How to learn scripting in ServiceNow (ES5 and ECMA6+ Tokyo release)

[Mohit Kaushik]

How to learn Scripting in ServiceNow?

I have seen this question very often in the community as well as in other forums too. The answer to this question is very simple - ‘Practice’. The more you practice the more you will learn however, I can understand it can be very difficult and overwhelming to start from a vast sea of knowledge. So here is my approach to start the learning process which might be helpful for beginners and average coding skill members as well.

Steps:

1. Get a Personal developer instance from ServiceNow developer site. Personal Developer Instances. You need to login to the instance at least once in every 10 days to keep it alive else ServiceNow will reclaim the instance.

2. There is a lot of content available on internet about scripting but my favorite is Chuck Tomasi’s(@Chuck Tomasi)Youtube video series Learn Javascript on the Now Platform. Once you complete this series you can easily start writing codes and do basic programming in ServiceNow.
3. There is a course available on Now learning as well. Scripting in ServiceNow Fundamentals On Demand. You should be able to access this for free with partner portal account but without that you will have to pay 300 USD.
4. Integration on the Now Platform Expert Series - LXP Path Preview - Now Learning (service-now.com)

Note: Now if you are interested in some other courses as well, like New to ServiceNow, ServiceNow Administrator, ServiceNow developer and Citizen Developer etc. then below link from developer site can help you for free.

Learning Plans in ServiceNow

Edit: For those who are thinking to start learning the latest JavaScript features as per ServiceNow Tokyo release. They can refer the below playlist 'Namaste JavaScript' Akshay Saini. Its a great content and will definitely help you understand the JS concepts more deeply and easily.

Namaste JS

Hope this article helps you, do not forget to bookmark it for future updates. Please mark it helpful if you feel so. I am open for suggestions/improvements/comments.

Thanks,
Mohit Kaushik
Community Rising Star 2022

[Chuck Tomasi]

Thanks for sharing and the shoutout.

ICYMI - The content is also available on Now Learning as part of the new Community Created Content.

[Mohit Kaushik]

Thanks for sharing the link, I will add it to my article now.

[sheryl]

I am a former business analyst - with a lot of operations side of ServiceNow Experience, but new to development.  For the most part, the low code structure of Flow Designer or ATF works well until.... I need something that I can't get (or maybe don't know how to get), and a co-worker will suggest writing a script... and I panic! lol

As a 'newbie', I spent a ridiculous amount of time yesterday trying to get the value of a variable in a catalog item, so I could map to the assignment group for the RITM & SCTASK based on on value in the variable.  I had worked with the fd_data info before, and am using the get catalog variables action in my flow, but getting the syntax correct was challenging.  btw - I did get it to work 🙂

I have watched, and I continue to re-watch the YouTube videos from Chuck Tomasi, and I agree they are very helpful.  I watch most all of his tech now and happy hour coding sessions as well and learn a lot from those too!

I am very familiar with the list view filter, dot walking, etc - so it has been frustrating to struggle so much with how to do the same thing in JavaScript.  I came upon a YouTube video yesterday regarding Glide Records that used language like I am used to when creating a filter.  He breaks down the steps of the syntax... which is where I struggle.  I found this super helpful, so I am going to share here as well!  The Video is from GSI, who I have no knowledge of, other than the teaching style matched my learning style 🙂

ServiceNow Scripting 101: Intro to GlideRecord

A few screenshots attached of the pieces that helped me the most.

[Mohit Kaushik]

Thanks for sharing this @sheryl . Happy learning 🙂

Regards,

Mohit Kaushik

[Chuck Tomasi]

If you're struggling with the basics of JavaScript, then I recommend our series Learn JavaScript on the Now Platform to get you up to speed before you jump into the ServiceNow specific stuff. It was meant as a primer to our scripting course on NowLearning, but others have found it useful.