The Content Management System (CMS) is a ServiceNow application that enables your company to create a custom interface of ServiceNow platform and applications. Active by default, CMS allows systems administrators or web developers to dive into projects ranging from customizing login pages to designing a complete website. In addition, non-technical users can take advantage of the application as an easy-to-use website maintenance tool. See CMS Planning for more information.

When using CMS, you may have encountered URLs or popups causing a blank window or page to appear on your screen. This can happen when you are attempt certain UI actions, such as:

• Using the shift+click popup of a form
• Launching a CMS page with an iFrame containing the URL of an external site
• Using the Show Workflow UI action

If you are having these issues, here a some quick tips to fix your CMS pages:

Fix shift+click popup form and blank window

In CMS, when in the shift+click popup form, clicking a UI action causes the popup to become a blank window and remain open. For example, when you launch CMS and go to Service Catalog to review Open Orders, you can do a shift+click on the RITM number to open the popup form. The problem is, when you enter text into a field and update the form, the popup window goes white and remains open.

You'll see that if you do this in the standard UI, the issues does not occur and the popup closes as expected. Simply click the "X" to close out the popup. Your update will still be saved as expected.

Correct iFrame with external website URL causing blank CMS page

When launching a CMS page with an iFrame that contains the URL of an external site, you'll get a blank page as well as a console error message. For example, you may have a page containing an iFrame that specifies the URL of an external website:

When the CMS page is launched, a blank page will appear. In the Chrome Developer Tools Console, you'll also get an error message: Refused to display '' in a frame because it set 'X-Frame-Options' to 'SAMEORIGIN'

This is caused by a security feature that blocks mixed content in browsers. In this case, displaying this type of content within an iFrame is not supported by the target domain/server (https://cloud.oracle.com in the above example) and browser security. Do not use an iFrame to add external links to the CMS page.

Here's an example where a link is added to the Get Help section on the ESS homepage that successfully opens in a new page:

Fix Show Workflow UI action that generates wrong URL link

When you use the Show Workflow UI action in CMS, you'll end up with a blank page instead of the workflow. This is because the Show Workflow UI action is actually generating the wrong URL link with the CMS site prefix. For example, if you are in a change request associated with a workflow in ESS (https://.service-now.com/ess/change_request_list.do?sysparm_query=active%3Dtrue), and go to Related Links > Show Workflow, clicking the URL displays a blank page instead of the workflow:

Solution:

1. After clicking the Show Workflow link, remove the part of the URL that references the CMS site name. For example: /ess
2. Reload the page to show the correct workflow.
   

Have more questions related to CMS?

ServiceNow KB: CMS Resources (KB0552847)

12 Questions to ask yourself when Troubleshooting CMS

Use a style property to correct overlapping scrollbars on an iFrame in IE11

Associate CMS to Service Catalog and UI buttons