Iterate through JQL result of issues, extract certain fields, and send a formatted Slack message

Kristján Geir Mathiesen

Hi all

I'm over my head with this ask, that I got last week. Quite specific:

- Every Friday run a JQL query to list up open "Blockers" (scheduled automation rule can do that)

- For each issue, extract the key, Assignee, and Summary

- Send a single Slack message to a shared channel with these 3 fields (1 line per issue) and also tag the Assignee in that line

I've messed around with {{lookupIssues}} but not found a way to format it. Let alone match the Atlassian user ID with Slack user ID...

The Slack message should look something like:

===

Outstanding blockers:

ABC-100 Jane Doe (Slack tagged) Improve the existing API
ABC-101 John Doe (Slack tagged) Finish the new brochure

===

Any ideas?

Takk,
KGM

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Kristján Geir Mathiesen 

There are two parts to this one: the Slack user ID and the issue field listing.

How many users do you have for Jira and Slack to map to one another? 

1. When you have just a few, you could use a Lookup Table to map them, using the Jira user's account ID as the key and the Slack ID as the value.  Or, use a long chain of replace() functions.
2. When you have many users, it may be better to use a separate process to add an entity property for each Jira user, and look them up.  This article describes the method to bulk add them: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Automation-articles/Mention-someone-directly-in-Slack-via-Jira-Automation/ba-p/1528605

 

That second approach is better for the next step: listing the fields.  The reason is when iterating over the data in the Lookup Issues result, outside data is not visible.  And if the Slack ID is already present for the Assignee data, they can easily be mentioned.

I'm not using Slack a lot currently, so I recommend looking at the necessary formatting in their information.  Perhaps something like this:

{{#lookupIssues}}
* {{key}} - {{summary}} assigned to {{assignee.displayName}} <@{{assignee.properties.metadata.slack_id}}>
{{/}}

 

Kind regards,
Bill