Let's say we are stuck in a situation where we have lots of catalog items in which we have a reference variable which is referring User [sys_user] table, and it is the beauty of our implementation that we did not use the variable set in this case.
Upon that we are presented with a business requirement to display multiple column values in those reference variables in the service portal for each and every catalog item. Nailed it!
It seems that we are done because we are left with a hectic process of adding variable attribute in each and every catalog item to display multiple column values.
But there is one approach which can save you from this hectic work, and that is to add variable attribute at the table level in the dictionary record of type collection. By the way, email column values along with the name values are already available by default in the service portal because of the attribute ref_ac_columns=email which is already available in that record.
ref_ac_columns=email,ref_ac_columns_search=true,ref_ac_order_by=name,ref_auto_completer=AJAXTableCompleterLet's see how we can achieve that.
Use Case:
I have a reference variable referring User [sys_user] table in two different catalog items. I need to display company and department along with the name and email.
First Catalog Item
As you can see in the below image that there is no variable attribute.
Second Catalog Item
There is also no variable attribute in this item as well.
Service Portal results before implementation
First Catalog Item
Second Catalog Item
As you can see in the above before implementation images that email column values along with the name values are already available by default because of the attribute which we have seen earlier in this article.
Let's find that dictionary level table record and modify that attribute to add required columns.
1-) Open any user record and navigate to dictionary via Configure > Dictionary
2-) Search for collection type record by applying filter and open that record.
3-) Click on the Advanced view related link.
4-) Added backend names of company and department columns/fields.
That's pretty much it. Let's observe the results.
Output / Results:
First Catalog Item
Second Catalog Item
Let's validate the point/note Good Thing to tackle Global Change
Added a variable attribute in Second Catalog Item to show the manager column values along with the name values.
Output / Result
Interested in reading my other articles, go through the below link.
Useful Implementation for Service Portal and Native UI
Always open to learn new things.
Happy Learning
