GlideRecord getUniqueValue

[Colleen]

Is getUniqueValue a valid GlideRecord method?  It is not listed in the GlideRecord documentation, but can be selected from the intellisense menu in a ServiceNow script editor.

If gr is a GlideRecord object, Is it better to use gr.sys_id or gr.getValue('sys_id') to retrieve the sys_id as a string?  When I have referenced the sys_id property in a workflow script it seems to return an object rather than a string.

[Jaspal Singh]

Hi Collen,

Yes, it can be termed as one of methods of GlideRecord.

For question

'If gr is a GlideRecord object, Is it better to use gr.sys_id or gr.getValue('sys_id') '

better use gr.getUniqueValue() as it will always return output in string. Refer link for a check.

[Alok Das]

Hi Colleen,

Yes you can use "getUniqueValue" an OOB function to retrieve a sys_id of a record.

gr.getValue('sys_id') will also return the sys_id.

But if you are using "gr.sys_id" you should use toString() function like this "gr.sys_id.toString()"

Any of the above 3 ways can be used to retrieve the sys_id.

Kindly mark my answer as Correct and Helpful based on the Impact

Regards,

Alok

[Willem]

Hi Colleen,

ServiceNow and many developers use different supported functions for this:

- gr.getUniqueValue();

- gr.sys_id.toString()

- gr.sys_id + '';

- gr.getValue('sys_id');

All return the sys_id as a string and will work. They are all used throughout the system.

The gr.sys_id is just a 'pointer' to the sys_id field, which will not always be interpreted as a string.

Hope this helps! 🙂

[Megha Padale]

Hi Colleen,

Both getValue() and getUniqueValue() will return a value from the GlideRecord upon which they're called.

getUniqueValue() accepts no arguments, and simply returns the primary key (the sys_id) of the record.

getValue() on the other hand, can return the value from any table column (including sys_id). It accepts one argument - a field name, and will return the value therein.

I believe getUniqueValue() is a best way to get unique id (sys_id) of the record from server side and client side scripting both.

If my answer helped you in any way, mark answer as helpful and correct.

thanks and regards,

Megha

[Willem]

Hi Colleen,

Hope you are doing well.

Is your question resolved? Or do we need to follow-up on this?

Please mark the answer as correct if it solves your question. This will help others who are looking for a similar solution. Also marking this answer as correct takes the post of the unsolved list.
Thanks.

Kind regards,

Willem