In a recent post, Native Mobile Applications for ServiceNow, we introduced the Business value of using one of the latest features of the Now Platform – Mobile Studio.
In this article, we dig a little deeper – outlining the simple, and specific steps you need to take to create a functional and useful Native Mobile Application in ServiceNow.
In this example, we prepare an application that shows new Change Requests, by location.
This would be very useful for those responsible for monitoring changes or interested in the geography of the requests.
This example is rather simple and of course, things could be extended to provide even more value.
Step 1 – Create Application
In your development instance, navigate to the Studio.
Select, ‘Start from scratch’ and then choose Switch to Application on the next UI Action.Step 2
In the top left corner, click to ‘Create Application File‘ and choose the ‘Mobile Development‘ option.Step 3
Give your application file a name, and an icon.Step 4
Click ‘Create an Applet’. Here you can choose how your applet will display the information you’re presenting. Please note you have the option to choose additional templates.Step 5
Now you need to begin the process of creating a ‘new data item’. This will be completed in two phases.
First, create the data item and the info you want to display. In our example, we have chosen ‘Change Requests assigned to me‘.Step 6
Once you’ve added the new data item, navigate back to the ‘New Applet’ tab. Here you can select to use the new data item created in Step 5.Step 7
Now we have selected the data item, choose the fields you want to populate on the form. This is simply done from the slush bucket. You’re provided with a visual example to see how the form will look too. If desired, you can alter this visual.Step 8
We can now review the application display on our mobile device. This is the basic functionality of the application complete. In the next step, we will make a couple of small alterations to the UI, to deliver an even better UX. Step 9 – New Function UI Style
In the list above, all the ‘Change Requests’, regardless of their priority are shown in grey. We can easily adjust this, for example, to display the changes with priority 1 in red.
The first action in this process is to select the ‘UI Styles’ button on the lefthand menu.
From this page, choose to create a ‘New’ UI style.
Now you can populate the relevant fields for creating the new UI style.
Step 10
Once the new UI Style has been created, flick back to the Mobile Studio and add this style to the Applet. This is done at the bottom, under UI Style Configuration.
After adding the UI style, check that this is working by refreshing the application.
Step 11 – New Function: Additional Information
Now on the application, you are going to extend the view of the information to include extra details about the CR. This is in addition to the main window of information about the CR we selected in step 7.
Navigate up to the applet page and select ‘Details’ in the centre tab under ‘Screen Configurations’.
Populate the information you want to choose, as per the example below.
Step 12
Once executed, view the new information in the application. Note: you’re also able to add additional items to the Change Record within the application as shown on the graphic on the right.Step 13 – Create a Smart Button for Location
Following these steps will allow you to show the Change Requests on a location map.
First, select the ‘Smart Button’ located under ‘Functions’ on the left side menu.
After clicking the menu you will be directed to a blank page where you can choose ‘Create New’.
Once you navigate there, please complete the fields to create a map – as per the image below.
Once completed, save the new button.
Step 14
After saving the smart button, navigate back to the ‘Applet Tab’ and select ‘functions’ under ‘screen configurations’
Here you can add a ‘swipe’ function to allow you to navigate through the records on your application by swiping to the left or right. This is added to the new smart button we’ve just created.
Step 15
If you already have the location populated on a Change Request in the system, you can now view and test this functionality on your app. If you don’t have the location, to go to a Change Request record in ServiceNow and add the location manually.
END 🙂
Hopefully, you’ve been able to follow these steps to create your own ServiceNow mobile application. As you can see, the basic ‘out of the box’ functionality is rich, allowing you to create effective applications, quickly and easily.
As with all aspects of ServiceNow, you don’t need to stop here. The functionalities can be extended and enriched further with the studio options.
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