Auto-populate variable with value from sys_user

kevinthury · ‎10-04-2017

On Istanbul for 4 months.

I have created a Catalog Item with variables for entering the Department ID and Accounting Unit values. I am being asked to auto-populate these two variables based on the person submitting the request.

I am able to do so with a Run Script activity on the associated workflow that dot-walks to the desired field.

current.variables.au = current.request.requested_for.department.id;

current.variables.company = current.request.requested_for.cost_center.code;

Our goal is to have the 'au' and 'company' variables visible on the Catalog Item view (Service Portal) and auto-populate. The purpose being is for ordering items and there may come a time when an order is placed that will need to be charged to a different au/company than the person ordering.

Will a similar script work and where do I place this? Any assistance is appreciated.

Chuck Tomasi · ‎11-10-2017

Hi Kevin,

Reference fields contain two bits of information. A sys_id (which is the unique ID of the field you are referencing) and a display value - one of the fields from the referenced record to be human friendly. Because not too many humans know which user, client script, or ACL this is: 24b9bd5d9363220028517a75e57ffb1d

So to do that, there's a third argument that you cited "displayValue". Someone has defined a field on the company table and department table as the display value. You did a great job in retrieving the sys_id, the record to reference, but the system says "What am I supposed to show the users as a friendly display value?" so it runs back to the server to get that. You have the opportunity to get it with getReferenceAdvanced(). While I haven't used getReferenceAdvanced() enough to remember, based on your example, you could get it like this:

var reqFor = getReferenceAdvancedPortal(g_form, "opened_by", "department.sys_id;department.name;cost_center.sys_id;cost_center.name");
g_form.setValue("company", reqFor.cost_center_sys_id, reqFor.cost_center_name);
g_form.setValue("au", reqFor.department_sys_id, reqFor.department_name);

Visually, it will look the same, but improve performance by only doing a single server call.

Take a look at the Quick tip in Episode 39 of TechNow for more information on display values...

TechNow Episode List

View solution in original post

Chuck Tomasi · ‎10-04-2017

Hi Kevin,

I'm not sure you can just create variables out of thin air in a script and have them appear on a form. The best practice would be to create the variables on the catalog item and use a script (e.g. business rule) to populate the values of your two variables from the request.requested_for dot-walking values.

kevinthury · ‎10-05-2017

The variables exist and are visible on the form. I simply want them to populate the value from the sys_user record of the individual form whom the order is requested for.

Chuck Tomasi · ‎10-05-2017

Then you are going about it the right way. I recommend doing this via a business rule, but there are other methods.

kevinthury · ‎10-05-2017

This is new territory for me, so forgive questions that may seem quite basic. I'm struggling at the correct approach to make this work. I have started a business rule against the Catalog Item Catalog table. Runs before Insert or Update and the 'Catalog Item is Software Request'.

The script I have setup is as follow, but not working.

(function executeRule(current, previous /*null when async*/) {

var au = current.requested_for.department.id;

var company = current.requested_for.cost_center.code;

current.variables.au = au;

current.variables.company = company;

})(current, previous);