Developer Program
Ever since personal developer instances were introduced, the ServiceNow developer community has had a complicated relationship with them. We give them out for free but we don’t have infinite capacity so at points we have run out of them. We introduced hibernation to allow us to fit more on the same set of infrastructure. They do expire after 10 days of disuse, and this continues to happen.
However We have introduced a new feature in the program.
Madrid is here! In keeping with our twice a year tradition, we are excited to announce early access for the Madrid release!
New for Developers in Madrid Agent Workspace - configurable service desk application interface Automated Test Framework - Smart Suites, Quick Start tests, Parameterized tests Flow Designer - Decision Trees, run as, looping, improved APIs Mobile Studio - for building Applets along with new mobile applications Those are just a few of the highlights you will find in the Madrid ServiceNow release.
London is here! In keeping with our twice a year tradition, it is early access time for the London release!
To get your hands on a London instance, you have a few options:
If you already have an instance You can upgrade it. From the Developer Portal, click Manage > Instance in the navigation bar. From there, click the Action dropdown and click Upgrade to London.
If you don’t have an instance From the Manage > Instance page, click Request Instance.
We promised we would share the results of the August, 2017 Developer Survey with you and here they are. The insights you have given us are key to the continued success of the Developer Program in providing you with the tools you need to advance your knowledge and help you to achieve your career goals. Your input is helping us to shape the future of this program.
Here is an infographic illustrating the results of the developer survey.
It’s time for Kingston! As always, developers can participate in Early Access and can start requesting Kingston instances from the Developer Portal as of now.
To get your hands on a Kingston instance, you have a few options:
If you already have an instance You can upgrade it. From the Developer Portal, click Manage > Instance in the navigation bar. From there, click the Action dropdown and click Upgrade to Kingston.
I note from answering feedback on the Developer Portal that some fraction of developers seem to be confused by the emails informing them that their Personal Developer Instance is upgrading. Usually these are patch releases such as the current update to Istanbul Patch 5 Hot Fix 1 that is presently rolling through our server farm.
1) What does this mean?
Those notices are a warning that you will have a period of downtime, somewhere between 60 and 120 minutes, and that it would be a good idea to backup important work to you to hedge against the small chance of a problem.
Update: An up to date version of this article has been published here
One of the ongoing issues that we deal with in the Developer Program is the continuity of the free developer instances. No matter how well intentioned you are, it is always possible to have a time period where you are out of the office and miss the email about your Developer Instance expiring. I don’t like the idea of anyone losing their work but there is only so much we can do to prevent it.
One of the most requested features of the Developer Program is the ability to choose the version of a developer instance that one gets assigned. The current state of affairs is that you request an instance, are assigned a random one from the available instances. If you choose you can upgrade from there but it is difficult to go downwards once you do that. Some people want specific versions of an instance to match the training documentation they have, or to match production at their workplace or a client.
Photo by Metassus, licensed CC BY 2.0
The Developer Program has grown steadily since it was announced at Knowledge15, and along with that growth has been a corresponding increase in developer instance usage. The ability to give these away for free use for the community of ServiceNow developers is a great benefit and has reaped benefits for the entire ecosystem. However, it does come at a cost. The program was granted a dedicated chunk of infrastructure, and then another chunk later.
2016 Developer Survey Thank you to the 2,646 developers that responded to the survey that was conducted in January. We appreciate the time, feedback and the insights you provided us. This information will play a vital role in continuing to shape the Developer Program around your needs.
Below is an infographic of the results followed by a more detailed explanation of each section. Please give us your comments and thoughts below as well.
