post Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting) in ITSM articles

Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

Ankit P — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 12:49:41 GMT

This post is to show how you can create a dependency between two variables similar to the Subcategory and Category field dependencies on the Incident form. This often comes as a requirement to add to the Create Incident record producer.

1. Create the variable Category:

2. Create the variable Subcategory:

3. Add this in the Variable Attributes-

"ref_qual_elements=category" without quotes.

That is all. Now, you don't have to create onChange client scripts or custom tables to handle the dependencies on Variables. Don't forget to mark as helpful if it helped :).

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

adi narayana — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 07:42:46 GMT

sorry it not working

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

Ankit P — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 08:19:49 GMT

Could you please send the screenshots of your configurations?

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

Sarvesh Prajapa — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 09:08:24 GMT

put the ref_qual_elements=category inside the Reference qualifier section instead of Default value section

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

WazzaJC — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 20:43:40 GMT

Ankit,

This is fantastic, it worked perfectly for me and just the solution that I needed to configure for my client!

Thanks ever so much for sharing, greatly appreciated Ankit.

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

Keerthi Lakshmi — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 17:18:24 GMT

It is working perfectly. I have an query that do we can made the subcategory field to select more than one item.

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

philipzhekov — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 12:38:34 GMT

@Ankit P thanks for providing your solution, it's working as it should. I can confirm this is working on a regular catalog item as well.

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

AysenurU — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 18:11:09 GMT

This solution saved me from writing a bulky client script and script include. Thank you very very much.

One quick note; I naively just added ref_qual_elements=category into the reference qualifier. However, after adding javascript&colon;"element=subcategory^name=incident^dependent_value=" + current.variables.category this solution worked.

Mind what you are pasting 😀

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

MujeebQ — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 14:30:54 GMT

javascript&colon;"element=subcategory^name=incident^dependent_value=" + current.variables.category

Worked for me.

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

SujithaPS — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 09:34:35 GMT

Hi @Ankit P ,

This solution that you have provided is not working for me , Can you please help me ?

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

Matthew_13 — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 18:45:36 GMT

Great information; thanks for sharing

Re: Category-Subcategory dependency in Service Catalog (Make variables dependent without scripting)

HarshalaK — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 08:43:54 GMT

@Ankit P ,
I have tried same way on my instance but in subcategory 'Other' choice is not setting at bottom even if adding order by sequence(Image attached ) and setting order 9999 in choice table.
do you know anything about this, why it is not setting properly on portal.
It is showing properly on incident table.

I want to set other at bottom.