this is not documented anywhere.

What does GlideQuery do that GlideRecord fails?

GlideQuery is a server-side api for querying, updating, and deleting data. It’s in Orlando, and Paris. Behind the scenes it uses GlideRecord but with smart defaults that often will cause generally problems.

This api follows three guiding principals;

Fail Fast
Be JavaScript
Expressive

Here’s some considerations;

Performance

Failing Fast

Improving the feedback loop

Field Checking

Here’s a GlideRecord script with a problem
By default if a field name is wrong in GlideRecord, it queries everything.

In GlideQuery, this will fail and not execute on error.

GlideRecord Example	GlideQuery Example

Choice checking

Here’s another example where unless you check your code you may miss it. This is because it returns no results.

If the api said, hey that value is not valid, that could help you faster.

GlideRecord Example	GlideQuery Example

Type checking

Travis Toulson wrote a whole post about Is GlideRecord GetValue the king of the string… It’s great but this SOLVES that whole issue.

GlideRecord Example	GlideQuery Example

Be JavaScript

Isolation from Java

GlideQuery should behave you expect a regular JavaScript should behave.

Type assumptions in are a real headache in ServiceNow with GlideRecord. It seems you get back a string type when you should get a number type.

GlideRecord Example	GlideQuery Example

Stacktraces

GlideRecord Example	GlideQuery Example

Complex Queries should work how you expect

Queries that use both “AND” and “OR” logic. How is this evaluated?

GlideRecord Example	GlideQuery Example

In SQL “AND” has priority over “OR”. In GlideRecord, “OR” has priority over “AND” and this causes problems. In GlideQuery they solve this by being allowing nested GlideQuery methods.

Expressive

Do more with less

Returning a Stream or Optional

When reading data with GlideQuery there are two classes used; Stream and Optional

Stream	Optional
Used for reading records	Used for reading a single record
Returned by `select(1)`	“Empty” if a record isn’t found by a query
Lazily evaluated	Returned by `selectOne()`, `insert()`, and `update()`
Common Stream methods: - map - flatMap - forEach - reduce - some - any	Common Optional methods: - get [throws if empty] - map - isEmpty - isPresent - ifPresent - orElse

Examples;

Aggregation

Examples;

Insert

Delete

Update

Field Flags

This is important for currency and display values.

Flags mentioned $DISPLAY and $CURRENCY_CODE

Performance

With business rules disabled here’s how GlideQuery stacks up to GlideRecord.

Method	GlideRecord	GlideQuery
Insert 100 records	829 ms median	850 ms median (+2.5%)
Reading 1 record	2ms median	3ms median (+1 ms)
Reading 1,000 record	86.5 ms median	90.5 ms median (+4.62%)
Reading 10,000 record	842.5 ms median	890 ms median (+5.64%)

It’s important to note that GlideQuery avoids common performance mistakes.

Current Limitations and Future work

Scoped table permission checking
Allow opting out of field/choice checking
Better join support
Field casting
Parsing encoded queries

What are all the shortcuts in ServiceNow?

2020-05-22T00:00:00Z

I was watching the #til channel on SNDevs slack. The navigation shortcut of table.filter came up. I didn’t know about it. It’s great. Instead of writing about just that, I include all the shortcuts.

ServiceNow has 3 sets of shortcuts. They have UI15 Keyboard shortcuts. I’m not covering those as no one uses UI15 anymore.

Keyboard shortcuts

There’s only a few that ServieNow observes. Extensions add some too.

Out of box shortcuts

A thing to note, some of these are configurable

Action	Windows keyboard shortcut	Mac keyboard shortcut
Activate global search field	`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`G`	`Ctrl`+`Opt`+`G`
Toggle application navigator	`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`C`	`Ctrl`+`Opt`+`C`
Activate navigation filter field	`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`F`	`Ctrl`+`Opt`+`F`
Impersonate user	`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`I`	`Ctrl`+`Opt`+`I`
Navigate to the main content on the page	`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`P`	`Ctrl`+`Opt`+`P`
Javascript Executor Window	`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`J`	`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`J`
On Service Portal id=form Save the form	`Ctrl`+`S`	`Ctrl`+`S`
On Service Portal widget editor, Save	`Ctrl`+`S`	`Ctrl`+`S`
On script editor fields, format code	`Shift`+`Tab`	`Shift`+`Tab`

From SN Utils

Action	Keyboard shortcut
Save the current form	`Ctrl`+`S`
Create List filter	`Ctrl`+`Left Click` on Field Label
Paste screenshots	`Ctrl`+`V`
Activate the extension	Configurable
Pop-In/Pop-Out of `nav_to.do`	Configurable
Show Technical Names	Configurable
Open slashcommand popup	Configurable
Open VS Code ScriptSync tab	Configurable

Source: https://twitter.com/sn_utils/status/1192913388906713088

ServiceNow’s docs on this are… well they say this same thing. I just wish there was more to this. Source

Shortcut	Do I Use This	What does it do
`table.config`	No	Opens a list of all things related to a table
`table.list`	Yes	Opens the list of all records on said table in the current frame
`table.LIST`	Yes	Opens the list of all records on said table in a new tab
`table.do`	Yes	Opens a empty form for said table in the current frame
`table.form`	Yes	Opens a empty form for said table in the current frame
`table.FORM`	Yes	Opens a empty form for said table in a new tab
`table.filter`	No	Opens the list for a table with no records in the current frame
`table.FILTER`	No	Opens the list for a table with no records in a new tab

I looked for where these are configured/built, and they are hardcoded in /scripts/app.magellan/directive.magellanNavigationFilter.js.

/*! RESOURCE: /scripts/app.magellan/directive.magellanNavigationFilter.js */
angular.module('Magellan').directive('magellanNavigationFilter', function(
    $rootScope,
    glideUrlBuilder,
    $window,
    snCustomEvent,
    $timeout,
    concourseNavigatorService
) {
  return {
    restrict: 'A',
    template: '',
    link: function(scope, element) {
      var selectedIndex = 0;
      var selectedElement = null;
      var shortcutCallback = null;
      var collection = [];
      var nav = $j('#nav_west_center');
      element.on('focus', function() {
        $timeout(function() {
          element.select();
        }, 10);
      });
      scope.clearHighlight = function() {
        angular.element('#gsft_nav a.state-active').removeClass('state-active');
      };
      var _$navRoot;

      function _focusFirstItem() {
        if (!_$navRoot) {
          _$navRoot = $window.jQuery('#gsft_nav');
        }
        $timeout(function() {
          $window.requestAnimationFrame(function() {
            _$navRoot.find('.state-active').removeClass('state-active');
            var $visibleItems = _$navRoot.find('a.sn-widget-list-item:visible');
            if ($visibleItems.length) {
              $visibleItems.eq(0).addClass('state-active');
            }
          });
        }, 100);
      }
      scope.filterText = '';
      scope.filterTextValue = function(newValue, highlightFirstItem) {
        if (angular.isDefined(newValue)) {
          concourseNavigatorService.filterTerm = newValue;
          scope.filterText = newValue;
          clearShortcutPreview();
          if (handleNavFilterExtension(scope.filterText)) {
            return;
          }
          handleShortcuts(scope.filterText);
          if (highlightFirstItem === undefined || highlightFirstItem)
            _focusFirstItem();
        }
        return scope.filterText;
      };
      scope.handleEnterKeypress = function($event) {
        if (!selectedElement) {
          var $selected = $window.jQuery('#gsft_nav').find('.state-active');
          if ($selected.length) {
            selectedElement = $selected.get(0);
          }
        }
        if (handleEnterKeypressEvent($event)) {
          reset();
        }
        handleShortcutCallback();
      };
      var DETECT_JAVASCRIPT = /^javascript:/;

      function handleEnterKeypressEvent($event) {
        if (!selectedElement || !selectedElement.href) {
          return false;
        }
        if (DETECT_JAVASCRIPT.test(selectedElement.href)) {
          $window.location.href = selectedElement.href;
          return true;
        } else {
          scope.navigate(selectedElement.href, selectedElement.getAttribute('target'));
          $event.preventDefault();
          return true;
        }
      }

      function handleShortcutCallback() {
        if (!shortcutCallback)
          return;
        shortcutCallback();
        scope.filterTextValue('');
        clearShortcutPreview();
      }

      function handleNavFilterExtension(val) {
        try {
          if (typeof $window.navFilterExtension === "function" && $window.navFilterExtension(val, msg))
            return true;
        } catch (e) {
          jslog("Error in UI Script navFilterExtension - " + e);
        }
      }

      function handleShortcuts(filterText) {
        var tooltip = '';
        var table = '';
        shortcutCallback = null;
        if (filterText.length < 5)
          return;
        if (filterText.endsWith('.form')) {
          table = filterText.replace('.form', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open the ' + table + ' form';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
            scope.navigate(glideUrlBuilder.getCancelableLink(table + '.do?sys_id=-1'));
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('.list')) {
          table = filterText.replace('.list', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open the ' + table + ' list';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
            scope.navigate(glideUrlBuilder.getCancelableLink(table + '_list.do'));
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('.config')) {
          table = filterText.replace('.config', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open the ' + table + ' configuration';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
            scope.navigate(glideUrlBuilder.getCancelableLink(buildTableConfigURL(table)));
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('.filter')) {
          table = filterText.replace('.filter', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open an empty ' + table + ' list';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
            scope.navigate(glideUrlBuilder.getCancelableLink(table + '_list.do?sysparm_filter_only=true'));
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('.FORM')) {
          table = filterText.replace('.FORM', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open the ' + table + ' form in a new window';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
            $window.open(glideUrlBuilder.newGlideUrl(table + '.do?sys_id=-1').getURL());
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('.LIST')) {
          table = filterText.replace('.LIST', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open the ' + table + ' list in a new window';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
            $window.open(glideUrlBuilder.newGlideUrl(table + '_list.do').getURL());
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('.CONFIG')) {
          table = filterText.replace('.CONFIG', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open the ' + table + ' configuration in a new window';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
            $window.open(buildTableConfigURL(table));
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('.FILTER')) {
          table = filterText.replace('.FILTER', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open an empty ' + table + ' list in a new window';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
            $window.open(glideUrlBuilder.newGlideUrl(table + '_list.do?sysparm_filter_only=true').getURL());
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('_list.do')) {
          table = filterText.replace('_list.do', '').toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open the ' + table + ' list';
          shortcutCallback = function() {
              scope.navigate(table + '_list.do');
          };
        } else if (filterText.endsWith('.do')) {
          var path = filterText.toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, '');
          tooltip = 'Press enter to open ' + path;
          shortcutCallback = function() {
              scope.navigate(path);
          };
        }
        top.NOW.magellan && top.NOW.magellan.setNavigatingState && top.NOW.magellan.setNavigatingState(true);
        if (tooltip != '')
          previewShortcut(tooltip);
      }

      function buildTableConfigURL(table) {
        var url = glideUrlBuilder.newGlideUrl('personalize_all.do');
        url.addParam('sysparm_rules_table', table);
        url.addParam('sysparm_rules_label', table);
        return url.getURL();
      }

      function previewShortcut(title) {
        var placement = document.documentElement.getAttribute('dir') == 'rtl' ? 'left' : 'right';
        jQuery(element).tooltip({
          placement: placement,
          container: 'body',
          trigger: 'manual',
          title: title
        }).tooltip('show');
        scope.isPreviewOpen = true;
      }

      function clearShortcutPreview() {
        if (scope.isPreviewOpen) {
          jQuery(element).tooltip('destroy');
          scope.isPreviewOpen = false;
          shortcutCallback = null;
        }
      }

      function setSelected(index) {
        var element;
        if (index != selectedIndex) {
          jQuery(selectedElement).removeClass('state-active');
          selectedIndex = index;
          selectedElement = collection[index];
          element = jQuery(selectedElement);
          element.addClass('state-active');
        }
      }

      function reset() {
        selectedIndex = -1;
        if (selectedElement) {
          jQuery(selectedElement).removeClass('state-active');
          selectedElement = null;
        }
        collection = [];
      }
      $rootScope.$on('applicationTree.rendered', function() {
        reset();
        if (scope.data.filteredApplications && scope.data.filteredApplications.length > 0 && scope.filterText.length > 0) {
          setTimeout(function() {
            collection = jQuery('#gsft_nav').find('a.sn-widget-list-item');
            if (collection.length > 0)
              for (var i = 0; i < collection.length; i++) {
                  if (collection[i].href && collection[i].href != 'javascript:void(0)') {
                    setSelected(i);
                    nav.scrollTop(0);
                    break;
                  }
                }
          }, 10);
        }
        if (scope.filterText === '') {
          clearShortcutPreview();
        }
      });
      jQuery('.nav-body').on('click', 'a', function() {
        if (jQuery(this).attr('href') != '#') {
          reset();
        }
      });
    }
  };
});;

How to Save Knowledge Sessions Locally

2020-05-14T00:00:00Z

So I was in the “Automate ServiceNow CI/CD” lab and the question came up, “How long will this session be online for me to view?”. I’d link to it but the links are terrible because they change, hence this post.

If you don’t trust you will get to the lab/video soon, I’d encourage you to save the video locally so you KNOW you’ll have it to watch later.

I can hear you now, Jace, how can you do that? Well it seems the K19 and K20 both used this Brightcove video delivery system. Brightcove videos are not the simpliest to download but, you can save a video in about 5 clicks.

Right click the video being presented, open “Player Information”
Copy the “Video ID” into this string replacing YourVideoID http://players.brightcove.net/5703385908001/zKNjJ2k2DM_default/index.html?videoId=YourVideoID

http://players.brightcove.net/5703385908001/zKNjJ2k2DM_default/index.html?videoId=YourVideoID

Take that string and paste it into bitdownloader.com and click the “Download”.
Now at the bottom is a list of videos with resolutions, Right click the video download button at the bottom, and click Save as, give it an apt name and you’re set.

What is GlideQuery

2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

So this is a new thing that may change how code is written for some.

Let me show you an example of the code and output. Then I’ll write my thoughts.

var testGlideQuery = new GlideQuery('sys_user')
  .where('active', true)
  .select('first_name', 'last_name', 'active')
  .toArray(100);
gs.info('testGlideQuery: ' + JSON.stringify(testGlideQuery,'',' '));

/*
*** Script: testGlideQuery: [
 {
  "first_name": "a",
  "last_name": "b",
  "active": true,
  "sys_id": "9033c10d2f674c10bd54d5f62799b666"
 },
 {
  "first_name": "Aada",
  "last_name": "Keranen",
  "active": true,
  "sys_id": "15a849d32fd34810bd54d5f62799b6be"
 },
 ...
*/

So, yea. That’s interesting. Before you go and look if you can use this in your instance, you probably don’t have it yet. To get it, enable the SAM and SAAS plugins.

The methods are exposed and is written in a interesting way. I suggest you check it out.

This brings up the big question, is GlideRecord going away? No. I don’t think so. This seems to be just a wrapper to allow chain-able calls to query the data. Maybe as the Now Experience comes up this will be used more in that but I don’t think so. I think this is just a wrapper some team made to make their code look one way.

In any case, I wanted to write this down so if anyone looks for it something comes up, because as of now, it’s not written down anywhere.

Comments

crash180 commented on Apr 29, 2020
Interesting the things you can find when you dig a little bit. I have not heard of GlideQuery either
nikhilkumarsrs commented on May 5, 2020
Hi Jace, It says
Evaluator: org.mozilla.javascript.EcmaError: “GlideQuery” is not defined.
Caused by error in script at line
jacebenson commented on May 6, 2020
@nikhilkumarsrs You’ll need to enable the SAM Pro plugins to use this it seems
nikhilkumarsrs commented on May 6, 2020
@jacebenson Hi Jace, SAM pro plugin is already active and still same error.
jacebenson commented on May 6, 2020
I must have some more things on… com.sn_glidequery is what it says it’s a part of;
jacebenson commented on May 6, 2020
Maybe it’s installed as part of this, but this isn’t on the production instance I have access to.
I know I have this on all the environments it exists;
sn_sam_saa
nthumma commented on May 25, 2020
Nice article Jace!

Regress - ATF Recorder Share Review

2020-04-28T00:00:00Z

The other day I was looking at something when I saw this post by Paul Morris called, “Automating ATF - My Journey Building a Test Recorder”. I had to try it out. It’s a work in progress but it is so very promising.

A few things to note. As of right now it is only written to work on UI16, and there are some things that are still being worked on. Other projects like it are Jared Laethem’s Dotwalk.io Bootstrap

When I tried Paul share out it created the steps, but a few steps weren’t created. But it got a lot of the things. I may end up installing this on a sub=prod to generate the tests and then tweak as needed.

In any case you all should check out this tool and give your feedback on the share page.

How do you refer to ServiceNow?

2020-04-27T00:00:00Z

Abbreviations and acronyms are shortened forms of words or phrases. An abbreviation is typically a shortened form of words used to represent the whole (such as Dr. or Prof.) while an acronym contains a set of initial letters from a phrase that usually form another word (such as radar or scuba).

Like me, you probably have seen many refer to ServiceNow as “Snow” or “SN”.

Is there a right way to shorten ServiceNow?

As much as I want to say one way is right, and the other is wrong, by the results of the survey, really we should just use the full name.

What do you use when referring to ServiceNow, let me know in the comments or reply to the survey and why.

K20 Hackathon

2020-04-23T00:00:00Z

Last year I was pretty bitter about the hackathon. This year, I think the event will be better. Andrew Barnes and Brad Tilton are running this event. As I understand it these are the details;

First lets go over what you’ll get out of this.

You will learn how to build whatever it is you’re building. So if you want to try out the new now-experience, here’s your time to shine.
You will likely form a team and make better bonds with those on it.
You might win one the five categories, if you do you’ll get $500 USD, or $5,000 USD for your team.
ServiceNow may feature your work in some content sent out to people who want that kind of stuff.

Now let’s go over the specifics.

Questions	Answers
How big can the teams be?	1-8 people.
When does it start?	May 1st.
When does it end?	May 3rd.
How many teams will be named winners?	5
What criteria will things be judged by?

Last year I wrote up a detailed blog about winning hackathons and reviewed all the past hackathons I could find (2013-2018).

May the odds be ever in your favor.

How Virtual Task Boards Broke Labels Tags

2020-04-23T00:00:00Z

You might know about this old feature called “labels”. Well, now their called “Tags” but back then they were labels. In the New York release ServiceNow broke them. Here’s the short version. Instead of giving the right users visibility to the tags, everyone can see any tag on a Virtual Task Board (VTB).

How can you see this problem? Take these steps;

Steps to reproduce

Log in to Dev
Create a visual task board.
Add a new Label
Apply the label to a record on your VTB
Add a user on the VTB
Impersonate some other user (not the user in 5)
Go to a list and show the tags column
Start typing the tag name in the tag column, you’ll see the tag created in 3.

ServiceNow did the right thing moving to a central place to deal with label/tags.
But, they should have used permissions to control who can see them based on the task board.
I opened a HI ticket ally was able for them to give me a work around.

I didn’t write this code, it worked for me in my tests. It’s saved some other work too, but read the code and ensure it’s doing what you think it should.

Fix Scripts Can Rollback Now

2020-04-23T00:00:00Z

If you’ve come to here looking to undo a fix script, I have bad news for you. I cannot fix the problem you currently have, but I can show you how to save yourself in the future.

So the other day people were talking about what to use to fix some data in their instance. The choices were Background Scripts, and Fix Scripts.

So I took note about why would you ever use a background script in favor of a fix script. One thing that stood out was background scripts can “rollback” the updates.
Fix scripts don’t show a way to do that. Then a few days later 0x111 shared on Discord that in fact they can be rolled back for fix scripts, but you have to set it up.

What do I mean? Well according to this hi article(KB0761248). You have to show the “Record for rollback” field, and check it if you intend to “rollback” the updates.

Here’s what I saw

Feature	Background Script	Fix Script
Can choose your scope at execution	✅	⛔
Can run on application install	⛔	✅
Audit	System Log only	✅
Instant Return	✅	When run in foreground
Can run in the background	⛔	✅
Syntax Highlighting	⛔	✅
Intellisense	⛔	✅
Versioning	⛔	✅
Can be cancelled	✅	✅
Updates can be rolled back	✅	If you tell it

This feature is great, but why is it default unchecked? I know it’s new as of London but come on. This makes using Fix Scripts the way to do things.

Now Experience Notes

2020-03-28T00:00:00Z

I was following along with Upside-down Andrew’s posts and taking notes trying to get a now-expierence component to work.

Here’s my notes;

Checked version of node; node --version it’s at 12.16.1
Checked version of npm; npm --version it’s at 6.13.4 (howver there’s a upgrade to 6.14.4)
Checked version of now-cli; now-cli --version it’s at 17.0.2
Created folder/repository to render a joke from joke.jace.pro
Created README.md file with aweseome contnet (thanks AAD)
Staged my commit of the update to README.md
Created Repository on Github https://github.com/jacebenson/now-joke
Added SSH Repository link
Ensured git@github.com:jacebenson/now-joke.git is returned when git remote show origin
- If you don’t have SSH configured with Git, you’ll want to undo the git url and use https instead… really set up SSH
- Github’s docs to do this
Push your either by git push -u origin remote or with buttons in VS Code. You should see the file on github.com with it’s contents
You need an empty to build the project, so lets delete that README.md… you can do that by typing rm README.md
Now we can create the project, I ran now-cli project --name "@jace/now-joke" --description "It's what it says on the lid"
It created the scaffolding, you’ll need to do a npm install or npm i to install the package.json dependencies
We can finally Start rendering something… run now-cli develop --open
Edit the ./src/x-1234-your-component/index.js line 7 to say something, your browser should update

Using a SP Widget on Ui16

2020-03-25T00:00:00Z

A while ago Andrew Pishchulin shared a post on Medium where he put a Service Portal widget on UI16. My mind was blown. How did he do it.

His post doesn’t go over the specifics but here’s what he said;

Service Portal widget can also be used in ServiceNow native UI, all you need to do is just to create a UI Macro/formatter which loads a service portal page with that widget

The way to do this (again thanks to Andrew) is this;

Create an empty Service Portal (I’ll name mine “widgetOnly”)
Create a Portal Page (I’ll name mine “pageForHelloWorld”)
Add your widget to the Portal Page
Create a UI Macro (I’ll name mine “spHelloWorld”) with this code, change height as needed

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<j:jelly trim="false" xmlns:j="jelly:core" xmlns:g="glide" xmlns:j2="null" xmlns:g2="null">
  <iframe src="widgetOnly?id=pageForHelloWorld" width="100%" scrolling="no" style="border:none;min-height:400px;">
  </iframe>
</j:jelly>

Create a UI Formatter with the formatter called “spHelloWorld.xml” and set the table you want.
Add the formatter on the form (same way you’d add a field, via form layout)

Comments

artemis15 commented on May 6, 2020
Instead to creating portal for this, you can alos use $sp.do?id=pag

jacebenson commented on May 6, 2020
That’s a great call out. Thanks @artemis15 .

nsierraj commented on May 13, 2020
And you can use “RP.getParameterValue(‘sys_id’);” to pass values to the widget to make it sensitive to the record in the form.

meatsac commented on Nov 1, 2020
This post suggests you can call the widget directly. I haven’t had success with this myself but would be interested to hear if this is indeed possible.
https://snhackery.com/2019/04/10/portal-widgets-on-ui-pages/

Knowledge 20 (K20) Turned Virtual

2020-03-16T00:00:00Z

K20 has gone digital

ServiceNow just announced it has gone digital for this event. Below is the statement from https://knowledge.servicenow.com/faq.html#more_1

Over the past few weeks, we have been closely monitoring the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. In order to protect the health and safety of our Knowledge 2020 attendees, partners, and community, we have made the decision to make Knowledge 2020 a digital community event that will launch on May 5 in place of the in-person event in Orlando, FL.
~~As a Knowledge 2020 registrant, you will receive a full refund of your pass to the original form of payment. This will take 5-7 business days to complete and an email confirmation will be sent to you.~~
The Knowledge 2020 digital experience will showcase all the ways you can unlock productivity through modern digital workflows, highlight the latest customer and platform innovations, and inspire the ServiceNow community to continue to create great experiences for businesses.
In the coming days and weeks, we will provide details about the Knowledge 2020 digital experience. We are committed to creating a phenomenal digital experience that will engage, inspire, and connect you to the best practices from our customers around the world.
The global health crisis is creating new realities for all of us. Thank you for your patience as we evaluated this fluid situation and assessed the best way forward to bring the ServiceNow community together in a safe and healthy manner. We regret we won’t see you in Orlando this year, but we are excited to stay connected digitally to share and learn from each other. That’s always been the power of the ServiceNow community.
See you online!

Which has a lot of details.

My take aways

It seems that ServiceNow has taken a page from Google’s book here. That’s fine. Great even. No reason to rethink some of these decisions.

Item	Google Cloud Next FAQ	ServiceNow FAQ
Price	Refunded, and waived	~~Refunded~~ Rolled to K21
Hotel	Cancelled automatically	Cancelled automatically
Keynotes	Still happening	Not addressed, but I imagine they will show this like they have previously
Sessions	Listed, not scheduled (Maybe they were scheduled, but I wasn’t watching then)	They were listed, not anymore, and not scheduled
Attendance	Everyone can join for free	~~Not addressed~~ Everyone can join for free
Swag?	There will not be swag	Not addressed
Flight	You are on your own	~~Not addressed~~ You are on your own

Full refunds of your pass. If you booked a hotel through Knowledge 2020 website, the reservation will be cancelled.
A “digital experience” was mentioned three times in this short FAQ. It should engage, inspire, and connect individuals.

What can we expect for a “digital experience”?

Here we get into what could be. If we look at other conferences that went digital, and ones that have always have been there seems to be some competing agendas.

Disseminating information. I assume will be done via Zoom Meetings or some other screensharing tool.
Connecting individuals. I assume this will be either not available, or some digital way, but in either case, it will be new and different. It will take getting used to.
Expo floor. I assume this will be either not available, or some digital way, but in either case, it will be new and different. It will take getting used to.

How can we capitalize on this change?

Since everything will be digital, all streaming of ServiceNow stuff is nearly equal. If you’re a small partner, spinning up YouTube Live or Twitch, you are not much different than however ServiceNow official will handle it in my opinion. With that being said I expect to see a lot of steaming video coming up out of this.

Changes

Date	Changed
2020-03-17	Passes are now stated to be rolled to K21 and not refunded unless asked.
2020-03-17	Digital event will be free. https://knowledge.servicenow.com/faq.html#reg_1 Will there be a cost for digital participation? We will not be charging for attending the Knowledge 2020 digital experience. Stay tuned for more information on how to register.
2020-03-17	Airfare will not be reimbursed. https://knowledge.servicenow.com/faq.html#speaker_1 Will I receive reimbursement for airfare? Airfare and hotel is the sole responsibility of the individual and will not be reimbursed.
2020-03-17	“Learn More” FAQ removed block of text regarding refunds.

Ok Orlando - Data Source Custom Load by Script

2020-02-29T00:00:00Z

So this looks pretty neat, a way to simply load a set of data from script. This has been done previously by me with scheduled jobs and the like but now that isn’t necessary.

Lets look at the example provided on the docs

The data loader script has one input parameter, import_set_table, and the following methods:

Method	Details
`addColumn`	Adds a string type column to the import set table.
`addJSONColumn`	Adds a JSON type column to the import set table.
`addXMLColumn`	Adds an XML type column to the import set table.
`insert`	Inserts a map (key = column name, value = column value) in the import set table.

The example randomuser.me

(function loadData(import_set_table) {
  // Add your code here to insert data to import_set_table
  var requestBody = {};
  var restMessage = new sn_ws.RESTMessageV2();
  restMessage.setHttpMethod("get");
  restMessage.setEndpoint("https://randomuser.me/api/?results=100");
  restMessage.setRequestBody(JSON.stringify(requestBody));
  var response = restMessage.execute();
  var error = response.haveError();
  if(error){
    var errorCode = response.getErrorCode();
    var errorMsg = response.getErrorMessage();
  }
  var headerVal = response.getHeader("Content-Type");
  var headers = response.getHeaders();
  var queryString = response.getQueryString();
  var statusCode = response.getStatusCode();
  var responseBody = response.getBody();
  var responseObj = JSON.parse(responseBody);
//	gs.info(statusCode);
//	gs.info(responseBody);
  responseObj.results.forEach(function(user){
    var map = {
      u_first: user.name.first,
      u_last: user.name.last,
      u_email: user.email,
      u_phone: user.phone
    };
    import_set_table.insert(map);
  });
})(import_set_table);

So this didn’t wrok right away, but it was only because the import set table has be exist before things can work it seems. Once that table was made it worked exactly like I thought it would.

Comments

Ok Orlando - Automated Testing Framework changes

2020-02-29T00:00:00Z

OK Orlando - A series of features worth note

In Orlando there’s a bunch of Automated Test Framework(ATF) updates.

Lets go over them and see what we think;

Copy an automated test suite

In the past copying a test suite kept the past scope.
Lets see how good this works.

If a suite spans multiple scopes, copying scopes doesn’t copy anything out of the current scope.
Copying a test suite isn’t available unless you’re in the suite’s scope.

Custom UI test steps - misleading

So in the new section there’s a “Custom UI test steps” but it goes on to say;

Test workspaces using the Form category test steps. The Custom UI category steps don’t support available workspace.

So it’s just a heads up, to test workspaces goto the form category, not custom ui.

Validate related list visibility - tested
Apply filter to list - tested
Validate record present in list - tested - no way to validate list is empty or test that
Validate ui actions in lists
Open a record in list

Email

Validate outbound email
Generate inbound reply email

Other

Generate Random String - only input is how long to make the input…

Ok Orlando - CSV Line Parser

2020-02-28T00:00:00Z

As part of my getting familiar with some of the new features of Orlando, I wanted to dive into the new CSVParser class.

Why might I use this?

So in looking for use-case I found a community post by [Vinod]. He has a csv file that he needs to parse. Good enough for me. [Ankur Bawiskar] proposed a solution, but it’s using some Packages call, that is not supported in scopes. With that lets dig in.

I am using the Library survey from 2011 data and I’m planning to write that to an import table, then to that could be used to update Locations.

// Original solution
var sa = new GlideSysAttachment();
var bytesContent = sa.getBytes("incident", "bdd212d04fbf7340fc11fa218110c7d5");
var strData = String(Packages.java.lang.String(bytesContent));
gs.print(strData);

Lets try this with CSVParser.

Oofta. So Below is my “working” example. A few important notes;

parseLineToObject needs the array for the headers.
If your CSV is mixed with quotes and without, you’re going to have to correct that, like I did.

// to object
var attachment = new GlideSysAttachment();
var agr = attachment.getAttachments('incident', '552c48888c033300964f4932b03eb092');
while (agr.next()) {
  gs.info(agr.getValue('file_name'));
  var content = attachment.getContent(agr);
  var contentb64 = attachment.getContentBase64(agr);
  gs.info('content.length: ' + content.length);
  // CSV Parser splits the data up
  var contentArr = content.split('\n');
  var headers = [
    "STABR", "FSCSKEY", "FSCS_SEQ", "LIBID", "LIBNAME", "ADDRESS", "CITY", "ZIP", "ZIP4", "CNTY", "PHONE", "C_OUT_TY", "C_MSA", "SQ_FEET", "F_SQ_FT", "L_NUM_BM", "F_BKMOB", "HOURS", "F_HOURS", "WKS_OPEN", "F_WKSOPN", "YR_SUB", "STATSTRU", "STATNAME", "STATADDR", "LONGITUD", "LATITUDE", "FIPSST", "FIPSCO", "FIPSPLAC", "CNTYPOP", "LOCALE", "CENTRACT", "CENBLOCK", "CDCODE", "MAT_CENT", "MAT_TYPE", "CBSA", "MICROF"
  ];
  // with out this, the call fails;
  // now if you csv is not formed consistentlt yhis still fails.... so im just going to remove ,'s in quotes, then quotes.
  contentArr.forEach(function (line) {
    // regex to remove commas from within `"` parts e.g. a,b,"test,test./#&"
    var regex = /"([A-Z0-9\s\.#-\/&]+),([A-Z0-9\s\.#-\/&]+)"/gm;
    var subst = "$1$2";
    line = line.replace(regex, subst);
    // regex to remove comma from within " at the end e.g. a,b,"test,"
    var regex2 = /"([A-Z0-9\s\.#-\/&]+),"/gm;
    var subst2 = "$1";
    line = line.replace(regex2, subst2);
    var delimiter = ',';
    var quoteCharacter = '';
    try {
      var lineObj = new sn_impex.CSVParser().parseLineToObject(line, headers, delimiter, quoteCharacter);
      if (lineObj.STABR == "MN" && lineObj.CITY == "MINNEAPOLIS") {
        gs.info(JSON.stringify(lineObj, '', '  '));
        /*do what you want here... like make a record or whatever*/
      }
    } catch (e) {

    }

  });
}

Here’s what the output looks like;

Source: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-application-development/page/app-store/dev_portal/API_reference/CSVParserScoped/concept/CSVParserScopedAPI.html

Ok Orlando - Studio Git Outside Files

2020-01-27T00:00:00Z

Edit source control integration files outside of Studio

Edit application files linked to a source control integration using an editor other than Studio. To ensure that the application files remain usable, the instance validates and sanitizes application files edited by other editing applications. Application files that fail XML schema validation either abort the current source control operation or are skipped. The instance generates an upgrade log entry for each sanitization action taken.

Edit source control integration files outside of Studio

This works great. You can see the file structure there. The now app path is defined by root file sn_source_control.properties.

I edited an application file on Github. That does work. There is some sanitation process (which I don’t understand) allows for editing of application files out of ServiceNow.

Ok Orlando: Serivce Portal Conversation widget

2020-01-27T00:00:00Z

This didn’t make the release notes but the enter key used to do nothing. If you wanted to add line breaks to the comments to make a multi-line comment you had to customize the widget. Now you don’t have to.

Backing Out an Update Set From a Batch

2020-01-14T00:00:00Z

Author’s Note: I know backing out isn’t the right term but it’s how I think of it.

Backing out update sets can be a pain.

Here’s the thing. Update Set Batches are amazing, until you have a problem.

One problem I’ve experienced with batching work in development is;
Handling errors on update set batches.
Sometimes this is due to a missing plugin or some other update set that needs to wait. How do you correct this? With help from @paige and @ajb I will answer this;

Quotes;

… delete the previewed update sets (all of them, including parent). Remove it from the parent in the source instance and bring it all back over. - @paige
… un-parent it, or as Paige said - delete the whole thing - and re-parent in development - @ajb

When I’ve done the delete way in the past I’ve had issues and now reading through these comments I can guess why. You need to ensure you “… have to ensure you get ALL the update sets.” as @paige said. I suspect I didn’t get all the update sets.

Going forward now that I’ve had success doing this are these steps;

Delete the Target Instance Update Sets, & Batch Update set
Un-parent in source
Re-import

Can issues still arise? Sure, keep this in mind;

So update sets can fail two ways in regards to batching;

An update set completed can be pulled before it’s associated with a batch. If you want that to be included in the batch it needs to be removed from the target instance.
An update set was included but before applying it you want to exclude it. To do this, delete batch’s related update sets, then the parent(batch) update set. Change the source update set batch and re-import.

Step Away From Emails

2020-01-09T00:00:00Z

I started making notes on this a long time ago. I’m going to update this as needed but this is what I have so far.

Email is an amazing system, however, it is also easy to lose so much work there. ServiceNow wants you to make work you do from email into structured data that can easily worked.

That’s great Jace, but where’s the steps. What do I do?

The guide

This is all theory for me as I have not implemented this.

Step 1

Identify what is going to be allowed now to create work.

Go over you’re current Inbound Actions and make a list of inbound emails you intend to still process immediately, initially I’d guess that is just the “Update Approval Request” inbound action.

The rest of them, ensure they set “Contact Source” to email for inserts.

Step 2

Identify what outbound Notifications can be disabled right now.
The less you email people, the less they have to respond to.
You have many notifications that are not actionable.
Anything that the user receiving the message is only informational should be disabled.

Disable any notification that is strictly informational.

Examples;

Item Requested
Incident Created
Something was approved

Step 3

Now it will get hard.
Change processes on how people find work.
Instead of going to their mailbox, they will need to go to their assignments.

I’d recommend doing this all at once.

Notes

TL; DR Record Producers created specific to your most commonly reported incidents that gather the data needed to resolve those incidents (including optional data based on answers in the RP) can greatly reduce your TTR and cause overall greater customer satisfaction despite the bigger hurdle to incident submission.
careful pushing of folks to these Structured Record Producers can be handled in many ways, including closing incidents submitted improperly and pointing them to the new RP

Emails & SP:
Emails created entries cost more, introduce delay for most interactions, initial send is quicker for user to send, slower to help them in general case
Structured data and clear services via SP are a large difference - cuts down on back and forth, aids in automation, helps routing and fulfillment expectations, transparency and prioritization. Better expectations and up front data collection leads to happier users quickly.

Phased Approach is recommended Show incentive to go to no inbound email with Time to resolved Time to resolved is lessened by less categorizing, less back and forth to/from the customer.
Some organizations saw a 25%-75% better resolution time after disallowing email.
Ensure you offer specific services that handle most the calls to allow the faster resolution.

Quick Guide: Orlando

2020-01-06T00:00:00Z

Here’s my take of what’s new with Orlando. To me this seems like the release of “The Workspace”. Sure there are other updates but unless you subscribe to those specific SKUs, you won’t see meaningful updates for your customers. The improvements to me seem to be mostly on the workspaces.

Deprecated things

Service Desk Call plugin now requires subscription (didn’t before)
Discovery - Help the help desk plugin no longer available
Enterprise Release Management plugin no longer available
Facilities Service Management plugin no longer available

Updated things

Agent Workspace: CMDB
Agent Workspace: Form annotation supported
Agent Workspace: Field Styles not supported
Agent Workspace: Faster list loading by not showing count of all rows
Agent Workspace: Variable editor in Agent Workspace inline
ATF: Quick Start Tests for many things
ATF: Copy automated test suite, copies all nested tests
ATF: Emails can now be tested
ATF: Workspaces can now be tested
VTB: Compact cards, now more compact (thinner columns)
VTB: Can show attachment preview on board
Flow Designer: Service Catalog - Plugin now active by default
Virtual Agent: Loads of updates
Mobile Platform: Loads of updates
Customer Service Management: Loads of updates
Field Service Management: Loads of updates
Human Resources Service Delivery: Loads of updates
Project Portfolio Management: Loads of updates
Mid Servers require JRE 1.8.0_161 or greater
Mid Servers for discovery require Powershell 5.1 (was 3.0)
Mid Servers no longer need an admin account, just read/write to the /agent folder
MID Servers now support Microsoft JEA authentication in order to run basic Discovery.

New things

Now Components available for development see NDS
Studio: Edit source control files outside of ServiceNow
Studio: Can use Mid connect to source control
Studio: Set the GIT repository default branch
System Clone: Presever Update Sets - no longer need to export/import from target instance
Service Portal: Widget Diagnostics
Import and Export: REST (IntegrationHub) type data source
Import and Export: Custom (Load by Script) type data source
Import and Export: Robust Import Set Transformers
Import and Export: Custom (Parse by Script) format
Import and Export: CSV line parser
Import and Export: Scoped scriptable Import Set APIs
Investment Funding - This sounds new
Discovery: ServiceNow Certificate Inventory and Management application
Dynamic Translation - Translates stuff on the fly

Comments

macmorning commented on Jan 29, 2020
Thanks Jace.
I can still see no way to create or edit the new UX components (like ribbons).
Frustrating

jacebenson commented on Jan 29, 2020
I’ve heard that is coming out with General Availability. See https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-servicenow-platform/page/administer/workspace/concept/record-view.html#d1269810e56

macmorning commented on Jan 29, 2020
You just warmed my heart. The documentation stays vague though, giving hints about “adding custom components” but not actually giving details about it.
This page reads “Register your Now component with Tectonic” =>
https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/orlando-servicenow-platform/page/administer/workspace/task/set-up-ui-action-render-custom-component.html
Mood shifted from frustrated to excited. Thanks

jacebenson commented on Jan 29, 2020
I’m excited about it.

Browser Extensions for ServiceNow

2019-12-02T00:00:00Z

This post is brought to you because of Kevin. Thanks Kevin!

Just read your great code search blog post @jacebenson… you probably already know about this, but the an-Utils browser extension has an “install-less” code search feature in beta. - 🍹🍸Kev 🍸🍹 (@milligna) November 30, 2019

Browser extensions are scary in my opinion when it comes to work. Some workplaces have rules (not really enforceable) where you are allowed to only download extensions used by hundreds of thousands of users.

There are legitimate reasons for this.

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s talk about the extensions for Firefox and Chrome to help work in ServiceNow.

Extension	Firefox	Chrome	Github	Author
SN Utils	Yes1	Yes2	Yes3	Arnoud Kooi
SN Toolbelt	Yes4	Yes5	Yes6	Mac Morning
SwissNow	No	Yes7	No	Łukasz Krzaczkowski

Features we’re comparing

There extensions have a lot of features so I’ll be comparing all of them I can find;

Legend;
✅ = Yes
❌ = No

Feature	SN Toolbelt	SN Utils	SwissNow
Chrome	✅	✅	✅
FireFox	✅	✅	❌
Open Source	✅	✅	❌
Tabs customizations	✅	❌	❌
Docs and API searches	✅	✅	❌
Node Switching	✅	✅	✅
Links to many instances	✅	Configurable	✅
Export Settings	✅	❌	❌
Slash commands	❌	✅	❌
Edit scripts in VS Code	❌	✅	❌
Edit widgets in VS Code	❌	✅	❌
Show technical names	❌	✅	❌
Update set search	❌	✅	❌
Updates List	❌	✅	❌
Search tables	❌	✅	❌
View Data	❌	✅	❌
Search User by Id	❌	✅	❌
Code Templates	❌	✅	❌
CTRL-S / CMD-S	❌	✅	❌
CTRL-V / CMD-V	❌	✅	❌
Compare Records	❌	❌	✅

SN Utils

Unfortunately I’ve never looked at this extension in depth until I started writing this post. With that being said, holy cow.

Arnoud, good job.

~~Some of the things I don’t think should be in the extension but others, man I wish they were part of the platform.~~

I think the CTRL-S / CMD-S and CTRL-V / CMD-V should be something Servicenow Proper should add to the platform making them unneeded.

After comments added to this post it’s clear to see slash commands can add any search including docs/api stuff. So I changed that to Sort of as they need to be configured.

SN Tool belt

I’ve been a fan of this repository for years now. It isn’t the biggest project but was the only one I found to be open source when I first looked.

With that being said, it’s all about giving you links to quickly jump around instances. I assume we all do that because I do that.

SwissNow

This is the only other extension I could find was this one.

https://servicenowgems.com/2017/09/11/swissnow-chrome-extension/

This one is also about jumping around instances and as such has some nice links around them including a very handy compare function, however, I can’t find the source. So I downloaded the .crx file and unzipped it. Looked around at the code for any odd calls but I didn’t find any. So thats great.

Change Log

Date	Action
2019-12-01	Changed SN Utils - Docs and API searches to yes (via `/dev searchterm`) was no.
2019-12-01	Changed SN Utils - Links to many instances to configurable was no.

Comments

arnoudkooi commented on Dec 1, 2019
Great article Jace!
In SNU some of the features are accessible via slashcommands, like:
/docs <query> or /dev <query> for docs and api search.
You (or I) can add a own search source like :
jace;https://sn.jace.pro/docs/?q=$0 Search Jace's documentation
Via /env acmedev you can open current page in instance acmedev.
(I need to look at the nested function, creating a slashcommand /acmedev doesn’t work now)
Most of the features are explained in the K19 labguide or the newer in my Tweets
And of course the videos!
Regarding the risks of Extension, always good to be aware of this and make your own assessment. I’m keeping the permissions as tight as possible, resulting in rather low score at crxcavator.
The permissions I do ask are explained in the Privacy Disclaimer

jacebenson commented on Dec 1, 2019
Seems great, looking into this now makes me wish I did it more earlier.

macmorning commented on Jan 29, 2020
Hey Jace, thanks for the shout out.
As you can guess, with the Toolbelt extension I’m not trying to compete with Arnoud & team (tremendous work there!). It’s mostly a navigation helper. I’m adding small features when I get the idea and the time, limiting them to what is doable without script injection, external framework nor update sets because we should avoid doing this on our clients [live] environments.
Anyhow, the project is on github and sndevs are most welcome to contribute with ideas, defects, and pull requests.

List Collectors Are the Pits

2019-12-01T00:00:00Z

List collectors try so very hard to be helpful.

I have used them, but I don’t like them and here’s why;

Impossible to report on
SP display of extra columns is… not helpful (see screenshot)
Display values are tied to the table, not the instance of the variable
Generally complex logic is required to handle if you ever automate around them
They are moot with “add to cart”
In SP it’s not clear what columns are when you add them via ref_ac_columns1
They were not made mobile friendly, so now they have a very different look/feel in SP2
~~You have to have a table made for it’s purpose which is overkill~~ Covestic posted a workaround

The list isn’t that long, but it merits a conversation about what you’re trying to collect.

Before London, there was no good out of box alternative. With London we got the Multi-Row Variable Sets, and sure they also have their flaws, they are not as bad as List collectors.

In my past the most common use for List collectors is to grant access or to modify a number of things in different ways. The problem with that is, you can’t specify after you’ve selected all the things what you want to do individually. So in practice, it would be a User Access form. You pick the users you want to change access for, but then you are only allowed to add one role, or group.

Covestic’s workaround

This is a great way to do the options without a whole table… but then someone still has to manage these options.3

On your catalog item, create a new multiple choice or select box variable (either will work, we are after the “Choices” related list here), give it a name and some question text and then submit.
Add any choices your variable needs.
Switch the variable type over to a list collector. You will notice that we cannot save until we give ServiceNow a table to reference so pick Question Choice [question_choice]
Add a reference qualifier of “question=XXXX” where XXXX is the question’s sys_id.
(Optional) You may want to deactivate the “Question Choice Related List” client script or modify the if statement in the script to be if (newValue == “3” || newValue == “5” || newValue == “21”) to show the Question Choice related list on list collector variables.
You now have a list collector variable without having to create a whole new table.
(Optional) You can now think about adding variable attributes such as no_filter or glide_list to alter the variable’s appearance on the form.

Comments

CheriEmm commented on Jan 2, 2020
Only admins can see question_choice so this is useless for your end users. You could create an ACL but would have to think on the reason question_choice is only available to admin, etc.

jacebenson commented on Jan 2, 2020
It is a workaround. It does make them a little better.

Access Control Lists (ACLs) VS Query Business Rules (QBR)

2019-12-01T00:00:00Z

This is an issue as old as the “HI security plugin”. Before that, I’m not sure how ServiceNow secured their tables as it was before my time.

I’ve been asked in the past to remove the message “n records removed by security…” and it can be done, but shouldn’t.

Here’s my take on it.

Access Control Lists (aka ACLs) are there for two reasons;

maintainability
second is field level control

You could replace every tables Access Control Lists with Query Business Rules. That is not the normal place security is generally configured.

Here’s some very insightful quotes from people I respect on the topic and links to the resources;

gflewis asked in 2011

What are the pros and cons of using an Access Control verses a Before Query Business Rule to block certain users from reading certain records? As far as I can tell, the functionality appears to be identical.

CapaJC responded in 2011

Before query is highly preferable if you can use one. It makes the database do the work by modify the query itself. With Contextual Security, your instance has to decide per record what a user can see after fetching them from the database.
With a before query rule, unavailable records are simply not there as far as the user is concerned. With Contextual Security they might get a list of 4 visible records, and the list might say 1 to 100 of 546 with a message at the bottom saying “96 records removed due to security constraints”.1

More recently Tim W. wrote in 2018

ACLs Vs Query Business Rules: ACLs, but also sometimes query business rules; but usually for performance reasons more than security.2

Custom Table Guide: What is this?!

2019-11-27T00:00:00Z

The other day I was looking at the licensing training and thinking about the custom table guide.
To me it’s very bizarre why these are the tables selected so in this post I want to talk through each of them.
If you have any thoughts to the reasoning I’d love to have some back and forth on it. Here’s my thoughts so far.

Table	Label	Reason	Extensible OOTB
`cmdb_*`	Configuration Items	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s in use	Many No
`cmn_location`	Location	See notes below	No
`cmn_schedule_condition` new			Yes
`dl_definition`	Data Lookup Definition	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s not used	Yes
`dl_matcher`	Data Lookup Matcher Rules	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s in use	Yes
`kb_knowlege`	Knowledge		No
`sc_cat_item_delivery_task`	Exection Plan Task []	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s in use	Yes
`scheduled_data_import` new			Yes
`sf_state_flow`	State Flow	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s not used	Yes
`sys_auth_profile`	Authentication Profile	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s not used	Yes
`sys_choice`	Choice	I cannot find a reason this is included	No
`sys_dictionary`	Dictionary	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s in use	Yes
`sys_filter`	Filter	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s in use	Yes
`sys_hub_action_type_base`	Action Type Base	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s in use	Yes
`sys_import_set_row`	Import Set Row	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s in use	Yes
`sys_portal_page`	Portal Page	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s not used	No
`sys_report_import_table_parent`	Report Import Table	What does this table even do?	No
`sys_transform_map`	Transform Map	I cannot find a reason this is included	No
`sys_transform_script`	Transform Map Script	I cannot find a reason this is included	No
`sys_user_preference`	User Preference	I cannot find a reason this is included	No
`sysauto`	Scheduled Job	Design Choice - has a Class field and it’s in use	Yes
`syslog`	System Log	I cannot find a reason this is included	Yes

My thoughts on extending tables

I can categorize my opinions about when and why to extend a table into three reasons.

Edit: At the time I wrote this, there were two things I had not considered. One. Extending tables is really complicated.

Pros	Cons
You get all the fields from the parent	You get all the fields from the parent
	You could add fields that may hit the limit of the technical length in SQL
	Reporting on it can be difficult
	If you need two records with the same unique value in the two tables, the system will not allow this
	To extend some of these tables is uncharted waters and may not work well see sys_choice

Usability

Assuming you have a table in mind;
Does it make sense to have/modify a “type” or “class” field and have one the table?
Also, does the new type inherently change the the record that it is very different?

If yes to both, extend, if not make new.

Scoped Access

Sometimes you cannot create or read records that you might want to use in a scoped app, see sys_user_group.
In this case it may make sense to extend that table if you want to create/modify those records. This is a
technical reason, and I feel they likely should not be extended still but must be.

Design Choice

Generally, something will automatically extend a table, like Import Set Row.
Anytime you upload a new file as a data source that is extended.

This is done by adding a class field to indicate the class of record.
Some records with this only ever have one class, like sys_auth_profile.
Some have many like cmdb_ci, sys_user, and task.

Configuration items

Sometimes you gotta extend this to track things your work considers as a CI but ServiceNow has not. E.g. Rooms

In the example of Rooms, out-of-box there is a “Computer Room” CI class, but you may want to track conference rooms,
data closets, supply rooms, etc. In these cases in my opinion extending cmdb_ci makes sense.

Knowledge

Knowledge is an interesting table to have here.
On one hand you could argue some Knowledge articles should be typed/classd differently.
I believe Knowledge already has this.

#ServiceNowDev #blog What is with the Custom Table Guide - Jace Benson 👨‍💻⚙️ (@jacebenson) November 27, 2019

Further Reading: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/newyork-servicenow-platform/page/product/knowledge-management/concept/knowledge-article-templates.html

Location

Location is an odd table to me to have on this list.

I’m trying to imagine a situation where you might have different location types, e.g. Offices, Kiosks, and Datacenters

In these cases I can’t imagine a situation you would need this extended. Now scoped apps cannot write to some common tables,
if that is the reason this is here that may make sense. If a scoped app needs a place to write to that is like location, but different
extend it and write to the extension. If that is the case though then I’d expect the same for Group Memberships

With all that being said, on initial look of the table, it does not sport a sys_class_name field.
However it also has “Extensible” as false.
If you change “Extensible” to true, then BOOM, now there’s a sys_class_name field.
I’m still not sure I agree with the all the ideas of this.
That being said it seems like a Design Descision now. - Jace 2019-12-16

Import Set Row

This is extended for each data source you upload, so I feel this is understandable.

Transform Map Script

I don’t think this makes any sense. I can’t imagine why this would be extended.

Transform Map

I don’t think this makes any sense. I can’t imagine why this would be extended.

Authentication Profile

Action Type Base

Report Import Table

Dictionary

I don’t think this makes any sense. I can’t imagine why this would be extended.

It has a class and it’s used but unless I can make a new field type (I thought that wasn’t possible.)

I dont see why this is a thing unless that is possible.

Choice

System Log

I don’t think this makes any sense. I can’t imagine why this would be extended.

User Preference

Filter

I don’t think this makes any sense. I can’t imagine why this would be extended.

Portal Page

I don’t think this makes any sense. I can’t imagine why this would be extended.

Scheduled Job

These are already extended to a number of types of jobs, but I’m not sure why I’d extend it.

Sysauto I extended all the time. Specifically sysauto_script for many integrations.
Including the SCCM integration that is close to what we have today.
And I used that same design for the all the integrations for security vulnerability. - @killswitch

Data Lookup Definition

Data Lookup Matcher Rules

State Flow

This has a class, but just one. I’m not sure why this would be extended.

Execution Plan Task

These are old as dirt. It has two classes today but beyond those I’m not sure why I’d extend it more.

Comparing Code Searchers

2019-11-26T00:00:00Z

I am biased. I like my code search cause I know how it works as I wrote it. However, there are a few options for code searchers out there. But let me stat this first;

ServiceNow should have this OOB in their system not buried behind their Studio application.

Now that I’ve said my peace about it I’m going to compare all the code searcher’s I know about.

Global Code Search by Rick Marsha

A portable search utility that leverages the ‘sn_codesearch’ application (App Studio) for performing string searches across multiple tables and fields. Based on the out-of-box sample page ‘CodeSearchExampleUse’, but rather than only searching within custom application scopes, this page performs a system-wide search across all scopes, including GLOBAL.

Downloads as of 2019-11-25: 196

This includes 2 files;

UI action that is available on sys_* forms
UI page that does the search using the /api/sn_codesearch/ apis

Download: Share

This is a very pretty search that uses that /api/sn_codesearch/ apis. It is installed in the global application. This also adds a left hand navigation Menu called, “Code Search” with a links to;

Code Search
Search Groups
REST API Explorer
Scripted REST API
Properties

MS CodeSearch by Sebastian Reinmann

This is a Code Search application based on the sn_codesearch REST API and provides a quick and easy way to lookup code in the entirety ServiceNow instance.

Downloads as of 2019-11-25: 188

This include 3 files;

Script Include, “MS_CodeSearch”, which has functions to add tables to the codesearch
UI Page, “MS_CodeSearch” which appears to only use /api/sn_codesearch/ apis
UI Script prism.js for syntax highlighting

Download:

This is in a scoped app so it can be removed entirely, has a nice UI. A satisfying progress bar, collapsible search results, and syntax highlighted results.

FetchCode by Brent Llewellyn

FetchCode is a handy utility for finding mysterious updaters, logging, wonkiness, and any other code snippets you could need to find throughout your instance. Just provide the terms to search for and FetchCode searches all script, xml, html, condition, calculation, system properties and default values as well as specific fields added in the config for the terms supplied in the dashboard.

Downloads as of 2019-11-25: 113

This includes 321 Updates, on Share it lists these;

6 Business Rules
3 Client Scripts
9 Data transformers
11 Key Definitions
1 Magic Key
1 Processor
3 Script Includes
2 Scripted Rest APIs
3 UI Actions
3 UI Pages
8 UI Scripts

Download: Share

This has a unique look and feel. It is installed in global and has a number of custom tables but without the u_ prefix which forces me to raise my left eyebrow. If they are mucking with tables like that I have to wonder what else they are doing.

Code Tools by Jace Benson

This is a scoped application for Service-now to allow easier searching all code sources.

This includes 8 files;

4 business rules
1 script include
1 service portal widget
1 service portal (/code)
1 scripted rest api

This does the standard search api, but then also does a lookup on the workflow activity to update results for workflow activities that are only active and marking old ones “Inactive”

This also has an opt-in feature to tell you about bad code.

Download:

Downloads as of 2019-11-25: 115

Developer Search by Garrett Griffin

Introducing Developer Search 2.0, the comprehensive utility to search every script field in the system for that troublesome piece of code.

This includes 6 files;

2 Application Module Links
1 script include
2 UI Pages

I love the short url for this, /ds.do

I also love that you can share the link to the results.

It searches custom tables and fields normally which is great. The UI is a little difficult to read but is very functional.

It also features a “Deep Search” which appears to search other fields not traditionally scripting fields.

One thing it does really well is find Workflow Activity results.

Download:

Downloads as of 2019-11-25: 47

Studio Search by ServiceNow

Studio allows application developers to search within application files for matching record values.

Source: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/newyork-application-development/page/build/applications/task/t_SearchWithinApplicationFiles.html

Downloads as of 2019-11-25: ♾️

Summary

	Global Code Search	MS CodeSearch	FetchCode	Code Tools	Developer Search	Studio Search
Installed OOB	🚫	🚫	🚫	🚫	🚫	✅
Scoped App	🚫	✅	🚫	✅	🚫	🚫
UI16 navigator links	✅	✅	✅	🚫	✅	🚫
UI Action to open Search	✅	🚫	🚫	🚫	🚫	🚫
Install-able from Git	🚫	✅	🚫	✅	🚫	🚫
Advanced Query function	🚫	🚫	✅	🚫	🚫	🚫
Code Analysis	🚫	🚫	🚫	✅	🚫	🚫
Searches extra tables	🚫	✅	✅	✅	✅	🚫
Looks up Active WF activities	🚫	🚫	🚫	✅	✅	🚫
Tables used	0	0	5	0	0	0

With all this being said, I’d love to combine my efforts into a project with any of the maintainers of the code here.

Setting Variables in a MRVS from an outside variable

2019-11-20T00:00:00Z

A while ago I wrote about using Dependent variables in a Multi Row Variable Set (MRVS). In there something always bothered me. The whole bit about how you can not access the variables outside of the MRVS.

Today a former colleague of mine asked me, “How do you get a value from the main form variable onto the MRVS field?”

I wanted to help, so I talked through the options available that I have not tested. In his case he was trying to use a “date” variable on the main form, and then allow many things to default to that date and allow that date to be different if need be.

The options as I saw them were these (none of these work);

In the default value of the variable, try javascript: current.variables.main_date
In the MRVS, add an onChange Client Script for the first variable to read the main_date variable and set the server_date variable.
(Didn’t try this), on the main form, add an onChange Client Script for the main_date variable to pre-build a number of rows in the MRVS.

After talking about these options it was really clear that there should be another way. I found one. Here it is, it is not as elegant as I’d like.

This uses user preferences to solve this issue. On change of the main form’s variable, set the preference. On the MRVS set the default value based on that preference. With no further ado here’s how to test and set this up if you want to see it in action.

Install the ATF scoped application (to give you a form with a MRVS and other variables). We’ll be using the MRVS and the Date variable.

On the Test Item, look at the related variable set. Update the “Question” variable’s default value to this script;

//default value on variable in MRVS
javascript: (function(){
  var currentUser = gs.getUser(); 
  return currentUser.getPreference('customform.date');
})()

Now we can’t set a preference in a client script, but we need to. So we’ll need to create a script include that’s client callable. Here’s mine.

//script include
var CatalogMVRSHelper = Class.create();
CatalogMVRSHelper.prototype = Object.extendsObject(global.AbstractAjaxProcessor, {
  awesomeFunction: function(){
    var inputObj = JSON.parse(this.getParameter('sysparm_obj'));
    var currentUser = gs.getUser(); 
    currentUser.savePreference('customform.date',inputObj.date); 
    var returnObj = {
      from:"server",
      input: inputObj
    };
    return JSON.stringify(returnObj);
  },
  type: 'CatalogMVRSHelper'
});

After that’s created we can set the preference with a client script. Here’s that code.

function onChange(control, oldValue, newValue, isLoading) {
  if (isLoading || newValue == '') {
    return;
  }
  //js in client script on form
  //if variable changes 
  var ga = new GlideAjax('x_8821_atf.CatalogMVRSHelper');
  ga.addParam('sysparm_name', 'awesomeFunction');
  ga.addParam('sysparm_obj', JSON.stringify({"date":newValue}));
  ga.getXML(function(response){
    var responseDocument = response.responseXML.documentElement;
    var answer = responseDocument.getAttribute('answer');
    var serverObj = JSON.parse(answer);
    //console.log(serverObj);
  });
}

So now that those parts are happening here’s what’s occurring;

When your user sets the “Date” variable, you are creating or updating that user’s sys_user_preference. Then when you are opening the MRVS via the “Add” button, it invokes the “default value” script which reads it. Really it’s pretty simple once you boil it down.

Validating links on your KB

2019-11-14T00:00:00Z

The other day, “Jon” on slack asked;

Hi everyone 🙂 We have a ton of external links in content items. How can I regularly check those links to make sure they are active?

Got me thinking, I should share this, cause someone might find it useful.

Jace: You’d need to do the following steps;
1 Gather the outbound links
2 Make a http request to the endpoint to ensure it returns whatever is valid (is a 301 okay, that’s a redirect?)
3 Once you get the response, do something when you have an issue.
To do 1, you could GlideRecord over the KB records and use regex to extract the links.
You’ll probably want to make an object where the link name is the property, and store the KB article as an array so if multiple articles use the same link you don’t need to test repeatedly.
You’re output will look like\

{
  "https://google.com": ["KB1234","KB1235"],
  "https://ddg.gg": ["KB43232","KB4355"]
}

Then if the links are PUBLIC, you could just use a scripted rest message and if response is not 200 do something, [https://jace.pro/post/2019-09-14-recordless-rest-is-great/\](https://jace.pro/post/2019-09-14-recordless-rest-is-great/\)

However if the links require auth or vpn access, you’ll have to account for that.

I’d assume code would be something like;

for(var link in links){
  doRestCall(link);
}
function doRestCall(url){
    var restMessage = new sn_ws.RESTMessageV2();
    restMessage.setHttpMethod("post");
    restMessage.setEndpoint(url);
    restMessage.setRequestBody(JSON.stringify({}));
    var response = restMessage.execute();
    if(response.getStatusCode()!=200){
      gs.error('not getting a 200 response');
    }
}

This could easily be adapted to a business rule or scheduled job to verify sites are available. One thing that would be interesting would be having this process check if the site is on the Wayback machine, if it is rewrite the link, if it is not, request it there and rewrite it to there.

Making a custom probe and sensor

2019-11-14T00:00:00Z

The other day I was trying to create a custom probe/sensor for a probe for our linux machines.

The only example I could find was to read a text file and make a ci based on that. That was not what I wanted.

I was specifically asking a program to tell me about its facts and I wanted to relate those details to the currently identified CI.

I couldnt remember how to do this;

Thankfully Rob G. pointed me in the right direction.

Created Probe to run the command sudo `which factor` -pj
Created Sensor to respond to the probe
Opened the Classifiers, and added the Probe to the Linux one
Created a Test Discovery schedule so I could test the Probe & Sensor

Notes;

result.output is going to be string output as its what’s on the shell that is returned. If it’s an object, you gotta parse it.
var serverGR = this.getCmdbRecord(); is the way I used to get the currently identified CI.

Comparing VS Code Extensions

2019-11-14T00:00:00Z

This post is about the state of code syncing tools for the VS Code tool.

Recently Andrew announced the new VS Code extension. I knew something was going to be released eventually because at K19 on the CreatorCon keynote they briefly showed the creation of web components being built locally. To do that you need something locally.

With all that out of the way I want to show what is currently out there, and compare features.

Also it’s worth noting once ServiceNow seems to release something most generally community versions of them stop getting updated because, why would the community contribute when ServiceNow is maintaining it.

I’m going to compare the following file syncr’s

Name	Installer	Source
Sal Costa’s Servicenow Sync	VS Code Installer	Source
IntegrateNate’s S.N.I.C.H.	VS Code Installer	Source
ServiceNow® Extension for VS Code	VS Code Installer	NA

I’m not going to look at these as they either haven’t been updated or require software I’m not going to stand up. That is to say I respect the work done on these and these may have helped others make their tools, so to all of you who wrote these, good job. I do follow your work.

DynamicDan’s Filesync

Many years ago I worked at Fruition Partners and was aware of the Filesync project near the time of my departure. I never used it while there but did try it out after Dynamic Dan started maintaining it. Originally written by John Caruso here on github.com/fruition-partners/filesync, then forked and maintained by Dynamic Dan. This is great, it has a lot of room for configuration and wasn’t tied to any editor. Since Dynamic Dan’s fork has existed it’s been forked 54 times, and stared 66 times.

This tool is not dependent on any text editor like the rest but I believe this was and still is a source of inspiration for all of these tools. Because this tool has no required editor, it in my opinion is going to be more available to more systems and users likes.

This was originally written before scopes, so you literally had to set up what tables and columns you wanted and this will fetch the files and update the values in ServiceNow in your current scope and update set.

Sal Costa’s Servicenow Sync

I’m pretty partial to Sal’s work as it to me has always been of very high quality. As such I tried this out. This reminded me very much of when I had used DynamicDan’s fork. It is more intuitive, but that is because the commands are all available in command palette. This extension has these features;

The good;

No pre-configured tables to start with, you have to specify what you want
Pre-configured fields for tables are set up once you add a table
Can download records regardless of scope/application
Link to open the file in the browser
Compare file to server
Can set your scope

The bad;

No pre-configured tables to start with, you have to specify what you want
No Intellisense
No way to download all files from a scope
No way to set your update set (No api made available)
Works in your current Scope/Update set that is associated to user

IntegrateNate’s S.N.I.C.H.

Nate’s extension had something many people wanted, Intellisense. Somehow Nate has the hookup to get this and it is great. This like Sal’s has a simple to understand way to configure tables and fields. This extension has these features;

The good;

Pre-configured (also customizable) to download many system files and fields
A way to download records regardless of scope/application
Compare file to server
Intellisense

The bad;

No link to the file on server
No way to set your scope
No way to set your update set (No api made available)
Works in your current Scope/Update set that is associated to user

ServiceNow® Extension for VS Code

Enter ServiceNow® Extension for VS Code extension. I think they have a great place to start here. Lots of idea’s from Sal, Nate’s and DynamicDan’s projects.

The good;

Pre-configured (not customizable) to download many system files and fields
Compare file to server
Intellisense
Run highlighted code in or out of scope
Link to open file in browser (sometimes)
Can set your update set (Must be a new undocumented api)
Can set your scope
Works with Scoped applications

The bad;

~~Table configurations not modifiable~~
Table configurations do not allow you to modify pre-configured tables e.g. UI Pages, Business Rules
~~Only works for Scoped Applications~~
Can work with global records if you know the plugin that includes the record in question
Has interesting way to configure initially (shown in video)

Summary

Lets look at it in a table format

Legend;
✅ = Yes
❌ = No
😕 = Sort of

Feature	Servicenow Sync	S.N.I.C.H.	ServiceNow Official
Updates ServiceNow from VS Code	✅	✅	✅
Can create records from VS Code	❌	❌	✅
Works with proxy	✅	❌	❌
Sets your scope	✅	❌	✅
Sets your update set	❌	❌	✅
Opens file in the instance	✅	❌	😕❌
Executes code on server	✅	❌	✅
Compares file to server	✅	✅	✅
Pre-configured Setup	❌	✅	✅
Customizable Setup	✅	✅	😕
Has Intellisense	❌	✅	✅
Works with Global	✅	✅	❌
Works with Scopes	✅	✅	✅
Allows Basic Auth	✅	✅	✅
Allows OAuth	❌	✅	✅
Open Source	✅	✅	❌

Changelog;\

Date	Notes
2019-11-18	Changed “ServiceNow Official” Customizable Setup from No, to Sort of
2019-11-18	Changed “ServiceNow Official” Works with Global from No, to No and Sort of
2019-11-18	Changed “ServiceNow Official” The bad to be more clear that table configurations are possible but only if not already configured
2019-11-18	Changed “ServiceNow Official” The good to include “Works with scoped application”
2019-11-18	Added “ServiceNow Official” The bad to include “Authentication issues”
2019-11-21	Added “Can create records from VS Code”
2019-11-21	Added “Allows Basic Auth”
2019-11-21	Added “Allows OAuth”
2019-11-21	Added “Can execute code on server”
2019-11-21	Changed “ServiceNow Official” video to show all features and how to set it up.
2019-11-21	Changed “ServiceNow Official” Can open file in the instance as I just had that wrong.
2019-11-21	Changed “ServiceNow Official” Works with Global to No because although global files can be retrieved in scope, it’s not simple to do and will be in scope if you change it.
2019-11-27	Changed “ServiceNow Official” Opens files in instance to Sort of No because some things pull down with a `.now` and those open in the instance

Service Portal is going the way of the mammoth

2019-10-15T00:00:00Z

That’s my prediction. Service Portal will no longer get updates by the Orlando release. It will be like Workflow, Execution plans, Homepages, and the Content Management System. It will still work but will not get future development.

I know it’s only been out since Helsinki and that means since April 2016 which is ~4 years. But after you look at these findings, you’ll agree.

Why bring it up?

Well, I don’t like to work on something that isn’t going to get support. Things that do not get active development generally are left behind.

They are hard to maintain because any new features need to be built by the customers using them. Want to see some active examples?

New Feature	New Feature last notable update	Old Feature	Old Feature last notable update
Dashboards	New York: Multiple Breakdowns	Home pages	Homepage layouts (Summer '08)
Flow Designer	New York: Multiple Updates	Workflow	Created Workflow (Summer '08)
Service Portal	New York: Agent Chat	CMS	Created CMS (Summer '09)

Would ServiceNow keep development efforts on Service Portal and the New Design System? Unlikely.

In the past they haven not ever announced they would od this kind of dual development. According to this talk all out of box forms will use these components that are part of this.

What is the New Design System?

Before we dive into what this is, lets talk about why it’s needed.

Keeping ServiceNow tied to Angular 1.5.3 is not maintainable.
Any new functionality developed needs to be custom developed by someone to use in SN.
No ability to use new tech in the old system.

So, now that we know why it’s needed, lets talk about the new design system.

At it’s core everything is on a “Canvas”. When you customize the canvas, it appears ServiceNow is calling that an “Experience” and Pre-defined experiences are called “Workspaces” which we’ve seen since Madrid (See Agent Workspace).

So to repeat;

Canvas: Base building block for new design system. I’d compare this to a UI Page.
Experience: A name for a customized Canvas.
Workspace: A Experience with navigation and general UI components.

How is the design System built?

ServiceNow has not made that clear, but they did say it’s all built on Jelly, then said, “Just Kidding”. I am not sure.

The ServiceNow UI Framework is a custom Javascript framework built using web components. On top of that framework is the metadata layer.

Based on web components stardard: custom elements + shadow DOM is what this is based on
Write testable, re-usable effects that respond to actions
Shared effects: all your platform API calls, no more messy spaghetti code These are custom to SN
Everything is a component, and that’s great
One target stack with customization and composition built into core.

There are two kinds of components;

Experience Components - These are a UI and effects to connect to the platform API
Base Components - UI only building blocks
How does it work together?

What will this look like

In the video they actually create a widget using web components for ServiceNow. Below is a screenshot, but also here is a link to the talk. This part starts @25:57.

Sources

Going Fast in ServiceNow

2019-10-07T00:00:00Z

Robert Fedoruk has been killing it with his content, and one of theses posts needs to be retold because it is, just that good.

Source: Youtube

Tired of only the pros knowing how work fast in #ServiceNow. In < 5 minutes, learn to pinpoint stuff most relevant to you, and bookmark it for later. - Rob (@rfedoruk) October 1, 2019

I feel like this should be searchable and isn’t today. So I am making a post to share that content.

There’s a few things people should know to going fast. All the shortcuts, and accessing your stuff.

List Management

Right-click

Be bold and use your middle finger, to right-click on everything. This gives your access to the following actions;
filter out

show matching
show before
show after
build a report

Use the monacle to search columns

This will load a textbox below each column, they work with text like so;

text defaults to starts with
=text is the exact match (case insensitive)
*text is the text contains

Jump around with breadcrumbs

You can change your filter fast by smashing the different parts of the breadcrumbs.

smash the chevron to remove the next specific filter
smash the part of the filter to remove all the parts right of it

Editing data in a list

You don’t have to go into each record to change the data.

CTRL + smash and then double smash a cell to edit all selected rows for that column
SHIFT + ↑ / ↓, then double smash a selected cell to edit all selected rows

Control the data you see with the cog

smash the cog to decide what columns you will see
experiment with this as you can always reset

Accessing your stuff fast

Drag a condition onto the left hand menu to add it to your favorites
Ham sandwich menu has a create favorite option too that does the same from list and record
Stars in the left hand menu appear if you hover, that will also add them to your favorites
On the left hand menu in the star menu at the bottom is a pencil to edit all your favorites and their order

Automation with Failover Tasks

2019-10-05T00:00:00Z

So I’ve built many automation tasks that didn’t account for what to do during an error or an expected output.

Do you know who has to work on that stuff? Likely, it’s you. That’s a fine way to go if that’s the intention.

I never intended for that to happen. I was working with a stakeholder on some automation and he wanted to keep a task in place. It didn’t matter to me at the time. One day automation stopped working. It was only then I was happy it had a built-in failover process.

There are many ways to make integrations. Follow one of these two patterns pictured above if you like the idea of a failover task.

This is great because you don’t do any of the automation on the workflow. You leave the task in place. Add some identifier or key to make it simple to find. Then make a business rule to call the outside system and have that system update the task. Or have the outside system find the tasks to run against and update the task. I’ve used the correlation_id field in the past as the key field and defined it as part of the workflow. Ensure that the other system closes the task with appropriate messages. If it encounters an issue, have it make a work note.

This might seem like common sense, but if you didn’t think about it, you might not know.

What Are Syntax Macros?

2019-09-29T00:00:00Z

Syntax Editor Macros 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 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” repo public since 2016. Wayback Link.

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

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 comes to the rescue Wayback;

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/

Projects are better than Certificates

2019-09-29T00:00:00Z

I posted a survey on Twitter a few weeks ago;

Prosective #servicenow employers, what do you find more telling of a quality applicant? #servicenowdev. If it’s something else, reply to this. - Jace Benson 👨‍💻⚙️ (@jacebenson) July 1, 2019
SN Certifications 17.2%
A bunch of side projects 82.8%

Why does this matter?

Average developers using ServiceNow think they need a certificate to validate
that they really do in fact know something about ServiceNow. I think having
a certificate is great for ServiceNow, and for your employer if you’re a consultant
because it adds to their partner level stuff. You know what is better? Something.
That. You. Make.

Make something, make anything. If it’s something you find useful, share that.

Jobs that post that they require a certificate, don’t know the ins-and-outs of
what is entailed in getting, and maintaining the certificate. They are not cheap.

Let’s follow one of my… Twitter threads;

So I’m not sure how familiar y’all are with #darkpatterns but I’m pretty sure this qualifies https://t.co/wP3M4IiLyq - Jace Benson 👨‍💻⚙️ (@jacebenson) September 14, 2019

Let me just say this one more time. If I were hiring, and as the top survey had shown, showing results is better than a certificate any day. I’d suggest creating something instead of getting certified. If, you have to get certified, just realize it’s likely not what you think it is.

None of these things guarantee employment and at least if you have something you made, you can have that in a portfolio which is better than a piece of paper saying you know ITSM.

Annotations seem to be unsupported

2019-09-29T00:00:00Z

First, I have to say, thank you @paige for making me aware. I really appreciate you and this info.

Form annotations

Can be really helpful and powerful. You can use them help users enter the right information and users can turn them off when they feel comfortable.
The other day on slack I think Paige mentioned they just flat out do not work on service portal. This is a real shame.

There’s three things here;

No where does it say it’s not supported on service portal. Not on the Form Annotation link above, not on the page specifically about the form widget itself.
There’s no options on the widget to set to allow them.
They aren’t on the new Agent Workspaces either.

Don’t believe me. Okay. Here’s a short video showing the ticket table record with annotations of html and plain text working in UI16, not working on the Service Portal.

So when people are making new fields, or showing fields on forms and might want to show what things are for what, is the expectation to move these informational messages to guided tours? But that seems less available, meaning it isn’t easily toggled on and off.

Now I’d love to just add this functionality back, but it seem the more and more we as developers add to this platform, the more and more ServiceNow takes away from it. With that I highly encourage you to open a HI ticket if you use annotations and ask pointed questions that have easy and direct answers.

Ha, I was even able to make a preloaded form with some text for you, but you have to already be logged in.

Open a Hi ticket

Further Reading: Community post from 2016 by mdobner

Better UX or Fully Automated?

2019-09-28T00:00:00Z

I posted a survey on Twitter a few weeks ago;

What’s better? Fully Automated with many questions, or nearly automated process with very simple inputs? #ServiceNowDev #ServiceNow #Survey > One means, make it and forget, the other means a better user experience. - Jace Benson 👨‍💻⚙️ (@jacebenson) September 19, 2019
Many Q’s, 100% Automated 12.1%
Few Q’s, 80% Automated 87.9%

Once I came to this realization that User Experience(UX) is literally more important then getting all the details from an end user, it literally took me three days to sort it internally.

But like a good survey, a good form should only ask the very bare minimum to get the request going. If 80% of the requests for a complicated item are in favor of one type of response, I’d argue, you should either assume every request is for that option, or make a separate item for the other option.

Why?

That makes so many more thing to maintain ( I hear my self asking ). Well, if you keep it, the item is more complex. Therefor it’s less likely to get filled out, or users will more likely dislike the process of putting that data in. Lets look at a real-world example.

Consider the item, “ServiceNow Access or Group Membership”. Now, lets think about the title, it doesn’t indicate an action to add or remove. We’ve used this item for all group changes. This might seem like a simple item, but lets consider the kinds of questions on this form;

Are you adding or removing a user?
What group
What user
Why is access needed

Now of the 7K items that I can see in our system 80% are to add a user. If we had only made this item to add users, 8 out of 10 requests we could have avoided that question. Additionally, asking “Why is access needed” is only filled out 1/2 the time and normally doesn’t make any difference on the request.

What does this form look like when it’s simplified?

What group needs this new member?
Who is this new member?

Now about the removing of a user, I’d say it would make more sense to separate that into a separate item. Once items are simplified you can have other systems potentially digest them. Imagine searching for “how to add a user to a group” and being asked by Clippy if you’d like to add a user to a group, without leaving search, and having it render this simple item.

To me that sounds delightful. It just bothers me so much that I’ve been all about full end-to-end automation until now. I’m not saying that those details are not needed. Sometimes those details will require someone to actually talk to the person who asked for this item. That is not so bad.

What about more complex items?

So sure, lets talk about two other more complex items.

Let’s say one is for a company provided phone and phones available per country are different and varying depending on availability. So maybe you made a few tables to allow the telephony folks to control this item without having to actually change the item.
This right now seems too complex for me to breakdown in the same way. This form however allows for different things based on “why” the request is being made. E.g. Lost, New Hire, Up for renewal.
Again I’d argue we probably don’t need the why, and should leave that up to the telephony group to
ask the requester.
Requesting a certificate, you know like SSL certificates
Here things that are needed are the domain, the type of certificate (e.g. Standard, SAN, Wildcard), a password, an responsible group. I’d argue this should be an item per type as most the requests are likely standard certificate.

My whole point of this post, is you should consider user experience before automation.

Terminology and Wording

2019-09-19T00:00:00Z

I took this from, Hi’s styleguide as I don’t trust anyone to keep anything online. So this is just a local copy with opinions about word choices.

Note: Consider consulting with a technical writer before you commit UI text. Tech writers can help with clarity and consistency of UI text.

Avoid Using “Please”

Using “please” is unnecessary, unless you are asking the user to do something that is inconvenient or a result of a system error.

Do	Do not
Select custom application	Please Select a custom application
Error encountered while executing the selected rules. Please contact system administrator for further assistance	Error encountered while executing the selected rules. Contact system administrator for further assistance

Avoid Using Words Interchangeably

Some words can have multiple meanings, depending on the context. Often, these words are used interchangeably with another word. For clarity, select and consistently use the less ambiguous meaning for each word.

For example, because and since should not be used interchangeably. The word since can have two meanings. To avoid ambiguity, always use because to provide a reason, and use since when referring to a specific point in time.

Do	Do not
Group approval for {0} was deleted because it no longer matches approval rule	Group approval for {0} was deleted since it no longer matches approval rule

As another example, once and _after_should not be used interchangeably. The word once has two meanings. Always use after when referring to events that occur later than or in succession to another event, and use once when referring to events that occur one time.

Do	Do not
You cannot change the State after it is Closed or Canceled	You cannot change the State once it is Closed or Canceled

Spell Out Contractions

Contractions can be hard to translate. Avoid contractions if at all possible.

Do	Do not
You do not have any archived tasks	You don’t have any archived tasks

Use Present Tense

Present tense is easier to read and understand.

Avoid future tense and past tense if at all possible.

Do	Do not
Problem is closed when the related change is marked Closed Complete	Problem will be closed when the related change is marked Closed Complete

Write Brief But Effective Text

In messages that tell users about an action that they can perform, use active voice by providing a direct command or addressing users directly with you.

Do	Do not
Specify the start date	Start date must be specified
You can create bookmarks by dragging a link to the left edge	Bookmarks are created by dragging a link to the left edge

Only include enough detail to help users complete tasks.

Do	Do not
Provide a brief explanation for rejecting this code	Enter your comments for rejecting this code. This comment will be useful for the developer who submitted this code change
Edit the report settings, and then click Run Report	You’ve chosen Edit mode, make adjustments above and press the button titled Run Report

Remove unnecessary words. Examples of words that you can usually remove without altering your meaning include: - Adverbs. For example, really, quickly, and easily. - Articles (for example, the, a, and an) in the beginning of sentences. - Forms of “to be” that are used with another verb.

Do	Do not
Article was not found	Unfortunately, the article cannot be found
Chart is loading	The chart is being loaded

Recordless Rest Is Great

2019-09-15T00:00:00Z

It seems this page was lost in the rearranging of files. I pulled it out
of storage

I often use the record-less rest calls to test things. I didn’t see it on
my blog, so here’s an example so I can find it in the future.\

var instance = "dev40379";
var requestBody = {
  short_description: "test incident"
};
var restMessage = new sn_ws.RESTMessageV2();
restMessage.setBasicAuth("slack", "slack");
restMessage.setHttpMethod("post");
restMessage.setEndpoint("http://"+ instance +".service-now.com/api/now/table/incident");
restMessage.setRequestBody(JSON.stringify(requestBody));
var response = restMessage.execute();
var error = response.haveError();
if(error){
  var errorCode = response.getErrorCode();
  var errorMsg = response.getErrorMessage();
} else {
  
}
var headerVal = response.getHeader("Content-Type");
var headers = response.getHeaders();
var queryString = response.getQueryString();
var statusCode = response.getStatusCode();
var responseBody = response.getBody();
gs.info(statusCode);
gs.info(responseBody);
/**
* *** Script: 201
* *** Script: {"result":{"parent":"","..."}}
*/

Rename Update Set Export File Name

2019-09-07T00:00:00Z

I know I’ve lost an update set in the past after a clone. Not because I didn’t back it up. But because I couldn’t find it locally on my drive. Or I did but all the names were too much to keep straight.

There’s a bunch of ways to mitigate that loss. I’m not going to go into weather or not you should move everything up or what not. This post is about making the “Export Update Set” button give you a file name that makes more sense.

You can update a OOB Script include ExportWithRelatedLists to change how it works for exporting update sets. There’s a function, getFileName that determines the name of the file. It’s table_sysid.xml. You can add an if and rename it. Here’s the code I’ve used to do this.

  getFileName: function(){
  // added customized name for exported update sets
  // script include: ExportWithRelatedLists
  var name = (this.parent_table + '_' + this.sys_id + '.xml');
  if(this.parent_table == "sys_remote_update_set"){
    var sus = new GlideRecord('sys_remote_update_set');
    if(sus.get(this.sys_id)){
        name = sus.getValue('name') + '.xml';
    }
  }
  return name;
  // end of addition
      // return (this.parent_table + '_' + this.sys_id + '.xml');
  },

No Code Date Validations

2019-09-07T00:00:00Z

I’ve in the past had to write some… cludgey date comparisons. I’m not proud of them. I’m just glad I didn’t have to look at them later.

Had I thought about what Mark Ragavan wrote about, it would have saved me probably days over my development time in the last 10 years.

Really, there’s some common types of checks and actions for dates.

Is it in the past?
Is it within a window? e.g. After 7 days from now.
Is it after another date on the form?

To show this I’ll add some reproduction steps below. Start out with my ATF Scoped App;

On your PDI import my “ATF” scoped app.
URL: https://github.com/jacebenson/atf.git
Change scope to “ATF”
Goto maintain items, and look for “Test Item”

Now that you’re here we can quickly test this out.

Disallow past dates

Create a UI Policy with the condition, Date Before Today.

Add a UI Policy action for the field Date and check the clear value checkbox.
Update the variable Date to have Example text of “Date cannot be in the past.”

Try it out.

Now that you’ve seen it, it should be pretty clear how to apply this to a number of different situations. I just wanted to share as this is a great way for me to remember.

Further Reading: No Code dates validations thru Catalog UI Policies

Multiple Variable Row Set - Dependent Variables

2019-09-07T00:00:00Z

So It’s been asked a few times, “How can I make my MVRS variables depend on other variables?”

The question has some caveats;

If the Variables are all in the same row, that’s possible.
If the Variables are not all in the MVRS, it’s possible but you need to add stuff to the MVRS.

Let’s go over each of those.

So I’m going to deal with the 2nd one first. It’s a design choice that you cannot make the MRVS variables dependent on variables outside of the row. The way around this is to add the variable to the MVRS and use that copy instead of the non-MVRS. I don’t see another way around this.

Now that is dealt with the only time this comes up is if you seem to want to use a Lookup Select variable that re-evaluates based on other variables. I’ve written about this in the past here. If you’re not familiar with it might be worth reading that.

Now I’m going to add reproduction steps cause I don’t want to re-create things all over.
So lets decide out test. Let’s load all … notification devices for a user, based on a user variable.

On your PDI import my “ATF” scoped app.
URL: https://github.com/jacebenson/atf.git
Change scope to “ATF”
Goto maintain items, and look for “Test Item”
Open the variable set “Multi Row Variable Set”
At this point you should see a “question” and “answer”
Rename “question” to “user”
Change it’s type to “reference” to sys_user
Rename “answer” to “device”
Change it’s type to “lookup select box”
Set it’s table to cmn_notif_device
Add a variable attribute of ref_qual_elements=user
Add a reference qualifier of
javascript: 'user=' + current.variables.user

Now when I try this is just works.

Now say you don’t want the Reference in the MVRS. Okay. I have a Reference variable on this test item already, it has a silly name, “Reference”. But it works. Lets try that and change the variable attribute and reference qualifier.

Change variable attribute to ref_qual_elements=Reference
Add a reference qualifier of
javascript: 'user=' + current.variables.Reference

You’ll notice this doesn’t appear to work. It seems this is as designed 😭.

K11 Adv. Scripting and Debugging

2019-09-02T00:00:00Z

So I was looking for something and came across this old link from K11. I didn’t go to K11, but I sure wanted to.

I still think this lab has useful info so I’m sharing it here on this post and linking to the source at the bottom.

Source: https://www.slideshare.net/j_roberts/servicenow-knowledge11-advanced-scripting-debugging-lab

UI16: How to update the user menu

2019-09-01T00:00:00Z

Ever wanted to add an item in the drop down menu on the header or
customize the sections of the user preferences? Here’s one way.

So it seems ServiceNow is built on jelly, and if you know the names of the
macros and ui pages you can overwrite them. So I was able to find the name
of the macro. How? That’s a day for another post. I’ll just go over the
concourse_user_menu today. In the image on top, I pasted the code.

So you want to add something to it. Make a UI Macro called concourse_user_menu
with the following xml. I added a link to DuckDuckGo. But you can see how
this works.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<j:jelly 
  trim="false" 
  xmlns:j="jelly:core" 
  xmlns:g="glide" 
  xmlns:j2="null" 
  xmlns:g2="glide">
  <div class="dropdown pull-left" role="application">
    <button id="user_info_dropdown" data-toggle="dropdown"
        aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false"
        title="${gs.getMessage('User menu')}"
        aria-label="${gs.getMessage('User menu')}"
      >
      <div>
        <sn-user-avatar 
        class="sn-avatar_xs" 
        aria-hidden="true" 
        disable-popover="true" 
        profile="{avatar: '$[gs.getUser().getAvatar()]', initials: '$[gs.getUser().getInitials()]', userID: '$[gs.getUserID()]'}" 
        enable-presence="true" />
        <span class="user-name hidden-xs hidden-sm hidden-md">
          $[HTML,NG:gs.getUser().getDisplayName()]
        </span>
        <span class="sr-only">
          ${gs.getMessage('User menu')}
        </span>
        <elevate-role-indicator/>
        <span class="caret"/>
      </div>
    </button>
    <ul class="dropdown-menu"
      aria-labelledby="user_info_dropdown">
      <li role="presentation">
        <a href="sys_user.do?sys_id=${gs.getUserID()}&amp;sysparm_view=ess"
          target="gsft_main" role="listitem" tabindex="-1" >
          ${gs.getMessage('Profile')}
        </a>
      </li>

      <j:if test="${gs.getProperty('glide.ui.impersonate_button.enable')}">
        <j2:if test="$[new GlideImpersonate().canImpersonate(gs.getUserID())]">
          <li role="presentation">
            <a href="javascript:void(0)" id="glide_ui_impersonator" sn-modal-show="impersonate" role="listitem" tabindex="-1">
              ${gs.getMessage('Impersonate User')}
            </a>
          </li>
        </j2:if>
      </j:if>

      <g2:evaluate var="jvar_elevated_privileges" expression="gs.getSession().getAvailableElevatedRoles()" />
      <j2:if test="${!empty(jvar_elevated_privileges)}">
        <li role="presentation">
          <a href="javascript:void(0)" sn-modal-show="elevateRoles" role="listitem" tabindex="-1">
            ${gs.getMessage('Elevate Roles')}
          </a>
        </li>
      </j2:if>

      <j2:if test="$[gs.getUser().getPreference('user.can.logout') == 'true']">
        <li role="presentation">
          <a href="logout.do" role="listitem" tabindex="-1">
            ${gs.getMessage('Logout')}
          </a>
        </li>
      </j2:if>
      <li role="presentation">
        <a href="https://ddg.gg" role="listitem">
          Welcome to the #duckside
        </a>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</j:jelly>

Service Portal: Embedding a form widget

2019-08-27T00:00:00Z

So this weekend I had the opportunity to help someone out with an issue
on their side project. They had this list they wanted to access from
a phone, and wanted the ability to add a new record from a phone.

Simple enough I though. Just make a bootstrap list
of sorts and add a button, to open a spModal
to the OOB form widget.

That worked, but we ended up with 3 buttons, and 2 headers.

So that didn’t work. Sure, I could have removed the buttons, by setting
the buttons array to blank. Also I could have looked into the
widget-form options. I didn’t though. Because it was for a rating
system and needed to use something that has a star ranking

In case you are not aware, ServiceNow does a few things for you, like load
in a bunch of UI Bootstrap directives.

Enter <uib-rating>

This gets a little fuzzy here, but essentially, if you have a numeric scale;
1-10 or less, you can represent it with stars or other icons. You cannot do
this with the OOB widgets you’ll need your own input form. That’s where this
post really shines for me. I need to remember how I did this.

So we had a Widget already, called “Home” for the list of ratings. Then we
wanted a spModal to load a new widget that was the form. One of the fields
is this UIB Rating thing. Then when the [OK] is pressed, send the data back
up to the parent widget, and make a new Rating record, and refresh the list.

When sorting this out, I didn’t have that last paragraph. So it took me a bit
to find how to pass the data but here’s the crucial bits if you find yourself
in a similar situation.

Below is a Home widget which makes the call to spModal.open. That has a promise
to handle the response in the then bit. That’s where this magic happens. It
wasn’t in the docs. Thankfully this markdown file was still out on Github.

End result was this;

That example shows how to do this for variable, and I wanted to do this for five.

HTML

<div class="list-group">
  <a href="#" class="list-group-item" ng-repeat="book in c.data.books">
     <span class="badge"></span>
  </a>  
</div>
<button ng-click="c.onWidget() "class="btn btn-default">
  Add Rating
</button>

Client Script

//Client Script
function(spModal) {
  /* widget controller */
  var c = this;
  var shared = {};
  c.onWidget = function (){
    spModal.open({
      shared: shared,
      value: c.response,
      title: 'titkfadsf',
      widget: 'rating_form', 
      widgetInput: {}
    }).then(function () {
      console.log(shared);
      c.data.bookrating=shared;
      c.server.update()		
    })
  }
}

Server Script

//Server Script
(function() {
  /* populate the 'data' object */
  /* e.g., data.table = $sp.getValue('table'); */	
  if (input) {//if submitted rating
    console.log(input)
    var rating=new GlideRecord('x_86691_heardit_ratings')
    rating.newRecord();
    rating.book=input.bookrating.title;
    rating.stars=input.bookrating.stars;
    rating.author=input.bookrating.input;
    rating.genre=input.bookrating.genre;
    rating.u_comments=input.bookrating.comments;
    rating.insert()
  }
  data.books = [];
  var countRatings = new GlideAggregate('x_86691_heardit_ratings');
  //parm1: COUNT, MIN, MAX, parm2: field
  countRatings.addAggregate('COUNT', 'book');
  countRatings.addAggregate('AVG', 'stars');
  countRatings.query();
  while (countRatings.next()) {
    var book = countRatings.getValue('book');
    var ratingCount = countRatings.getAggregate('COUNT', 'book');
    var averageRating = countRatings.getAggregate('AVG', 'stars');
    data.books.push({
      name:book,
      averageRating:averageRating,
      ratingCount: ratingCount
    });
  }
})();

HTML

<form class="form-horizontal"
      ng-model-options="{getterSetter: true}">
<fieldset>

<!-- Form Name -->
<legend>Form Name</legend>

<!-- Text input-->
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="textinput">Title</label>  
  <div class="col-md-4">
  <input id="bookTitle" 
         ng-model='c.title' 
         ng-model-options="{getterSetter:true}"
         name="textinput" 
         type="text" 
         placeholder="placeholder" 
         class="form-control input-md">
    
  </div>
</div>

<!-- Text input-->
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="textinput">Author</label>  
  <div class="col-md-4">
  <input id="bookAuthor" 
         ng-model='c.author' 
         ng-model-options="{getterSetter:true}"
         name="textinput" 
         type="text" 
         placeholder="placeholder" 
         class="form-control input-md">
    
  </div>
</div>

<!-- Select Basic -->
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="selectbasic">Genre</label>
  <div class="col-md-4">
    <select id="bookGenre" 
            ng-model='c.genre' 
            ng-model-options="{getterSetter:true}"
            name="selectbasic"
            class="form-control">
      <option value="">Pick One</option>
      <option value="Action/Adventure">Action/Adventure</option>
      <option value="Autobiography/Biography/Memoir">Autobiography/Biography/Memoir</option>
      <option value="Children's Fiction">Children's Fiction</option>
      <option value="Comedy/Humor">Comedy/Humor</option>
      <option value="Crime/Mystery">Crime/Mystery</option>
      <option value="Drama/Romance">Drama/Romance</option>
      <option value="History/Classic">History/Classic</option>
      <option value="Horror/Paranormal">Horror/Paranormal</option>
      <option value="Motivational/Educational/Health & Wellness">Motivational/Educational/Health &amp; Wellness</option>
      <option value="Mystery/Suspense/Thriller">Mystery/Suspense/Thriller</option>
      <option value="Poetry">Poetry</option>
      <option value="Religion/Spirituality">Religion/Spirituality</option>
      <option value="Sci-Fi/Fantasy">Sci-Fi/Fantasy</option>
      <option value="Other">Other</option>
    </select>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- Text input-->
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="textinput">Stars</label>  
  <div class="col-md-4">
  <uib-rating ng-model='c.stars' 
              ng-model-options="{getterSetter:true}"
              max="5"
              ></uib-rating>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- Textarea -->
<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="textarea">Comments</label>
  <div class="col-md-4">                     
    <textarea ng-model='c.comments' 
              ng-model-options="{getterSetter:true}"
              class="form-control" 
              id="bookComments" 
              name="bookComments">default text</textarea>
    
  </div>
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>

Client Script

//Client Script
function() {
  /* widget controller */
  var c = this;
	var shared = c.widget.options.shared;
	c.title = function title(newVal){
		return angular.isDefined(newVal) ? (shared.title = newVal) : shared.title;
	}
	c.author = function author(newVal){
		return angular.isDefined(newVal) ? (shared.author = newVal) : shared.author;
	}
	c.genre = function genre(newVal){
		return angular.isDefined(newVal) ? (shared.genre = newVal) : shared.genre;
	}
	c.stars = function stars(newVal){
		return angular.isDefined(newVal) ? (shared.stars = newVal) : shared.stars;
	}
	c.comments = function comments(newVal){
		return angular.isDefined(newVal) ? (shared.comments = newVal) : shared.comments;
	}
}

Server Script

//Server Script
(function() {
  /* populate the 'data' object */
  /* e.g., data.table = $sp.getValue('table'); */
})();

viswam10 thanks for the feedback!

Service Portal: Own your own form

2019-08-15T00:00:00Z

Sometimes, you have to control your form. You can use the out of box variable types ServiceNow gives you and the messages they give you.

But, sometimes, that won’t due. In these times you have own the form. You might asking, “Jace, how do you do that? DOM Manipulation is bad mmkay.” You’re right, ServiceNow HATES dom manipulation. That will break. I don’t suggest that. You can use a custom macro for UI 16, and a SP widget for Mobile/SP things.

This is one way to do that. Really this is just an extension of the work that Cody Esmay and Hunter Wolf did for a lab YEARS ago now.

So one way to do this is to make a variable that you’re fulfillers and UI 16 users can interact that will keep the data. Then make a Macro/Widget to control the visibility and value of that first variable.

Here’s what I mean. Imagine you have a item to request a Single Board Computer.

Lets say those options are;

Raspberry Pi Zero
Raspberry Pi 4
Paperclip

And you want to show the spec differences. Normally you’d have to let g_form.showFieldMsg do the heavy lifting.

This time it’s different. You know that paperclip needs an image. And you know what image it needs. Clippy.

So follow these steps;

Create the item
Create a variable to store the value you actually will use for workflow and task visibility
Create a variable of type “Macro”
Create a widget for the macro
Build the HTML you want. I generally use bootsnipp to build that
Add some JS to access g_form, hide the variable from Step 2. Add a ng-change attribute and have that set the now hidden variable from Step 2
Add some cool ng-bind to dynamically create some html

Here’s what that could look like.

Here’s the code used for that example;

<div>
  <!-- your widget template -->
  <form class="form-horizontal">
    <fieldset>

      <!-- Form Name -->
      <legend>Form Name</legend>

      <!-- Select Basic -->
      <div class="form-group">
        <div class="col-md-6">
          <label class="col-md-4 control-label" for="selectbasic">Hardware</label>
          <div class="col-md-4">
            <select id="selectbasic" name="selectbasic" class="form-control" ng-change="c.setVariable()" ng-model="c.hardwareSelected">
              <option value="paperclip">Paperclip</option>
              <option value="rpi4">Raspberry Pi 4</option>
              <option value="rpi0">Raspberry Pi 0</option>
            </select>
          </div>
          <div class="col-md-6">
            <div id="description">
              <p ng-bind-html="c.hardwareOptions[c.hardwareSelected]" ng-model="c.hardwareOptions[c.hardwareSelected]"></p>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>

    </fieldset>
  </form>

</div>

The Client JS

function($scope) {
	//This is the controller, we've included $scope in the function above because it's easy to work with
	var c = this;
	
	//We are going to simplify accessing g_form within the client script by setting it as a variable named g_form
	var g_form = $scope.page.g_form;
	//We are going to simplify accessing g_form within the HTML by setting it as a $scope attribute
	$scope.g_form = $scope.page.g_form;
		g_form.setDisplay('hardware_sku', false);
	c.setVariable = function(){
		g_form.setValue('hardware_sku', c.hardwareSelected);
	}
	c.hardwareSelected = 'Hello?';
	c.hardwareOptions = {};
	c.hardwareOptions.paperclip = "This is an amazing bar of steel bent in and important way!";
	c.hardwareOptions.paperclip += "<img src='https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a3qlc2ivES8/hqdefault.jpg' />"
	c.hardwareOptions.rpi4 = "It's new... and the USB-C has issues";
	c.hardwareOptions.rpi0 = "It's small and comes with wifi";
}

New York Features: Auto Suggest, JS Beautify and Context Menus

2019-08-12T00:00:00Z

New york has a few, nice things added for developers if you still work in the tool and not on some syncer.

This feature specifically is barely noted. Here’s the link to the documentation.
However, it’s so short I’ll put the text here too;

HTML auto-suggestions
Edit HTML and Jelly scripts and define what is rendered when the page is displayed.
The script can contain either static XHTML or dynamically generated content that is defined as Jelly and can call script includes and UI macros.
JS Beautify
Format code by applying the proper indentation to the script.
Context menu
Enable the context menu options for script includes, Glide APIs, and tables in the JavaScript editor.

With the context menu options, your users can navigate to:\
Script include definitions\
Glide API documentation\
System and custom table definitions and data

Well here I’m going to go over the them.

HTML auto-suggestions

Well this is a very overdue convenience. But at least it’s here… Or it’s allegedly here. When I tried it by going toa new UI page, modify the XML adding <div>test then starting to type </ nothing came up… so maybe this isn’t here.

JS Beautify

This isn’t really clear that you apply you’re own settings here. However you can. It’s controlled via this property, glide.ui.syntax_editor.linter.eslint_config.
This appears to just take a eslint json config object. An example one would be like this;

{
  "rules": {
    "constructor-super": "warn",
    "no-case-declarations": "warn",
    "no-class-assign": "warn",
    "no-compare-neg-zero": "warn",
    "no-cond-assign": "warn",
    "no-console": "warn",
    "no-const-assign": "warn",
    "no-constant-condition": "warn",
    "no-control-regex": "warn",
    "no-debugger": "warn",
    "no-delete-var": "warn",
    "no-dupe-args": "warn",
    "no-dupe-class-members": "warn",
    "no-dupe-keys": "warn",
    "no-duplicate-case": "warn",
    "no-empty-character-class": "warn",
    "no-empty-pattern": "warn",
    "no-empty": ["warn", { "allowEmptyCatch": true }],
    "no-ex-assign": "warn",
    "no-extra-boolean-cast": "warn",
    "no-extra-semi": "warn",
    "semi" : "warn",
    "no-fallthrough": "warn",
    "no-func-assign": "warn",
    "no-global-assign": "warn",
    "no-inner-declarations": "warn",
    "no-invalid-regexp": "warn",
    "no-irregular-whitespace": "warn",
    "no-mixed-spaces-and-tabs": "warn",
    "no-new-symbol": "warn",
    "no-obj-calls": "warn",
    "no-octal": "warn",
    "no-redeclare": "warn",
    "no-regex-spaces": "warn",
    "no-self-assign": "warn",
    "no-sparse-arrays": "warn",
    "no-this-before-super": "warn",
    "no-undef": "off",
    "no-unexpected-multiline": "warn",
    "no-unreachable": "warn",
    "no-unsafe-finally": "warn",
    "no-unsafe-negation": "warn",
    "no-unused-labels": "warn",
    "no-unused-vars": "off",
    "no-useless-escape": "warn",
    "require-yield": "warn",
    "use-isnan": "warn",
    "valid-typeof": "warn"
  }
}

Feel free to read more up on eslint here on their docs site.

Also thanks Dominik Simunek for the info to look into this.

Context Menus for script fields

I noticed the context menu thing before I read about it. If you have a script include or client script where you invoke some script include, they now show up bold and italicized. If you right-click on anything like that, you’ll get a few options;

Show Documentation (which will bring you to docs.servicenow.com for that object)
Show Definition (which will bring you to the table definition of the content)
Show Data (which will bring you to the table list of data)
Open Definition (which will bring you to the script include)

This might seem small but man, will this save me time.

New York Feature: Remote Tables

2019-08-11T00:00:00Z

Making a remote table could be less work but as it is, it’s better than what was before.

If you are okay with read only data from another system then this is actually pretty good.

To use this you’ll need to create a Table still that will have columns for the columns defined in the script. So the real benefit is just keeping the data up to date and OUT of ServiceNow.

For this example I’m going to use https://www.alphavantage.co/ to get Stock information.

The table I’m going to make is going to have the data for the quote api. It has this data in a response for this;

https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=GLOBAL_QUOTE&symbol=MSFT&apikey=demo

{
    "Global Quote": {
        "01. symbol": "MSFT",
        "02. open": "138.6100",
        "03. high": "139.3800",
        "04. low": "136.4600",
        "05. price": "137.7100",
        "06. volume": "23466701",
        "07. latest trading day": "2019-08-09",
        "08. previous close": "138.8900",
        "09. change": "-1.1800",
        "10. change percent": "-0.8496%"
    }
}

So I’ll store all of it and use the “symbol” as the unique key, some how. It has to be a “sys_id” but… in this case “MSFT” isn’t long enough. I guess we’ll get there when we get there.

So here’s the steps I’m taking in order (in global)

Create a remote table (u_st_stock)
Create columns;

u_symbol - String
u_open - Floating Point Number
u_high - Floating Point Number
u_low - Floating Point Number
u_price - Floating Point Number
u_volume - Integer
u_latest_trading_day - Date
u_previous_close - Floating Point Number
u_change - Floating Point Number
u_change_percent - Floating Point Number

Create a Remote Table Definition(sys_script_vtable)

This is not as simple as I’d like. I was hoping to use some simple stock price for the NYSE however, there is not a good source for that in its entirety.
So I defaulted it to load 5 stocks and if a search occurred, I returned those results. But pretty much if your data is rate limited, or doesn’t allow return of > 5 records, this becomes really painful.
Also if you need it to work with searches, it seems that the only way to get field searches is to get the encoded query and parse the bits out. There is no helper function for that if the search is a field STARTSWITH, ENDSWITH or CONTAINS which is used if you have the inputs on the headers of the list.
Feel free to try this out yourself with this code;

(function executeQuery(v_table, v_query) {
	function getKey(){
		return "";
	}
	function getStock(ticker){
		var endpoint = "https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=GLOBAL_QUOTE&symbol=";
		endpoint += ticker + "&apikey=" + getKey();
		var restMessage = new sn_ws.RESTMessageV2();
		restMessage.setHttpMethod("get");
		restMessage.setEndpoint(endpoint);
		restMessage.setRequestBody(JSON.stringify({}));
		var response = restMessage.execute();
		var error = response.haveError();
		if (error) {
			var errorCode = response.getErrorCode();
			var errorMsg = response.getErrorMessage();
		} else {
			var headerVal = response.getHeader("Content-Type");
			var headers = response.getHeaders();
			var queryString = response.getQueryString();
			var statusCode = response.getStatusCode();
			var responseBody = response.getBody();
			var responseObj = JSON.parse(responseBody);
			
				gs.addErrorMessage(responseBody);
			if(typeof responseObj["Global Quote"] == "object"){
				var quote = responseObj["Global Quote"];
				v_table.addRow({
					sys_id              : ticker,
					u_symbol            : quote["01. symbol"],
					u_open              : quote["02. open"],
					u_high              : quote["03. high"],
					u_low               : quote["04. low"],
					u_price             : quote["05. price"],
					u_volume            : quote["06. volume"],
					u_latest_trading_day: quote["07. latest trading day"],
					u_previous_close    : quote["08. previous close"],
					u_change            : quote["09. change"],
					u_change_percent    : parseFloat(quote["10. change percent"])
				});
			} else {
				gs.addErrorMessage(responseBody);
				v_table.addRow({
					sys_id              : ticker,
					u_symbol            : ticker
				});
			}
		}

	}
	function getTickers(keyword){		
		var endpoint = "https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=SYMBOL_SEARCH&keywords=";
		endpoint += keyword + "&apikey=" + getKey();
		var restMessage = new sn_ws.RESTMessageV2();
		restMessage.setHttpMethod("get");
		restMessage.setEndpoint(endpoint);
		restMessage.setRequestBody(JSON.stringify({}));
		var response = restMessage.execute();
		var error = response.haveError();
		if (error) {
			var errorCode = response.getErrorCode();
			var errorMsg = response.getErrorMessage();
		} else {
			var headerVal = response.getHeader("Content-Type");
			var headers = response.getHeaders();
			var queryString = response.getQueryString();
			var statusCode = response.getStatusCode();
			var responseBody = response.getBody();
			var responseObj = JSON.parse(responseBody);
			if(responseObj["bestMatches"].length>0){
				responseObj["bestMatches"].length = 2;
				var matches = responseObj["bestMatches"];
				matches.forEach(function(match){
					if(match["4. region"] == "United States"){
						getStock(match["1. symbol"].toString());
					}
				});
			}
		}
	}
	try {
		/*
		on list load... load these 10 
		Load now, and 9 others
		now
		goog
		msft
		aapl
		uber
		expe
		ko
		pep
		tsla
		amzn
		tgt
		*/
		//https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=GLOBAL_QUOTE&symbol=MSFT&apikey=demo
		var defaultStocks = [
			'now',
			'goog',
			'aapl',
			'tsla',
			'amzn',
		];
		if(v_query.isGet()){
			getStock(v_query.getSysId());
		} else {
			//list lookup
			gs.addInfoMessage(v_query.getEncodedQuery());
			var query = v_query.getEncodedQuery();
			if(query.indexOf('STARTSWITH')>=0 || 
			   query.indexOf('CONTAINS')>=0 || 
			   query.indexOf('ENDSWITH')>=0
			  ){
				var keyword;
				var keyword1 = query.split('STARTSWITH')[1];
				var keyword2 = query.split('CONTAINS')[1];
				var keyword3 = query.split('ENDSWITH')[1];
				if(keyword1){
					keyword = keyword1.split('^')[0];
				}
				if(keyword2){
					keyword = keyword2.split('^')[0];
				}
				if(keyword3){
					keyword = keyword3.split('^')[0];
				}
				getTickers(keyword);
				//if search is happening... lookup those tickers
				//https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=SYMBOL_SEARCH&keywords=target&apikey=

			} else {
				//not searched load default
				defaultStocks.forEach(function(ticker){
					getStock(ticker);
				});
			}
		}

	} catch (ex) {
		v_query.setLastErrorMessage(ex.message);
		gs.addErrorMessage(ex.message);
		return;
	}
	// Main API:
	//    v_table.addRow({ ... }) - adds a row to the result set

	// There are also query helper methods
	//    v_query.getEncodedQuery() - returns encoded querystring
	//    v_query.getCondition(field) - returns encoded querystring for the given field (includes field name, operator, and value)
	//    v_query.getParameter(field) - returns parameter for the given field (only includes value for equality conditions)
	//    v_query.isGet() - returns whether the query is a single get by sys_id
	//    v_query.getSysId() - returns parameter for sys_id field
	//    v_query.isTextSearch() - returns whether the query contains a text query parameter
	//    v_query.getTextSearch() - returns text search query parameter (internal field name 123TEXTQUERY321)
	//    v_query.getFirstRowWanted() - returns the first row to include
	//    v_query.getLastRowWanted() - returns the last row to include

	// Note: You must define sys_id for each row so that forms and lists for this table work properly

	// Your code goes here
	// v_table.addRow({...})
})(v_table, v_query);

TL;DR - Remote tables are neat, but have some limitations. It does lower the work for a READ ONLY integration, however, it all really depends on your API.

Why use a Service Account

2019-08-08T00:00:00Z

On Slack someone asked me to post about service accounts.

Could anyone define some advantages of using a service account rather than a user account when it comes to integrations?

There was a three pros right away;

Doesn’t depend on user being employed
Generally can be excused from password reset policies
Granular permissions

How one is made

Check the “Web Services Access Only” on the user account. It’s part of the Non-Interactive Session Plugin.

Now this is where this post was going to end. I had gone into how I do service accounts.

How I manage them

Create a group called “ServiceNow Service Accounts”
We have a process in place when someone wants to be added to a group they submit and item. It has an approval to the manager. If Approved a script adds them to the group. Otherwise they don’t get added.
Once added to the group the roles attached, itil, and rest_api_explorer are given. You could add other older roles like the SOAP roles but we encourage REST.
Let the owner of the service account figure out their calls.
Once those calls are sorted. Remove gui access.

We use SSO so user’s can’t use their personal account to do the REST calls outside of the browser. We make the new user have a manager of the person who is asking for the service account. If the service account needs more access, we can add it to other groups where the access is proper. I do intend to write up something or link to something to help convey what the APIs are they have access to but generally I point them to the Rest API Explorer

Further Reading: https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_blog&sys_id=b4fca2a5dbd0dbc01dcaf3231f961900

Save Time, Money, and Resources by Asking Why

2019-08-08T00:00:00Z

There are problems we should be solving, but they’re not part of any requirements. That’s where you come in. Use your professional skills to help us shape a solution that will make our customers happy, without breaking the bank.

I’ve been on most sides of the equation when it comes to this. I started as a help desk technician. Then I tried to help define the requirements that we needed. I’ve been a consultant where I fulfilled the requirements. Now I’m a customer again. When you’re a customer, you don’t care how it works, just that it works. At least that was my opinion back then. Now, I push back. I ask why. I get the details that drive to the question, “What business problem does this solve?” You should to.

You are the expert

You were hired or at least you are probably working as the subject matter expert. If you didn’t push back or give reasons why the requirement they’ve given is poor/bad why wouldn’t they keep doing this? When someone asks;

Customer: Hey SME, Add this checkbox on Incident called “Outage”
You: I can do that, but why do you want this?

That’s all this post is about.
Until they give you the reason, or the business problem this solves. I’d wait to do it.

I’ve spent countless hours head down working on code that never got released because I never asked this. Sure. They are paying you either via payroll or via a contract, but, if you didn’t ask you wouldn’t be doing you’re job. It’s critical you ask.

How I handle poor requirements

I’ll go over adding that field above.

Customer: Hey SME, Add this checkbox on Incident called “Outage”
You: I can do that, but why do you want this?
Customer: Don’t ask why, just do it.
You: If I didn’t ask, you could hire anyone to do this.
I’ve done this in the past, and knowing why is crucial to ensuring this is the right thing to solve the problem.
When you don’t present a problem, it’s concerning because you might not be considering other factors.
Customer: Like what? Less is worst!
You: Licensing, whose maintaining the value of the field, what is going to keep it in check,
and setting an expectation that anyone can add an arbitrary number of fields on incident.
Customer: This is just for reporting. We want to know when and for what customers an incident is considered an outage.
You: …🤦‍♂️

You can see how this might keep going down different ways. Maybe the right call here is use the cmdb_ci_outagetable. Maybe the right call is to use a metric. In any case. Adding a field is probably not the right way to solve this.

Let me end here by quoting Chuck’s ending remarks;

First, Seek to understand their needs. Don’t take their solution at face value when you haven’t understood the problem. Ask why.
If necessary, consult the community for additional knowledge in the matter.
Offer options.
Finally, make your recommendation based on their needs.
Chuck Tomasi

By asking why, you could short circuit any solution saving you and colleagues loads of time, the customers money, and wasted resources.

Quick Guide: New York

2019-07-26T00:00:00Z

Here’s my take of whats new with New York

Deprecated things

Processors-Listed under changes
- Note: This feature is deprecated. While legacy, custom processors will continue to be supported, creating new custom processors has been deprecated. Instead, please use the Scripted REST APIs. The following information is left in the documentation for existing processors only.
- You can still create them, so it’s just a recommendation
Mid server property mid.download.through.instance
- In previous releases, this property was set to true to force all MID Servers to upgrade through the instance and was configurable by customers. In the New York release, auto-upgrades are performed by the MID Server host computer and not by the instance. To implement this behavior, the default value of this property was changed to false, and the property was concealed to protect the setting. DO NOT change the value of this property.

Updated things

Multi-row variable set
- When you clone a request that contains a multi-row variable set, the information that is specified in the multi-row variable set is available in all cloned requests.
- A multi-row variable set is now visible in the variable summarizer in Service Portal.
- Set a limit to the number of rows that you can add to a multi-row variable set by using the `max_rows` attribute in the Variable Set attributes field.

New things

Remote Tables
- Retrieve external data using remote tables and scripts\
  - retrieve the data from external sources or from another instance with REST or SOAP services. The external data lives in the memory in read-only mode, which makes the data temporary, or transient, within the Now Platform. You can then view and manipulate the external data without importing or storing it.
  - Plugin: “Remote Tables” or com.glide.script.vtable
  - Recommended limit is 1000 records
  - example use cases;
  - weather-related data that appears on a homepage when a user logs in.
  - customer details that are stored in an external Customer Relationship Management
  - personnel data from Human Capital Management
  - Example working script;

    (function executeQuery(v_table, v_query) {
    try {
    // <https://randomuser.me/api/>\
    var requestBody = {};
    var restMessage = new sn_ws.RESTMessageV2();
    restMessage.setHttpMethod("get");
    restMessage.setEndpoint("<https://randomuser.me/api/?results=1000&seed=foobar>");\
    restMessage.setRequestBody(JSON.stringify(requestBody));
    var response = restMessage.execute();
    var error = response.haveError();
    if (error) {
      var errorCode = response.getErrorCode();
      var errorMsg = response.getErrorMessage();
      gs.info(errorCode);
      gs.info(errorMsg);
    } else {
      var headerVal = response.getHeader("Content-Type");
      var headers = response.getHeaders();
      var queryString = response.getQueryString();
      var statusCode = response.getStatusCode();
      var responseBody = response.getBody();
      var responseObj = JSON.parse(responseBody);
      var responseObjLen = responseObj.results.length;
    }
    })()

System Clone
- Automatic, repeated cloning - Clone instances automatically on a recurring basis.
Delegated development and deployment
- Manage Update sets - Grant non-admin users permission to manage local and retrieved update sets. Allow users to create, update, and delete local update sets as well as preview, resolve conflicts, and commit retrieved update sets.

What is GlideOverlay

2019-07-25T00:00:00Z

I was on twitter and this came up;

Try GlideOverlay instead. I can send you a DM with some sample code.
Or ping on SNDevs.
-– Jonathan Jacob (@TheBurgerlution) July 24, 2019

I had to make a page for it.

It appears to be a undocumented modal.

It’s used throughout ServiceNow on VTB, Change, and Surveys.

Licensing... Again (Mid 2019)[redacted]

2019-07-23T00:00:00Z

CONTENT REDACTED PER SERVICENOWS COUNCIL

I’m sad that I can’t share the content I have seen in public spaces. I don’t want to cause more problems for anyone so I’m removing the content they’ve identified. At this point, I’d suggest reaching out to your business contacts of similar size and industry to comparing notes. Outside of that you’ll have to meet with ServiceNow and get their pricing.

Updated on Feb 16 2021

New side project: Dev Toolbox

2019-07-22T00:00:00Z

Dev Toolbox is a scoped app to capture tests for all the Out of Box ServiceNow applications. This is a scoped application for Service-now to allow some utilities to be easily added and maintained on instances.

Now the difference between Jim’s and mine is, well was, I haven’t checked in a few months, about 11 features due to scoped things not being able to be added on a global level.

Here’s a link to the current issues:
https://github.com/jacebenson/devtoolbox/issues

My Scoped version cause, scoped means you’re protected right: https://devtoolbox.jace.pro
Jim’s Post: https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_blog&sys_id=b3c843aadb892b40fece0b55ca961906
Jim’s Update Set: https://developer.servicenow.com/app.do#!/share/contents/7375176_developer_toolbox3?v=1&t=PRODUCT_DETAILS

How to build reports via URL

2019-07-22T00:00:00Z

Building reports via the URL can be really useful when you don’t want to
ensure a report exists or hasn’t been modified, but documentation is
pretty lacking on it.

Thankfully
ralpho
have seemed to figure out the url parameters.

Report type: List

Parameter	Value
manual_labor	`true`
form	`list`
query	encoded query
field_list	comma separated list of fields you want
type	`list`
table	`table`

A few things to note;

You can dot-walk on the fields regardless of role, so this is a
great workaround to making some tricky reports for power users.
You can add variables from sc_req_item if you can figure out the
sys_id of variable

Here’s an example report url I generated for someone the other day that
included variables;

sys_report_template.do?sysparm_field_list=variables.71cba0540f5fb600503c590be1050ec0&sysparm_type=list&sysparm_table=sc_req_item&sysparm_from_list=true&sysparm_chart_size=large&sysparm_manual_labor=true&sysparm_query=cat_item%3Dc9d980750f437200503c590be1050e8a%5Ecat_item%3Dc9d980750f437200503c590be1050e8a

Service Portal: Disabling the order confirmation dialog

2019-07-21T00:00:00Z

This is the first thing I was asked to do as the dialog is not what some of my stake holders wanted.

Make this sys_property glide.sc.sp.twostep with a value false.

Madrid

2019-07-21T00:00:00Z

Here’s my take of whats new with Madrid

Madrid

I was told these are things I should look at;

Thing	Comment
Agent Workspace	Yep It’s here, it’s nice, g_form stuff works on it for mobile stuff
Agent Workspace Lists	Not sure what to look at here
Agent Workspace Form Resizing	Nice?
Agent Workspace Contextual Search	Looking into what’s different
ATF	Lots of new features
ATF Smart Suites	Sounds, intelligent
ATF Quick Start Test	Could be improved
ATF Custom UI / Page Inspector	Interesting and a nice addition
ATF Parameterized Tests	Looks great
Virtual Agent	Extra subscription
No-code designer	It’s pretty
Adv. Work Assignment	Not sure what this is
Service Portal Multiple KB and Catalog Support	Now that I have a work around I have to see if it’s worth undoing it for this
Store & Plugin UI Updates	Only impacts Admins, it’s nice
Mid Server - Now using JRE	Saving some $ money
CMDB Query Builder	I’ll have to check it out
Flow Designer	Booo
Decision Trees	Booo
New Logic	Booo
New Actions	Booo
New API	Booo
Reporting on Running Flows	Booo
IntegrationHub - Adds Soap	Nice
IntegrationHub - Payload Builder	…
Mobile - new app on apple and play store	Where? Not as of Jan 29
Mobile studio	I still haven’t found it
Mobile offline capable	Nice…
Instance Security Center	I still think https://developer.servicenow.com/connect.do#!/share/contents/7852853_security_best_practice_audit?v=3.02&t=PRODUCT_DETAILS was better, easier to follow
Cloning	Cant test this on my pdi
Analytics hub	not sure I know this.

How to activate plugins via script

2019-07-21T00:00:00Z

Sometimes you have a whole bunch of plugins to install. No reason to keep your screen busy, you can script it, here’s how.

Some smart person named Ashby posted about this. I haven’t tested it out, but this seems promising and likely undocumented.

//Partial Version
//you can check following URL to see if the work is finished. It is finished when the completion time is set and the percent complete is 100.
//<instance>/sys_execution_tracker_list.do?sysparm_query=name%3DPlugin%20Installer
var plugins = [];
plugins.push('com.snc.pa.change');
plugins.push('com.snc.pa.problem');
plugins.push('com.snc.pa.premium');
plugins.push('com.snc.pa.solution.library');
var main = new GlideMultiPluginManagerWorker();
main.setPluginIds(plugins);
main.setProgressName("Plugin Installer");
main.setBackground(true);
main.start();

Source: https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_question&sys_id=e6db5e4bdb47ab002e8c2183ca9619a2#answer_a8ddb159db407388feb1a851ca9619fa

Did you know, you can impersonate with a sys_id

2019-07-21T00:00:00Z

Sometimes you’ll have many people with the same name… Don’t judge my users. You also sometimes need to impersonate the user. Did you know you can impersonate by pasting the sys_id? I didn’t.

Thanks cmclendon for sharing this!

Source: https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_article&sys_id=9a177495db44f348f7fca851ca961961

Using Processors to download files

2019-07-12T00:00:00Z

I 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.

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

// 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.

Silly Tech Videos

2019-07-10T00:00:00Z

A while ago some people shared with me some great videos that were just
silly. These are just, well in my opinion worth at least a cursory
glance. If you’re like me you’ll probably enjoy them

Sia Mongodb: https://youtu.be/0vPt7GI-2kc?t=24
Opensuse uptown funk: https://youtu.be/SYRlTISvjww
Winsongs: https://youtu.be/W--13mBc788

Outbound Email Examples - Might come in handy

2019-07-10T00:00:00Z

I am trying to keep a small list of emails I get from service-now
installations… this post is just that;

Email Examples

Survey 1

Subject: ServiceNow Customer Satisfaction Survey for [RECORD]

We would like to thank you again for being our customer.
Customer satisfaction is our priority, and we hope the solution to
incident [RECORD] has met your expectations.
Please grade our performance by clicking the link below to complete a
short survey. Every survey is acted upon and your input is vital.
Customer Satisfaction Survey
Thank you for your input.
[[Person’s name] [Role, Department] [Company]](https://jace.pro/post/2019-07-10-email-examples/#persons-name-role-department-company)
Resolved by: [Resolvers Name]
Short description: [Short Description]

Survey 2

Subject: Survey invitation: New Survey on Customer Satisfaction Survey

You have been invited to take the survey: Customer Satisfaction
Survey.
Click here to take your survey: [Link to survey]
Unsubscribe | Notification Preferences

Record Commented

Subject: [Priority] [Record Class] Commented - [Company] - [Record]: [Short Description]

[Record Updated] [Priority] [Record Class]: [Record]
[Hi [Record Class] [Record] has been updated.](https://jace.pro/post/2019-07-10-email-examples/#hi-record-class-record-has-been-updated)
[Record Class]: [Record]
Priority: [Priority]
Short Description: [Short Description]
Comments
[Comments]
Steps to reproduce: [Steps to reproduce]
Business Criticality: [Impact]
Affected Users: [Quantity of users]
Start Date: [Start Date]
End Date: [End Date]
Click here to view [Record Class] [Record]
Sincerely, ServiceNow Customer Support

Dawn Jureks great list of Best Practices

2019-07-10T00:00:00Z

Dawn Jurek has a great list of best practices that she keeps up to
date.
As much as I’d like to think that list will always exist, I’ve been
burnt before, so this is my copy.

Best Practices

Source: https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_blog&sys_id=6e7d6269dbd0dbc01dcaf3231f9619c0

ATF (Automated Test Framework)

Best practices for using ATF 9/26/17
How to avoid ATF testing failures 5/30/17

Development

HI

HR Service Delivery

The basics of integrating with SuccessFactors and other HR management systems 4/27/18

Information Technology & Business Management (ITBM)

Information Technology Operations Management (ITOM)

CMDB 101 - What is a configuration management database, and why do you need one?
What is a configuration management database, and why do you need one? 4/13/18
ITOM 101 - What is ITOM and why do I need it? 3/30/18
Tips for implementing and troubleshooting Cloud Management 3/2/18
Best practices for setting up Discovery schedules Best practices for setting up Discovery schedules 12/14/17
Best practices for MID Server setup and tuning 11/9/17

Information Technology Services Management (ITSM)

Platform

Forms

Lists

Tables

Reporting and Performance Analytics

Best practices for creating responsive dashboards 12/8/17
Best practices for creating and sharing reports 8/11/17

Security Operations

For more information:

How to revert a bunch of records

2019-07-09T00:00:00Z

Today I was tasked with reverting ~2k stories states to the past value. This is a daunting task as it requires someone to look at the sys_audit or sys_history_line tables. The code I wrote was a quick fix, but I think others might find it useful.

Without any delay here it is;

var stories = new GlideRecord('rm_story');
var query = 'closed_by=eb8562c6b52c3000bb05d180e2312616^';
query += 'sys_updated_onONToday@javascript:gs.beginningOfToday()@javascript:gs.endOfToday()^';
query += 'state=3';
stories.addEncodedQuery(query)
stories.query();
while(stories.next()){ // for each record
  gs.print('in story: ' + stories.getValue('number'));
  var storyID = stories.getValue('sys_id');
  // look up the last audit record for the state field
  var audit = new GlideRecord('sys_audit');
  audit.addQuery('documentkey',storyID);
  audit.addQuery('fieldname','state');
  audit.orderByDesc('record_checkpoint');
  audit.setLimit(1);
  audit.query();
  while(audit.next()){
    gs.print(audit.oldvalue + '=> ' + audit.newvalue);
    stories.setValue('state',audit.oldvalue);
    gs.print('setting state to ' + stories.state.getDisplayValue());
    stories.update();
  }
}

Knowledge 19 Hackathon, a personal look

2019-05-21T00:00:00Z

In my last post I said, “The hackathon is a great place to learn a new feature but it’s not a hackathon. They expect you to have the app prebuilt before you get there.” I just want to be very clarify in this post.

I learned a lot from the hackathon, but what they want is not a hackathon.

I’ll recap the events up until we left.

Week of April 22nd

I reviewed all past Knowledge hackathons I could find and aggregated them on my blog. Trying to get some ideas for what might be a winning idea if executed properly.

Week of April 29th

I finally get some ideas worth anything down on paper so I don’t have to go without an idea. I am really excited about this. A past co-worker of mine Kevin, found out he’s going to K19, cause I found a unused ticket. So that’s awesome, I have a hackathon team and I have some decent ideas. I lay out some tasks for each idea.

May 6th

I arrive in Vegas, it’s great. I meet up with some colleagues and get checked in. Also was given access to the “HackNow” instance. Seems security isn’t that important here so all the past submissions all exist. I’ll export that and include link at the bottom.

May 7th

I see my hackathon team mates getting coffee. We talk about the ideas and pick one. Great. We do some morning labs and then meet up at the CreatorCon hackathon area. Thirty minutes after the start of the event we get our instance. Great.

The idea we are working on is this “LendIt” app. Using the new mobile interface allows users/ groups to indicate they have things to lend out, and if lent, who it’s lent to. Pretty simple idea but you could apply this to whatever at work or if part of group of neighbors could be something to facilitate passing around a leaf blower, or other lawn equipment.

Our tasks as we see them;

Build the table for the things to be lent.
Build a table to allow people to queue for things to be lent later.
Build table to support who has borrowed the thing.
Make some rules to control the availability and to process the queue
Make a Mobile App

Now we can do a lot of this stuff at the same time and so I take on the Mobile App stuff and the other two work out the business rules and table structure.

The first problem

I am working on this and creating the stuff only to find that when I save the Mobile App nothing seems to be committing to the database. So after about an hour and half of banging my head on the table I get up and walk over to the “Mobile” experts and show them what’s happening. They are perplexed and bring me to another expert who has me check my version. Low and behold we found the problem. We’re not on Madrid. We’re on some beta unnamed version with a build tag of “glide-trackhinext-12-11-2015” and a build date of “11-13-2018_1928”. Well Madrid wasn’t done then and the Mobile stuff wasn’t working by then.

The recovery

So we export our work to git and we move to one of our Madrid PDI’s. We all have a “happy hour” we have to go to with our work stuff and that’s two hours. When we all get back we’re refreshed and good to go. I’ve taken a sorta leader role, Kevin and Joe have taken more of the “Can Do” attitude. We get it all working and then one of the judges comes by to check out our work. It must be near the end of the night, but by the time he’s come by and we’ve given a pretty poor explanation of this, and shown what we have. He in other words tells us it’s just the platform and not at the level of the other teams, but he doesn’t use those words. Nope, instead what we took from it was, it was a waste of his time, and everyone else time. Looking back on it, it reminds me to the statement made in Billy Madison. Rightly offended, we pack up our shit and leave.

At a bar about 20 minutes later we realize you know we got more out of this than any other lab and it was a good experience. No reason to let Chris get us down. So that’s the last hackathon I’ll be in at a knowledge event.

Afterword

It’s been a few weeks now and I didn’t want to write this while frustrated in the moment. I still feel the same way I did the night of. Thanks! Now I know. The hackathon isn’t a hackathon at the knowledge events. It’s a “Did you bring something cool that we can make a product out of” event.

Link of Ideas

Notes from Knowledge 19

2019-05-10T00:00:00Z

I was very lucky to get to go to Knowledge19. Now that it’s over, before I leave I want to jot down my thoughts. Of the labs, I attended I had no technical difficulty with the WIFI or content. Others did, but somehow not me.

Below I’ll go over the parts I think notable.

Last year I went over the things to keep in mind, but here’s a link to the k18 post for a refresher.

This year was different in that I was a speaker about the Meetups I help run. You can see the ones local to you
here.

I got a lot out of this so I’ll get the boring bits out of the way;

Registration

Looks like they used g2planet.com again and this year it was better than last. This I thought was okay, but it could be improved. It also didn’t help that the schedule kept changing after I had been signed up for things.

Mobile App

This years app was much better. It could have been better but it worked for its purpose.

This was great. I had been invited out to two nights out and met a ton of people. See Twitter for more details. Drai’s party was pretty great. A bit loud, but that’s expected being a night club and all.

Things learned from networking

WeWork bought meetup.com and does free hosting for paid meetups
ServiceNow is upping Flow Designer free transactions to 1 Million
No one is happy with the new licensing model with Madrid
I found 14 unused #know19 passes this year. Next year I’m going to try to do something with that.
The hackathon is a great place to learn a new feature but it’s not a hackathon. They expect you to have the app prebuilt before you get there.

Labs

CCW1630 Extension points: How to get other developers to improve your app

@pheedbaq is the man behind this lab. It was really well done. He had us update a bike borrowing application. I don’t think I can properly explain this but, in short this is what I think it is. A better way to let others replace code in a scope.

CCB1089 Making the most of the ServiceNow MID Server

This was amazing and performed by Mark Scott. I’m not sure how much he practiced it, but he came off like a pro. This talk checked all the boxes in my opinion.

It was Entertaining, Educational, and Actionable. Not to mention he used R to determine if a photo is a hotdog or not a hotdog just like they did in Silicon Valley on HBO.

In my opinion this was the best session I went to. (If you all have a recording of this on YouTube let me know and I’ll add a link.)

CCB1419 ServiceNow Developer Meetup and community Building

This was a really open discussion between Andrew Barnes, Lily Li, Todd Volpe, Melhem El-Achkar, and Fernando Luiz Goulart.

It was great. We all introduced ourselves and talked about the struggles and the best way to do things in the meetup. I had been due to talk on the 1st floor 1/2 way through this talk. One of the attendees followed me down and I met her after my talk. She’s from Mexico and wants to have one in her area. I hope it starts up. I’d love to go and see it happen.

BRE1340 - A city in the cloud: How Minneapolis is driving digital transformation on the Now Platform

I lived in Minneapolis and know the speaker and some of the developers who did a lot of the work featured in this talk.

I just have this to say about the talk. Gina F. did a great job! I loved the slide where you could here her passion for the city.

Also all the business problems they solved were amazing.

CCDT0335 - Influence and learn by running a local developer Meetup

I had practiced this talk a few times and was fortunate enough to have a lot of support in the audience. Thanks;

Lida, Jarod M, Anna Baker, Casey, Kevin Karyadi, Will Weaver, Stephen Phayre., and Andrew Colson

I ran too fast but there were plenty of time for questions and there were a number of great questions.

CCW1547 – Full-stack adventures in ServiceNow-land: part one

This lab was a large lab. A lot of content to make your way through.
However it is a lab where you make end to end peer review application.

CCB0433 Under the hood of Flow Designer and IntegrationHub with the engine developers

I’ve been a big advocate that instead of flow designer ServiceNow should have improved the workflow engine. With that being said that isn’t happening.

Don’t use gs sleep
Don’t do looping delay anti patterns
Understand that flows aren’t versioned like workflows

Labs I need to check out yet

CCDT1827 Advanced GlideRecord Techniques

LAB1413 Quickly implement an awesome walk-up service channel for improved employee experience

LAB1542 Probe to pattern migration

Winning ServiceNow Hackathon Ideas

2019-04-22T00:00:00Z

This year I’m fortunate enough to go to knowledge, and one of my favorite SN people, Robert Fedoruk, posted a YouTube video about winning hackathons.

In the spirit of sharing I’m adding a list I compiled after some searching to see what’s won before as it wasn’t aggregated anywhere I could see. I’d love to see these shared in an open way afterwards. If this makes the competition better, than that’s great and my goal here. Below is that list.

Knowledge Things

How to win a hackathon

2013

Place	App	Description
Winner	KickITnow (video)	A kind-of “corporate KickStarter” for incubating projects within an enterprise
Finalist	TableNOW	a restaurant reservation application that finds nearby restaurants and displays their locations, menus, and availability. And processes reservations, of course.
Finalist	CasiNOW	a blackjack gambling web site that lets users buy coins for play, interact with one another, read rules and FAQs, report issues, and submit questions.
Finalist	PictionNOW	a variant on the popular party game “Pictionary” that replaces that game’s manual drawing tools with an electronic tablet. The pair used HTML5 to add a “canvas element” to the ServiceNow Content Management System (CMS), and wrote driver software to link the tablet with the ServiceNow platform.

2014

Place	App	Description
Winner	SchoolHub (video)	App to structure the interaction between teachers (give assignments and grades), faculty (biographies, tracking attendance), parents (check the grades, fill out all kinds of forms — absence, dietary, holiday requests) and students (survey teachers, get assignments)
Finalist	SociaLoop	a Social Media Campaign Management application, enabling organizations to activate all employees around social media.
Finalist	Password Vault	The app generates a secured password and we use orchestration to make the change a reality. The credentials are encrypted and we use Access Control List (ACL) to make sure you see only the credentials that you are supposed to see in your role.
Finalist	MudMonsters	“We have 35 locations, 12 monsters, many items in there,” Scott explained. “We use business rules to govern the behavior of all elements. The business rules trigger events based off of the text body in the commands. You win when you reach the final destination. If you loose, you go back to square one and you loose all items.”
Finalist	CableCarNow	The world famous cable cars of San Francisco are always full and the queues at the stops are way too long. “So the city needs a solution and it needs it fast.”

2015

Place	App	Description
Winner	FEMA Victim Assistance (cube talk video)	ServiceNow Saving Lives. It will be something very special.
Finalist	Cinema food ordering	App that would allow movie audience to scan a QR code on their seat, complete and submit an order and have it delivered to their seat.
Finalist	C’est Ne Paas (Robot)	Nuclear Disaster as a Service - This application would enable disaster recovery teams to send a robot into a disaster area and have it execute a task.
Finalist	Social networking management	Managing posts to Twitter
Finalist	On-call scheduling	No Details

2016

Place	App	Category	Description
Finalist	Happiness Service	Innovation	app that brings together kids awaiting organ transplants and people who want to grant their wish and donate money.
Finalist	LifeNow	Platform	app for employee health tracking with wearables, and gamification for challenges and points redemption for fitness products
Finalist	Create Doc Demo Product	Business	app that automates document creation and management directly in ServiceNow

2017

App	Category	Description
GreenLight	Business	Presented a visualization of the carbon footprint of an enterprise. This functional visualization also allows users to actually manage and alter working elements and affect the energy consumption rates of the customer using it.
LUDI - Voice Controlled	Innovation	a voice integration application function into ServiceNow using the native voice recognition that ships as standard with the Google Chrome browser.
GiveNow	Social Good	Enables companies to connect their employees with opportunities to volunteer in their communities

2018

CreatorCon Hackathon 2018 Winners Webinar

Place	Team	App	Category	Description
1	Team Vocalize	Video	Innovation	Sentiment analyses of support conversations. Based on quality of sentiment metrics, you can assign actions and tasks to prioritize follow up on conversations.
2	Team Appoxio	KSafeNow	Social Good	Student Tracker
3	Team Scrantonicity	NeutreNow	business	App NeutreNow to incentive healthy behavior (scroll down for full review). Tracks calory intake and calories burnt

2019 Hackathon

Place	Team	App	Category	Description
1	Team Scrantonicity	Reizen by Pathways @23:37	?	ServiceNow app that tracks travel expenses.
2	Above the Line	Cardio @01:29	?	Taking advantage of the fact that Virtual Agent can be set up to be public facing, the runner-up team created an app that automates customer identification for the process of renting or checking out cars.
3	Superconnectors	Expand Contact Center Workforce @13:26	Social Good	To create more accessibility for the hearing impaired to work in call center environments, Superconnectors created an app that leverages Service Portal and a web browser’s speech API to convert a customer’s voice to text. It then converts the service agent’s typed reply back into synthesized speech.

2020

Place	Team	App	Category	Description
1	Volteoans	Clinical Care Management	Healthcare	The Clinical Care Management (CCM) app provides an end-to-end digital clinical care system that helps healthcare teams gather patient medical histories.
Finalist	Sopra Steria	JetVet	Banking	JetVet helps streamlines due diligence processes in procurement. The goal is to prevent corruption and unethical practices in an organization’s supply chain.
Finalist	World Class Wrakin’ Cru	KICK: Key Items Crisis Kit	Manufacturing	KICK helps organizations source personal protective equipment. The app manages supply to meet emergency demand during crises like COVID-19.
Finalist	Extra Crispy Stimulus Package	Zoom: Extra Crispy	Telecom	This app helps make Zoom meetings more productive. Zoom Extra Crispy uses Predictive Intelligence, Performance Analytics and Integration Hub features in the Now Platform to intake all recordings from the Zoom cloud and create knowledge article transcripts.
Finalist	NewRocket	Reach	Social Good	In stressful conditions like the current pandemic, it can be very difficult to find reliable information and access critical resources locally. The Reach app uses personalization and the ServiceNow CSM app to create a dynamic personalized hub that offers access to local data and resources. Reach can be customized and used by cities of any size.
Mentioned	Click to Win	AdVenture Manufaturist	Manufacturing	AdVenture Manufacturist is a simulation application where a user can rapidly acquire different manufacturing assets to increase revenue while balancing the enhancement of existing assets.
Mentioned	The Mighty Hacks	Annexus	Social Good	The vision is to build a social mobile experience that connects people across video & voice to create a virtual community based on their interests.
Mentioned	Green Dot	CareNow	Healthcare	CareNow - is a Smarter way to standardise quality home care.B CareNow application aims to improve the quality of in-home care (using features like intelligent assignment, ability to raise care requests, monitoring integration, etc.), address isolation issues faced by care recipient and provide a performance monitoring system for Health care providers and regulatory body.
Mentioned	Team Scrantonicity	Connected Community	Social Good	The Connected Community application serves two purposes: Connecting parties offering charitable goods or services with those who are accepting them and helping to coordinate public events related to charity and public well-being. This has value for not only the community, but also as positive PR for the businesses that host or partake in using the application.
Mentioned	Carnav	EcoNow	Social Good	Organizations want to show their support to promote social good in a consistent and continuous way. Empower your employees to launch and coordinate social good initiatives and promote this actions within the company to get support from other fellow employees to make actions for a better community and world.
Mentioned	Brahmasthra	Healthcare Service Management (HSM)	Healthcare	Our solution helps in covering end to end hospital services. As an end user (Patient) all you must do is download an app and book appointments/pay bill/Know the medication details. Used all latest features like now mobile app, Agent Work space, Flow Designer, Virtual Agent, scoped application b Studio Development, Integration with Twilio.
Mentioned	ZeTechno-Sailors	MedicoNOW-Connect Better	Healthcare	“MedicoNow app is built to provide better communication between healthcare specialists and patients. The app provides an end to end experience for patients and specialists to view/book appointments, connect via chat/VIDEO, join in social Q/A community. Works on both, large and on mobile devices.
Mentioned	The Down Underscores	Resus Runner	Healthcare	In todays world, our hospital emergency wards are experiencing an unprecedented level of strain. In cases where patients need to be resuscitated, our emergency doctors and nurses face a high-stress and fast-moving environment where they need simple ways to track and document the actions they take in real-time - whether this is performing CPR, administering medication or taking notes and observations about a resuscitation event. As our hospitals are stretched and new staff brought on board to deal with the increased pressure caused by COVID-19, we need better ways to bring people up to speed with understanding the processes as quickly as possible. Historically many emergency wards have used pen and paper to document these resuscitation events, often needing to recreate the timeline of actions after the fact. Digitizing and simplifying these processes can help our Medical workers to focus more on caring for their patients, and less on maintaining paperwork.

2021

A mobile-friendly platform to attend virtual classes. A better way to stream interactive online events. A system that allows office employees to order and receive supplies from drones. These are among the best ideas to emerge from the Knowledge 2021 CreatorCon Hackathon, held May 8-9.
The hackathon serves as a forum for coders to design and display innovative apps on the Now Platform that can solve real business problems.
This year, more than 100 teams competed in the hackathon. ServiceNow judges for the event—including a vice president of platform product management, senior product managers, staff engineers, and developer advocates—selected four finalists and the Grand Prize winner, as well as five targeted award winners. The Grand Prize-winning team received Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headsets and Bose Bluetooth headphones.

Place	Team	App	Category	Description
Winner	Hakuna Matata	Virtual University	Best Mobile Experience app	The app creates a single, easy-to-use platform for students, teachers, and administrators to manage their workloads and interactions
Finalist	Dev Without Hats	Obsequio	Best Now Experience app	This app creates a scalable, cloud-based system for desktop and mobile devices that allows users to report risk, safety, and compliance issues.
Finalist	PhilGoesDeep	OBS Overlays with AES	Best app started from AES	OBS Overlays with App Engine Studio
Finalist	Arnav Solo	SentinmentNow		Using machine learning, this app helps companies monitor consumer interactions in real time and spot patterns that result in unhappy customers, such as lack of knowledge about a particular product or agent behavior that escalates disputes.
Finalist	Team Scrantonicity	RAID	Most compelling IntegrationHub spoke	RAID (Request Automated In-office Delivery). With this app, workers can use the Amazon Alexa voice assistant to order office supplies or personal protective equipment such as masks and have a drone deliver those items right to their desk.
Finalist	ServiceNow’s Gaming Division	Virtua Agent	Best use of Now Intelligence	This app transformed the chatbot into a type of digital game show host that can enable messages from one user to another, moderate Q&As, and assign roles to users that dynamically change.
Mentioned	Alpha Monksters	Back2School		What if we tell you that your day-to-day role as a student/teacher/parent would become much easier to manage by just a few configuration adjustments via cloud-based platform utilizing Mobile UI/Web Page UI as well a Chat UI? Furthermore, imagine leveraging this for universities with affiliated colleges through platform domain separation? Why stop there? Perhaps make it available for trainings in Corporate Industry?
Mentioned	Volteoans	ShipmentNow		ShipmentNow is a digital shipping management solution built on ServiceNow to make your enterprise shipment booking, tendering, tracking easier and efficient with simple configuration and automation.
Mentioned	Les 3 FrC(res	SPORTal		SPORTal brings people together: Be Healthy, Be Social Pick your sport & participate in the events that suit you best.
Mentioned	AECON	LMS Now		This application will bridge the gap between HRs and employees by digitizing the leave tracker system - Will reduce management efforts. increase team productivity - Integrable application will ensure greater visibility towards organization KPIs, better project planning by the Project management department Cost management by payroll and invoicing departments wrt billable hours and non-billable hours IT department can take this as a feeder into the on-call scheduler and critical/priority task assignments
Mentioned	KMD - TalentLab	Extended User Profile		“Extended User Profile is a response to the lack of interaction at the workplace due to the worldwide shift to remote work. As colleagues hide behind their computer screens, they do not form close bonds with one another, which can lead to decreased motivation, worse results and low overall incentive. The introduction of Extended User Profile - highly customizable, interactive user profiles - can be a starting point towards better employee interactions, increased workplace visibility and company-wide initiatives. As a result, employees get to express themselves freely and proactively reach out to other colleagues that share their backgrounds and interests. Other functions include social media integration, visual effects, nicknames, and more.
Mentioned	CG Squad	Educator 3000		Educator 3000 brings the power of the Now Platform to solving the issue of education during COVID-19. Students, Teachers, classes, courses, school work, and grades can now be managed and automated using the Now Platform giving the students and teacher the space to focus on what really matters.
Mentioned	Auranx	WantedApp		WantedApp makes the recruitement process easier by making all the different steps accessible from one toom (technical tests, HR meetings, etc.)
Mentioned	Wampa SNOW Beasts	LevelUp!		What is the purpose of the product for the business? Yes probably to make $ but speak to monetization, pricing strategy(s). Some products are about driving customer counts, some are competition blockers.
Mentioned	Nuvolo	ServiceNow Voice		“We are building a Smart Vernacular Video/Audio Conference Platform using ServiceNow Agents and UI form builder & Mobile Platform. It enable users too have conversation in any respective language & translate all Audio & text conversation on the fly. This will help users to have cross border support without worrying about language as a barrier. For the current business use case we will be implementing this solution to the health care domain, where information and knowledge can be shared across borders in real time. Doctors and Researchers can create their ServiceNow pages using UI builder, then they will be able to schedule a web conference call, where ServiceNow Agents api can help them to translate their voice on the fly.”

How to restart a workflow

2019-04-05T00:00:00Z

Restarting a workflow is sometimes needed. I found myself looking at how
to to do this today.

I’m posting this so I don’t have to re-do this again.

There are 2 ways to restart workflows.

No code.
- Delete the workflow context record. I do this by going to the record in question. E.g. /sc_req_item.do?sysparm_query=number=RITM0012345
- Click into the “Show Workflow Context” UI Action Link (above the related lists)
- Click Delete on the top right of the workflow context record !!! BE SURE YOU’RE ON THE WF_CONTEXT !!!
- Goto the RITM and update the stage to request_approved
- That’s it.
With Code.
- Delete the workflow context record. I do this by going to the record in question. E.g. /sc_req_item.do?sysparm_query=number=RITM0012345
- Click into the “Show Workflow Context” UI Action Link (above the related lists)
- Click Delete on the top right of the workflow context record !!! BE SURE YOU’RE ON THE WF_CONTEXT !!!
- Goto the wf_workflow.list table and find the workflow you want to start, copy it’s sys_id.
- Run this script in a background script;

  var current = new GlideRecord('sc_req_item');
  current.get('number','RITM0012345');
  var id = 'cfe7a62f13958340f415345fd144b075';//wf_workflow sys_id here
  var w = new Workflow();
  var context = w.startFlow(id, current, current.operation(), function(){
      var vars = {};
      for (var n in current.variables) 
          vars[n] = current.variables[n];
      return vars;
  });

Further Reading:
https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/sandiego-application-development/page/app-store/dev_portal/API_reference/Workflow/concept/c_Workflow_api.html#r_WF-startFlow_String_GR_S_A

Advanced Reported with Related List Conditions

2019-03-20T00:00:00Z

The other day I was asked, “Hey, how can I find all the access controls with NO related roles?”

Reporting on the lack of something is really tough (generally). In this case though Related List Condition queries shine. You can access them in the report interface on ServiceNow.

Requirement	Suggested Approach
CIs with more than 1 Active Incident	Related List Condition
CIs with no outages last month	Related List Condition
Active Incidents with No Active Tasks	Related List Condition
Incidents assigned to a manager	Related List Condition * / Scripted Filter + Dynamic Filter Option
Users in my assignment groups with no active incidents assigned to them	Scripted Filter + Dynamic Filter Option

Finding globally available things

2019-03-13T00:00:00Z

I was in the middle of restoring my PC and thought “I wonder if I can
view all the globally accessible things?”

Turns out, you can.

Object.keys(this).forEach(function(thing){
try {
  var type_of_thing = eval('typeof ' + thing);
  if(type_of_thing === 'object'){
    for(var prop in thing){
      gs.info('-: ' + prop);
    }
  }
  gs.info(thing + ': ' + eval('typeof ' + thing));
} catch(e) {
  gs.info('error',JSON.stringify(e));
}
});

In an out of box instance I get a big output. Alot of these are old
“Global Business Rules” but some are weird.

Globally available

SNString

  function String() {
    "[native code for String.String, arity=1]"
  }

SNRegExp

  function RegExp() {
    "[native code, arity=0]"
  }

GlideArrayRecord
- Seems to work just like GlideRecord.
sys_meta
- This is super interseting. sys_meta has a property for every
  table. sys_meta.sys_user has a property for every field.
  sys_meta.sys_user.date_format has then a property for the
  sys_dictionary record. The type is
  com.glide.script.FieldGlideDescriptor
system
- This is super interesting. This might be what UI Actions have
  available to them with the action variable. system has one
  JavaObject called action. system.action has many things.
- canPop
- canRunAction
- enforceMandatoryOnUpdate
- equals
- get
- getActionName
- getActionSysId
- getBody
- getCategory
- getClass
- getCondition
- getFromType
- getGRList
- getGlideURI
- getGotoURL
- getLabel
- getName
- getOnClick
- getOnClickEscaped
- getRedirectURL
- getRef
- getReturnURL
- getRunAt
- getTableName
- getTarget
- getType
- getUniqueFieldValue
- getValues
- hashCode
- isInsert
- isNextRecord
- isPreviousRecord
- isRedirect
- notify
- notifyAll
- openGlideRecord
- process
- setCategory
- setFromType
- setGRList
- setGotoURL
- setNoPop
- setRedirectURL
- setRequest
- setReturnURL
- setTarget
- setType
- setUniqueField
- toString
- wait()| Function | |
- class| JavaObject | |
- glideURI| JavaObject | “snd_xplore.do?” |
- values| JavaObject | “{}” |
- noPop| undefined | undefined |
- request| undefined | undefined |
- uniqueField| undefined | undefined |
- actionSysId| null | null |
- category| null | null |
- redirectURL| null | null |
- returnURL| null | null |
- GRList
- actionName
- body
- condition
- fromType
- gotoURL
- insert
- label
- name
- nextRecord
- onClick
- onClickEscaped
- previousRecord
- redirect
- ref
- runAt
- tableName
- target
- type
- uniqueFieldValue
gs
- gs seems to be a copy of the above
  (system.action)[#system]
global SPECIAL
GlideDBObjectManager SPECIAL
GlideNumberManager SPECIAL
getUsersForRoleDelegation
getRoleDelegatorGroupOptions
getRoleDelegatorOptions
getMyRoleDelegationGroups
getDelegatableRoles
cmn_notif_device_listGetViewName
cmn_notif_deviceGetViewName
cxs_table_config_srch_as_fldGetChoices
getBaseFilter
getUserHomepages
getRefColumnDictionary
getMyRequestIDs
closeChange
closeProblem
closeIncident
closeRelatedTasks
getStatsOptions
dmn_demand_stageGetChoices
getNextObjNumber
saListCis
getAllMembersOfMyGroups
getGroupMembersGivenGroupID
getGroupMembersGivenGroupName
hasAccessToDocument
global_simple_events
global_events
GetIDValue
emailsToUsers
getUserDashboards
lastWeek
nowDateTime
now
isAdvancedUI
getWeekStart
notifDeviceRefQual
getGroupsInHierarchy
getRelatedGroup
getRelatedCI
getRelatedRecords
workflowTaskTemplateReferenceQualifier
GetGroupFilter
getDefaultDeliveryPlan
getDisplayValueOf
limitFieldLength
v_field_editor_lengthGetChoices
v_ws_field_editor_lengthGetChoices
restrictCatItemsForGuides
trim
addChoiceType
limitFieldType
v_field_editor_typeGetChoices
sys_userGetEmailAddress
incidentGetCaller
incident_listGetViewName
incidentGetViewName
padObjNumber
getNextObjNumberPadded
cmdbCIChildren
getDefaultContentType
sys_dictionary_elementCanWrite
sys_dictionary_nameCanWrite
getDictionaryEntry
doesEntryFloat
cmdb_rel_type_suggest_relationshipGetChoices
rm_release_phase_ProcessFlowList
idea_stageGetChoices
rm_release_ProcessFlowList
ProposedChangesExist
sc_req_item_stage_DeliveryPlanChoices
sc_req_item_stageGetChoices
getKBMandatoryFields
dmn_demand_ProcessFlowList
GetReasonForChange
cxs_table_field_config_fieldGetChoices
getRoleListIds
getRoledUsers
addWFVariables
addDefaultVariables
addVariables
addVariableSets
wf_variables
getPrimaryCompany
getBannerSrc
recurseImageParents
getBannerText
recurseParents
getMyGroups
deleteAllRecords
getCurrencyFilter
populatedFilterRefQual
getLDAPSources
isMandatoryNotification
dynamicUserCreation
sys_sg_master_item_tableGetChoices
checkAllApprovers
isApprovalMine
getMyAssignments
getMyApprovals
getApplicableTemplates
getMobileLayoutCatalogs
sys_trigger_system_idGetChoices
getDefaultKB
checkForUnscheduled
createProblem
globalListen
getGroupQualifier
getDateFilterOptions
historyRecordPresent
recordHasUpdateXML
areAllPreviewProblemsIgnored
updateSetPreviewInstalled
kbGetText
kbWriteComment
homeGetViewName
sc_cat_itemGetViewName
sc_req_itemGetViewName
NumberManager

Available in Script Includes

If you define these in a script include it may cause an issue.

CALLABLE_PREFIX
gc
getChars
getDocument
getName
getParameter
getRootElement
getType
getValue
initialize
newItem
process
request
responseXML
setAnswer
setError
type

Import Sets. Use them.

2019-03-01T00:00:00Z

I was asked to present a lab I submitted to K19 at the local Minnesota ServiceNow User Group. I thought this would be great so I went down the path of making this small lab about using import sets.

Here’s a link to the deck.

The short version of this is;

Always use import sets for data from another system, and always store all the data you can see in that import set so you don’t have to get into the integration to do modifications.

You may hear reasons to not do this;

Objection: “This is just a small SolarWinds import to add to our network devices, It would be just as fast to write to the table in a script include.”

What you should think: “Sure, but then the moment they change their data or want to coalesce on something else, you’ll have to re-interrogate the data to map it.”

What you should say: "Any integration needs to come in to a import set table where we will hold the data for a few days so we can transform the data to our values regardless how the data in that other system exists.

Objection: “I’ve done plenty of integrations and this one just runs on demand to get the start date of a new employee, literally just populating the variables on RITM”

What you should think: “Sure, until they change their mind and want it to do something more with some other element they were sharing.”

What you should say: "We store all data seen from the integration for future use in case the need arises to use them based on future work. This simplifies the integration later for other to work on it.

Objection: “This just adds overhead to what would otherwise be a simple integration.”

What you should think: "It’s only overhead if you don’t do all your integrations that way. By being consistent anyone on your team should be able to quickly identify what needs to be changed.

What you should say: “Being consistent on this lets anyone on the team quickly work on the same integration without having to explain every nuance about the integration.”

Objection: Bringing in data from a nested source like JSON or XML doesn’t make sense.

What you should should think: There’s common ways to flatten that down.

What you should say: Below are examples of how to flatten JSON.

var flatten = function(data) {
    var result = {};
    function recurse (cur, prop) {
        if (Object(cur) !== cur) {
            result[prop] = cur;
        } else if (Array.isArray(cur)) {
             for(var i=0, l=cur.length; i<l; i++)
                 recurse(cur[i], prop + "[" + i + "]");
            if (l == 0)
                result[prop] = [];
        } else {
            var isEmpty = true;
            for (var p in cur) {
                isEmpty = false;
                recurse(cur[p], prop ? prop+"."+p : p);
            }
            if (isEmpty && prop)
                result[prop] = {};
        }
    }
    recurse(data, "");
    return result;
}
var obj = {
    name: {
        first: "Jace",
        last: "Benson"
    },
    website: "https://blog.jace.pro"
};
gs.info('Normal:');
gs.info(JSON.stringify(obj))
gs.info('Flattened:');
gs.info(JSON.stringify(flatten(obj)));

gs.info('XMLtoJSON Flattened:');
var xmlStr = "";
xmlStr += "<Person>";
xmlStr += "  <Name>";
xmlStr += "    <First>Jace</First>";
xmlStr += "    <Last>Benson</Last>";
xmlStr += "  </Name>";
xmlStr += "  <Site>";
xmlStr += "    https://blog.jace.pro";
xmlStr += "  </Site>";
xmlStr += "</Person>";

var xmlObj = gs.xmlToJSON(xmlStr);
//gs.info(JSON.stringify(xmlObj,'','  '));
gs.info(JSON.stringify(flatten(xmlObj)));

/*** Script: Normal:
*** Script: 
{
    "name": {
        "first":"Jace",
        "last":"Benson"
    },
    "website":"https://blog.jace.pro"
}
*** Script: Flattened:
*** Script: 
{
    "name.first":"Jace",
    "name.last":"Benson",
    "website":"https://blog.jace.pro"
}
*** Script: XMLtoJSON Flattened:
*** Script: 
{
    "Person.Site":"https://blog.jace.pro",
    "Person.Name.Last":"Benson",
    "Person.Name.First":"Jace"
}
***/

Multirow Variable Sets in code

2019-02-04T00:00:00Z

Anyone out there in #ServiceNow / #ServiceNowDev ever built anything that allows you to print the RITM and include variables? Special bonus if it can do it with London’s multi-line variable set feature. - Rob (@rfedoruk) February 4, 2019

In our discussions we found this new table sc_multi_row_question_answer. I needed to post this before I forget, as it’s useful. Eventually I’ll update my variable scripts to pull from there too.

UPDATE: This now is pulled in the Dev Toolbox Scoped app

Password variable for service catalog

2019-01-17T00:00:00Z

I was asked to add a password field on a catalog item and I was appalled
to find this isn’t an out of box variable type. I went ahead and made a
widget to make one that is secure but I feel we shouldn’t have to.

So in my case I wanted the following;

2 Masked Password fields that verified they matched and that they
match a regex expression.
Store the password as a encrypted value so I can
use is later but keep it secure.

Here’s the end result;

To make this follow these steps;

Make a variable type of string, variable name of password.
Make a variable type of macro with label, variable name of
password_macro.
Make a Service Portal Widget with these values;

HTML Template

<div class = "form-group ng-scope ng-isolate-scope" style = "" >
  <label class="field-label ng-binding ng-scope" title="" tooltip-right="true" data-original-title="">
    <span class="field-decorations">
      <span class="fa fa-asterisk mandatory ng-hide" 
            title="Mandatory" 
            style="padding-right: 0.25em;" 
            aria-label="Mandatory " 
            aria-hidden="true">
      </span>
    </span>
    Enter Password
    <span class="sr-only ng-binding"></span>
  </label>
  <span class="type-string field-actual">
    <span class="ng-scope">
      <input id="pwd1" 
             type="password"
             class="form-control ng-pristine ng-untouched ng-valid ng-scope ng-valid-maxlength ng-empty" 
             maxlength="" 
             ng-model="c.data.passwordInput1" 
             ng-change="setPassword('password')"
       />
    </span>
  </span>
  <label class="field-label ng-binding ng-scope" title="" tooltip-right="true" data-original-title="">
    <span class="field-decorations">
      <span class="fa fa-asterisk mandatory ng-hide" 
            title="Mandatory" 
            style="padding-right: 0.25em;" 
            aria-label="Mandatory " 
            aria-hidden="true">
      </span>
    </span>
    Repeat Password
    <span class="sr-only ng-binding"></span>
  </label>
  <span class="type-string field-actual">
    <span class="ng-scope">
      <input id="pwd2" 
             type="password"
             class="form-control ng-pristine ng-untouched ng-valid ng-scope ng-valid-maxlength ng-empty" 
             maxlength="" 
             ng-model="c.data.passwordInput2" 
             ng-change="setPassword('password')"
      />
    </span>
  </span>
  <div ng-show="field.messages" aria-hidden="true" class="ng-hide"></div>
</div>

Client Script

function($scope) {
  //This is the controller, we've included $scope in the function above because it's easy to work with
  var c = this;
  c.data.passwordInput = '';
  //Simplify accessing g_form within the client script by setting it as a variable named g_form
  var g_form = $scope.page.g_form;
  $scope.g_form = $scope.page.g_form;
  $scope.setPassword = function(varname) {
    /*
    console.log(JSON.stringify({
        "c.data.passwordInput1": c.data.passwordInput1,
        "c.data.passwordInput2": c.data.passwordInput2
    },'  '));
    */
    if (c.data.passwordInput1 == c.data.passwordInput2) {
      if (c.data.passwordInput1.match(/^([a-zA-Z0-9]{16,})$/g)) {
        c.server.get({
          passwordInput: c.data.passwordInput1
        }).then(function(r) {
          g_form.setValue(varname, r.data.passwordEncrypted);
          g_form.hideFieldMsg("password_macro", true); //hides all messages
        });
      } else {
        var errorShort = "Passwords must be at least 16 characters and only allow a alphanumeric value.";
        g_form.hideFieldMsg("password_macro", true); //hides all messages
        g_form.showFieldMsg("password_macro", errorShort, "error", false);
      }
    } else {
  var errorMatch = "Passwords must be at least 16 characters and only allow a alphanumeric value.";
      g_form.clearValue(varname);
      g_form.hideFieldMsg("password_macro", true); //hides all messages
      g_form.showFieldMsg("password_macro", errorMatch, "error", false);
    }
  };
}

Server Script

(function() {
    if(input && input.passwordInput){
        var encrypter = new GlideEncrypter();
        data.passwordEncrypted = encrypter.encrypt(input.passwordInput);
    }
})();

Approvals for Knowledge and how they dont work

2019-01-12T00:00:00Z

A few days ago Derek was asking about approvals, specifically approvals for Knowledge articles and why they don’t work out of the box. It’s weird and here I’ll go through it. So it seems ServiceNow started to make this work out of the box but just never finished it. Here’s the list of things they did;

Workflow Knowledge - Approval Publish creates an approval

A business rule called Approval Events (Non-Task) triggers an event for the state based on the table. So searching for kb_knowledge.approval.inserted comes up empty. Here’s the code;

sendEventsNonTask();

function sendEventsNonTask() {
   if (!current.state.changes()) 
      return;

 var event = current.source_table;
 switch (current.state + "") {    
    case 'cancelled':
       event += ".approval.cancelled";
       gs.eventQueue(event, current, gs.getUserID(), gs.getUserName());
       break;
    case 'requested':
       event += ".approval.inserted";
       gs.eventQueue(event, current, gs.getUserID(), gs.getUserName());
       updateRecord(current, current.approver.getDisplayValue() + " requested to approve task");
   break;
    case 'rejected':
       event += ".approval.rejected";
       gs.eventQueue(event, current, current.state, previous.state);
       updateRecord(current, current.approver.getDisplayValue() + " rejected the task.", 
             current.comments.getJournalEntry(-1));
       notifyMyFriends(current);
       break;
    case 'approved':
       updateRecord(current, current.approver.getDisplayValue() + " approved the task.", 
             current.comments.getJournalEntry(-1));
       break;
    default: 
   }       
 }
 /*Omitted remaining code...*/

No notification is built but you could just create a new one based on the template called change.itil.approve.role\

Subject: ${sysapproval.sys_class_name} ${sysapproval} Approval Request\

<div>Short Description: ${sysapproval.short_description}</div>
<div>Priority: ${sysapproval.priority}</div>
<div>Category: ${sysapproval.category}</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<div><hr /></div>
</div>
<div>${mail_script:change_request_summary}</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Comments:</div>
<div>${sysapproval.description}</div>
<div>
<div><hr /></div>
</div>
<div>${mailto:mailto.approval}</div>
<div>
<div><hr /></div>
</div>
<div>${mailto:mailto.rejection}</div>
<div>
<div><hr /></div>
</div>
<div>Approval Activity:</div>
<div>${mail_script:approval_activity}</div>
<div>
<div><hr /></div>
</div>
<div>Click here to view Approval Request: ${URI}</div>
<div>Click here to view ${sysapproval.sys_class_name}: ${sysapproval.URI}</div>

I’d probably start with something like this\

Subject: ${document_id.short_description} ${document_id.number} Approval Request

<div>Short Description: ${document_id.short_description}</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<div><hr /></div>
</div>
<div>${mailto:mailto.approval}</div>
<div>
<div><hr /></div>
</div>
<div>${mailto:mailto.rejection}</div>
<div>
<div><hr /></div>
</div>
<div>Click here to view Approval Request: ${URI}</div>
<div>Click here to view ${document_id.sys_class_name}: ${document_id.URI}</div>

They made it really close. Just never finished it.

In any case, thanks Derek for the idea for the post.

ServiceNow Order of operations

2019-01-04T00:00:00Z

Understanding when something runs is critical when building these systems. ServiceNow has a very simple and great image that captures that for business rules.
However that doesn’t help with other scripts in the system. Bas @ Logicalis wrote something up about this on
snc-blog but I thought I could improve on it. Also messing with things is a way I
remember better.

I try to keep all the common diagrams I use on https://workflow.jace.pro/ but I realize I don’t really share when that changes.

Here I’ve been messing with this and I thought now is a great time to share this diagram I keep out there.

Knowledge 19: Proposals to present

2018-12-02T00:00:00Z

Below are my K19 proposal’s to speak. I’d like to develop these points into posts at some point so I have an embedded survey below the details of these talks

Results

Integrate repeatably faster by following these steps

Session Abstract

Introduction and Problem Statement

My company is a company like others, with data in a lot of places. In this session, we’ll look at how having a consistent integration policy can help make development of those integrations easier.

Approach and Results

In this session, I will share how we’ve;

Improved device tracking (azure intune) for compliance, and security reasons.
SolarWinds import to improve discovery
CrashPlan import to drive compliance of legal holds and status in a central system

Attendees will learn how to

Make a import set from a script
Make import set rows from a script
Run transform maps against a import set from a script

What is the objective of your session?

To show, how and why using some consistent practices around integrations can save you a lot of time and trouble.

What are the three key takeaways you will want your audience to leave with?

You can follow a common import pattern to drive most integrations to simplify development and further customizations
Rest API integrations that ServiceNow has to ask for data from can follow this pattern
After you do it once or twice you can do it for other integrations

Open Sourcing ATF tests with Github and hacktoberfest

Session Abstract

Introduction and Problem Statement

My company is a company like others, we want to upgrade without delay but due to testing are slowed sometimes. In this session, we’ll talk about how I started a repo to open source OOB Test Suites to give us a baseline for future upgrades.

Approach and Results

In this session, I will share how I started to maintain a repo for test suites in ServiceNow. I found I was participating in my second #hacktoberfest and a thought occurred. How can I get other people to build tests so I don’t have to? And it’s simple. Make a repo, share it and spread the word.

Attendees will learn how to

Contribute to an open source project for scoped applications
Avoid nuances for ServiceNow’s repos branches
Accept and Reject Pull Requests without breaking and losing data.
Make a project site for the project with Netlify

What is the objective of your session?

To show, how and why open sourcing some scoped applications can save you time.

What are the three key takeaways you will want your audience to leave with?

You can open source scoped applications to share with the community work managed on git
Doing so can get other to contribute to help drive the progression of the project
It can help everyone, so, try to share in the future.

Learn by supporting or starting your own local Developer Meetup

Session Abstract

Introduction and Problem Statement

Two years ago I started a Developer Meetup for ServiceNow talent to do ad-hoc labs and have happy hours. I didn’t want what happened to the SNUG’s happening to this event so I volunteered.

Approach and Results

Running the event has been a ride and I would do it all over again. In this session I’ll go over what it takes to run these events.

Attendees will learn how to

Identify how often and about what the meetup should meet about.
Finding content to use for labs and / or for happy hour discussions.
Finding hosting locations in your area.

What is the objective of your session?

To share what it takes to run developer meetups to give attendees information to form their own OR assist their local meetup.

What are the three key takeaways you will want your audience to leave with?

You don’t have to host or run the event to help. There’s lot’s of opportunity to help out.
Attend it, it’s smaller and less formal then your ServiceNow user groups.
Provide feedback, it’s always useful.

Glide Script Editor Manager a class to manage APIs

2018-11-21T00:00:00Z

This is a way to get the apis listed in the text editors.

The GlideScriptEditorManager getApis method returns a JSON
string of context-specific APIs. The JSON returned is invalid and
incorrectly escapes "'" as "\'". The script below fixes this and
outputs formatted JSON.

var tables = [
  "catalog_client_script",
  "sys_script_email",
  "sys_script_include"
];

tables.map(function(table) {
  try {
    var gsem = new GlideScriptEditorManager();
    var gr = new GlideRecord(table);
    gr.newRecord();

    var apis = gsem.getApis(table, "script", gr).toString();
    // fix invalid JSON
    apis = apis.replace("\\'", "'");
    var parsed = JSON.parse(apis);
    var formatted = JSON.stringify(parsed, null, 2);

    gs.info(table);
    gs.info(formatted);
  } catch (e) {
    gs.error("ERROR: " + e);
  }
});

I’ve used this code in the past to generate markdown tables for these APIs in the past;

for(var thing in api){
    getThings(api[thing])
}

function getThings(obj){
    //console.log(JSON.stringify(obj));
    var output = [
'---',
'date: 2018-11-21',
'',
'category: \'\'',
'layout: page',
'',
'aliases:',
' - "/' + thing.toLowerCase() + '/"',
'title: ' + thing,
'---',
      '# ' + thing,
      ''
    ];
    for (var prop in obj){
        if(prop == '!doc'){
          output.push(obj[prop]);

        output.push('| Property/Method | Description |');
        output.push('| --- | --- |');
        }
        if(prop != '!doc' && prop != '!type' && prop != 'prototype' && prop != ''){
          output.push('| ' + prop + ' | ' + obj[prop]['!doc'] + ' |');
        }
        if(prop == 'prototype'){
          for(var pprop in obj[prop]){
            output.push('| ' + pprop + ' | ' + obj[prop][pprop]['!doc'] + ' |');
          }
        }
    }
    console.log(output.join('\n'));
}

UI16: angular.do - What is this?

2018-11-05T00:00:00Z

The other day I got a report of slowness when using the “Post” button on incident

Turns out this little functionality uses some undocumented api to /angular.do . In this post I go over what I found out about it and how it’s not measured like others.

First place I looked at this report is the transactions table syslog_transactions_list.do, transactions to this endpoint seem to not be tracked there or in the new Active Cluster Transactions loading_transactions.do. Which is unfortunate, because that at least shows where the delay is tracked weather it’s on a server-side transaction or something on the client or something on the network.

I went ahead asking HI about it;

I have a user who is reporting slowness when they use the Post button below comment/work notes… I have looked everywhere I can think of to troubleshoot how long that transaction is taking but it’s not logged anywhere. I looked at syslog transactions, and the node file browser but nothing seems to track the POSTs to /angular.do as that hits that endpoint.
How can I see server side these requests and what may be causing that delay?

They pretty much told me the way to track this down is to look at the info in the console of the browser as the user.

All these transactions should be captured but it seems ServiceNow doesn’t seem to share this opinion.

I’ve attached (raw JSONP) the HAR record and found a tool online here on https://softwareishard.com/har/viewer.

It looks like it takes some URL parameters as well as some post body;

Endpoint;

/angular.do?sysparm_type=line_history&action=insert&table=incident&sys_id=aed745a0db1123008096a455ca961992&sysparm_source=from_form&sysparm_timestamp

Post Body;

{
  "entries":[
    {
      "field":"comments","text":"Fifth Comment"
    }
  ]
}

Post Response;

{
  "display_value": "Incident",
  "entries": [
    {
      "display_value": "INC0010010",
      "short_description": "Tttt",
      "is_email": false,
      "initials": "JB",
      "label": "Incident",
      "document_id": "aed745a0db1123008096a455ca961992",
      "sys_created_on_adjusted": "2018-11-05 06:04:38",
      "entries": {
        "journal": [
          {
            "sys_id": "963491d6db2123008096a455ca961970",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Additional comments",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "JOURNAL",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "journal_input",
            "new_value": "Fifth Comment",
            "sanitized_new_value": "Fifth Comment",
            "field_name": "comments"
          }
        ],
        "custom": [],
        "changes": []
      },
      "writable_journal_fields": [
        "comments"
      ],
      "user_id": "cee12e57db1023008096a455ca961971",
      "sys_created_on": "2018-11-05 14:04:38",
      "sys_timestamp": 1541426678000,
      "sys_created_by": "Jace Benson"
    },
    {
      "display_value": "INC0010010",
      "short_description": "Tttt",
      "is_email": false,
      "initials": "JB",
      "label": "Incident",
      "document_id": "aed745a0db1123008096a455ca961992",
      "sys_created_on_adjusted": "2018-11-05 06:04:26",
      "entries": {
        "journal": [
          {
            "sys_id": "a724d596db2123008096a455ca96196a",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Additional\n\n comments",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "JOURNAL",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "journal_input",
            "new_value": "Fourth Commnet",
            "sanitized_new_value": "Fourth Commnet",
            "field_name": "comments"
          }
        ],
        "custom": [],
        "changes": []
      },
      "writable_journal_fields": [
        "comments"
      ],
      "user_id": "cee12e57db1023008096a455ca961971",
      "sys_created_on": "2018-11-05 14:04:26",
      "sys_timestamp": 1541426666000,
      "sys_created_by": "Jace Benson"
    },
    {
      "display_value": "INC0010010",
      "short_description": "Tttt",
      "is_email": false,
      "initials": "JB",
      "label": "Incident",
      "document_id": "aed745a0db1123008096a455ca961992",
      "sys_created_on_adjusted": "2018-11-05 06:04:13",
      "entries": {
        "journal": [
          {
            "sys_id": "5024d1d2db2123008096a455ca9619fa",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Additional comments",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "JOURNAL",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "journal_input",
            "new_value": "Third Comment",
            "sanitized_new_value": "Third Comment",
            "field_name": "comments"
          }
        ],
        "custom": [],
        "changes": []
      },
      "writable_journal_fields": [
        "comments"
      ],
      "user_id": "cee12e57db1023008096a455ca961971",
      "sys_created_on": "2018-11-05 14:04:13",
      "sys_timestamp": 1541426653000,
      "sys_created_by": "Jace Benson"
    },
    {
      "display_value": "INC0010010",
      "short_description": "Tttt",
      "is_email": false,
      "initials": "JB",
      "label": "Incident",
      "document_id": "aed745a0db1123008096a455ca961992",
      "sys_created_on_adjusted": "2018-11-05 06:01:48",
      "entries": {
        "journal": [
          {
            "sys_id": "70931d96db2123008096a455ca9619f0",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Additional comments",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "JOURNAL",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "journal_input",
            "new_value": "Second Comment",
            "sanitized_new_value": "Second Comment",
            "field_name": "comments"
          }
        ],
        "custom": [],
        "changes": []
      },
      "writable_journal_fields": [
        "comments"
      ],
      "user_id": "cee12e57db1023008096a455ca961971",
      "sys_created_on": "2018-11-05 14:01:48",
      "sys_timestamp": 1541426508000,
      "sys_created_by": "Jace Benson"
    },
    {
      "display_value": "INC0010010",
      "short_description": "Tttt",
      "is_email": false,
      "initials": "JB",
      "label": "Incident",
      "document_id": "aed745a0db1123008096a455ca961992",
      "sys_created_on_adjusted": "2018-11-05 06:01:33",
      "entries": {
        "journal": [
          {
            "sys_id": "d9831d96db2123008096a455ca961939",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Additional comments",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "JOURNAL",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "journal_input",
            "new_value": "First Comment",
            "sanitized_new_value": "First Comment",
            "field_name": "comments"
          }
        ],
        "custom": [],
        "changes": []
      },
      "writable_journal_fields": [
        "comments"
      ],
      "user_id": "cee12e57db1023008096a455ca961971",
      "sys_created_on": "2018-11-05 14:01:33",
      "sys_timestamp": 1541426493000,
      "sys_created_by": "Jace Benson"
    },
    {
      "display_value": "INC0010010",
      "short_description": "Tttt",
      "is_email": false,
      "initials": "JB",
      "label": "Incident",
      "document_id": "aed745a0db1123008096a455ca961992",
      "sys_created_on_adjusted": "2018-10-18 09:26:37",
      "entries": {
        "journal": [],
        "custom": [],
        "changes": [
          {
            "sys_id": "3c731996db2123008096a455ca96193e",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Impact",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "AUDIT",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "integer",
            "new_value": "3 - Low",
            "sanitized_new_value": "3 - Low",
            "field_name": "impact"
          },
          {
            "sys_id": "78731996db2123008096a455ca96193f",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Incident state",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "AUDIT",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "integer",
            "new_value": "New",
            "sanitized_new_value": "New",
            "field_name": "incident_state"
          },
          {
            "sys_id": "38731996db2123008096a455ca96193e",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Opened by",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "AUDIT",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "reference",
            "new_value": "Jace Benson",
            "sanitized_new_value": "Jace Benson",
            "field_name": "opened_by"
          },
          {
            "sys_id": "bc731996db2123008096a455ca96193e",
            "sanitized_old_value": "",
            "field_label": "Priority",
            "is_truncated": false,
            "change_type": "AUDIT",
            "old_value": "",
            "field_type": "integer",
            "new_value": "5 - Planning",
            "sanitized_new_value": "5 - Planning",
            "field_name": "priority"
          }
        ]
      },
      "writable_journal_fields": [
        "comments"
      ],
      "user_id": "cee12e57db1023008096a455ca961971",
      "sys_created_on": "2018-10-18 16:26:37",
      "sys_timestamp": 1539879997000,
      "sys_created_by": "Jace Benson"
    }
  ],
  "primary_fields": [
    "comments"
  ],
  "fields": [
    {
      "plural": "Assigned\n\n to",
      "color": "background-color: transparent",
      "name": "assigned_to",
      "isJournal": false,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Assigned to",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "plural": "Configuration items",
      "color": "background-color: transparent",
      "name": "cmdb_ci",
      "isJournal": false,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Configuration item",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "plural": "Incident states",
      "color": "background-color: transparent",
      "name": "incident_state",
      "isJournal": false,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Incident state",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "plural": "Impact",
      "color": "background-color\n\n: transparent",
      "name": "impact",
      "isJournal": false,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Impact",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "plural": "Priorities",
      "color": "background-color: transparent",
      "name": "priority",
      "isJournal": false,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Priority",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "plural": "Opened by",
      "color": "background-color: transparent",
      "name": "opened_by",
      "isJournal": false,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Opened by",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "plural": "Work notes",
      "color": "gold",
      "name": "work_notes",
      "isJournal": true,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Work notes",
      "isActive": false
    },
    {
      "plural": "Additional comments",
      "color": "transparent",
      "name": "comments",
      "isJournal": true,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Additional comments",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "name": "*Email*",
      "isJournal": false,
      "label": "Sent/Received Emails",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "name": "*Relations*",
      "isJournal": false,
      "label": "Relationship\n\n Changes",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "name": "*Attachments*",
      "isJournal": false,
      "label": "Attachments",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "plural": "Resolution codes",
      "color": "background-color: transparent",
      "name": "close_code",
      "isJournal": false,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Resolution code",
      "isActive": true
    },
    {
      "plural": "Close notes",
      "color": "background-color\n\n: transparent",
      "name": "close_notes",
      "isJournal": false,
      "canWrite": true,
      "label": "Resolution notes",
      "isActive": true
    }
  ],
  "sys_timestamp": 1541426678000
}

KB0655923: https://hi.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0655923

Hacktoberfest 2018 - Self contained ATF application

2018-10-24T00:00:00Z

DigitalOcean and Github put together an event called “Hactoberfest” where you can sign up and get a shirt after 5 pull requests.

I’ve made a repo to build out tests for ServiceNow’s tool to help everyone get there.

Check it out on Github.

To contribute you need a personal developer instance and the drive to make a test and / or suite to test some OOB functionality.

All tests should be self contained. What do I mean by that? Well, anything you reference in the test may need to be created like the user you want to impersonate, and their group memberships/roles.

I do intend on making a custom test as part of this to make the generation of these artifacts easier but I am still learning how the code works for those tests.
This post at least is a decent example of someone doing a custom test step.

MermaidJS: Lets render that workflow in an opinionated way

2018-10-04T00:00:00Z

The other day I was looking at my mermaidjs flows and wanted to see how
they would render a servicenow workflow.

I created a UI page to do this, you have to pass it a context
sys_id today but this could be improved.

UI Action

/*
Name: Show Mermaid
Table: Workflow Context[wf_context]
Client: [True]
OnClick: showWorkflowContextMermaid();
Script:
*/
function showWorkflowContextMermaid() {
    var id = g_form.getUniqueValue();
    var url = new GlideURL('/mermaid.do');
    url.addParam('sysparm_stack', 'no');
    url.addParam('context', id);
    g_navigation.open(url.getURL(), "_blank");
}

UI Page

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<j:jelly trim="false" xmlns:j="jelly:core" xmlns:g="glide" xmlns:j2="null" xmlns:g2="null">
<body>
<g:evaluate>
var output = [];
var wf_context = new GlideRecord('wf_context');
  if(wf_context.get(RP.getParameterValue('context'))){
      var wf_activity = new GlideRecord("wf_activity");
      wf_activity.addQuery('workflow_version', wf_context.getValue('workflow_version'));
      wf_activity.orderBy('x');
      // wf_activity.orderBy('y');
      var query = wf_activity.getEncodedQuery();
      wf_activity.query();
      while(wf_activity.next()){
        // gs.info(wf_activity.getValue('sys_id') + '(' + wf_activity.name.toString().replace(/\"/g,'') + ')');
        output.push(wf_activity.getValue('sys_id') + '(' + wf_activity.name.toString().replace(/\"/g,'') + ')');
        var transitions = new GlideRecord('wf_transition');
        transitions.addQuery('from',wf_activity.getValue('sys_id'));
        transitions.query();
        while(transitions.next()){
          // output.push(wf_activity.getValue('sys_id') + '-->' + transitions.getValue('to'));
          output.push(wf_activity.getValue('sys_id') + '--' + transitions.condition.name.toString() + '-->' + transitions.getValue('to'));
        }
      }
     gs.info(output.toString().replace(/\,/g,'\n'));
output = output.toString().replace(/\,/g,'\n')
  } else {
      var query = 'No Workflow Found';
  }
gs.info(query);
</g:evaluate>
<div class="mermaid">
  graph TD
  ${output}
  </div>
    <div class="hidden">
      graph TD
      ${output}
    </div>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/mermaid@7.1.0/dist/mermaid.js" />
<script>
// mermaid.initialize({startOnLoad:true});
</script>
</body>
</j:jelly>

Getting the next N approvals

2018-09-24T00:00:00Z

I was talking with someone they were asking how to get the next x approvals up to 10. You can’t always control the environment you work in. He was trying to get the next x approvals. I came up with this script;

// start debugging
var current = {};
current.variables = {};
current.variables.user = gs.getUserID();
// end debugging

function getManager(user,display){
  var m = new GlideRecord('sys_user');
  if (m.get(user)) {
    // gs.print(m.manager.getDisplayValue() + ' : ' + m.getValue('manager')); 
    if (display) {
      return m.getDisplayValue('manager');
    } else {
      return m.getValue('manager');
    }
  }
}
var approvals = [];
for (var x=1; x<=10; x++) {
  if (x===1) {
    approvals.push({
        x: x,
        name: getManager(current.variables.user,true),
        sys_id: getManager(current.variables.user,false)
        });
  } else {
    approvals.push({
        x: x,
        name: getManager(approvals[x-2].sys_id,true),
        sys_id: getManager(approvals[x-2].sys_id,false)
    });
  }
  // gs.print('level ' + x + ' ' + approvals[x]);
}

gs.print(JSON.stringify(approvals,'','  '));

Naming your update sets

2018-09-20T00:00:00Z

Update set names should be somewhat meaningful without having to look at
the contents of the XML. ServiceNow has some recommendations on HI and on the Docs site.

With that being said, generally best to have initials, date, some key (task) or description.

Update Set Naming Convention

Make the names meaningful to the task at hand. The update set name should consist of the following.
- Related task record, version, release or sprint number
- Brief description
- Developer’s initials
For example, if working on Incident Management form layout from a Story. The update set name could be
STRY00123_Incident Mgmt Form Layout_ABC
- Update Set Description
Put in as much detail as needed to ensure that if another member of the team looks at the update set record they can see what the contents are.
This becomes especially important when working on an entire track. If you are working on Incident Management as a whole with multiple stories assigned to you, you should list all related stories in the description of the update set record.
The update set name should consist of the following if working on an entire track:
- Date, version, release or sprint number
- Brief description
- Developer’s initials
- Example: JB-2018-09-20 Combine both inc record producers

We added some JavaScript to pre-fill the initials, and date for consistency on the name field. Below makes the following output;
JB-2018-09-20

javascript: (function(){
  var r = '';
  var u = gs.getUser();
  r += (u.getFirstName()+'')[0];
  r += (u.getLastName()+'')[0];
  r += '-';
  var d = new GlideDateTime();
  var ms = d.getNumericValue();
  r += new Date(ms).toISOString().split('T')[0];
  r += ' ';return r;}
  )()

Code Collaboration tools seem to always go away, so I made one that wont

2018-09-13T00:00:00Z

After issues with CollabEdit, I am now hosting my own FirePad instance on code.jace.pro.

Feel free to use this but note that as of right now its using the FirePad db from the FirePad project.

Service Catalog: Auto ordering variables

2018-09-07T00:00:00Z

Today I learned a trick that would have saved me hours had I known about it years ago.

From time to time you find yourself working on a catalog item with variables. Sometimes those variables orders are to close together to allow for new variables. It would be great if you could press a button and have the order be fixed at 100s. You could write something custom… Or you could follow these steps;

Preview Item
Right-click header
Configure variables
Change the order of one variable
OK
Change the order back.

Now the variables are spaced in 100s

Difference between ${URI} and ${URI_REF}

2018-09-06T00:00:00Z

All this talk about notifications had me poking around and I learned about using ${URI_REF} instead of ${URI}. It’s magical.

${URI_REF} creates a link to the current record using the records display value. It’s essentially… the same as;

var link = 'https://';
link += gs.getProperty('instance_name');
link += '.service-now.com/';
link += current.getLink();
var display = current.getDisplayValue()
template.print('<a href="' + url + '">' + display + '</a>');

${URI} creates a link to the current record using the text “Link”.

ServiceNow: How to harden your instance

2018-09-05T00:00:00Z

I had to prepare an instance for some penetration testing. Turns out this is pretty easy.

To start with you need to know what ServiceNow requires of you. Here’s that KB.

At the time of writing you need these pre-requirements;

Instance must be on most recent patch of supported family.
Instance must be unpinned.
Instance cannot be production.
Instance must have High Security Plugin enabled.
Instance must be hardened.
You can test once per calendar year, extra testing incurs cost.

That hardening guide on the ~~HI site~~ Docs is thorough. We needed HI to “Check Whitelist Package Calls” and “Check Whitelist Member Calls”. This will be an issue if you’ve been granted access to use something the like ZipFile java class to zip some files from the server.

There’s a great share (my copy) that gets you most the way there. I’d suggest starting there. You may
need to configure some properties like what file extensions you’ll allow but its easier to do this then to manually create each property. Also it checks for default accounts and passwords.

Service Portal: Viewing what is loaded on the page

2018-08-16T00:00:00Z

This is blatantly taken from HI as this I think is useful enough to re-post nearly verbatim.

If you’ve ever needed to know which Client Scripts, UI Policies, and UI Actions are loading onto the page when you view a form or Service Catalog item in Service Portal, the information is readily available if
your know where to look.

If you are using the out-of-box “SC Catalog Item” and “Form” widgets, you can find this information in the widgets scope.

To view the widgets scope, hold down the CTRL key and right-click anywhere in the widget. Choose “Log to console: $scope”. Open your browser developer tools to the JavaScript console. Expand the “Object”
that has been dumped to the console.

Client Scripts are located at

data.f.client_script

UI Policies are located at

data.f.policy

UI Actions are located at

data.f._ui_actions

Client Scripts are located at

data.sc_cat_item.client_script

UI Policies are located at

data.sc_cat_item.policy

Service Portal: Validating Date Format

2018-08-16T00:00:00Z

Someone had asked how to do some “How to verify a date format in service portal?”

This came up in a chat I was having this week.

To use the g_user_date_format, g_user_date_time_format and getDateFromFormat(), you would have to re-include the JS file that declares these variables.

To do that go to the widget where you get a failure message and add a new dependency to a new UI script where you copy/paste the code from https://hi.service-now.com/scripts/calendar.js.

Then all your old calls ought to work as described in other posts.

// returns a date object you can test against for date/time 
// variables/fields
new Date(getDateFromFormat(newValue, g_user_date_time_format));

// returns a date object you can test against for date 
// variables/fields
new Date(getDateFromFormat(newValue, g_user_date_format));

ServiceNow features I avoid, and you should too

2018-08-15T00:00:00Z

From time to time I get thinking about what I avoid in this system. Below are my notes.

Controlling variables state with fields

For example, setting the field as mandatory or readonly on
item_option_new.

Problem with this is that this is yet another place to control this. You have the following already;
- Variable Settings
- Before Business Rule
- Catalog UI Policy
- Client Script

Controlling fields state with fields

For example, setting the field as mandatory or readonly on
sys_dictionary.

Problem with this is that this is yet another place to control this. You have the following already;
- Field Settings
- Data Policy (best as it controls the field in both the backend and the front end w/a checkbox)
- ACL ()
- Before Business Rule
- UI Policy
- Client Script

“Reverse if false” on UI Policies is sketchy!

If you have UI policies condition that is based on the value of a select variable you will have problems as they will evaluate in weird ways.

Instead uncheck reverse if false, and make those UI Policies work well when the condition is met and abandon hope on the “Revese if false” bit.

Thanks Mav and Monicask

Using stage fields for any logic

I’ve found that this field is not as clearly set as you might think. So
I’ve started to use this only for the display of the stage to the user
and not for any other purpose.

Putting things in workflow

Custom workflow activities (rest activity)
Notification activity > This is another place to configure emails but these emails are not subscribe-able, not easy to re-generate, and difficult to edit as you need to check out your workflow.
Switch activity > I try to minimize my need of this by keeping workflow logic concise. If that’s not possible, you can always do something like this >
Had an issue where a workflow started with a begin then switch, and the switch did not build the context records properly so the workflow hung. Another reason to avoid Switches.

Execution Plans

These were used before Workflows. At the time I used them they were loaded with a bunch of issues. Workflow has a lot more flexibility.

Global Business rules

These are loaded on every. single. record. They are bad, you should include the code you want to run not expect it to be available everywhere.

Script includes written like Global Business rules

Here this post goes over the following patterns;

Class Pattern
Function Pattern
Namespace Pattern
Global Include Pattern (not recommended)
Module Pattern

Of these, I think the Function and Global Include Patterns should be avoided. The reason being is that they are really no better then a global Business Rule.

Form Designer

This gives generic column names to fields. Also this doesn’t name sections right, so some functions like g_form.setSectionDisplay('') fails to work.

Catalog Item Designer

Issues I’ve been told of;

No logic available. Instead of an item with two varying options that dictate logic, you’ll need to make 2 different items for each set of logic.
Variables aren’t created on item_option_new, which brings up a slew of other problems.
Variables can’t have reference qualifiers.
Every change to the item, makes a new version of the item with a new sys_id so old links now no longer work.

Storing credientials in code

Always store these in system properties as passwords or as credential records. If you store them in code the are in clear text and that’s never a good idea. At least if you put them in a credential record or a system property additional steps have to occur to decrypt the value.

Outbound Rest Records (go record-less)

This is extra records to configure. More places to check for errors.

Dom Manipulation

These types of changes generally break on any GUI update from SN. They are also unsupported on Service portal and Mobile.

Avoid using `$`

It’s come up often enough that when folks see $ in UI Scripts, UI Pages, and other parts of ServiceNow, they thing jQuery because that became popular and started to use that, ServiceNow assigned $ to prototypeJS, and not jQuery, as such, I’d just spell out jQuery() instead to be clear about what you are expecting to use.

London Feature: Multi-Row Variable Sets

2018-08-01T00:00:00Z

I had to try this out and since the docs doesn’t show how it works here’s screenshot and video.

It’s pretty neat the content if you do a g_form.getValue('variableSetName'); is a stringified JSON array.

g_form.getValue('questions'); // returns below
/*
"[
  {
    \"order\":\"100\",
    \"question\":\"What do you need help with?\",
    \"required\":\"Yes\",
    \"help_text\":\"\"
  }
]"
*/

Service Portal: Setting variables via URL

2018-07-15T00:00:00Z

The other day, a post was made, asking how to do this
and I had to answer. I knew you could read the URL via $window but that isn’t available in client scripts. How can this be done?

I came up with the following solution.

Create a Variable type “macro”, with a widget that has the following client script;

function($scope, $window) {
  // This is the controller, we've included
  // $scope in the function above because
  // it's easy to work with
  var c = this;
  // We are going to simplify accessing 
  // g_form within the client script by
  // setting it as a variable named g_form
  var g_form = $scope.page.g_form;
  //We are going to simplify accessing
  // g_form within the HTML by setting
  // it as a $scope attribute
  $scope.g_form = $scope.page.g_form;
  // from here you can iterate over
  // the url params;
  var params = $window.location.href.split('?')[1];
  console.log(params);
  var paramsToString = params.toString();
  var paramsArr = paramsToString.split('&');
  paramsArr.map(function(keyValue){
    var key = keyValue.split('=')[0];
    var value = keyValue.split(key + '=').join('');
    value = decodeURIComponent(value);
    try {
      var message = 'Setting ' + key + ' to ';
      message += value + ' from url parameter.';
      console.log(message);
      $scope.g_form.setValue(key,value);
    } catch (error) {
      console.log('Error setting field', error);
    }
  });
}

This will try to set all the attributes on the form so in the following url;

https://dev32369.service-now.com/sp?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=b480811a0f021300fc69cdbce1050ece&description=test

The following will tried to be set;

Parameter	Value
id	`sc_cat_item`
sys_id	`b480811a0f021300fc69cdbce1050ece`
description	`test`

P.S. Laurent Chicoine pointed out another way to do this for an individual variable. Thank you Laurent!

If you set the default value of the variable in question to this, then you can default it differently based on weather or not $sp exists.

javascript: (function(){
  try{
    // Service Portal
    // if $sp exists do this
    return $sp.getParameter('var_short_description') || '';
  } catch(e){
    // UI16
    // if $sp causes an error cause its not defined do this
    return RP.getParameterValue('var_short_description');
  }
})()

Service Portal: Add to cart is a PITA

2018-07-15T00:00:00Z

So it seems the first thing a lot of places have to do when setting up
the service portal is to re-setup two-step-checkout.

I don’t like looking it up. Here’s the steps I’ve followed to set it up;

Adding “Add Cart” on the form

On your catalog item widget, ctrl + right click the widget and open
the widget instance options.
Check “Show Add Cart Button”

Adding “Cart” on the header

From the Service Portal configuration page, select the Portal editor.
Goto the SP Header Menu
in the Additional options section ensure you have the following content;

{
  "enable_cart": {
    "displayValue": "true",
    "value": "true"
  }
}

Docs

Creating actionable email links

2018-07-03T00:00:00Z

The other day Chris Perry asked how to create a link in a notification to assign a record to themselves and load up the newly assigned record.

To do this you’d have change your email to the user, so show the link and then load a page that knew the task and have it redirect. This is what I came up with. A UI page with the following code does it.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<j:jelly trim="false" xmlns:j="jelly:core" xmlns:g="glide" xmlns:j2="null" xmlns:g2="null">
  <g2:evaluate var="jvar_unwrapped_url" jelly="true">
    var currentUser = gs.getUserID();
    var incidentFromURL = RP.getParameterValue('incident');
    var link = '';
    var incident = new GlideRecord('incident');
    if(incident.get('number', incidentFromURL)) {
      incident.setValue('assigned_to', currentUser);
      incident.update();
      gs.addInfoMessage(incident.getDisplayValue() + ' has been updated.');
      //gs.sendRedirect(incident.getLink());
      link = incident.getLink();
    }
    link || 'incident.do?sysparm_query=number=' + incidentFromURL;
  </g2:evaluate>
  ${gs.getMessage("Redirecting to your the incident")}...
</j:jelly>

Client Script

document.location.href = "$[JS:jvar_unwrapped_url]";

Zing Search engine does not respect underscore

2018-06-14T00:00:00Z

I opened a HI ticket about this and they communicated that the global text search does not respect more non-alphanumeric characters.

It turns out that the keyword search doesn’t respect _ characters.

Meaning if you search for “this_custom_word” and you expect to find results, if one of those words is on the Stop list tables (ts_index_stop, and ts_stop). It may not show up.

Something HI made me aware of. I askd if they have other delimiters, but they said _ and space are delimiters.

If I get more information I’ll update this.

Creating a ServiceNow Property Page that rocks

2018-06-12T00:00:00Z

Sometimes you want a nice looking property page. Ben Phillips was nice enough to type this out in a slack channel. So I took it and put it here so I wouldn’t forget.

It is recommended/required to create a properties page for any custom applications you may make.

Setting up the module

Setting this up is pretty simple if you don’t need anything fancy. Just point the link to “system_properties_ui.do” UI Page. Your link will look something like system_properties_ui.do?sysparm_title=MyTitleHere&sysparm_category=MyCategoryHere

And the resulting properties page will look like this:

Making a custom page

What if this doesn’t include all the things to verify you’ve configured
your options, or doesn’t look how you think it should? No worries.

You can simply make a UI Page to handle this.

To get your properties dynamically on your page, most of the magic is
done with just one glide jelly include:

<g2:system_properties_categorized category="MyCategoryHere"/>

This automatically prints out some HTML with the properties and values
from your property category. Since we don’t have access to alter the
elements this outputs and they are not styled like we want, I copied the
CSS from the Style Guide and pasted them into my custom properties UI
page. Here we’ve copied the props box styling from /login.do.

The form tag with the action and method is important because that tells
the form to run system_properties_update.do when the user clicks Save,
more OOB functionality you can’t seem to touch. The referrer is also
important to guide what page loads after they click save.

Here’s an agnostic version of Ben’s markup in the HTML field of my UI
Page. Client Script and Processing Script panes are empty.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<j:jelly trim="false" xmlns:j="jelly:core" xmlns:g="glide" xmlns:j2="null" xmlns:g2="null">
    <script>
        /* here I can script what happens onclick of the "connect" button. */
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        .props {
            width: 34em;
            margin: 0 auto;
            margin-top: 1em;
            padding: 1em;
            padding-top: 0;
            border: 1px solid lightgrey;
            border-radius: 4px;
        }
        #logo {
            padding: 3em 1em 1em 1em;
            margin: auto;
        }
        label {
            font-size: 18px;
        }
        input, select {
            display: block;
            width: 100% !important; 
            height: 32px;
            padding: 6px 9px;
            font-size: 13px;
            line-height: 1.42857;
            color: #343d47;
            background-color: #fff;
            background-image: none;
            border: 1px solid #bdc0c4;
            border-radius: 3px;
            box-shadow: inset 0 1px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.075);
            transition: border-color ease-in-out 0.15s, box-shadow ease-in-out 0.15s;
        }
        .center {
            display: block;
            margin-left: auto;
            margin-right: auto;
        }
    </style>
    <form action="system_properties_update.do" method="POST">
        <input name="referer" id="referer" type="HIDDEN" value="/this_ui_pages_url.do"/>
        <div class="props">
            <div id="logo">
                <img src="your_logo_135w.png" width="135" class="center"/>
            </div>
            <g2:system_properties_categorized category="Your Property Category Name"/>
            <div class="form-group">
                <div class="form-field input_controls">
                    <button class="listactions btn btn-primary" type="submit" name="action">${gs.getMessage("Save")}</button>
                    $[SP]$[SP]<button class="btn btn-default" name="connect">Test Connection</button>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </form>
</j:jelly>

Special thanks to Ben Phillips and @nabil for the work on this.

How to do reminders in ServiceNow

2018-06-07T00:00:00Z

This has come up often enough that it merits a post. Reminders of sorts can be set up a four ways in ServiceNow. This is the pros and cons of each.

There’s a four ways I know of doing this;

Scheduled Report
SLA Notifications
Scheduled Job (much like incident auto close)
Scheduled Events

Each of these have their pro’s and con’s, lets get into it.

Scheduled Report

Probably the easiest to set up as it requires a report, and a scheduled report.

Pro	Con
A Report, and Scheduled Report	Occurs at the frequency it scheduled
No coding required	Less configurable
No email template to set up	Email is set based on report sharing

SLA Notifications

Pro	Con
No coding required	Occurs at the frequency it scheduled
	Specific to tasks

Scheduled Job

Pro	Con
Requires Scheduled Job, Event, Notification	Occurs at the frequency it scheduled
Configurable due to coding	Requires coding

Scheduled Events

Pro	Con
Triggers when it’s supposed to	Requires Event, Notification, Business Rules, and possibly it’s own event queue
Configurable	Requires coding
	Requires managing the scheduled events if the date/time changes

Scheduled Flow Trigger

Pro	Con
Access be delegated using Scoped App and Flow Designer content filtering	Delegates can reak havoc, shouldn’t create them directly in prod.

Thansks @milligna!

Search trick on table

2018-05-26T00:00:00Z

During one the Let’s code happy hours, Josh Nerius made a point to call out this tip while looking for a table.

If you are used to typing sys_user or user and then scrolling and picking the table, this will save time. Try typing [sys_user] instead as it will have an better match.

Slightlooney

2018-05-25T00:00:00Z

A long time ago a man called “SlightlyLooney” used to write posts about some pretty awesome things.
I took some time a few weeks ago and made a list of his posts I rather enjoyed and thought other’s might find these posts useful. Without further ado;

Posts

Prepare for an interview - it will be fun

2018-05-18T00:00:00Z

This is a extensive list of questions for both interviewers and interviewees when ServiceNow Development is involved.

Interview Preparation

Interviewing is exciting. It’s a way to get uncomfortable and see what is available in job-land. Something to keep in mind, interviews are a way for you and your employer to find a great fit for this position.
The employer may be happy to have you, but you may not be happy in that position, so it’s crucial to get information from the interview to tell you about the technology, team, and the expectations they’ll have. The expectations should have been set on the job posting, but it’s good to ask specifics about any you question. With that being said, when the technical questions are being asked, you should be able to see they understand the question and answer.

Interviews… You want to interview for a job as a ServiceNow Developer.

Before you continue I urge you to read this first

https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

Questions to ask the interviewer

Technology Questions

What release are you folks on?
How many licensed users are on the environment?
What are next major initiatives of the team?
What is your role in relation to the team?
How many people are on the team I’ll be working on?
What is the team culture like?
How does your team communicate and share ideas/files/code/assist one
another?

Getting Expectations Questions

What is the release process/schedule here?
Would the duties in this position require me to be on-call in any capacity?
Is this a work from home position or does it have this as a full or part time option?
What role would I be filling?

Questions to be prepared to answer

Behavioral Questions

Tell me about a time you’ve had to do something you disagreed with and how that interaction went.
Tell me about a time you’ve had been asked to fulfill a requirement and you went above and beyond.
Tell me about a time you’ve made a commitment and then failed to deliver.
Tell us about a project that didn’t have a positive outcome and how you handled the situation.
How would you handle a complaint brought to your attention?
What do you see that would be challenges working here?
Why should we hire you over the next candidate?
Why do you want to work here?
Have you worked on a on-call capacity before?
How do you educate yourself?

Technical Questions

General Programming Questions

In all my interviews, I think I’ve only had a few of these, however they show up all the time on GlassDoor.

How do you iterate over an array?
How can you give an object a dynamic property?
Given an array as an input: [1,2,3,4,5], return an array of modified values * 2 [1,4,6,8,10] e.g.
Sum the first n Fibonacci numbers [0,1,1,2,34,8,13,21,34,55,89,144,…]
find the first non repeating character from the string. e.g. [aaabbbcccdeee] returns d
Write javascript function for add(3)(4);? function(a,b){return a+b;}
Given a list 1,0,3,5,0,0,34,5,0,36 push all the zeroes to the end. Develop an in-place algorithm
How to Split a string var str = 'Left Right';str.split(' ');
Print integers 1-100 except for multiples of 3, print “Fizz”, multiples of 5 print “Buzz”, multiples of both print “FizzBuzz”
You have a function rand7() that generates a random integer from 1 to 7. Use it to write a function rand5() that generates a random integer from 1 to 5.

Javascript Questions

What are the primitive types of JavaScript?
What’s the difference between a Value and a Reference?
What is variable hoisting?
Closures — Know that a function retains access to the scope that it was created in. Know what this lets us do, such as data hiding, memoization, and dynamic function generation.
this — Know the rules of this binding. Know how it works, know how to figure out what it will be equal to in function, and know why it’s useful.
new — Know how it relates to object oriented programming. Know what happens to a function called with new. Understand how the object generated by using new inherits from the function’s prototype property.
apply, call, bind — Know how each of these functions work. Know how to use them. Know what they do to this.
Prototypes & Inheritance — Understand that inheritance in JavaScript works through the [[Prototype]] chain. Understand how to set up inheritance through functions and objects and how new helps us implement it. Know what the proto and prototype properties are and what they do.
Asynchronous JS — Understand the event loop. Understand how the browser deals with user input, web requests, and events in general. Know how to recognize and correctly implement asynchronous code. Understand how JavaScript is both asynchronous and single-threaded.
Higher Order Functions — Understand that functions are first-class objects in JavaScript and what that means. Know that returning a function from another function is perfectly legal. Understand the techniques that closures and higher order functions allow us to use.
Understand how objects, arrays, and functions are copied and passed into functions. Know that the reference is what’s being copied. Understand that primitives are copied and passed by copying the value.
What’s the difference between global scope, function scope, and block scope?
Understand which variables are available where. Know how the JavaScript engine performs a variable lookup.
Understand that variable and function declarations are hoisted to the top of their available scope. Understand that function expressions are not hoisted.
Difference between == and ===

CSS Questions

What is the difference between display:none and visibility:hidden?
What can you tell me about Bootstrap?

XML Questions

What is XML?
What is XPath?

Web Services Questions

What is REST?
What is SOAP?
What protocol does REST use?
What are the differences between REST and SOAP?

ServiceNow Service Catalog Questions

What does Order guide refer to in Service Catalog?
What is the use of an Order Guide?
How will you define a Service catalog workflow?
What is a Content Item of service catalog?
What Service catalog displays?
Tell me about some Service catalog variable types.
What is workflow in relation to the catalog items and when it will
execute?
What is represented by order in Service catalog?
What is Catalog request workflow?
Which module is used for create a new Catalog item?
What is types of things are generally on a catalog?

ServiceNow Workflow Questions

Where are workflow versions captured?
If workflow is not published, only checked out will it be captured in update sets?
What does workflow timelines represent?
If prefix of Incident (e.g. INC) needs to be changed, how would I do that?
Workflow editor and Service catalog differs in approval methodology? YES/NO, If yes, give explanation.
Can we validate workflow before publish?
If workflow checked out, can it be modified by any user? If yes or no, how?
What is true about Service catalog variables?
What is the true about SlushBucket?
Can you restart a workflow at a specific activity?

ServiceNow Update Sets Questions

Which field should be there in table that identifies that it should be captured in Update Sets?
Where are customizations stored?
What things are tracked in customizations?
What is the use of an Update Set?
Where update sets are stored?
What changes out of below would be applied in case of a merge update set?
What changes are not captured in update sets?

ServiceNow Email Questions

What is the default email size limit of inbound emails?
How ServiceNow system is configured to send an email notification after system Upgrade?
What all actions can be performed with inbound email?

ServiceNow GUI Questions

Scenario when an Interceptor can be used?
How to make an UI Policy global?
Button, Related Links and Context Menu these are?
How to define field attributes?
When does the “Submit” button appear on a form?
When do “UI Actions” appear on the form?
In which part of UI will you find help (link to wiki) option?
What is Icon of reference?
How to set display value for any field
If User customizes the Homepage, what happens?
How to change background color?
After save on form, which fields get stored in activities log?
Global Search option can be found in which part of UI?
How applications appear?
How do you modify the field behavior?
How do you enhance Homepage performance in case of gauges?
Where will you find option to edit a list?
What is listing in HomePage icon?
How to change the Development and Production instance color?
In which place admin can edit the HomePage?

ServiceNow Security Questions

What is security_admin role?
What do you mean by Elevated Privileges?
Why we need to impersonate?
If a user is not given filter_global or filter_admin role, what will be the impact?
ACLs can evaluate on what types of things?
How do ACLs executes, what are the steps they check?
ACL applies on?
In Service now which role is get option for approval a request or
same etc.?
What is a SSO integration?
What is Delegate User?

ServiceNow Database/Integrations Questions

What is Coalesce in import set?
Which is parent table for INC, CHG, PRB?
DB name for custom table?
Example for One to many relationship in table?
What is a Column and row in a table?
What is there stored in CMDB?
Where is data stored?
How can you import data into ServiceNow?
What is a sys_id?
Which module is used to see column structure in a table?

ServiceNow Service Level Agreement Questions

What is SLA-Retroactive start?
What is Pause condition in SLA?
What is Table for SLA task?
What is Table for SLA Definitions?
SLA, OLA and UC are configured in which module?
What is the benefit of SLA?

ServiceNow Other

How to arrange the Applications in left navigation to user?
How to see the current version of instance as an Admin?
Where can scripting occur in ServiceNow?
What is the difference between GlideRecord and GlideAggregate
Can you describe the different types of business rules?
What is the difference between a UI policy and UI action?

Inspired by

Debugging with fix scripts

2018-05-14T00:00:00Z

Debugging for me always starts with isolating the parts of the failing code.

The quickest way for me to find the issue varies but it almost always includes some variation of order of some of these;

Question	Debugging Tool	Description
Any errors or logs?	System Log	Navigate to System Logs > System Log. You can place alert statements in your business rule which can write information to the log.
Any errors or logs?	Debug Business Rule (Details)	Navigate to System Diagnostics > Debug Business Rule (Details). This debugging module displays the results business rules. Use this module to see if conditions are being met and values are being set as expected.
Did anything about this change?	`sys_update_xml` record list
Can you reproduce the problem?	Background Scripts / Fix Scripts	See Simulating the Script

Simulating the script

Different area’s have different variables available to them;

I’d copy the appropriate script, and then paste your code in the run function.

Business Rules

var table = 'incident';//pick a table here
var sysId = '';//pick a record with a sysid here

var current = new GlideRecord(table);
current.get(sysId);
var previous = new GlideRecord(table);
previous.get(sysId);

try {
    // paste your code below here

    // paste your code above here
} catch (error) {
    gs.info(error.message, "fix script " + gs.getUserName());
}

Inbound Emails

var emailSysId = '';//pick a sys_email record's sysid here

var email = new GlideRecord('sys_email');
if(email.get(emailSysId)){
    var current = new GlideRecord(email.getValue('target_table'));
    current.get(email.getValue('instance'));
    email.getValue('body_text').split('\n').map(function(line){
        var lineArray = line.split(':');
        email[lineArray[0]] = lineArray.pop().join(':');
    });
}
var event = {};
try {
    // paste your code below here

    // paste your code above here
} catch (error) {
    gs.info(error.message, "fix script " + gs.getUserName());
}

Script Actions

var eventSysId = '';//pick a sysevent record's sysid here

var event = new GlideRecord('sysevent');
if(event.get(eventSysId)){
    var current = new GlideRecord(event.getValue('table'));
    current.get(event.getValue('instance'));
}

try {
    // paste your code below here

    // paste your code above here
} catch (error) {
    gs.info(error.message, "fix script " + gs.getUserName());
}

Workflow Activity

var workflowContextSysId = '';
var workflowContext = new GlideRecord('wf_context');
if(workflowContext.get(workflowContextSysId)){
    var current = new GlideRecord(workflowContext.getValue('table'));
    current.get(workflowConext.getValue('id'));
    var workflow = {
        scratchpad: JSON.parse(workflowContext.getValue('scratchpad'));
    };
}

try {
    // paste your code below here

    // paste your code above here
} catch (error) {
    gs.info(error.message, "fix script " + gs.getUserName());
}

Transform Scripts

var importSetRowSysId = '';//sysid from your import table
var targetTable = '';// table to set the field on
var targetSysId = null; // doesn't need to be set but if you know the record, you can set this sysid

var importTable = new GlideRecord('sys_import_set_row');
if(importTable.get(importSetRowSysId)){
    var source = new GlideRecord(importTable.getValue('sys_class_name'));
    source.get(importTable.getValue('sys_id'));
    var target = new GlideRecord(targetTable);
    if(targetSysId != null){
        target.get(targetSysId);
    } else {
        target.newRecord();
    }
}

try {
    // paste your code below here (source, and target are set up from above)

    // paste your code above here
} catch (error) {
    gs.info(error.message, "fix script " + gs.getUserName());
}

Relationship Scripts

/* global GlideAggregate, GlideRecord, gs */
var parent = new GlideRecord('');//applies to table
parent.get('ad6ce161db560740d9ca72ec0f9619f5');//specific record to test.
var current = new GlideRecord('task');//queries from table
//set the above gr's to have access like you would on the form.

(function refineQuery (current, parent) {
    try {
        // paste your code below here

        // paste your code above here
    } catch (error) {
        gs.info(error.message, "relationship " + gs.getUserName());
    }
})(current, parent);
current.query();

Mail Scripts

var table = '';//set the current table name
var sysid = '';//set the current sysid
var eventsysid = '';//set to the event sysid on a past sysevent
//current, template, email, email_action, event
var event;
if(eventsysid.length>1){
  event = new GlideRecord('sysevent');
  event.get(eventsysid);
}
var current = new GlideRecord(table);
current.get(sysid);
var template = {
  print: function(text){
    gs.info(text);
  },
  space: function(num){
    var returnStr = '';
    for(var x=0;x<num;x++){
      returnStr += ' ';
    }
    return returnStr;
  }
}
var email = {
  addAddress: function(){},
  setBody: function(){},
  setFrom: function(){},
  setReplyTo: function(reply){
    gs.info('Set ReplyTo: ' + reply);
  },
  setSubject: function(subj){
    gs.info('Set Subject to: ' + subj);
  },
  addAddress: function(a,b,c){
  //doing nothing this is a placeholder
  },
  setBody(html){
    gs.info(html);
  }
};
try {
    // paste your code below here

    // paste your code above here
} catch (error) {
    gs.info(error.message, "relationship " + gs.getUserName());
}

Debugging Tools

Debugging Tool	Description
System Dictionary	Navigate to System Definition > Dictionary. The dictionary provides a list of all tables within your instance and can be invaluable when trying to locate information. One example is verifying the column exists on the table or a parent table of your record.
System Log	Navigate to System Logs > System Log. You can place alert statements in your business rule which can write information to the log.
Debug Business Rule (Details)	Navigate to System Diagnostics > Debug Business Rule (Details). This debugging module displays the results business rules. Use this module to see if conditions are being met and values are being set as expected.
Alert Messages	There are system functions that allow you to print messages to the page, the field or the log file. See Scripting alert, info, and error messages.
Business Rule Examples	Sometimes you can find what you’re looking for in scripts others have written, including business rule error messages, or by building an OR query.
GlideRecord Information	This is the basic syntax used to query the database for information. See Using GlideRecord to query tables. GlideRecord also includes aggregation support.

Create Item from Script

2018-05-14T00:00:00Z

I made this a while ago to save me some time of having to interact with the GUI. Works well enough, and will get updates to become a scoped app or script include… It’s a start.

Toss it in a fix script and adjust the bottom to your details while in the correct scope/update set. Then you have to figure out containers.

function createCatalog(name) {
    /*
     * Expecting a string (name)
     */
    var catalogExists = new GlideRecord('sc_catalog');
    catalogExists.addQuery('title', name);
    catalogExists.query();
    if (catalogExists.next()) {
        return catalogExists.sys_id;
    } else {
        var sc_catalog = new GlideRecord('sc_catalog');
        sc_catalog.initialize();
        sc_catalog.description = '';
        //sc_catalog.sys_name = name;
        sc_catalog.title = name;
        sc_catalog.active = true;
        return sc_catalog.insert();
    }
}

function createCategory(name, catalogId) {
    /*
     * Expecting a string (name)
     * Expecting a string (catalogId)
     */
    var categoryExists = new GlideRecord('sc_catalog');
    categoryExists.addQuery('title', name);
    categoryExists.query();
    if (categoryExists.next()) {
        return categoryExists.sys_id;
    } else {
        var sc_category = new GlideRecord('sc_category');
        sc_category.initialize();
        sc_category.sc_catalog = catalogId;
        sc_category.sys_name = name;
        sc_category.title = name;
        return sc_category.insert();
    }
}

function createItem(itemObj, categoryId, catalogId) {
    /*
     * Expecting an object (itemObj)
     * name
     * short_description
     * .
     * Expecting a string (categoryId)
     * Expecting a string (catalogId)
     */
    var itemExists = new GlideRecord('sc_cat_item');
    itemExists.addQuery('name', itemObj.name);
    itemExists.addQuery('category', categoryId);
    itemExists.addQuery('sc_catalogs', catalogId);
    itemExists.query();
    if (itemExists.next()) {
        return itemExists.sys_id;
    } else {
        var sc_cat_item = new GlideRecord('sc_cat_item');
        sc_cat_item.initialize();
        sc_cat_item.category = categoryId;
        sc_cat_item.sc_catalogs = catalogId;
        sc_cat_item.name = itemObj.name;
        sc_cat_item.short_description = itemObj.short_description;
        sc_cat_item.description = itemObj.short_description;
        return sc_cat_item.insert();
    }
}

function createVariables(varArr, itemId) {
    /*
     * Expecting an array of object containing;
     * name (String)
     * question_text (String)
     * order (Number)
     * value (String)
     * type (Number)
     * *  1 = Yes/No
     * *  2 = MultiLine Text
     * *  3 = Multiple Choice (required "choices" = array {"name","value","order"})
     * *  4 = Numeric Scale (optional "numericScaleMin", "numericScaleMax")
     * *  5 = Select Box (required "choices" = array {"name","value","order"})
     * *  6 = Single Line Text
     * *  7 = Checkbox
     * *  8 = Reference (requires "table", "qual")
     * *  9 = Date
     * * 10 = Date/Time
     * * 11 = Label
     * * 12 = Break
     * * 13 = UNLISTED
     * * 14 = Macro
     * * 15 = UI Page
     * * 17 = Macro with Label
     * * 18 = Lookup Select Box (requires "table", "qual")
     * * 19 = Container Start
     * * 20 = Container End
     * * 21 = List Collector
     * * 22 = Lookup Multiple Choice
     * below are the additional required sometimes things
     * table (string)
     * choices (array) of {name, value, order}
     * qual (string)
     */
    if (typeof varArr.name === "string") {
        varArr = [varArr];
    }
    varArr.map(function(varObj){
        var variableSysid;
        var variableExists = new GlideRecord('item_option_new');
        variableExists.addQuery('name', varObj.name);
        variableExists.addQuery('cat_item', itemId);
        if (variableExists.next()) {
            //return variableExists.sys_id;
            variableSysid = variableExists.sys_id;
        } else {
            var variable = new GlideRecord('item_option_new');
            variable.initialize();
            variable.cat_item = itemId;
            variable.name = varObj.name.split(' ').join('_');
            if (typeof varObj.question_text === 'undefined') {
                //varObj.question_text = varObj.name.replace(/_/g, ' ');
                var arrayOfQs = varObj.name.split(' ');
                varObj.question_text = '';
                arrayOfQs.map(function(question){
                  varObj.question_text += question.charAt(0).toUpperCase();
                  varObj.question_text += question.substr(1, question.length);
                  varObj.question_text += ' ';
                });
            }
            variable.question_text = varObj.question_text;
            variable.sys_name = varObj.question_text;
            if (typeof varObj.order === 'undefined') {
                var sc_item_option = new GlideRecord('item_option_new');
                sc_item_option.addQuery('cat_item', itemId);
                sc_item_option.orderByDesc('order');
                sc_item_option.setLimit(1);
                sc_item_option.query();
                if (sc_item_option.next()) {
                    varObj.order = parseInt(sc_item_option.order) + 100;
                } else {
                    varObj.order = 100;
                }
            }
            variable.order = varObj.order;
            variable.type = varObj.type;
            variable.cat_item = itemId;
            if (typeof varObj.value === 'undefined') {
                varObj.value = '';
            }
            variable.default_value = varObj.value;
            variable.default_html_value = varObj.value;
            variable.reference = varObj.table;
            variable.lookup_table = varObj.table;
            variable.list_table = varObj.table;
            variable.reference_qual = varObj.qual;
            variable.reference_qual_condition = varObj.qual;
            variableSysid = variable.insert();
            //return variable.insert();
        }
        gs.print(typeof varObj.choices);
        gs.print(typeof varObj.choices !== 'undefined');
        if (typeof varObj.choices !== 'undefined') {
            gs.print('choices len: ' + varObj.choices.length);
            varObj.choices.map(function(option){
                var choice = new GlideRecord('question_choice');
                choice.initialize();
                choice.question = variableSysid;
                choice.text = option.text;
                choice.value = option.value;
                choice.order = option.order;
                choice.insert();
            });
        }
    });
}

function createUIPolicy(itemId) {
    var policy = new GlideRecord('catalog_ui_policy');
    policy.short_description = 'Initial UI Policy';
    policy.applies_to = 'item';
    policy.catalog_item = itemId;
    var policyId = policy.insert();
    var sc_item_option = new GlideRecord('item_option_new');
    sc_item_option.addQuery('cat_item', itemId);
    sc_item_option.orderByDesc('order');
    sc_item_option.query();
    while (sc_item_option.next()) {
        var policyAction = new GlideRecord('catalog_ui_policy_action');
        policyAction.catalog_item = itemId;
        policyAction.ui_policy = policyId;
        policyAction.catalog_variable = 'IO:' + sc_item_option.sys_id;
        policyAction.insert();
    }
}


var catalog = createCatalog('Custom Catalog');
var category = createCategory('Categories are Silly', catalog);
var item = createItem({
    name: 'Burger Request',
    short_description: 'Request a burger'
}, category, catalog);
var variables = [
    {
        name: 'How delicious should it be?',
        type: 5,
        choices : [{
            name:'Disgusting',
            value:'disgusting',
            order:'100'
        },{
            name:'Tolerable',
            value:'tolerable',
            order:'200'
        },{
            name:'Average',
            value:'average',
            order:'300'
        },{
            name:'Good',
            value:'good',
            order:'400'
        }{
            name:'Great',
            value:'great',
            order:'500'
        },]
    },{
        name: 'Special Instructions',
        type: 6
    }
    ];


createVariables(variables, item);
createUIPolicy(item);

What is g_ck

2018-05-13T00:00:00Z

What is g_ck and why should I care?

g_ck is the current sessions token for authentication.

Why would you want to use this or know about this

It’s useful for making rest requests while on the system to the system.

You might be thinking, “That seems silly”. Trust me it does. If you want to let a page load then have it load the rest of the content later, doing this is great.

How do I use it

First, you have to make sure you have it, once you understand it, you can generate it if you don’t have access to it with the following code server side;

var g_ck = gs.getSession().getSessionToken();

If on a UI Macro or UI Page, wrap that with <g:evaluate> tags. If on a Service Portal, toss that in your server script.

Once you have it you can use it in place of authentication, if you omit it, you will be asked to authenticate.

Below is a slightly modified script generated from the API Explorer.

var requestBody = "";
var endpoint = document.location.origin + "/api/now/table/sys_user?";
endpoint += "sysparm_query=active%3Dtrue&";
endpoint += "sysparm_fields=user_name&";
endpoint += "sysparm_limit=1"
var client=new XMLHttpRequest();
client.open("get", endpoint);

client.setRequestHeader('Accept','application/json');
client.setRequestHeader('Content-Type','application/json');

// Eg. UserName="admin", Password="admin" for this code sample.
// Generally this is what it shows.
// client.setRequestHeader('Authorization', 'Basic '+btoa('admin'+':'+'admin'));

// If you're already authenticated. You can use X-UserToken
client.setRequestHeader('X-UserToken', g_ck);

client.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if(this.readyState == this.DONE) {
        // Going to console log instead
        // document.getElementById("response").innerHTML=this.status + this.response;
        console.log(this.response);
    }
};
client.send(requestBody);
/*
 * Response I get
 * {"result":[{"user_name":"abel.tuter"}]}
 */

Service Portal: Broadcast, emit, and on, should I use them?

2018-05-13T00:00:00Z

Broadcasting messages seems great when you first learn about them and start to use them but it seems they, like everything, has its pros and cons. As such I’d avoid them for the following reasons.

It’s all client side, meaning it can be spoofed and modified.
Its difficult to track down where something broke. Imagine you have 3 scripts all calling the same broadcast message to update a title or breadcrumb, and then one fails.
It’s hard for another developer to pick up where you left off, since there’s no clear cut methods to pass along data and information.
That leaves too lots of variables in how the data is delivered (browser plugins, internet speeds, etc) and can cause issues in production.
Its not scale-able, if you ever need to build around that, it becomes a monstrosity.

One way around this would be to instead drop the data into a table, and then trigger a data refresh. With an event broadcast that will pull the data from the table, server side and update the data object., This also ensures someone’s connection does not time out in the middle of building the page, or isn’t blocked from working via a browser plugin

Another way would be to subscribe to the updates via a “Data Service”.
A full example can be seen on the CCW1088 Lab.
Other examples around and about angular include;

But this is the gist of it, create a Angular Provider. Associate it to all the appropriate widgets. Below is the code from the lab above;

function(amb) {
  var watcher;
  var dataUpdatedHandlers = [];
  function init(table, filter) {
    if (watcher) {
      watcher.unsubscribe();
    }

    if (table && filter) {
      var watcherChannel = amb.getChannelRW(table, filter);
      amb.connect();
      watcher = watcherChannel.subscribe(function(message) {
        if (!message.data) {
          return;
        }
        dataUpdatedHandlers.forEach(function(fn) { fn.call(fn); });
      });
    }
  }
  return {
    onDataUpdated: function(callbackFn) {
      dataUpdatedHandlers.push(callbackFn);
    },
    initRecordWatcher: function(table, filter) {
      init(table, filter);
    }
  };
}

Then Add this JavaScript to each client controller on the widgets that will update the data;

workspaceData.initRecordWatcher(c.options.table, c.options.filter);
workspaceData.onDataUpdated(function() {
  c.data.rows = [];
  c.server.update().then(function(data){
    c.data.rows = data.rows;
  });
});

Add this JavaScript to the client controller on the widget that is displaying this data;

workspaceData.onDataUpdated(function(){
  c.counters.forEach(function(counter){ runCounter(counter); });
});

It does seem more complicated but then you don’t require $scope or
$rootScope in your widgets and it should be more clear how they are
working together.

Knowledge 18 Notes

2018-05-11T00:00:00Z

I was very lucky to get to go to Knowledge18 and before I leave I just want to write this down as to not forget it.

Of the labs, I attended I had no technical difficulty with the wifi or content. Others did, but somehow not me.

Below I’ll go over the parts I think notable.

Things to keep in mind in general

If there are repeating classes the later ones will be better but the speaker may have lost their voice
Know the difference between the different types of events.
- Breakouts are talks
- Labs are step by step instruction with an instructor in the room to field questions and assist
- Workshops are the same as labs but CreatorCon
Look up the content of the event. If it’s not a current feature, it’s probably a new feature and might be a “this will be nice but you don’t get it for two releases”
Look up the presenters of the event. If it’s a partner, be careful as it may be more of a success story of how some implementation or product they used was successful.

Registration

Looks like they used g2planet.com which this year was pretty poor in my opinion. Hard to tell what you had already selected until you tried to add an event to the agenda

Suggestions to improve - Use what you used for 2016’s registration or make your own.

Mobile App

This was terrible. I literally wrote my schedule down each day as it was more convenient to do that. Thankfully none of my classes moved after I arrived.

Suggestions to improve - Don’t provide a mobile app. It would have been easier and then we’d been complaining about the website.

This was great. With the way, my rep helped us get around and with all the folks.

Labs

LAB1012 Manage Duplicate CIs Effortlessly to Keep Your CMDB Clean

This was an awesome lab. It showed a new feature that lets you merge and handle the remaining duplicate ci’s and their relationships in a very flexible way.

On-demand Library
URL

CCW0194 Advanced Identification Engine for Discovery

This really was all about using the horizontal patterns to discover configuration items which in my case would have been great three weeks prior as I had to self-teach myself it. It did confirm that I did learn this properly. There’s a great youtube video where they show how to do most of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_49vxeGz78

LAB0272 Discovery & Service Mapping in a Cloud First World - PaaS/IaaS

Again this was a great session had I taken it three weeks prior. It did confirm I did learn the right topics and it focused on the Cloud Services Plugin v2.

This was a nice overview of what the Secops application brings to ServiceNow. I thought of it to something akin to an overview of how GRC would work except you were guided along setting it up.

This lab was great in that I learned about the directives and how you can use them and share them across widgets. I also learned about a different way to have widgets communicate to each other than the broadcast and emitted events.