Book Image

Mastering ServiceNow Scripting

By : Andrew Kindred
Book Image

Mastering ServiceNow Scripting

By: Andrew Kindred

Overview of this book

Industry giants like RedHat and NetApp have adopted ServiceNow for their operational needs, and it is evolving as the number one platform choice for IT Service management. ServiceNow provides their clients with an add-on when it comes to baseline instances, where scripting can be used to customize and improve the performance of instances. It also provides inbuilt JavaScript API for scripting and improving your JavaScript instance. This book will initially cover the basics of ServiceNow scripting and the appropriate time to script in a ServiceNow environment. Then, we dig deeper into client-side and server-side scripting using JavaScipt API. We will also cover advance concepts like on-demand functions, script actions, and best practices. Mastering ServiceNow Scripting acts as an end-to-end guide for writing, testing, and debugging scripts of ServiceNow. We cover update sets for moving customizations between ServiceNow instances, jelly scripts for making custom pages, and best practices for all types of script in ServiceNow. By the end of this book, you will have hands-on experience in scripting ServiceNow using inbuilt JavaScript API.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

How and when to write server-side scripts


Server-side scripting is generally preferred to client-side scripting, so it should be used where possible. As server-side script tends to run away from the user frontend, it is less likely to affect loading times that a user would see as a poor user experience. 

That said, it is still advisable to configure before customizing and avoid scripting at all, wherever possible. This is because script is harder to maintain and is more likely to cause issues between releases of ServiceNow.

Let's explore some common uses for server-side scripting and how to best achieve these tasks.

Changing form values

Changing form values is usually best achieved by a business rule or UI action. If you want to change values when a user makes a click, then a UI action is best; however, if you simply want the values to change at all times when certain conditions are met, then a business rule is better. It is best to use a before business rule so that the form is only updated...