Forms and related lists
Quick answer
How ServiceNow forms are assembled: sections, form layout, related lists, formatters, annotations and the Form Designer.
Key takeaways
- Views are the supported way to give one table several form layouts
- Related lists load separately, so trim them on high volume forms
- Annotations reduce data quality problems at the point of entry
- Form Designer and Form Layout edit the same records, so pick whichever is faster
Anatomy of a form
A form is a view of one record. It is made of sections that hold fields, formatters that inject widgets such as the activity stream, and related lists that show child records from other tables. Views let the same table look different for different audiences.
Form Designer versus Form Layout
Form Designer is the drag and drop editor and is the right tool for most work, including creating sections and moving fields between them. Form Layout is the older two-column picker and is still faster when you need to move ten fields at once. Both write to the same underlying sys_ui_section and sys_ui_element records.
Related lists
Related lists connect the current record to related records: affected CIs on a change, tasks under a request, approvals on anything. They load after the form, so a form with eight related lists feels slow even when the form itself is light.
- Prefer three or four related lists on a heavily used form
- Use the related list loading property to load on demand rather than with the form
- Relationship records (sys_relationship) let you define related lists that are not simple reference fields
Annotations and formatters
Annotations put short instructions directly on the form, which is far more effective than a knowledge article nobody opens. Formatters add platform widgets such as the activity formatter, approval summarizer and process flow. Both are added from the Form Designer palette.
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Check your understanding
Which element shows child records such as approvals on a form?
- A. Formatter
- B. Related list
- C. Annotation
- D. UI policy
Show answer
B. Related list
Related lists render records from another table that reference the current record.
What is the main performance concern with related lists?
- A. They block form save
- B. They load separately and add to page load
- C. They bypass ACLs
- D. They cannot be filtered
Show answer
B. They load separately and add to page load
Each related list runs its own query after the form renders, so too many slow the page.