Using .addJoinQuery() & How to Query Records with Attachments in ServiceNow

Here’s a common question:

[ ](https://handbook.snc.guru)

> _“How do I use a scripted GlideRecord query to get all records in a given table that have attachments?”_

Often, people in the Community Forums will suggest querying the table, iterating through every single record, running `.hasAttachment()` on every single one, and adding those records to a list if that returns true.

Or, they might suggest querying the `sys_attachment` table, querying every attachment associated with the target table, pushing every unique value from the attachment record's `table_sys_id` field into an array, then using that array to query the target table with something like `grMyRecord.addQuery('sys_id', 'IN', arrRecordsWithAttachments.join(','));`.

However, these solutions are quite slow and not exactly ideal. Instead, consider the use of `GlideRecord`'s `.addJoinQuery()` method.

Consider the following code:

```
logIncidentsWithAttachments();

function logIncidentsWithAttachments() {
var msg = '';
var grInc = new GlideRecord('incident');
grInc.addActiveQuery();
grInc.addJoinQuery(
'sys_attachment', //Target table
'sys_id', //Incident field to "join" on
'table_sys_id' //Target table field to "join" with the Incident field on
);
//grInc.setLimit(10);
grInc.query();
while (grInc.next()) {
msg += (
grInc.getDisplayValue() + ' has attachments.\n' +
'Link: ' + gs.getProperty('glide.servlet.uri') + grInc.getLink() +
'\n\n'
);
}
gs.info(msg.trim());
};
```

This code will log some messages that look like this:

`INC0000031 has attachments. Link: https://INSTANCE.service-now.com/incident.do?sys_id=47064b68a9fe19810186793eefffc9b7&sysparm_stack=incident_list.do?sysparm_query=active=true`

The down-side to this approach is that the query is not _actually_ performing a **true _database join_** operation. Instead, it's effectively querying both tables and linking them together. This means that you won't actually have access to any fields on the _joined_ table (in this case, **Attachment** \[`sys_attachment`\]).

If you need access to fields on the attachment table, then you're probably going to need to query it directly. You could also potentially create a **Database View** to accomplish something similar _and_ have access to fields from _both_ tables in a report, but (1) database views can't be queried using a `GlideRecord` script in the same way a "real" table can; and (2) database views can be very **performance-intensive**, so do this at your own risk!

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