Manipulate ServiceNow Data

Name: servicenow-manipulate-data
Rating: 88
Author: DanielMadsenDK

Quick start

Querying records (traditional):

javascript

var gr = new GlideRecord('incident');
gr.addQuery('state', 'Open');
gr.addQuery('priority', '<=', 2);
gr.orderBy('created_on');
gr.query();

while (gr.next()) {
    gs.info('Incident: ' + gr.getValue('number'));
}

Modern fluent queries:

javascript

var records = new global.GlideQuery('incident')
    .where('active', true)
    .where('priority', '<=', 2)
    .select();

for (var i = 0; i < records.length; i++) {
    var incident = records[i];
}

Aggregating data:

javascript

var agg = new GlideAggregate('incident');
agg.addAggregate('COUNT');
agg.addAggregate('SUM', 'time_worked');
agg.query();

while (agg.next()) {
    var count = agg.getAggregate('COUNT');
    var total = agg.getAggregate('SUM');
}

Secure access (with ACL enforcement):

javascript

var gr = new GlideRecordSecure('confidential_table');
gr.query();
// Only returns records user has permission to see

Performance patterns

Pattern	Use Case	Performance
`setLimit(1)`	Existence check	Fast
`getValue('field')`	Get single value	No dot-walk overhead
`GlideAggregate`	Count/Sum	Much faster than loop
`addEncodedQuery()`	Complex filters	Copy from list view

Best practices

•Use GlideQuery for new code (modern, fluent)
•Use GlideRecord for complex queries
•Never iterate to count; use GlideAggregate
•Use getValue() instead of dot-walking for performance
•Use GlideRecordSecure when ACLs matter
•Use setLimit(1) for existence checks
•Copy encodedQuery from list views for complex filters
•Test queries on sub-production before production
•Refactor repeated query logic into Script Includes

Key APIs

API	Purpose
GlideRecord	CRUD operations, traditional
GlideQuery	NEW - fluent, modern queries
GlideAggregate	Counts, sums, aggregations
GlideRecordSecure	ACL-enforced queries
GlideFilter	Advanced filtering operations

Reference

For Performance optimization, decision matrices, and anti-patterns, see BEST_PRACTICES.md