SNOW-CAD Designing interfaces and user experiences Practice Question
A developer is troubleshooting a Service Portal widget that loads slowly. The widget uses a server script that queries a large table without any filters. Which design change would most improve performance?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse client-side optimizations (caching, DOM manipulation) with server-side data retrieval improvements, overlooking that the root cause is an unfiltered database query that must be addressed at the source.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Add a filter condition in the GlideRecord query
Adding a filter condition to the GlideRecord query reduces the dataset retrieved from the database, minimizing network transfer and server-side processing time. Without filters, the query returns all rows from a large table, causing excessive load on the instance and slow widget rendering. Filtering at the database level is the most efficient way to improve performance in Service Portal widgets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Add client-side caching using $scope
Why it's wrong here
Caching reduces repeat requests but doesn't speed up the initial query.
- ✗
Load the widget using ng-if instead of ng-show
Why it's wrong here
ng-if removes DOM elements but doesn't affect server query performance.
- ✗
Create a custom table with only required fields
Why it's wrong here
Custom table helps but doesn't address the missing filter; still needs filter.
- ✓
Add a filter condition in the GlideRecord query
Why this is correct
Filtering reduces the result set, improving query performance.
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