Setting Default value for old records

[balaji_charapal]

Hi,

I have created new field "Upgrade Version" of type choice list(example: Geneva, Helsinki, Istanbul ) and Default value(Helsinki) with --None--.

The problem is for (Historical Data)old records also it is setting Helsinki as a value, we don't want to sent value for old records.

How can we achieve this? or Is it a ServiceNow Behaviour?

[Chuck Tomasi]

Hi,

Create the field with no default value, then once the field is created, go back and set the default value. Existing records will have a value of none and new records will get the new default value as they are created.

[balaji_charapal]

Thanks for your response Tomasi,

It is working as expected in Dev, when i move the code to QA then only it is happening like this.

[Chris M3]

You'll need to do the two updates Chuck described in two separate update sets.   In the same update set, it is only one record thus it has a default on-creation

[Chuck Tomasi · Accepted solution]

That's correct. Your update set is going to contain the latest changes to the dictionary entry and that's what's getting applied to test and prod (effectively negating the two step process I said before.)

If you cannot or don't want to do it that way, then a Fix Script is needed to "null out" the existing records immediately after applying the update set so only new records have the new default value.

That script would look something like this:

Standard disclaimer: The following code is untested, requires review and potential modifications.

(function () {  

      var rec = new GlideRecord('your_table');   //change your_table to your table name

      rec.query();  

      while (rec.next()) {  

                  rec.setValue('your_field', ''); // change your_field to your field

                  rec.autoSysFields(false); // do not update mod_count, updated time, etc.

                  rec.setWorflow(false); // do not run business rules or workflows

                  rec.update();  

      }  

})();