ServiceNow Connector for C# In this article you will learn how to integrate ServiceNow data in C# (live / bi-directional connection to ServiceNow). Allows the reading and writing of incidents, attachments, and more in ServiceNow without coding! The ZappySys ServiceNow API Connector provides easy-to-use, high-performance API access.. Using ServiceNow Connector you will be able to connect, read, and write data from within C#. Follow the steps below to see how we would accomplish that. Download Documentation The driver mentioned above is part of ODBC PowerPack which is a collection of high-performance Drivers for various API data source (i.e. REST API, JSON, XML, CSV, Amazon S3 and many more). Using familiar SQL query language you can make live connections and read/write data from API sources or JSON / XML / CSV Files inside SQL Server (T-SQL) or your favorite Reporting (i.e. Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, SSRS, MicroStrategy, Excel, MS Access), ETL Tools (i.e. Informatica, Talend, Pentaho, SSIS). You can also call our drivers from programming languages such as JAVA, C#, Python, PowerShell etc. If you are new to ODBC and ZappySys ODBC PowerPack then check the following links to get started. ODBC PowerPack - System Requirements and Installation Getting Started - Using ODBC PowerPack ODBC API Driver Help File

Connect to ServiceNow in other apps Connect to ServiceNow in SSIS Connect to ServiceNow in SQL Server Connect to ServiceNow in Power BI Connect to ServiceNow in SSRS Connect to ServiceNow in Informatica Connect to ServiceNow in MS Access Connect to ServiceNow in MS Excel Connect to ServiceNow in SSAS Connect to ServiceNow in Python Connect to ServiceNow in JAVA Connect to ServiceNow in Tableau Connect to ServiceNow in SAP Crystal Reports Connect to ServiceNow in Azure Data Factory (Pipeline) Connect to ServiceNow in Azure Data Factory (SSIS) Connect to ServiceNow in Talend Studio Connect to ServiceNow in UiPath Connect to ServiceNow in PowerShell Connect to ServiceNow in ODBC

Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from ServiceNow using C# we first need to create a DSN (Data Source) which will access data from ServiceNow. We will later be able to read data using C#. Perform these steps:

1. Install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack.

2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):
   

3. Create a User Data Source (User DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

   ZappySys API Driver

   
   You should create a System DSN (instead of a User DSN) if the client application is launched under a Windows System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service. If the client application is 32-bit (x86) running with a System DSN, use ODBC Data Sources (32-bit) instead of the 64-bit version.

4. When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "ServiceNow" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "ServiceNow" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

   ServiceNowDSN

   ServiceNow

   

5. Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

    Basic Auth [Http]

   Authenticate using ServiceNow instance username and password

   Steps to get ServiceNow Credentials
   

   To get your Instance name, Username and Password:

   1. Log in into your ServiceNow and go to https://developer.servicenow.com/dev.do.
   2. Click on your profile icon.
   3. Select your instance.
   4. Click on "Manage instance password" or similar link.
   5. In the opened page you should see Instance name, Username and Password.

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   ServiceNowDSN

   ServiceNow

   Basic Auth [Http]

   https://[$InstanceName$].service-now.com/api/now

   Required Parameters
   InstanceName	Fill in the parameter...
   User name	Fill in the parameter...
   Password	Fill in the parameter...
   ApiVersion	Fill in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   RetryMode	Fill in the parameter...
   RetryStatusCodeList	Fill in the parameter...
   RetryCountMax	Fill in the parameter...
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	Fill in the parameter...

   

    OAuth [OAuth]

   Authenticate using ServiceNow instance username, password and clientid, clientsecret [API Help..]

   Steps to get ServiceNow Credentials
   

   To get your OAuth client ID / ClientSecret perform the below steps:

   1. Login to your instance https://{your-instance-id}.service-now.com/.
   2. Click on All > System OAuth > Application Registry (or just search for "Application Registry" under All menu)
   3. You can also Navigate to "Application Registry" using this link (Replace your instance-id in link) https://{your-instance-id}.service-now.com/now/nav/ui/classic/params/target/oauth_entity_list.do.
   4. Click on "New" button (see top-right corner for most user) and select "Create an OAuth API endpoint for external clients".
   5. Fill out the form according to your requirement and click "Submit". If you are unsure then populating the "Name" field will suffice. Please note down the "Client ID" and "Client Secret" as they will be used later.
   6. Go back to Connection UI and enter your UserName, Password and ClientID, Secret.
   7. To create new User you can go to All > Organization > Users
   8. Click Test Connection.

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   ServiceNowDSN

   ServiceNow

   OAuth [OAuth]

   https://[$InstanceName$].service-now.com/api/now

   Required Parameters
   InstanceName	Fill in the parameter...
   User name	Fill in the parameter...
   Password	Fill in the parameter...
   Client ID	Fill in the parameter...
   Client Secret	Fill in the parameter...
   ApiVersion	Fill in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   RetryMode	Fill in the parameter...
   RetryStatusCodeList	Fill in the parameter...
   RetryCountMax	Fill in the parameter...
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	Fill in the parameter...

   

6. Once the data source has been configured, you can preview data. Select the Preview tab and use settings similar to the following to preview data:
   

7. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Video instructions

Read data in C#

Using ODBC DSN

1. Create a new Console project and use this code to read the data:
   

   "ServiceNowDSN";

   

2. Press F5 to run the code and read the data:
   

3. Here is the code in text format:

   using System;
   using System.Data.Odbc;
   
   namespace ConsoleApp {
       class Program {
           static void Main() {
               var dsn = "ServiceNowDSN";
               using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(String.Format("DSN={0}", dsn)))
               {
                   conn.Open();
                   var cmd = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM Products", conn);
                   
                   //Increase the timeout duration from the default 30 seconds, which may be insufficient in certain scenarios
                   cmd.CommandTimeout=600; // 600-Seconds
                   
                   var rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
                   while (rdr.Read())
                   {
                       for (int i = 0; i < rdr.FieldCount; i++)
                       {
                               Console.Write("{0}\t", rdr[i]);
                       }
                       Console.WriteLine();
                   }
               }
               Console.ReadKey();
           }
       }
   }
   

Using a full ODBC connection string

If you want to avoid being dependent on a DSN and creating multiple DSNs for each platform (x86, x64), then you can use a fully qualified connection string. Simply go to your DSN and copy the Connection String:

1. Open ODBC data source configuration and click Copy settings:
   

   ZappySys API Driver - ServiceNow

   Allows the reading and writing of incidents, attachments, and more in ServiceNow without coding! The ZappySys ServiceNow API Connector provides easy-to-use, high-performance API access.

   ServiceNowDSN

   
2. The window opens, telling us the connection string was successfully copied to the clipboard:

3. Then in your C# code, pass the connection string as an argument when calling the OdbcConnection object's constructor, for example:

   var connectionString = "DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};SomeProperty=12345;AnotherProperty=some_value;";
   
   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(connectionString))
   {
       // your code goes here
   }

Limitations of using a full connection string

Despite using a full ODBC connection string may be very convenient it comes with a limitation: it's length is limited to 1024 symbols. It usually happens when API provider generates a very long Refresh Token when OAuth is at play. If it happens you use such API, you may get this error:

"Connection string exceeds maximum allowed length of 1024"

But there is a solution to this by storing the Refresh Token in a file instead of directly in ODBC connection string. Follow the steps below to achieve this.

1. Open your ODBC data source
2. Hit Advanced tab and enter a file path:
   

   ZappySys API Driver - ServiceNow

   Allows the reading and writing of incidents, attachments, and more in ServiceNow without coding! The ZappySys ServiceNow API Connector provides easy-to-use, high-performance API access.

   ServiceNowDSN

   
   If you cannot find the Advanced tab, try looking for Click to Configure link in Properties tab, under URL text box. Click it, and then configure the file path in OAuth Grant Options tab.
3. Then click Copy settings button to copy a full connection string and paste it into your script.
4. Proceed by pasting the connection string into your C# code as an argument when calling the OdbcConnection object's constructor.
5. Remove long AccessToken and RefreshToken properties from the connection string, and leave RefreshTokenFile property intact together with all the other properties:

   var connectionString = "Driver={ZappySys API Driver};RefreshTokenFile=C:\Users\john\Documents\tokens.txt;SomeProperty=12345;AnotherProperty=some_value;[AllOtherProperties=...]";
       using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(connectionString))
       {
           // your code goes here
       }

   AccessToken and RefreshToken will be stored in C:\Users\john\Documents\tokens.txt, specified by RefreshTokenFile property.
6. Our troubles are over, now you should be able to execute the script with no problems.

Advanced topics

Create Custom Stored Procedure in ZappySys Driver

You can create procedures to encapsulate custom logic and then only pass handful parameters rather than long SQL to execute your API call.

Steps to create Custom Stored Procedure in ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here

1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Procedure:
   

2. Enter the desired Procedure name and click on OK:
   

3. Select the created Stored Procedure and write the your desired stored procedure and Save it and it will create the custom stored procedure in the ZappySys Driver:
   Here is an example stored procedure for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders anywhere inside Procedure Body. Read more about placeholders here
   

   CREATE PROCEDURE [usp_get_orders]
       @fromdate = '<<yyyy-MM-dd,FUN_TODAY>>'
    AS
       SELECT * FROM Orders where OrderDate >= '<@fromdate>';
   

   
   

4. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your Stored Procedure using Exec Command. In this example it will extract the orders from the date 1996-01-01:
   

   Exec usp_get_orders '1996-01-01';

   
   

5. Let's generate the SQL Server Query Code to make the API call using stored procedure. Go to Code Generator Tab, select language as SQL Server and click on Generate button the generate the code.
   As we already created the linked server for this Data Source, in that you just need to copy the Select Query and need to use the linked server name which we have apply on the place of [MY_API_SERVICE] placeholder.
   

   SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_API_SERVICE], 'EXEC usp_get_orders @fromdate=''1996-07-30''')

   
   

6. Now go to SQL served and execute that query and it will make the API call using stored procedure and provide you the response.
   

Create Custom Virtual Table in ZappySys Driver

ZappySys API Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.

If you're dealing with Microsoft Access and need to import data from an SQL query, it's important to note that Access doesn't allow direct import of SQL queries. Instead, you can create custom objects (Virtual Tables) to handle the import process.

Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 URLs with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting.

1. Go to Custom Objects Tab and Click on Add button and Select Add Table:
   

2. Enter the desired Table name and click on OK:
   

3. And it will open the New Query Window Click on Cancel to close that window and go to Custom Objects Tab.

4. Select the created table, Select Text Type AS SQL and write the your desired SQL Query and Save it and it will create the custom table in the ZappySys Driver:
   Here is an example SQL query for ZappySys Driver. You can insert Placeholders also. Read more about placeholders here
   

   SELECT
     "ShipCountry",
     "OrderID",
     "CustomerID",
     "EmployeeID",
     "OrderDate",
     "RequiredDate",
     "ShippedDate",
     "ShipVia",
     "Freight",
     "ShipName",
     "ShipAddress",
     "ShipCity",
     "ShipRegion",
     "ShipPostalCode"
   FROM "Orders"
   Where "ShipCountry"='USA'

   
   

5. That's it now go to Preview Tab and Execute your custom virtual table query. In this example it will extract the orders for the USA Shipping Country only:
   

   SELECT * FROM "vt__usa_orders_only"

   
   

6. Let's generate the SQL Server Query Code to make the API call using stored procedure. Go to Code Generator Tab, select language as SQL Server and click on Generate button the generate the code.
   As we already created the linked server for this Data Source, in that you just need to copy the Select Query and need to use the linked server name which we have apply on the place of [MY_API_SERVICE] placeholder.
   

   SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY([MY_API_SERVICE], 'EXEC [usp_get_orders] ''1996-01-01''')

   
   

7. Now go to SQL served and execute that query and it will make the API call using stored procedure and provide you the response.
   

Actions supported by ServiceNow Connector

ServiceNow Connector Examples for C# Connection

This page offers a collection of SQL examples designed for seamless integration with the ZappySys API ODBC Driver under ODBC Data Source (36/64) or ZappySys Data Gateway, enhancing your ability to connect and interact with Prebuilt Connectors effectively.

SELECT * FROM incident 

--Using Primary Key				
--SELECT * FROM any_table_here WHERE sys_id='109562a3c611227500a7b7ff98cc0dc7' --Primary Key in WHERE clause

--Using Filter Expression
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001') --Equal condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number!=INC0000001') --Not equal condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='numberININC0000001,INC0000002,INC0000003') --IN condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001^state=7') --AND condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001^ORnumber=INC0000002') --OR condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='numberLIKE0001') --LIKE condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='numberSTARTSWITHINC00') --StartWith condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='numberENDSWITH0001') --StartWith condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001^state=7^NQORnumber=INC0000002') --AND / OR MIXED using NQ (NewQuery Operator)  -- (number=INC0000001 and state=7) OR (number=INC0000002)

--more information about filter here https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/utah-platform-user-interface/page/use/common-ui-elements/reference/r_OpAvailableFiltersQueries.html


-- To read all available tables execute this query:
-- SELECT * FROM Tables

-- Other common tables:
-----------------------
-- SELECT * FROM sys_db_object
-- SELECT * FROM sys_dictionary
-- SELECT * FROM sys_user
-- SELECT * FROM sys_user_has_role
-- SELECT * FROM sys_user_grmember
-- SELECT * FROM task
-- SELECT * FROM task_sla
-- SELECT * FROM incident
-- SELECT * FROM incident_sla
-- SELECT * FROM change_request
-- SELECT * FROM cmdb_ci_computer
-- SELECT * FROM cmdb_ci_outage
-- SELECT * FROM cmdb_ci
-- SELECT * FROM sn_customerservice_case
-- SELECT * FROM kb_knowledge
-- SELECT * FROM kb_use
-- SELECT * FROM sc_req_item
-- SELECT * FROM sc_request
-- SELECT * FROM sc_task

SELECT * FROM incident
WHERE sys_id = 'SYS_ID_GOES_HERE'

SELECT number,name FROM incident WITH (Fields='number,name') --Setting Fields parameter will speed up the query

--STEP#1 returns incident number and related company (sys_id)
SELECT number,company FROM incident

--STEP#2 find related table for company field
select name,reference from get_table_columns order by 1 WITH(TableName='incident')

--STEP#3 query related table with sys_id returned in step#1
select sys_id, name  from core_company where sys_id='31bea3d53790200044e0bfc8bcbe5dec'

SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001') --Equal condition

--syntax (single condition)
--sysparm_query=<col_name><operator><value>

--syntax (multiple conditions)
--sysparm_query=<col_name><operator><value>[<operator><col_name><operator><value>]

--more info check below links
--  https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/rome-application-development/page/integrate/inbound-rest/concept/c_TableAPI.html#title_table-GET
--  https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/utah-platform-user-interface/page/use/common-ui-elements/reference/r_OpAvailableFiltersQueries.html
  
--More examples				
--SELECT * FROM any_table_here WHERE sys_id='109562a3c611227500a7b7ff98cc0dc7' --Primary Key in WHERE clause
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001') --Equal condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number!=INC0000001') --Not equal condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='numberININC0000001,INC0000002,INC0000003') --IN condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001^state=7') --AND condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001^ORnumber=INC0000002') --OR condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='numberLIKE0001') --LIKE condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='numberSTARTSWITHINC00') --StartWith condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='numberENDSWITH0001') --StartWith condition
--SELECT * FROM incident WITH(Query='number=INC0000001^state=7^NQORnumber=INC0000002') --AND / OR MIXED using NQ (NewQuery Operator)  -- (number=INC0000001 and state=7) OR (number=INC0000002)

INSERT INTO incident(incident_state, severity, category, cause)
VALUES (3, 1, 'software', 'Missing a software feature.')

UPDATE incident
SET cause = 'A bug in the software'
   ,severity = 3
   ,incident_state = 2
WHERE sys_id = 'SYS_ID_GOES_HERE'

DELETE incident
WHERE sys_id = 'SYS_ID_GOES_HERE'

SELECT * FROM Tables

SELECT * FROM SystemTables

SELECT * FROM UserTables

SELECT * FROM get_table_columns
where name = 'TableNameGoesHere'

SELECT * FROM get_table_columns_admin --requires readonly permissions on sys_dictionary and sys_db_object tables

SELECT *
FROM generic_request
WITH(
	Url='/v2/table/incident?sysparm_limit=10000&sysparm_query=numberLIKE0001^ORDERBYsys_created_on',
	Filter='$.result',
	Meta='sys_id:string;number:string;business_stc:int', --//comment this to see all columns (SLOW)
	PagingMode='ByResponseHeaderRfc5988',
  --Method='GET',
  --Body='{your POST body}'  
)

-- Request URL should be partial like this one:
-- /v2/some_table?some-parameter=somevalue1&some-parameter=somevalue2

Conclusion

In this article we discussed how to connect to ServiceNow in C# and integrate data without any coding. Click here to Download ServiceNow Connector for C# and try yourself see how easy it is. If you still have any question(s) then ask here or simply click on live chat icon below and ask our expert (see bottom-right corner of this page).

Download ServiceNow Connector for C# Documentation 

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