Previous post in the series: Table View 101

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Forms 101

Forms are pretty self-explanatory. You can control what fields different users see using different views. In this post, we'll go through the basics of forms. This is a long post because there's a lot to cover, so feel free to use the sidebar to find specific sub-topics, but trust me, the post in its entirety covers what you'll want to know with respect to forms in ServiceNow.

The hamburger menu

There's a lot that can happen from the hamburger menu. This menu will be your most powerful tool when working with forms. Let's walk through each of these options, one-by-one. Note that depending on what table's form you are viewing, you may see some other options. But these are the basics:

Save

This will update your record and keep you on the form.

Insert

This will insert a new record with the same values that you presently have on the form. It will then route you back to the table view. Note that if you try and Insert a record that is a duplicate of the table's unique value, you will receive an error. An example of this would be if you try and insert two User [sys_user] records with the same User ID; the User ID is the unique field (primary key) that cannot have two records associated with it.

The Insert functionality is very powerful as you can make changes to any field and Insert them into a new record without updating the original record. For example, if you wanted to create two Incident[incident] records with much of the same content (e.g. maybe you want to duplicate an Email-related incident and retain all of the same information, but just change the subject person), you could load the first record, update the subject person, and then Insert. This would not overwrite the original case's subject person.

Insert and Stay

Much like the Insert option, this duplicates a record and brings you to that new record's page. So in the example above, with the Incident [incident] record, we'd be taken to the second record (with our new subject person). Once again, this will not overwrite the original record.

Configure

The Configure sub-menu allows you to customize a lot. You can modify how the form looks (this will be detailed later on in this post), which related lists display (will also cover this a bit lower in this post), or look up any configurations on the table.

Export

If you need to export the record to a PDF or XML (which can be used to quickly "copy and paste" records into other instances), you can do so from the Export sub-menu.

View

From the View sub-menu, you can change which view of the form you are seeing -- i.e. which fields you see. Some views are configured for specific use cases, like Self Service, Agent, or Human Resources. Different users may be pre-loaded onto a form in different views, depending on the access that they have or the fields they should see. Often times, not all of the fields on a record will be relevant to the user viewing the record; this is where views come in handy.

Copy URL

Copies the current URL to your clipboard. If you wanted to share the record you're viewing, this is one way to do that (or you can just click into your URL bar and copy it from there).

Copy sys_id

The true unique value for your specific record is called the sys_id. Every single record in ServiceNow has its own sys_id, which is a randomly-generated 32 character string. This is different from the "primary key" unique value described in the Incident section above (which is used as a more user-friendly way to differentiate between records).

Show XML

You probably won't use this functionality much, if at all. I have almost never clicked this button. But it basically opens a pop-up with the "code" behind your record. For the purpose of this beginner's course, you can ignore this button for now.

History

Some records allow you to view the History of a record in a Calendar or List format. In many instances, this functionality is disabled or at least limited for the fulfiller. A similar history is displayed in the Activity Stream, something we'll cover a little bit later on in this post.

Reload form

Instead of clicking your browser's refresh button, you can use this option to refresh your form.

Synchronous changes to a form you're viewing

If you see a little heart-beat icon appear next to a field, it means that someone else has changed the value of that field while you're viewing the record.

Note: If you're working on something that someone else is actively working on, it's recommended to reload the record before committing (saving) any of your changes. This is more relevant for developers working on different bits of code on the same record. If you're a developer, make sure to communicate with your team to avoid overwriting each other's work.

Seeing when someone else is viewing the same record

If someone else is actively viewing a record that you're viewing, you'll see an icon appear in the top-right of the form header with the user's profile photo. If the user doesn't have a profile photo, you'll see their initials encompassed in a circle. This may be the case if you are viewing a record that a customer is also looking at on their end. (For example, if you are a fulfiller working on an Incident[incident] record, and a customer is looking at the record from their perspective at the same time, you'll see this indicator.)

Seeing information about a specific field.

You can right-click on the label of a field to see more information about it or quickly hop to configurations. This functionality is probably most frequently used to "Show" the dictionary info of a field (like its type, table, or max-length).

Pro-tip: Check out my post on SNUtils to see some of the same information without having to right-click and Show.

Buttons on the form header menu

We covered the hamburger menu, the farthest-left (besides the "back") button on the form header, already. There are a few other buttons that you may see on the form header menu.

Shift your attention to the right-side of the form header menu. From left-to-right, we'll cover what these buttons are.

Paperclip icon: attachments

This will allow you to upload, download, rename, and remove attachments on the case record.

Question mark icon: an SNUtils feature

If you have SNUtils installed, you'll see this question mark icon. This allows you to see created/updated information related to the record.

Heartbeat icon: the Activity Stream

This will scroll you down the page to the Activity Stream of the case. You may not see this icon if you're not on a "case" type of record. (For example, you won't see this on a User [sys_user] record, but you will on an Incident [incident] record, since Incidents are auditable.

List sliders icon: personalize list

If you want to, you can further customize your own personal view of the record you're seeing. This will override the View that you currently have. This functionality is mainly reserved for fulfillers. I've never used it, and you probably don't need to either.

The three dots

The three dots icon holds a few other buttons that aren't necessarily as important enough to live on the main header. From here (depending on which type of record you're viewing), you may have the option to Email the case, toggle templates, and other stuff. I never click this button.

The rest of the buttons on the right

In the screenshot, we have options to Discuss, Follow, Update, Resolve, Delete. These buttons are technically called UI Actions. UI Actions are more of an advanced concept, so we'll dive deeper into those in another post, but for the purposes of right now, just know that these buttons are dynamic and trigger different actions to take place on the case. The screenshot is of an Incident [incident] record so these buttons are specific to those types of cases, with the exception of Update and Delete. Update is the same as the Save button described in the hamburger menu section detailed above, but it will take you to the list view rather than keeping you on the same form (sort of like Insert). The Delete button is reserved exclusively for admins, so you may not see it, and should be used sparingly depending on your organization's record-retention policies.

Changing how a form looks

In the hamburger menu section above, we took a brief look at the Configure menu. Within the Configure sub-menu are two options: Form Layout and Form Design. These are how you can customize the fields that display on a view on the record.

Form Layout

Form Layout is the seemingly-preferred method of customizing forms for most developers. When you click on the Form Layout option, you'll be taken to a page that looks like the screenshot below. From here, you can change the display order of fields within different sections of the form. You can also create new fields from here. Pay close attention to the View and Section selections when you're updating the form layout.

Form Design

Form Design is a more user-friendly way to update how your form looks. It lets you drag-and-drop fields into the location you want them. You can easily create sections and customize whether a section is a one-or-two column layout from this screen.

Pro-tip: If you want to duplicate a form view to customize it (and not have to manually add all of the same fields to the view), you can do so by choosing "New..." in the View dropdown at the top of the screen.

Related lists

At the bottom of many form records, you may see tabs of related lists. These are set up to display related information to the record. In the screenshot below, I'm on a User [sys_user] record, and I can easily see the Roles, Groups, etc, for the related user.

Related links

Related links display at the bottom of the record, right above the Related lists. These are effectively buttons that didn't make the cut for listing on the form header menu. Depending on which table's record you are viewing, you may see different related links. In the screenshot below, I'm seeing related links on the User [sys_user] table.

Activity Stream

At the bottom of some case records, but above the related links and related lists, you may see the Activity Stream. The Activity Stream captures changes in a case that may be relevant for organization. For example, in the screenshot below, you can see the timestamp that the user System Administrator changed the case from New to In Progress, and back again.

Work notes and customer-facing comments

The Activity Stream also captures the comments and work notes posted to a case.

Comments are customer facing and are used to communicate updates to a customer. Customers can also post comments back to the fulfiller, creating a "chat" feature between both sides of the case.

Work notes are used for internal commentary. They are delineated with a yellow line on the left side of the post and you can toggle whether you are posting a work note or a comment by checking the check-box highlighted in red (see screenshot below). Only other fulfillers (back-end users) can see the work notes you post on a case. One example of the use-case for work notes would be if you are re-assigning the case to another fulfiller and want to pass along certain information.

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