For Requested Items (sc_req_item) getting Additional Information from variables that are Reference Fields

[dougconnell]

for Service Catalogue items, it is sometimes useful to be able to get additional information from variables - such as other fields from tables used by Reference Fields.  How do you do this?  I spent hours, possibly days trying to understand: GlideRecord, GlideElement, GlideElementVariable and their associated APIs.  GlideElementVariable is an especially difficult class.  There is no API documented.  I am guessing slightly (perhaps someone with more knowledge can correct me) that this class is a Java class so the API is deliberately not published and not made available in Javascript.  "Hide the Implementation" is an important concept - so I understand.  I did discover some useful Javascript functions on the communities but they had been removed by SN and were no longer supported.  One key method is the getQuestion() method - which I only recently discovered.  This is useful for finding the name of the reference table as shown in the Test Background Script below.  This script also helps to explain a little the hierarchy and APIs in this area.

Please remember to change the RITM number below.

function getRequestedItem(reqItem) {
   var gr = new GlideRecord('sc_req_item');
   gr.addQuery('number',reqItem);
   gr.query();
   while ( gr.next() ) {
      var vars = gr.variables.getElements(true);
      for (var i=0; i<vars.length; i++) {
        var variable = vars[i];
        if ( variable.getValue() ) {
		  debugText += "\n";
          debugText += ", class=" + variable.constructor.name;
		  var question = variable.getQuestion();
		  debugText += ", name=" + question.name;
		  debugText += ", type=" + question.type;
		  debugText += ", reference=" + question.reference;
		  debugText += ", value=" + variable.getValue();
		  debugText += ", displayValue=" + variable.getDisplayValue();
		  
        }
      }
   }
}

var debugText = "ADC:";
var res = getRequestedItem('RITM1026595');
gs.log(debugText);

I go this output:

*** Script: ADC:
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=requested_for, type=8, reference=sys_user, value=9813c891dbb443dfb000f6e9bf961962, displayValue=John Smith
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=requested_for_country, type=18, reference=undefined, value=NZ, displayValue=Country | ABC
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=requester_for_user_id, type=6, reference=undefined, value=conneld3, displayValue=smith3
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=requester_for_email, type=6, reference=undefined, value=John Smith@abc.com, displayValue=ohn Smith@abc.com
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=requester_for_emp_num, type=6, reference=undefined, value=818436, displayValue=818123
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=shared_folder_location, type=5, reference=undefined, value=global, displayValue=Global
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=request_type, type=5, reference=undefined, value=create_new, displayValue=Create New Shared Folder
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=shared_folder_name, type=6, reference=undefined, value=Doug, displayValue=John
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=declar_sf_creation, type=5, reference=undefined, value=yes, displayValue=Yes
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=shared_folder_path, type=6, reference=undefined, value=\\XXXXXXXXXXXXX.asia.corp.anz.com\doug, displayValue=\\XXXXXXXXXXXX.asia.corp.anz.com\doug
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=restricted_members, type=21, reference=undefined, value=d01de460db620df03fbd788bbf9619f7,2e1e55c5dbdf6b84f1a913153a9619ef, displayValue=John Smith, John Smith2
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=folder_classification, type=5, reference=undefined, value=public, displayValue=Public
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=folder_owner_name, type=8, reference=sys_user, value=d5fba8adfb2207003fbd788bbf9619ab, displayValue=John Smith
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=delegate_name, type=8, reference=sys_user, value=d5fba8a8db220df03fbddfbbf9619ab, displayValue=John Smith2
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=entity, type=6, reference=undefined, value=Hello, displayValue=Hello
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=business_unit, type=6, reference=undefined, value=Hello, displayValue=Hello
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=access_type, type=5, reference=undefined, value=grant_access, displayValue=Grant Access 
, class=GlideElementVariable, name=grant_access_control_type, type=5, reference=undefined, value=modify, displayValue=Modify

[Gary Kakazu1]

Thanks for posting this. It was very helpful and saved me a lot of time.