Differences between glide objects and their field counterparts.

[raprohaska]

My specific example is the difference between a GlideDuration object and Duration field, though there are also differences between GlideDateTime and date/time fields... and I'm betting there are more.

In my main example, I utilize the "dateNumericValue" function available on a duration field in a generic method to calculate a target date based on a start date, duration, and schedule. I built the function so that any duration could be passed in as a parameter, thinking that it wouldn't matter if the consumer passes in a GlideDuration object or a duration value of a record's duration field (for example catalog item's delivery time field).

The problem is that dateNumericValue is not available on a GlideDuration object. My question is, is there a way to create a duration in the same manner that ServiceNow creates the value within a Duration field instead of "new GlideDuration()"?

Which then leads to a general question, can we create variables of other field types as well, so that I can build general functionality and not worry how the object is created (from the database or "new" object in script)?

[danpatino]

Hi Aaron,

Try just 'numericValue' as a property.

gs.log(duration.numericValue);

You may have to define a new GlideDuration object since pulling it directly from a glide record will give you a glide element instead.

gd = new GlideDuration(duration);
gs.log(gd.numericValue);

[danpatino]

Hi Aaron,   Did this approach work out for you?

[raprohaska]

I haven't had a chance to try it out. It will take a new calculation as I think the duration formats would be different, seconds to days or something along those lines. It is a worthy answer to a work around for sure. I just wonder why ServiceNow creates a data type that exposes different functionality from its glide counterpart. These inconsistencies make the tool feel clunky to folks that have developed in other development environments.

I will post if it worked once I get a moment to go back to that challenge. As of now I hacked it to use the glide records datetime field instead, per the posted code. What is really funny is, I opened a ServiceNow HI ticket asking the same thing and they said that my solution was creative and not a hack, LOL.

Thanks for the response,

AA