Customize Watch List field

[jgullion]

I am wondering if anyone has had any luck changing the way the Watch List field displays on records. The issue that we have been facing seems so small, but it is causing repeated issues. Our process users, especially our outsourcing vendors, have a habit of entering users' email addresses into the watch list, rather than selecting the actual user record. The users get the notifications that they need, but are not able to access the incident or request when they log into the system. It seems that the fact that the entry box for email addresses actually has text in it saying "enter email address" draws their attention and they skip over the user box.

I get that this is a training issue, but if there was an easy UI change, it would help our adoption. I have seen that it is possible to remove the email address entry box, but we have legitimate reasons to have email addresses entered, so I would rather not go down that path. I think that if they user selection box could display text in the same way as the email entry box does, with some repeated training, we might get less of this issue.

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks

[Tim75 · Accepted solution]

Hi Jason

Below is an onLoad client script you can use to set a place holder value for a watch list (or any GlideList for that matter) field.   Please be aware though that it is against ServiceNow best practice to manipulate the dom.   Having said that I have tested it in both Fuji and Geneva and it works fine.

function onLoad() {
   var el = g_form.getElement("sys_display.incident.watch_list");

   if (!el) {
   return;
   }
   el.placeholder = 'Enter User';
}

You'll have to run this on every record for each watch list you want the place holder to appear on.   This will work fine if you only have a couple of watch list fields to do.

You could do something funky using g_form.getEditableFields() (for example) and try to work out which fields are watch lists (if any), and therefore automating the addition of the place holder.   I could help you with that, have to decide if its worth the extra effort over the more "brute force" approach though.

Thanks

Tim

[ritaaudi]

Hi folks!
I want to edit the placeholder in the email box. Any suggestions on how to do that:

TY!