Data items
Summarize
Summary of Data Items
Data items are essential components that retrieve and present data from your ServiceNow instance's tables on screens. They serve as queries that pull specific information, such as incidents or change requests, for display in your applications.
Show less
Key Features
- Standard Data Items: These return data from a single table without parameters, allowing for filtered results. For example, they can retrieve all high priority changes from the change request table.
- Parametrized Data Items: These allow the inclusion of parameters in queries, enabling dynamic data retrieval. For instance, they can show incidents assigned to the currently logged-in user by passing in the user's value.
- Relationship Data Items: Necessary for creating embedded lists within record screens, these data items connect the main record to related records, enhancing data display options.
- Special Use Data Item Configurations: Includes configurations like Append Encoded Query for navigating from analytics previews to lists and Grouped List Data Items for grouping records in grouped list screens.
Key Outcomes
By utilizing data items effectively, ServiceNow customers can create dynamic and interactive screens that display relevant data tailored to user needs. This enhances user experience and ensures that crucial information is easily accessible within applications.
Data items provide the data presented in a screen.
Data items are queries on a selected table that bring back data. Screens, which display data from your instance, get their information from data items. For example, if your application contains a list of incidents, the list would use a data item representing records from the incident [incident] table.
Data item types
There are three different types of data items.
- Standard data items
A standard data item is used to return data from a single table. A standard data item does not include parameters, but can include a filter to return a set of results from the queried table. For example, a standard data item could query all high priority changes from the change request [change_request] table.
- Parametrized data items
A parametrized data item is used to perform a query containing one or more parameters to return data. Parameters are used to pass in variables to your queries. For example, you could use a parameter to include the value of the logged in user so that you can show a list of all incidents assigned to that user.
- Relationship data items
Relationship data items are necessary for embedded lists. Embedded lists are lists that can be embedded within a record screen. Record screens can have one or more embedded segments. An embedded list is a type of segment that can be embedded. When you configure an embedded list, it's important to be familiar with the original record screen table. It's also important to understand the table that contains the records that appear in the embedded list. To create an embedded list, you need a relationship data item. For details about creating a relationship data item, see Configure a relationship data item for an embedded list.
Special use data item configurations
The following data items do not fit into the previous categories, and are used only in the cases detailed in the following sections.
- Append encoded query
To navigate from a single score analytics preview or from a chart screen header function to a list of records, you need to configure a special data item using an instance relative URL. This is a standard data item that uses a different type of condition. Find more information about how to configure an append encoded query in Chart screen.
- Grouped list data item
A grouped data item is used exclusively for a grouped list screen. Any data item, standard and relationship, parametrized or not, can be grouped by a field. Find more info about how to configure grouped list data items at Grouped list screen.