How to get unique value from multi-select using smart value?

Keith Vedol_139vux

Hi,

I am creating an automation rule that gets the unique values from a multi-select field in order to populate a list.  Being that this field allows multiple selections for the tickets (ex. C++, Unity, Javascript), there will be other tickets in the same release that will have one or more of the same values selected. The following smart value was created for the rule:

{{lookupIssues.customfield_12345.value.distinct}}

Example:

Three tickets are in the release.

One has C++ only selected in the aforementioned field.

The second has C++, Unity selected.

The third has C++, Unity, and JavaScript selected.

Run the rule.

 

The result when the email is received:

 [C++, C++, Javascript, Unity, C++, Unity] 

The expected would be to just have the unique values appear to represent what was worked on for the release.

Is there a way to just get only the unique values in the list of tickets to be returned?  Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Keith Vedol 

That is working as expected...What is happening is the distinct function is applying to the set-of-selections for your custom field, and with 3 choices there could be 2^3 or 8 possible results.

The work-around is to merge the sets before using distinct.  Please try this one:

{{lookupIssues.customfield_12345.value.join(",").remove("[").remove("]").replace(", ",",").split(",").distinct}}

How this works: 

• The lookup returns zero-to-many issues, and your custom field has zero-to-many selections...
• and so each "value" is an array (not a list)
• First we merge everything across the arrays with a comma using the join function,
• Then remove any brackets around the arrays
• And then remove any stray spacing from ", " versus "," differences.
• Now we can split into a list
• And finally use distinct again.

Please note the results may not match the order of your selection list items.  A work-around for that is to add ORDER BY cf[12345] ASC to your lookup issues JQL, as that will at least be in alphanumeric sort order.

Kind regards,
Bill