jsonStringToObject() not returning expected results

Question

Has anyone used jsonStringToObject() successfully? This documentation:

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-smart-values-text-fields/#jsonStringToObject--

uses the example code

and claims that that can then be addressed using dot notation, but within Confluence automation I've tried

or for example

{{jsonStringToObject(page.body).type}} (which should return "doc")

and nothing is returned.

{{page.body}}, on its own, returns a string that validates as proper JSON text - so this SHOULD work. I.e. this appears to be a bug.

Speaking of which, the object {{page.body}} seems to be entirely undocumented - I know {{page.body.storage}} works, but I have not been able to find any other sub-elements of {{page.body}}. Any hints?

Background here is that I'm trying to iterate through the rows of a table, and what I'd LIKE to do is to return the rows as a "list" that I can then iterate using Automation's "FOR EACH" - otherwise I'll have to have 50+ IF clauses and use string extraction to grab each table row.

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @David Corlette

Sorry I am late to this thread; I just found it based on a post from @Amanda Stroud to a JAC defect item comment.

The jsonStringToObject() function definitely works with Confluence Cloud automation; I just tested it five minutes ago.

And...many of the smart values in Confluence Cloud are read just-in-time, leading to all manner of timing problems in rules.  My recommendation is to:

* first save the expected data in a Created Variable; this will force it to fully evaluate and convert to text
* write that variable to the audit log to confirm it is well-formed JSON
* then use the variable in the jsonStringToObject() function
* please note well: that function does not handle nested lists well, and so may require the use of both text functions to extract parts of the JSON before (or repeatedly) using jsonStringToObject

Kind regards,
Bill

Amanda Stroud · Answer

Oh wow, I was actually looking up to make sure I was using jsonStringToObject() properly, and you are doing the same thing I am trying to do on Confluence. Did you ever get anything to work?

David Corlette · Answer

Same reply as to Marc, above - could be a difference in platform, but really it seems like Confluence just hasn't caught up yet in the doco department. Strings are strings. Seems like a bug to me.