Chapter 12. Client-Side Scripting

Whenever we say that something executes or happens client-side, or on the client, it's important to understand that we're referring to the user's web browser.

While it is important to understand the underlying architecture on which ServiceNow runs for server-side scripting, client-side scripting grants you access to a whole new set of non-ServiceNow APIs: The Document Object Model (DOM), and ServiceNow APIs which, grant you the ability to directly modify what the user sees and how they interact with the presentation layer of the system, without modifying any back-end logic or data. You can change field labels, choice list options, flash or highlight a field, throw an alert or confirm dialog, request input from the user, and more.

ServiceNow recommends against directly accessing or modifying webpage elements in the DOM, but luckily most of what you might want to be able to do can be accomplished using client-side APIs provided by the Now platform!

In this chapter...