Split multi line text box on enter

[ncp]

I have a multiline text field in a catalog item that I scan asset serial numbers into. The barcode scanner automatically adds a line feed at the end of it ex:

ABC123

DEF123

and so on

When they checkout, all I do is run a script and close the task. In the script I tried reading that in a into a variable and splitting that based on "\r" and "\n" and I get an array length of undefined. Would anyone know why..my script below:

var assetArray=[];

assetArray = current.variables.multi_scanned_assets;

assetArray = assetArray.split("\n");

gs.log("assetArray length " + assetArray.length);

for (i=0;i<assetArray.length;i++){

  gs.log("assetArray " + assetArray[i]);

}

[Shiva Thomas · Accepted solution]

Hi Chandran,

You may want to find the exact nature of the invisible escaped character that are in your string.

For this you can use...

gs.log(JSON.stringify(current.variables.multi_scanned_assets.toString()));

Once you found them, your script should work. Use the for the split in line 10.

// Creating a fake current to try your code
var current = new GlideRecord('incident');
current.get('d71f7935c0a8016700802b64c67c11c6');
current.variables.multi_scanned_assets = current.close_notes; // I put your text in the close notes field of an incident

// Finding the escaped char
gs.log(JSON.stringify(current.variables.multi_scanned_assets.toString())); // ABC123\r\nDEF123 ... this could be different in your case

// Your code...
assetArray = current.variables.multi_scanned_assets.toString().split("\r\n"); // \r\n where the escaped characters in my example put yours here. 
gs.log("assetArray length " + assetArray.length);
for (i=0;i<assetArray.length;i++){
   gs.log("assetArray " + assetArray[i]);
}

The toString() on line 7 and 10 are required for the script to work.

[ncp]

Hi Shiva,

That seemed to do it! I I have the barcode scanner in the office I will try it from there on Monday and then update this question

Thanks for your help

[Ivar Donado]

It was really helpful. I'm new on Javascript development (or any kind of web-based development for the matter) but I was hired anyway due to logic and problem solving abilities. It's good to learn about methods like stringify to debug, it helped me solve a problem I was having with my current code.

Thanks!

[Savita P1]

Hi Shiva,

I am trying to get total number of lines entered in multi line text variable using below script, but I am not getting exact number of lines.

var str=current.variables.variablename.toString().split(/(\r\n|\r|\n)/); 

gs.info(str.length);

Example: I have entered below text in multi line text variable and it has total11 lines, but I am not getting 11 as a result.

Could you please assist me in getting total number of lines irrespective of complete or partial lines.

Thanks & Regards,

Savita