Form Builder/Design Form vs Layout Form

[bigbacon]

Trying to understand the differences between the Form Builder/Design Form vs the Layout Form options when trying to layout a form.

I ave a form with a lot of sections I am trying to consolidate into less sections. The form currently, using UI policy, hides/shows sections based on the HR service and some variables that created the case. 

These sections often have the same variables as others. In the builder/designer I can't seem to recreate that kind of layout but if I use the Layout Form, I can put a field into multiple sections.

Why is that? Is this type of form building  a bad practice? If so, what is a better method to do this? this was all done by a contractor 5 years ago.

We often use a single COE across many services, often with no rhyme or reason. Like a general HR question end up in the same COE as a case to extend an offer to someone. This can then also be for a new person (non-employee) or an existing employee, of which we use different fields in the COE table.

[bigbacon]

Also, the Form Builder it wants me to really use doesn't even function correctly. I can't unmerge a section from another and I can't add new sections as it ALWAYS just removed whatever I changed when I hit save. Its like I have to use some combination of the layout first, then the builder second. Why is this all so terrible?

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @bigbacon 

I think you might be getting confused, or you may need to break down your requirements.

• When you say "consolidate," it means there are different views on the form, and now you want to make them into one view with one form.

• You need to get a list of what fields and sections are present, along with the applied policies, and whether those policies are global or specific to a view.

• Then, take the form design as the base and start consolidating the fields, removing unnecessary ones, and adjusting sections as needed.

If you open the form in a different layout, it might lead to confusion. Make sure to use the correct view form (like the default view or another view that is commonly used) to minimize the changes required.

It’s more about working with views and form layouts now.

[StacyLen]

You asked, so I will answer.  Yes, this is a bad practice!  Placing same field on a form more than once, regardless if it is on different sections, is bad.   This is a data integrity issue that ServiceNow Health Scans will Flag as ACT findings.

Form Layout was an early tool offered by SN for creating/editing forms.  It has been left in for legacy uses, but some predict it may be deprecated in a future release.  Form Layout DOES "allow" this bad practice because basically each section you edit via FormLayout has the entire domain of data points available for selection in the slush bucket.  

The newer Form Tool is Form Builder.  It will NOT allow 2 instances of same data point on a form as the Slush bucket is for the entire form - all sections.  Once placed anywhere on the form, a data element disappears from the slush bucket - as well it should.

As to your problems using form Designer or Builder, more details would be needed to address those issues.  

From Google, here is a snippet of why to NOT put more than one instance of a data point on a form.

"When a field is on a form more than once in ServiceNow, it's called a rendering conflict or a duplicate field display, leading to "racing" behavior where the user doesn't know which one to edit. The later rendered field often becomes read-only, and the one that actually gets saved might not be the one the user modified, causing confusion and unexpected behavior. ServiceNow discourages this practice, as it can cause issues and unpredictable results."  

There are other scenarios where data integrity, but the above should likely suffice.