Automation Support Request: Work Item referencing Differentiation Within Automation

Question

Hello,

I am utilizing automation to copy and adjust a submitted form based upon the # of selections in a multi-selection field, however subsequent work item edits always reference the original, despite coming after the copying event. How do I define which work item to reference?

Thank you in advance, 
Josh

Bill Sheboy · Answer

I do not see anything in your original question or rule about deleting any issues.  Ignoring that for now...

Yes, the rule would use the Send Web Request action to call the endpoint I noted as a POST, supplying the information to copy the form.

To start, get your cloudId using the instructions under "Using basic auth" at the top of that page:

https://your-domain.atlassian.net/_edge/tenant_info

* action: clone issue
* action: send web request, where...* the cloudId was found above
* the source issue for the form is {{triggerIssue.key}}
* the target issue for the form is {{createdIssue.key}}
* and the form ID in the request body data is {{forms.last}}

And so those smart values would be used in the placeholders shown in the documentation for that endpoint's URL and data.

Josh Drake_b04nnb · Answer

Good morning Bill,

I am out of my depths with utilizing this feature, but to my understanding, after the issue cloning, I need a PUT send web request to copy the forms, but how should I order things to update the fields, request type, and send cloned-issue related email, and delete the original issue?

Can the subsequent items be addressed somehow with smartfields? {{createdissue.XXX}}
I am not sure if you can do "smart actions" so to speak...

The following URL is not validating correctly, following the guide. 
https://api.atlassian.com/jira/forms/cloud/{cloudId}/issue/{sourceIssueIdOrKey}/form/copy/{targetIssueIdOrKey}

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Josh Drake

Adding to Trudy's suggestions...

You cannot add a second branch after the first one to solve this need because branches of this type run in parallel and asynchronously, with no guarantee of when they finish until the last step in the rule.  And so the second branch will start before the first one completes!

And using a second rule to copy the form may not work because the original trigger work item is no longer visible in scope to update the created work item.

Another solution, staying with your current rule, is to call the REST API endpoint to copy the form using the Send Web Request action, supplying the trigger work item key, the created work item key, and the form ID:

https://developer.atlassian.com/cloud/forms/rest/api-group-forms-on-issue/#api-issue-sourceissueidorkey-form-copy-targetissueidorkey-post

Kind regards,
Bill