question Re: Flow Variable Issue in ServiceNow AI Platform forum

Flow Variable Issue

dougconnell — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 03:59:23 GMT

Flow Variable Issue

I am Having Issues with Input Variables in Flow Actions in San Diego.

Anyone seen the same thing?
I have opened Case CS6252272
An Update Set illustrating the Problem is attached.

Problem Summary

A stray character with CharCode 65279 is being appended to all Variable Values of type Text which prevents the value being used in SN Queries and other use cases. I don't know if this stray character is being appended to other variable types such as Reference values. Possibly. I am seeing some slightly erratic behavior.

Diagnostic Flow Action

To illustrate the Problem, I created a Flow Action with a Javascript Step. The Upddate Set is attached.

The Flow Action has one input parameter called "My Text Variable" (my_text_variable) which is then used as input to my Step which contains this JavaScript Step.

Javascript

(function execute(inputs, outputs) {
var messageText = "";
var myTextVariable1 = inputs.my_text_variable;
messageText += "\n myTextVariable1 = [" + myTextVariable1 + "]";
messageText += "\n myTextVariable1.length = [" + myTextVariable1.length + "]";
// There is a bug. Remove stray char at end of string.
var x = String.fromCharCode(65279);
var myTextVariable2 = myTextVariable1.replace(x,"");
messageText += "\n myTextVariable2 = [" + myTextVariable2 + "]";
messageText += "\n myTextVariable2.length = [" + myTextVariable2.length + "]";
outputs.message_text = messageText;
})(inputs, outputs);

Output

I then Click on Test for the flow and enter "Hello" as the value for "My Text Variable" (my_text_variable).
This was my output.

 myTextVariable1 = [Hello]
 myTextVariable1.length = [6]
 myTextVariable2 = [Hello]
 myTextVariable2.length = [5]

Re: Flow Variable Issue

dougconnell — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 05:19:10 GMT

I recived a call from Support and we did a Zoom. ServiceNow was not able to replicate the problem - even when they impersonated me.

However, I still have the problem and ServiceNow support witnessed the issue. I am not going crazy. (Well maybe just a little).

The problem seams to be only related to Chrome. Chrome adds the 65279 character (Zero Width No-Break Space.) at the end of input variables that are typed in.

I tried Edge and did not get the problem. I am using Chrome Version 105.0.5195.127 (Official Build) (32-bit).

I tried Incognito mode. I cleared my cache. I even tried: Settings->Reset and Clean up.
So far nothing has worked. Chrome seams to add this stray character. Edge works fine.

Hummmmm. Not sure what to do next.
I guess maybe I need to switch to using Edge exclusively for ServiceNow work?

Re: Flow Variable Issue

pennieturner — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 13:02:13 GMT

Hi, I have the same issue!!!

I use chrome too

Any news on it? If not Ill log it too with your case number

Re: Flow Variable Issue

Mosh Jah_n1 — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 14:51:28 GMT

Have the same issue with Chrome. It's a ral pain as the no-break space character can mess up JSON strings, which will fial to parse.

Re: Flow Variable Issue

Lisa Holenstein — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 14:59:19 GMT

This is a known issue with Chrome 105, our engineers are working on solving it asap. In the meantime, if you work/save/publish the same flow in a non-Chromium browser (Firefox for example) that should work.
If you have a login to our support portal, check out this KB1182247 for details on the workaround.

Please mark as solved if this answered your question.

Re: Flow Variable Issue

Lisa Holenstein — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 07:33:43 GMT

Update: this has been solved with Tokyo Patch 2, see the section Notable Fixes for PRB1606387.

Re: Flow Variable Issue

SyaharruddinCSC — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 15:49:04 GMT

I have the same problem too. However, mine was being appended at the front of the variable. Working using non-Chromium web browser doesn't help at all. My workaround was to remove it using .replace.

Funny enough, I found the problem while working multi-approvals using an article that Lisa Holenstein created.

Re: Flow Variable Issue

Community Alums — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 10:16:59 GMT

Hi Lisa,

Rather annoyingly, the ServiceNow instance provided as part of the IntegrationHub Fundamentals course is Tokyo patch 1.

This /ufeff character breaks the Pagination Variables Script when building the the World Glaciers - LatLong Action, using Chrome 119 (latest build). It works in Firefox, but took me a moment to find the cause.

I'm reporting it to the NowLearning team.