Universal GlideAjax w/dot-walking (client-side)

[J_ DeLuna]

I won't go into a lengthy article, but essentially out of sanity preservation I developed a universal (reusable) GlideAjax script include that does the following:

1. Allows the developer to pass any table as a parameter
2. Allows the developer to pass an encoded query for that table
3. Allows the developer to pass as many fields as they require
4. ...and the best part, within the field/variable parameter you can dot-walk to grab additional data

With these two scripts you shouldn't need to write another GlideAjax script include unless you have a unique circumstance.

Script Include

//JAXscript Script Include

var JAXscript = Class.create();
JAXscript.prototype = Object.extendsObject(AbstractAjaxProcessor, {

	getStuff: function() {
		var vars;
		var dataset = [];
		var sysparmvars = this.getParameter('sysparm_variables');
		var variables = sysparmvars.split(",");
		var tbl = this.getParameter('sysparm_tbl');
		var qry = this.getParameter('sysparm_query');

		//apply the table and encoded query
		var rec = GlideRecord(tbl);
		var rec_qry = qry;
		rec.addQuery(rec_qry);
		rec.query();

		if (rec.next()){
			//setup variables 	
			vars = {};
			var vr;
			var vr_ext;
			var new_vr;
			var vr_lbl;
			var dv;

			//loop through user provided variables array to 
			//generate object output
			for(i=0;i < variables.length;i++){

				//if the field name has a '-'
				if(variables[i].includes("-")){
					var v = variables[i];
					dv = v.toString();
					vr = dv.split("-");
					vr_lbl = v.replace('-','_');

					//enable dot-walking here
					//traverse the field name to dynamically 
					//create object attributes

					for(a=0;a < vr.length;a++){
						vr_ext += "."+vr[a];							
					}

					//dot-walking object is simple string
					vr_ext = "rec"+vr_ext.replace(undefined,'')+".toString();";

					//dot-walk string executed as code by 'eval' function
					vars[vr_lbl] = eval(vr_ext);
     				vr_ext = undefined;
					
				}else{
					//if the field name does not have '-'
					vr = variables[i];
					vars[variables[i]] = rec[vr].toString();
				}

			}

			//package the dataset
			dataset.push(vars);	
		}

		var json = new JSON();
		var data = json.encode(vars);//JSON formatted string
		return data;
	},

	type: 'JAXscript'
});

Client Script Example

//JAXscript Client Script


	//in 'sysparm_variables' you can dot-walk if you use '-'
	//ex1: manager-director-name will fetch the manager's director's displayed name
	//ex2: manager-director will return the manager's director's sysID
	//you can traverse any reference connection you normally can in GlideRecord
	//in 'sysparm_tbl' use any table you need
	//in 'sysparm_query' use an encoded query, set variables above it and mix those in as well

	var jax = new GlideAjax('JAXscript');
	jax.addParam('sysparm_name', 'getStuff');
	jax.addParam('sysparm_tbl', 'sys_user');
	jax.addParam('sysparm_query', 'employee_number=1234567');
	jax.addParam('sysparm_variables','name,u_vp-email,manager-name,u_director-name,location-country,location-latitude');
	jax.getXML(showMessage1);


	function showMessage1(response) {	
		var answer = response.responseXML.documentElement.getAttribute("answer");
		answer = JSON.parse(answer); //Transform the JSON string to an object

		//uses '_' instead of '-' for values
		g_form.setValue('name',answer.name);
		g_form.setValue('email',answer.u_vp_email);
		g_form.setValue('manager',answer.manager_name);
		g_form.setValue('director',answer.u_director_name);
		g_form.setValue('loc','Country: ' + answer.location_country + '    Lat: ' + answer.location_latitude);
	
	}

[chrisw_]

thank you, this saved me a lot of headache 🙂

[angel_jimenez]

Really usefull!! This should be available OOTB, as dot-walking in client scripts is something very usual 😉

[J_ DeLuna]

Whoooa, I'm so bad about checking my community activity. Thank you very much for commenting. 

If you come across additional features that should be added, or if you improve the script, please share. 

[J_ DeLuna]

Fantastic, thank you. Please excuse the excessively late reply.