'ServiceNow - converting Client Side Scripts to Server Side Scripts

I have a complex ServiceNow platform - it is relatively heavily customised with Client side scripts. These scripts control customised dropdowns etc to validate data.

I now want to introduce some API connectivity. But to do this I need to introduce Server Side validation. Is there an easy way to copy validation rules from client to server side without having to develop the server side?

servicenow


Solution 1:[1]

There's not a great way to "convert" client side to server side in ServiceNow. I believe you are going to have to use a script include for this.

Recommendation

If you are pulling API data into a drop down, it may cause issues with usability and may be better to store the data in the instance rather than fetch it every time someone wants to change a value. I recommend doing this so that if the API server goes down, users don't have issues in SNow, also acts as redundancy for both security & speed.

Async GlideAjax path

It is possible to use GlideAjax to call a server side script include that would do the validation & API calls.

For that you would want to use asynchronous GlideAjax, especially if it works along side APIs

var ga = new GlideAjax('some_script_include');
ga.addParam('sysparm_name', 'SomeFunction');
ga.addParm('sysparm_someparm','someValue');
ga.getXMLWait(ParseResponse);
 
function ParseResponse(response) {
  var answer = response.responseXML.documentElement.getAttribute("answer");
  return answer;
}

Limitations: getXMLWait() apparently doesn't work in scoped application (per SNow Community: https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_question&sys_id=088032badbd057042e247a9e0f96192a which also helped inform this answer)

Solution 2:[2]

There is no easy way to do this.

Nevertheless, if you could separate UI references and data validation in the scripts, it should reduce the work as server-side javascript would also be similar. If there is a specific use case or if you can attach sample validation scripts we could guide better.

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution Source
Solution 1 UnisonDev
Solution 2 Sunil B N

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