Are there real life use cases for the create confluence page automation action?

[Arnd Layer]

Creating a page in Confluence for a new Jira issue would be great and there is an automation action to do this. However, I've found no way to create a link between the page and the Jira Issue so far (2023-02-09).

I've tried so far:

• I can add the issue key to the the page title using smart values.
  But this only adds the text, not the link.
• There is a smart value {{createdPage}}, which allows accessing tile and URL of the created page. I can add the link to a comment, which is not a good solution because
  
  • users won't look at the comments
  • the link is only available in Jira - no way back from Confluence to Jira
• I didn't find a way to add a confluence page link via the automation rule, which is what should be possible. This would generate a two-way link between the two.

So here are my two questions:

1. Did I miss something?
2. Has anyone so far created a production ready automation rule that creates a confluence page?

[Vamsi Kandala · Accepted solution]

Hi @Arnd Layer

If I understand correctly, you want to have a link of Jira ticket in the Confluence page which was created automatically after the ticket was created.

I assume that you are able to create the Confluence page and also know the details of the Jira ticket created.

Can you try the following steps:

• Open any Confluence page and copy paste the complete url of the related Jira ticket.  This will turn to macro automatically.
• Save the changes for the page and click on three dots at the right corner.
• Select 'View Storage Format'.  This will open another window with the HTML code of the page.
• Look for the Jira ticket number and copy the entire code block starting and ending with 'ac:structured-macro'
• Add this block to the page content when creating the Confluence page in the automation rule.

First check with manually hard-coding of issue key and then you can update the ticket number in the HTML code by replacing with smart value to get the issue key.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Vamsi

[Charlie Misonne]

This would be a good workaround but unfortunately the Create Page action in automation does not allow you to specify the content of the page. You can only create an emty page or choose a template to be used. But no content...

But you could create the page with Jira automation and then update the contents with the REST API of Confluence.

An interesting article for @Arnd Layer has been written here: Automating the creation of a Confluence page linked to a Jira ticket 

[Arnd Layer]

Thanks @Charlie Misonne. I remember reading this article. It wasn‘t worth my time going to the level of REST API.

When I‘m already using the REST API, wouldn‘t I then create the page using the REST API? 

This is the core of my question. What is this action good for? To me this looks like this action was shipped in order to close an overdue issue no matter it‘s usefulness. It looks good on a checklist.

Far too often, automation rules leave the realm of low code / no code and require cumbersome workarounds. Smart values e.g. leave the user helpless not even providing minimal editor support.

I remember fondly how easy it was to build something in Lotus Notes only using @-formulas.

[Charlie Misonne]

I agree, the create Confluence page action is very basic and does not honor the tight integration between Jira and Confluence we often hear about.

There is of course a feature request to improve this: AUTO-64 

[Arnd Layer]

@Vamsi Kandala , I can‘t access the page content from the create page action.

[Charlie Misonne]

Hi Arnd,

We are using the create page action to create post-mortem pages in Confluence when an incident is closed. We do not create a link between the page and the issue and for us it's not important.

I was researching your question and found this question. It refers to this feature request which is still open: JSWCLOUD-22720 

[Arnd Layer]

@Charlie Misonne , the feature request is about linking between issues in different sites.

Linking issues from automation rules (as far as Jira Cloud allows it in general) is possible.

Adding links to Confluence Pages or other web links to an issue from automation rules is not possible however.

[Vamsi Kandala]

Hi @Arnd Layer

I have used Jira automation rule and used the 'Send web request' action component to create the Confluence page using the Confluence REST API call.

In that, I have added the page content to be created and created the link in the Confluence page to point to the Jira ticket link which was just created, as I have explained earlier before.

This is possible and I have been using it.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Vamsi

[Charlie Misonne]

Hi Vamsi,

I think Arnd got that informaiton now but he was also wondering about why the out of the box Confluence action is so limited.