Jira 8.0 : Missing workflow transition buttons!

Question

After upgrading from v7.x to 8.0, some of the transition buttons are missing from some workflows, but not all.  I have seen the suggestion that there could be an add-on that is missing that the workflow depends on.

However, the affected workflows are somewhat complex, so it would be difficult to try to find.  Are there any particular logs that I can look at, and what keywords should I look for to be able to track down the culprit?

Thanks in advance!

Jon_q0arle · Answer

Yes, we did, and we do have ScriptRunner.  I will check there as well.

David Fischer · Answer

I'm sure you did, but just in case: did you upgrade all your apps after upgrading to Jira 8? On the manage apps page, do you see any app that's marked as incompatible?

Also, do you have ScriptRunner on your instance? If so, even if you upgraded ScriptRunner itself, you might have scripts that need to be updated as well.

Earl McCutcheon · Answer

Hi Jon,

Add-ons are a definite culprit here, but it could be something else entirely and I am going to cover a lot of topics specific to add-on apps below so Let me know if you find any of this or if you locate any other errors that are different from whats described, and I can take a closer look.

I would suggest checking the manage add-ons page first and see if any add-ons are flagged as incompatible or in need of an update, as that would be a super easy and quick fix if its just in need of an update, but may require contacting the add-on vendor for suggestions if its incompatible and cannot be updated to a compatible version.

As workflow add-on possibilities go "Jira Misc Workflow Extensions (JWME)" or "Jira Suite Utilities (JSU)" are two very popular add-ons capable of altering the workflow functions that may need to be updated or were possibly was missed in the migration, but it's not going to be limited to these add-ons and it could be another.

An easy way to track this down in the UI front end for your workflow is to look at one of the issues that is missing a transition that you expect to be there and get the status it is currently in.  Then start from that status in the workflow editor to check the outgoing transitions of that status, since you know where an error is occuring this narrows down the scope of where to look a lot.

EXE: on a super simple workflow that was (Open >> InProgress >> Done) and the issue that is erring is in the InProgress status, you would then check the transition that goes from InProgress to Done.

Look at the Conditions as the primary suspects, and and Validators or workflow properties as the secondary.  The document "Advanced Workflow Configuration" gives for more details on these items.

As an EXE on what to look for, Lets say you had a workflow validator from JWME, and the add-on was missing or disabled post migration it will show up like this, noting that it is not basic human readable but rather broken down int class and arguments:

When JMWE is installed and running correctly it shows up like this:

The Class section is what to look at though to get the information on the add-on that is erring, you can then look at your startup logs or application.xml from a backup and search for that class to get more details on the plugin

Another option is to look through the logging and you will see various "ClassNotFoundException" errors when you load an issues that the transition is missing from, and the error stack should spit out the plugin class that is triggering the errors in the same format as my ui exe of JWME above which would look  like this: "com.innovalog.jmwe.plugins.validators.FieldChangedValidator"   and this will give you a clear indicator of what plugin is triggering the error.  Either meaning the add-on is Required to complete the requested action and that it is missing, disabled, incompatible, or encountering a bug of some kind.

Regards,
Earl