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Automation -> Issue field condition -> field "Category"

Lukas Maas

Hi fellows,

I have a question:

I want to automatically create subtasks when I change the issues category to a specific value.

I'm adding a "issue field condition" Component to the automation workflow - everything's fine so far.

But I can't select the "Category" field - it's not available in the dropdown suggestion menu.

I saw that the "Category" field is locked - is this the reason? When yes, why can't I use this field?

Yes I can use Labels instead, but it is not 100% clean for my project.

I can't select "Category" here.

But I can select it at the "field value changed" component

Accepted answers

Lukas Maas

I found a solution: instead of using the category field I used {{customfield_13953.value}} - this works with the advanced compare condition.

Thanks for your support!

All comments

Lukas Maas

I added this comment to my post too

Lukas Maas

I added this comment to my post

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Category is a weird field, it's a field type provided by JWM, and there's two of them.

One of them is a project category, and it only really gets used in search (you can say "category = X", and it will select for all issues in all projects currently in the project category). This one isn't a problem here, you don't really see it anywhere else.

The one you are interested in is a field that effectively only exists for Jira work management (business) projects, and it's not the same as other, more simple field types.

Automation has not yet been coded to work with it. I know there are request for it to be done, and they are high on the to-do list, but I haven't bookmarked the link (yet)

Lukas Maas

Thanks Nic for your quick and informative reply.

I felt that this field is a little bit weird too.

If it's not coded into automation - why it is available on the "field value changed" component and not under "issue field condition" - this makes absolutly no sense for me.

I can cheat if i abuse the labels, but labels are not the same like a category - and for a big project it will just create other problems.

Thanks for welcoming me to your community!

Lukas Maas

Maybe there is another way to accomplish my automation requirements - this is the workflow:

When I'm creating a new (parent) issue:

if category == A then create Subtask A, B, C for this issue

if category == B then create Subtaks X, Y, Z for this issue

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Ah, that might be an improvement actually, when the field first arrived, I don't think you could use it in the "field value changed" either!

There's a technical essay on how fields work internally in the code, but the short version is that a field is a self-contained object with interfaces to the rest of the code to talk to. If a field does not have a relevant interface, the other stuff can't talk to it, and if the field needs to be talked to in a different way, the other stuff needs to be coded to understand it.

Automation seeing Category in "field value changed" means that either Automation has had the right calls to the Category field type added, or, more likely, the interface to ask the question "have you been changed?" has been implemented in the field!

And next, we need the "list yourself in 'issue field condition'" added to one side or the other

Lukas Maas

I got you and totally agree!

I just can't imagine an use-case where you trigger anything if the category changes without knowing its (new) value. But that doesn't mean that it does not exist

Thanks again for your reply!

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Lukas Maas

When a field is not yet supported with the built-in list for Issue Fields Condition, please try the Advanced Compare Condition and use the smart value for the field

To confirm you have the correct smart value for your field (and that it is supported by rules) please use this how-to article: https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/find-the-smart-value-for-a-field/

Kind regards,
Bill

Lukas Maas

Hi @Bill Sheboy

Thanks for your advice - unfortunately I already tried this before, but it didn't work.

Maybe I used the wrong property? But I couldn't find the category's properties anywhere. Do you know which property I should use?

I tried {{issue.category.name}} {{issue.category.key}}

Lukas Maas

I found a solution: instead of using the category field I used {{customfield_13953.value}} - this works with the advanced compare condition.

Thanks for your support!

Bill Sheboy

To identify the correct smart value (and confirm rules support it), please use the how-to article I provided. Essentially what you do is:

identify an example issue with your field
call the REST API from a browser
search for your field on the page
- if you find it, you can confirm the smart value (or custom field id)
- if you do not find it, the field is not supported by automation rules

alevy_4ap3ol

I was trying to create a similar automation as Lucas Maas for a change of category. I found a workaround using {{fieldChange.toString}}. Worked exactly as needed.

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