Referencing Service Catalog variables in server-side scripts

---
title: Referencing Service Catalog variables in server-side scripts
description: You can use scripting to reference any request item variable from a table in scoped and non-scoped environment.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/servicenow-platform/service-catalog/c\_ScriptableServiceCatalogVariables.html
release: australia
product: Service Catalog
classification: service-catalog
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 4
breadcrumb: [Service Catalog scoping, Configuring Service Catalog, Service Catalog, Manage service capabilities, Extend ServiceNow AI Platform capabilities]
---

# Referencing Service Catalog variables in server-side scripts

You can use scripting to reference any request item variable from a table in scoped and non-scoped environment.

An example of a variable reference follows.

```javascript
current.variables.<variable_name>
```

Where current refers to the current record, and *&lt;variable\_name&gt;* is the name of your variable.

**Note:** To reference a variable from JavaScript, it must have a name.

When a variable is part of a variable set, you can reference it as `current.variables.<variable_name>` or `current.variables.<variable_set_name>.<variable_name>`.

Variable set is also a first-class citizen in Service Catalog. Like variables, a variable set has read, write, and create roles. If roles are provided for a variable set, the roles are applicable for the variables within the set. Roles of an individual variable are overridden by the roles of the variable set.

**Note:**

-   You can only set a variable in a before business rule. Variables set in an after rule aren't written to the database.
-   There is nothing in place to prevent namespace collision with variables. Creating two variables named computer\_speed would result in only one of them showing up; the second one would overwrite the first one.
-   Date/time variables use the same time zone formatting and storage rules as all other dates in the system. They are stored internally in GMT, but translated into the user's local time zone and format for display.

## Print a variable

```javascript
var original = current.variables.original_number;
gs.print(original);

```

## Set a variable

```javascript
current.variables.name = "Auto-Generated:" + current.variables.asset_tag;
```

## Create an inventory item with fields set from variables

```javascript
doCreation(); 

function doCreation ( ) { 
var create = current.variables.create_item; 
if (create == 'true') { // we want to create an asset 
  var computer = new GlideRecord('cmdb_ci_computer');
  computer.initialize();
  computer.asset_tag = current.variables.asset_tag;
  computer.serial_number = current.variables.serial_number;
  computer.name = current.variables.name;
  computer.manufacturer = current.variables.company;
  computer.insert(); } }
```

## Get GlideElementVariable of variables and variable sets associated with a GlideRecord

```javascript
now_GR.variables
```

## Get the name value pair of variables associated with a GlideRecord

```javascript
now_GR.variables.getVariableValue();
```

## Get a list of GlideElementVariable for variables within a task record

```javascript
now_GR.variables.getElements();
```

## Get a list of GlideElementVariable for variables \(including multi-row variable set\) within a task record

```javascript
now_GR.variables.getElements(true);
```

**Note:** The getElements\(\) method returns all the variables present on the given task record except for the formatter variables like label, break, container end, container split, and so on.

APIs for GlideElementVariable:

-   now\_GR.variables.&lt;var\_name&gt;.isMultiRow\(\): Get whether the GlideElementVariable is a multi-row variable set or a variable.
-   now\_GR.variables.&lt;var\_name&gt;.getQuestion\(\): Get the Question object for a variable. Applicable only for a variable \(isMultiRow\(\) is false\) and not for a multi-row variable set.
-   now\_GR.variables.&lt;var\_name&gt;.getLabel\(\): Get the label of the GlideElementVariable. For a variable, the label of the variable is returned. For multi-row variable set, the title of the variable set is returned.
-   now\_GR.variables.&lt;var\_name&gt;.canRead\(\): Get whether the user can view a variable or multi-row variable set.
-   now\_GR.variables.&lt;var\_name&gt;.canWrite\(\): Get whether the user can edit a variable or multi-row variable set.
-   now\_GR.variables.&lt;var\_name&gt;.getDecryptedValue\(\): Get the decrypted value for a masked variable. Applicable only for a masked variable.
-   now\_GR.variables.&lt;var\_name&gt;.getRows\(\): Get the list of row objects for a multi-row variable set. Applicable only for a multi-row variable set \(isMultiRow\(\) is true\).
-   now\_GR.variables.&lt;var\_name&gt;.getRowCount\(\): Get the number of rows for multi-row variable set. Applicable only for a multi-row variable set \(isMultiRow\(\) is true\).

## Access variables of GlideRecord for the Task table

```javascript
var now_GR = new GlideRecord('sc_req_item'); 
if (now_GR.get('635a1f5387320300e0ef0cf888cb0b73')) { 
    var variables = now_GR.variables.getElements(); 
    for (var i=0;i<variables.length;i++) { 
        var question = variables[i].getQuestion(); 
        gs.log(question.getLabel() + ":" + question.getValue()) 
    } 
}
```

## Access a multi-row variable set of GlideRecord for the Task table

```javascript
var now_GR = new GlideRecord('sc_req_item');
now_GR.get('02c38dcd87013300e0ef0cf888cb0bb2');

var vars = now_GR.variables.getElements(true);

for (var i=0; i<vars.length; i++) {
    var now_V = vars[i];
    if (now_V.isMultiRow()) {
        var rows = now_V.getRows();
        for (var j=0; j<now_V.getRowCount(); j++) {
            var row = rows[j];
            var cells = row.getCells();
            for (var k=0; k<cells.length; k++) {
                var cell = cells[k];
                gs.info(cell.getLabel() + ":" + cell.getCellDisplayValue())
            }
        }
    }
}
```

## Multi-row variable set

<table id="table_xz2_tnk_b2b"><thead><tr><th>

Operation

</th><th>

Usage

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td class="sub-head" colspan="2">

Table operations

</td></tr><tr><td>

Return JSON array value as String

</td><td>

```javascript
now_GR.variables.table_var
```

</td></tr><tr><td>

Set value of a multi-row variable set

</td><td>

```javascript
now_GR.variables.table_var = <val>
```

 **Note:** An array of ordered \(key, value\) pairs is also applicable as input.

</td></tr><tr><td>

Get value of column, var1, of a multi-row variable set

</td><td>

```javascript
now_GR.variables.table_var.var1
```

</td></tr><tr><td>

Set value of a variable set, var1

</td><td>

```javascript
now_GR.variables.table_var.var1 = <val>
```

 **Note:** An array of ordered \(key, value\) pairs is also applicable as input.

</td></tr><tr><td class="sub-head" colspan="2">

Row operations

</td></tr><tr><td>

Get the current row count

</td><td>

```javascript
now_GR.variables.table_var.getRowCount()
```

</td></tr><tr><td>

Returns the row specified by the variable "index" - getRow\(&lt;int&gt; index\)

</td><td>

```javascript
var row = now_GR.variables.table_var.getRow(<int> index);
```

</td></tr><tr><td>

Get the cell value for a question column mapped to &lt;var\_name&gt;

</td><td>

```javascript
row.<var_name>
```

</td></tr><tr><td>

Set the cell value for a question column mapped to &lt;var\_name&gt;

</td><td>

```javascript
row.setCellValue('<var_name>',value)
```

</td></tr><tr><td>

Set the cell value for a question column mapped to &lt;var\_name&gt;

</td><td>

```javascript
row.<var_name> = value
```

</td></tr><tr><td>

Add an empty row at the end of the table and return a scriptable object

</td><td>

```javascript
var row = now_GR.variables.table_var.addRow()
```

</td></tr><tr><td>

Delete a row

</td><td>

```javascript
row.deleteRow()
```

</td></tr></tbody>
</table>**Parent Topic:**[Service Catalog scoping](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/servicenow-platform/service-catalog/scoping-support-catalog.md)