Can automation detect the use of @ in a comment?

[Howard Sims]

I need to create a Jira rule that is triggered when a specific person is mentioned in a comment using the @ feature.

Example: In a comment someone writes
"@John Smith This is now ready for testing."
I want to trigger a rule

But if someone writes
"@Jane Smith This is now ready for testing."
I don't want to trigger the rule

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Howard Sims -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

No, you cannot prevent the rule triggering.  But you can prevent it from continuing to process...

When someone is mentioned in a field, that appears like this internally:

[~accountId:557057:1d4fd7f4-bbac-4466-82ee-aaabbbccc]

Their user account ID value is used rather than their display name.

And thus a rule could use a Smart Values Condition immediately after the trigger to check if a specific user was mentioned.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Howard Sims]

What do I use to get the contents of the comment? and how would I search in it for the nameID?

[Bill Sheboy]

First thing: based upon your response, I recommend pausing to read the introductory information on automation rules and smart values:

• https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-cloud-automation/
• https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-smart-values-issues/

Learning more about automation before trying to write a rule will help you experiment and better understand how to write and manage rules effectively.

Back to your follow-up questions, getting the contents of the comment depends upon your rule trigger...

Let's assume your rule is triggered on Work Item Commented.  Then the comment from the trigger would be {{comment}} and the text in the comment would be {{comment.body}}  The Smart Values Condition could then test for the expression in that text.

• trigger: work item commented
• smart values condition:
  • first value: {{comment.body}}
  • condition: contains
  • second value: [~accountId:the user account ID value]
• do something...

You will need to find the user's account ID for the condition, using their profile information, JQL, the REST API, etc.

[Howard Sims]

Thanks Bill. Worked perfectly.

[Bill Sheboy]

Awesome; I am glad to learn it is working!  Please consider marking this question as "answered" to help others with a similar need find solutions faster.  Thanks!