Do Custom Fields, Target Start, need to be converted to jqlDate before using in Variable?

[Michael Ayers]

Cannot find an answer researching this.  I have a manually triggered automation that runs successfully but does not put anything into TEXT 1 field.  Below is what i have:

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Michael Ayers 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Please show us the details of the step where you are trying to set the TEXT 1 field.

[Michael Ayers]

[Michael Ayers]

before i did not have anything in blank above and now when i put the variable name in the box and run the automation i get this in TEXT 1:

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Michael Ayers 

I see three problems with the smart value that you are trying to assign to the variable Calculatedays:

1. You are missing a second curly brace at the front of the smart value (before now).
2. You need to swap the positions of the abs and days functions.
3. You are missing a period after 10202) 

[Michael Ayers]

GM Trudy....made those changes and rule runs successfully....but nothing returns in TEXT 1 field...it is blank

[Trudy Claspill]

Please show us the changes that you made.

An excellent debugging tool is the Log Action. You can use it to write out to the rule's audit log the values of smart values, variables, and fields, to see what values are actually being used in the rule. I recommend you use that to ensure your smart value is generating the value you expect. You can use it to print out the building blocks of your smart value.

For instance you are using a custom field in your smart value. Print out that field. Print out the value of {{now}}. Print out the value of {{now diff(issue.customfield_#####)}}}, and so on.

[Michael Ayers]

Hey @Trudy Claspill 

Made those changes you recommended.  Looks like the rule runs successfully but doesn't return a value in the log and doesn't show in TEXT 1.  Any suggestions?

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Michael Ayers 

I have so far not been able to reproduce your problem in a Jira Software DC v9.4.11 instance.

When I use the same functions with a Date Picker custom field I get the expected results. I did not have to use the format function.

Additional debugging you can try with Log actions is to print segments of your smart values, like I did. See what value you get when you use only the diff function. Then see what value you get when you tack on the abs function.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Michael Ayers 

First, I note you have the function abs before the unit of measure days for the diff.  Please try reordering those:

{{now.diff(issue.customfield_10202).days.abs}}

If that does not help...are you certain about the type of your custom field?  Have you tried adding toDate to convert it:

{{now.diff(issue.customfield_10202.toDate).days.abs}}

Kind regards,
Bill