Flow Variable Issue

[dougconnell]

Flow Variable Issue

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

1. Anyone seen the same thing? 
2. I have opened Case CS6252272
3. 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]

[dougconnell]

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?

[pennieturner]

Hi, I have the same issue!!!

I use chrome too

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

[Mosh Jah_n1]

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.

[Lisa Holenstein · Accepted solution]

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.