Display values

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 1 minute to read

    • Reference fields store a sys_id for each referenced record in the database, but the sys_id is not shown.

    The reference field shows the display value. For example, an incident's Assigned to field stores the sys_id of a particular user, but actually displays the user's name. The following example shows how Charlie Witherspoon, which is the display value of a user record, is shown in the Assigned to field.

    Figure 1. Display value xml
    XML demonstrating an assigned_to element with a sys_id as the value and an assigned_to="Charlie WItherspoon" attribute.Charlie Witherspoon is displayed in the Assigned to form field instead of the sys_id.
    Table 1. Reference field
    Reference field Value stored in database Display value field of source table Value displayed in UI
    Assigned to [task.assigned_to] 46b87022a9fe198101a78787e40d7547 Name [sys_user.name] Charlie Whitherspoon
    Reference fields show display values in: