Display User Id instead of User name to a reference field referencing sys_user

[pravee26]

I am having two reference fields "User Id" and "Caller" both referencing 'sys_user' table. I have to get user id of the users in "User Id" field and User name in "Caller" field.How to achieve this?Kindly help me with this.Thanks in advance

[Chuck Tomasi · Accepted solution]

HI Praveena,

You can set the "display" attribute on only one field of a table being referenced. If you change the display attribute from the name field to the user id field it is a global change. All reference fields that reference that table will display the same result.

What it sounds like is you need a reference field (which will display the name) and a second, string field, to display the user id of that user. Before I explain how to do that, is the "i" icon (hover over) insufficient to show someone the user id? Does it need to be on the same form? It seems a bit redundant and generally isn't best practice, but I understand there are use cases for it.

If you need to get the user's user id on the same screen, you can use Configure> Form Layout to display it by dot-walking to the user's user id field.

Reference:

Dot-Walking - Servicenow Wiki

[pravee26]

Hi Chuck tomasi..,

                          Thanks for your quick response.Both User Id and Caller are reference fields to sys_user table on the same form.User Id reference should contain user's id and Caller reference field should contain user name which is already existing as name is the display value of sys_user table.

                          My query is how to fetch user's id to the User Id reference field without changing the display value globally?

[pravee26]

Hi Chuck tomasi..,

                          Thanks for your quick response.Both User Id and Caller are reference fields to sys_user table on the same form.User Id reference should contain user's id and Caller reference field should contain user name which is already existing as name is the display value of sys_user table.

                          My query is how to fetch user's id to the User Id reference field without changing the display value globally?

[Chuck Tomasi]

Sorry for the confusion. You cannot have two different reference fields display information from the same table two different ways. You need to add a second field to the form that is a "view" to the user id field of that user. This is where dot-walking comes in.

Step 1: Use Configure> Form Layout

Step 2: In the field selector, click (once) on the reference field, then click the icon that appears in the middle.

This "drills in to" the caller fields.

Step 3: select the user ID field and move it to the correct placement on the right.

Save your work and inspect.