Mobile Development for ServiceNow

Mobile development enables native mobile experiences with offline capabilities.

Mobile Architecture

Mobile App Configuration ├── App Screens │ ├── List Views │ ├── Detail Views │ └── Card Builders ├── Push Notifications ├── Offline Rules └── Mobile Actions

Key Tables

Table Purpose

sys_sg_mobile_app

Mobile app configs

sys_sg_screen

Mobile screens

sys_sg_card_builder

Card builders

sys_push_notification

Push configs

sys_sg_offline_rule

Offline rules

Mobile App Configuration (ES5)

Create Mobile App

// Create mobile app configuration (ES5 ONLY!) var app = new GlideRecord("sys_sg_mobile_app") app.initialize()

app.setValue("name", "IT Support") app.setValue("description", "Mobile app for IT support tasks")

// App settings app.setValue("active", true) app.setValue("version", "1.0.0")

// Branding app.setValue("primary_color", "#1976D2") app.setValue("secondary_color", "#FFFFFF") app.setValue("icon", "attachment_sys_id")

// Default screen app.setValue("home_screen", homeScreenSysId)

// Roles app.setValue("roles", "itil")

app.insert()

Configure Mobile Screen

// Create mobile screen (ES5 ONLY!) var screen = new GlideRecord("sys_sg_screen") screen.initialize()

screen.setValue("name", "My Incidents") screen.setValue("mobile_app", mobileAppSysId) screen.setValue("type", "list") // list, record, custom

// Data source screen.setValue("table", "incident") screen.setValue("filter", "assigned_to=javascript:gs.getUserID()^active=true")

// Display screen.setValue("title", "My Incidents") screen.setValue("icon", "list")

// Ordering screen.setValue("order", 100)

screen.insert()

Card Builder (ES5)

Create Card Configuration

// Create card builder for list display (ES5 ONLY!) var card = new GlideRecord("sys_sg_card_builder") card.initialize()

card.setValue("name", "Incident Card") card.setValue("table", "incident")

// Card layout card.setValue("primary_field", "number") card.setValue("secondary_field", "short_description") card.setValue("tertiary_field", "priority")

// Additional fields card.setValue( "fields", JSON.stringify([ { field: "caller_id", label: "Caller" }, { field: "state", label: "Status" }, { field: "opened_at", label: "Opened" }, ]), )

// Visual indicators card.setValue("color_field", "priority") card.setValue( "color_mapping", JSON.stringify({ 1: "#D32F2F", // Critical - Red 2: "#F57C00", // High - Orange 3: "#FBC02D", // Moderate - Yellow 4: "#388E3C", // Low - Green 5: "#1976D2", // Planning - Blue }), )

card.insert()

Custom Card Actions

// Add actions to card (ES5 ONLY!) function addCardAction(cardSysId, actionDef) { var action = new GlideRecord("sys_sg_card_action") action.initialize()

action.setValue("card_builder", cardSysId) action.setValue("label", actionDef.label) action.setValue("icon", actionDef.icon) action.setValue("order", actionDef.order)

// Action type action.setValue("action_type", actionDef.type) // script, navigate, share

// Script action (ES5 ONLY!) if (actionDef.type === "script") { action.setValue("script", actionDef.script) }

action.insert() }

// Example actions addCardAction(cardSysId, { label: "Acknowledge", icon: "check", order: 100, type: "script", script: "(function(gr) {\n" + " gr.state = 2; // In Progress\n" + ' gr.work_notes = "Acknowledged via mobile";\n' + " gr.update();\n" + ' gs.addInfoMessage("Incident acknowledged");\n' + "})(current);", })

Push Notifications (ES5)

Configure Push Notification

// Create push notification config (ES5 ONLY!) var push = new GlideRecord("sys_push_notification") push.initialize()

push.setValue("name", "High Priority Incident Assigned") push.setValue("description", "Notify when high priority incident assigned")

// Target table and condition push.setValue("table", "incident") push.setValue("condition", "priority<=2^assigned_to.changes()")

// Notification content push.setValue("title", "High Priority Incident Assigned") push.setValue("body", "${number}: ${short_description}")

// Recipients push.setValue("recipient_type", "field") push.setValue("recipient_field", "assigned_to")

// Deep link push.setValue("deep_link", true) push.setValue("link_url", "/incident/${sys_id}")

push.setValue("active", true)

push.insert()

Send Push Notification Programmatically

// Send push notification (ES5 ONLY!) function sendPushNotification(userSysId, message) { try { var push = new sn_notification.PushNotification()

push.setTitle(message.title)
push.setBody(message.body)

if (message.data) {
  push.setData(message.data)
}

if (message.deepLink) {
  push.setDeepLink(message.deepLink)
}

push.send(userSysId)

return { success: true }

} catch (e) { gs.error("Push notification failed: " + e.message) return { success: false, error: e.message } } }

// Example sendPushNotification(userSysId, { title: "Task Assigned", body: "You have a new task assigned", deepLink: "/task/" + taskSysId, })

Offline Capabilities (ES5)

Configure Offline Rules

// Create offline sync rule (ES5 ONLY!) var rule = new GlideRecord("sys_sg_offline_rule") rule.initialize()

rule.setValue("name", "My Open Incidents") rule.setValue("mobile_app", mobileAppSysId) rule.setValue("table", "incident")

// Sync filter rule.setValue("filter", "assigned_to=javascript:gs.getUserID()^active=true")

// Fields to sync rule.setValue("fields", "number,short_description,description,priority,state,caller_id,opened_at")

// Related records rule.setValue("include_references", true) rule.setValue("reference_fields", "caller_id,assignment_group")

// Sync limits rule.setValue("max_records", 100)

// Update frequency rule.setValue("sync_frequency", "on_demand") // on_demand, periodic

rule.setValue("active", true)

rule.insert()

Handle Offline Data

// Check for offline changes on sync (ES5 ONLY!) function processOfflineChanges(userId) { var offlineQueue = new GlideRecord("sys_sg_offline_queue") offlineQueue.addQuery("user", userId) offlineQueue.addQuery("processed", false) offlineQueue.orderBy("created_on") offlineQueue.query()

var results = { processed: 0, errors: [] }

while (offlineQueue.next()) { try { var tableName = offlineQueue.getValue("table") var recordSysId = offlineQueue.getValue("record") var changes = JSON.parse(offlineQueue.getValue("changes"))

  // Apply changes
  var gr = new GlideRecord(tableName)
  if (gr.get(recordSysId)) {
    for (var field in changes) {
      if (changes.hasOwnProperty(field)) {
        gr.setValue(field, changes[field])
      }
    }
    gr.update()
    results.processed++
  }

  // Mark as processed
  offlineQueue.processed = true
  offlineQueue.update()
} catch (e) {
  results.errors.push({
    record: offlineQueue.getValue("record"),
    error: e.message,
  })
}

}

return results }

Mobile Actions (ES5)

Create Mobile Action

// Create mobile-specific action (ES5 ONLY!) var action = new GlideRecord("sys_sg_action") action.initialize()

action.setValue("name", "Scan Barcode") action.setValue("label", "Scan Asset") action.setValue("description", "Scan barcode to find asset")

// Action type action.setValue("type", "native") // native, script, link action.setValue("native_action", "barcode_scan")

// Available on action.setValue("screens", screenSysIds)

// Callback script (ES5 ONLY!) action.setValue( "callback_script", "(function(result) {\n" + " if (!result.value) return;\n" + " \n" + ' var asset = new GlideRecord("alm_asset");\n' + ' asset.addQuery("asset_tag", result.value);\n' + " asset.query();\n" + " \n" + " if (asset.next()) {\n" + " // Navigate to asset\n" + ' sn_mobile.navigate("record", {\n' + ' table: "alm_asset",\n' + " sys_id: asset.getUniqueValue()\n" + " });\n" + " } else {\n" + ' gs.addErrorMessage("Asset not found: " + result.value);\n' + " }\n" + "})(scanResult);", )

action.insert()

Location-Based Action

// Get user location for mobile (ES5 ONLY!) // Available in mobile context

function getCurrentLocation() { try { var location = sn_mobile.getLocation() return { latitude: location.latitude, longitude: location.longitude, accuracy: location.accuracy, } } catch (e) { return null } }

// Use location for nearby assets function findNearbyAssets(latitude, longitude, radiusMeters) { var assets = []

var gr = new GlideRecord("alm_asset") gr.addNotNullQuery("location.latitude") gr.query()

while (gr.next()) { var assetLat = parseFloat(gr.location.latitude) var assetLon = parseFloat(gr.location.longitude)

var distance = calculateDistance(latitude, longitude, assetLat, assetLon)

if (distance <= radiusMeters) {
  assets.push({
    sys_id: gr.getUniqueValue(),
    name: gr.getDisplayValue(),
    distance: Math.round(distance),
  })
}

}

return assets.sort(function (a, b) { return a.distance - b.distance }) }

MCP Tool Integration

Available Tools

Tool Purpose

snow_query_table

Query mobile configs

snow_execute_script_with_output

Test mobile scripts

snow_find_artifact

Find configurations

Example Workflow

// 1. Query mobile apps await snow_query_table({ table: "sys_sg_mobile_app", query: "active=true", fields: "name,description,version,roles", })

// 2. Get push notification configs await snow_query_table({ table: "sys_push_notification", query: "active=true", fields: "name,table,condition,title", })

// 3. Check offline rules await snow_query_table({ table: "sys_sg_offline_rule", query: "active=true", fields: "name,table,filter,max_records", })

Best Practices

• Offline First - Design for connectivity issues

• Minimal Data - Sync only necessary fields

• Push Wisely - Don't overwhelm with notifications

• Native Features - Use camera, GPS, barcode

• Card Design - Key info at a glance

• Performance - Optimize for mobile

• Testing - Test on actual devices

• ES5 Only - No modern JavaScript syntax