This is an old post but I referenced it when searching for something else and noticed (A.) what might have been the original problem and (B.) a few other suggestions for the scenario you detailed.
Firstly the suggestions already made to use the OOTB method to apply a default template to a form is great if you can (*but some tables don't allow this like kb_knowledge), also see my alternative suggestions as templates are great for some things but there are a lot of other options for directing a user to populate the right info in a form or pre=populating a single field.
What might fix your code:
- Did you try using the sys_id of the template instead of the name? - That works for me.
- I would recommend you have something in the code to check if the target field has already been populated, otherwise you'll be wiping existing data every time the form loads for a new record this will be annoying when creating incidents from other processes when the description will no doubt be auto populated from the source record.
function onLoad() {
// check if the form is a new and checks if description is blank
if(g_form.isNewRecord() && g_form.getValue('description') == ''){
// replace <sys_id> below with the sys_id of your preferred sys_template record
applyTemplate('<sys_id>');
}
}
Some Alternatives:
Few thoughts on some alternative ways to achieve this:
- Set a default - You could just populate the default value of the field
- Script a default - If for some reason 1. is a non starter then you could get the script to set the default field value and by pass the template
- Alternatives to setting a default on such a high value field - adding default content to a field will make it difficult to ensure the user actually updates it before submitting the form. To combat this you could consider:-
- Record Producer with Example Text
Would it be better to direct less experienced users to a record producer where you can add "Example Text" to the variables, which will appear in grey when the field is empty? This would allow you to suggest what the user should be entering without actually populating the field
. . . also catalog items allow for help text, tool tips and instructions to be attached to each Question so very versatile. - More specific fields if specific detail is needed
If you need specific data to be captured on the form consider introducing additional targeted fields as these will allow for better data utilisation when processing the incident. - Hints, Field Messages and Labels with hyperlinks to Knowledge
If not using a catalog item/record producer you could add a hint to the label or if you want it more prominent a message to the field while the field is empty advising what the content should be and it's importance. You can even have a link embedded in the label that can point to a knowledge article giving more details if the message would be too wordy - Guided Tour
You could also consider a Guided Tour for the incident page that would trigger the first time users load the incident form that would advise what should be populated in the field, this will then stop existing users being nagged repeatedly.
- Record Producer with Example Text
