Understanding Template Literals in JavaScript

Introduced in ES6, template literals provide an easier and more readable way to work with strings, especially when dealing with dynamic content.

What Are Template Literals?

Template literals are string literals that allow embedded expressions. Unlike regular strings, they are enclosed by backticks (`) instead of quotes. They support multi-line strings, string interpolation, and more, making them a powerful tool for developers.

Key Features:

1. Multi-line Strings: No need for concatenation or escape characters.
2. String Interpolation: Embed variables or expressions directly within the string using ${expression} syntax.
3. Tagged Templates: Advanced usage for customizing the output of template literals.

Example in ServiceNow Xanadu Release

The ServiceNow Xanadu release introduces new features and enhancements that improve the platform's usability and performance. Let's consider a scenario where you're building a custom UI action that displays a dynamic message to the user.

Scenario: You want to create a message that includes the user's name and a task count, both dynamically generated.

// Assume 'user' and 'taskCount' are variables available in the script
let user = "Ashish";
let taskCount = 5;

// Using template literals for dynamic message creation
let message = `Hello, ${user}! You have ${taskCount} tasks pending.`;

gs.addInfoMessage(message);        

The output would be:

Hello, Ashish! You have 5 tasks pending.        

Hello, Ashish! You have 5 tasks pending.

Explanation:

• The message is constructed using backticks (`), allowing us to embed the variables user and taskCount directly into the string.
• ${user} and ${taskCount} are placeholders that get replaced with the actual values of user and taskCount when the code runs.