question Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer? in ITSM forum

How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

mahudg2 — Fri, 02 May 2014 13:51:09 GMT

I'm creating a record producer where a category and subcategory is shown.

Subcategory and category are both custom variables that are drop down lists. But I want the subcategories to be based off what category is shown.

For example when someone chooses phone for the category I'd like the subcategory to show phone related items.

Would this be a good place to use variable sets?

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

Dan Tolgyesi1 — Fri, 02 May 2014 15:26:14 GMT

Hi Matt,

If you are going to use the Category/Subcategory on multiple forms, I would definately recommend a variable set.

The link below will take you to a wiki article that should help you create the dependencies

https://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Adding_Dependent_Variables

Thanks,

Dan

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

mahudg2 — Fri, 02 May 2014 15:56:29 GMT

Thank you for the answer but I guess I'm still confused . I'm still not sure how variable sets work and how I can use variable sets with this method.

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

mduluk — Fri, 02 May 2014 20:31:41 GMT

I don't see a dependent in catalog variables like they have in Choice lists on forms. What you might need to do is use the catalog UI policies. Make a different sub-cause for each choice in the cause. So if you had 5 causes, then there would be 5 different sub cause variables. Then use the UI policies to hide the different sub causes until the correct cause is chosen. This sounds messy, so hopefully someone else can come up with a better idea.

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

bgworld — Fri, 02 May 2014 21:28:25 GMT

Hi Matt,

When variables are grouped together they are called variable sets. variable sets are reusable. They can be used across different catalog items. However normal variable belong to that specific item only. Following is the link.

Service Catalog Variable Sets - ServiceNow Wiki

Regarding Dependent choice list, you can use simple client script based.

You will need following things:

On change of category

function onChange(control, oldValue, newValue, isLoading) {


if(newValue == oldValue){


return;


}


//remove all items from subcat drop down to start


// Used the g_form.clearOptions() function instead of g_form.removeOption() function


g_form.clearOptions('subcat');




//build a new list of dependent options


var gp = new GlideRecord('sys_choice');


gp.addQuery('dependent_value', newValue);


gp.addQuery('element', 'subcategory');


gp.query();


while(gp.next()){


   g_form.addOption('subcat', gp.value, gp.label);


}


}

Additional OnLoad script to initially clear the Subcategory

function onLoad (control, oldValue, newValue, isLoading) {


// Used the g_form.clearOptions() function instead of g_form.removeOption() function


g_form.clearOptions('subcat');


}

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

Mike Moody — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:40:00 GMT

The way I handled this in our CTI structure, is that I created custom tables for Category, Type, and Subtype respectively. Then I created reference type fields on the Record Producer and used advanced reference qualifiers that would pass in the currently selected value of the dependent field(s). This advanced reference qualifier would then query a many to many table that I created which linked together all the valid Category/Type/Subtype combinations. Finally I created two Catalog Client Scripts which were responsible for performing an AJAX call to a Script Include to check if a dependent field still had a valid value once it's field it was dependent on changed, if not it would clear the value in that field. That's just another way to consider handling this, it also has the added benefit of being able to scale your CTI structure by creating additional custom tables for another subcategory level and simply adding a new reference field to the many to many table.

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

sach1 — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 18:17:54 GMT

bajarang..g_form.clearOptions('u_sub_2'); does not work on Internet Explorer .

Is there any thing else that will clearOptions from IE ?

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

solutioningnow — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 18:19:14 GMT

Hi Sach,

I'll also check this and get back to you on this

Regards,

Solutioner

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

bgworld — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 18:29:55 GMT

Hi sach,

We created separate global function which can be used anywhere (UI Script). we had some extra things to take care as well.

Following is the workaround:

function removeOptions(selectbox,choiceValue)

{

var i;

for(i=selectbox.options.length-1;i>=0;i--)

{

if (selectbox.options[i].value == choiceValue) {

selectbox.remove(i);

break;

}

//using the function:

removeOptions(document.getElementById("mySelectObject"),choiceValue);

this works on all browsers

Hope it Helps !

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

sach1 — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 18:52:41 GMT

can this be embedded with the above script you mentioned ?

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

randrews — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 20:39:28 GMT

while you can do this.. and it works.. it is a bit of a pain.. especially if it is a mando variable.. lots of scripting ...

imho the better answer is to change it from a select box to a lookup select box.. they appear the same to the end user.. but the reference qualifier works on the lookup select box.

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

Danny Mortense1 — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 02:44:22 GMT

Here's my take on this. I had a similar requirement which I resolved with a little help. You can check out my solution here.

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

nagapramodkanch — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 14:46:52 GMT

Hi Michael.

I could use some help ! thanks in advance .

Requirement:

Re: Category|Subcategory1|Subcategory2 implementation in Service Catalog

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

Danny Mortense1 — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 05:22:15 GMT

Hi Naga,

You should be able to adjust the script mentioned in the link I posted above to meet your needs. Here is the link again https://community.servicenow.com/message/733618

It appears that you are using a Record Producer in your example. If I get time I'll see if I can set up an example that better matches your specific requirement.

Re: How do you change what choices are shown based on the choices made in another variable in a record producer?

Kailash Bhange — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 07:01:15 GMT

Hi All,

Please take a look at Article below:

1. dependent on single table
2. dependent on two tables using referene

[SOLVED]: - Dependent variable on Catalog item using Lookup Select Box
https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_article&sys_id=1ce7dceedb5914101cd8a345ca961952

If my answer solved your issue, please mark my answer as ✅ Correct & 👍Helpful based on the Impact.

Thank you!
Regards,
Kailash.