JQL : resolution was (unresolved, empty) before XXXX-XX-XX does not report the right amount of jira

[lcourouble]

Hi everyone !

I'm kind of loosing my mind over something that is greatly basic, so I come here to get your insight for this topic. Here is what is going on : 

In order to produce a document for my work I need to know what was the amount of jira unresolved at certain dates.

Quite basic right ? 

I went for the following JQL : Project = MyProject AND resolution was in (unresolved, empty) before XXXX-XX-XX 


In order to verify that my JQL was right I did a test by comparing the amount of jira that this JQL find when puttin todays date in it, to another jql that simply display the JIRA of today. 

So my JQL test sample for today's issues is simply : Project = MyProject AND resolution = unresolved >>> This find 166 jiras. 

The JQL I tested is : Project = MyProject AND resolution was in (unresolved, empty) before 2021-08-31 (taking into account that when I wrote this message we are the 30:08) >>> This find 33 jiras. 

:|

So here I am fellow Jira gang members. Asking for your advice on that. :/ i'm sure it's quite basic but I can't find the solution myself -_-'. 

Thank you for your help ! 

[lcourouble · Accepted solution]

Thank you all for your help, 

So unfortunately i tried both your solution and it did not work. 

resolution was unresolved & resolution was empty both return nothing ==> I'm gonna double check if someone put a dodgy resolution as you said @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- , but last time I checked there wasn't. 

I found a workaround last night : 

project = myProject AND (resolution was not in (//list of all the fixed resolution possible in my project besides unresolved) ON "dateValue") 

And strangely enough this worked. 
I could even combo it with an extra filter parameter : 

project = myProject AND ((resolution was not in (//list of all the fixed resolution possible in my project besides unresolved) ON "dateValue") and (status was not in (Waiting for release) ON "dateValue"))

And this worked. 
definitely something is fishy in my db parameters. I will look into it and let you know if I found the cause. 

thank you for your help !

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I think there might be a bit of a misunderstanding on how Resolution works here.

A resolved issue is any issue with a resolved value set on it.  An unresolved issue actually has null in the database, and displays as unresolved.

Your query for "resolution was in (unresolved, empty)" may well be looking for resolved issues, because in that clause, "unresolved" and "empty" look like values for resolution.

The clause "resolution = unresolved" is better, because Jira knows that it displays "unresolved" and knows humans would expect it to interpret it as "resolution is empty" instead.  Unless you've made the mistake of adding a resolution called "unresolved", that should work.

But I tend to stick to "resolution is empty" as the 100% clear definition of "unresolved"

So, assuming you've not added dodgy values to the resolution options, then I think you want:

Project = MyProject AND resolution was empty before 2021-08-31

If that returns you the "wrong" issues, then I suspect you may have some broken resolution options you'll want to clean out.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @lcourouble 

I believe that using EMPTY requires the use of IS EMPTY or IS NOT EMPTY syntax, or equals (=), and not an IN membership test.  So perhaps something like:

project = myProject AND (resolution IS EMPTY OR resolution WAS unresolved BEFORE "dateValue")

Best regards,
Bill

[Darryl Lee]

Sorry, slight necropost, but this came up just now so it's relevant to me. :-}

This appear to be equivalent:

RESOLUTION = Unresolved

RESOLUTION IS EMPTY

But these are not:

RESOLUTION WAS Unresolved ON 2021-08-10

RESOLUTION WAS EMPTY ON 2021-08-10

@Jack Brickey confirms this, but does not explain WHY this is the case.

My suspicion is that it's a bug, or at the very least, could be better documented. I found this KB article:
Using Not Equals on a Resolution does not return Unresolved Issues 

The Unresolved status is considered to be a null value, so not equals will not return it.