nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Jira automation fill out null when drop down is empty

philip.song

Hi,

I'm using a Jira automation rule to fill out Ticket 1 based on the fields in Ticket 2. I'm using the Create Work Item component with the additional fields.

I have a custom field customfield_15842 that is a drop down selector for the user. Sometimes it's empty and that's okay. However when it IS empty, and the automation is run, there is an error "Specify a valid value for YourCustomValue (customfield_15842 ),", which I gather is because it's trying to bring in a null value.

What I would like to do is write this logic such that if the value is empty, then just keep the field as `None`. But I'm having trouble writing the correct logic for this, and it keeps erroring.

I've tried things similar to the following with no luck:

"customfield_15842" : { "value": "{{triggerissue.customfield_15842 | null}}" }
"customfield_15842" : { "value": "{{#if(or(customfield_15842.isEmpty,equals(customfield_15842,null)))}}null{{/}}{{customfield_15842}}" }
"customfield_15842" : { "value": "{{#if(or(customfield_15842.isEmpty,equals(customfield_15842,null)))}}""{{/}}{{customfield_15842}}" }
"customfield_15842" : { "value": "{{#if(customfield_15842.isEmpty)}} null"}
"customfield_15842" : { "value": "{{#if(customfield_15842.isEmpty, null, triggerissue.customfield_15842)}}{{/}}"}

Any help appreciated, thanks!

--------

Update: Solved!

It seems that when dealing with these drop down type fields, the if statement encloses the "setting" aspect. Something like this worked for me.

{{#if(exists(triggerIssue.customfield_15850))}} 
"customfield_15850": { "id": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15850.id}}" } {{/}}

so when for example combining drop downs and regular text fields, it would look something like this, with the comma being contained inside the if statement

{{#if(exists(triggerIssue.customfield_15850))}} 
"customfield_15850": { "id": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15850.id}}" }, {{/}}
"customfield_15851" : "{{triggerissue.customfield_15851}}"

A second aspect about copying drop down values is in particular cases where the fields may have different names but the same values, you cannot use the .id attribute. In cases like this, you can use the value attribute instead:

{{#if(not(exists(customfield_10550)))}}
 "customfield_10550": { "value": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15845.value}}" }, 
{{/}}

Accepted answers

Bill Sheboy

Hi @philip_song

I am starting a new answer to this question to avoid colliding with the other suggestions, and to provide more ideas to try...

First, what type of project are you using: company-managed or team-managed?

Next, if using team-managed what is the type of your custom field: a global, user-selection field or a team-managed People field? That impacts how to use the JSON in the action because People fields are implemented as if they are always multiple-selection, and thus use the array syntax.

What I meant was using the variable for the entire JSON expression and to correctly test for the presence of the field with exists() in the condition:

action: create variable
- variable name: varJson
- smart value:

{
  "fields": {
    {{#if(exists(triggerIssue.customfield_15842.accountId))}}
      "customfield_15842": { "id": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15842.accountId}}" }, 
    {{/}}
    "customfield_15851" : "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15851}}"
  }
}

action: Log, to write to the audit log
- my JSON is: {{varJson}}
action: create work item
- using {{varJson}} in the advanced edit

Finally, please show an image of your entire Create Work Item action. It is possible you are selecting overlapping options and that is causing the error. For example, by selecting the field from the dropdown list AND trying to set it with JSON.

Kind regards,
Bill

All comments

Gor Greyan

Hi, @philip_song

Thanks for the question.

Try the following JSON.

{
{{#if(triggerIssue.customfield_15842)}}
"customfield_15842": { "id": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15842.accountId}}" }
{{/}}
}

If the custom field isa user picker, then the accountId should work, if it is a single select list type, then try value instead of accountID.

Let me know if it worked or not.

philip.song

Hi @Gor Greyan ,

Thanks for the speedy reply!

That seems to have worked, but caused something else strange.

This, as you provided, works:

{
"fields": {
{{#if(triggerIssue.customfield_15842)}}
"customfield_15842": { "id": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15842.accountId}}" }
{{/}}
}
}

This also works:

{
"fields": {
"customfield_15851" : "{{triggerissue.customfield_15851}}"
}
}

However this errors:

{
"fields": {
{{#if(triggerIssue.customfield_15842)}}
"customfield_15842": { "id": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15842.accountId}}" }
{{/}},
"customfield_15851" : "{{triggerissue.customfield_15851}}"
}
}

Error while parsing additional fields. Not valid JSON.

Do you know why this would be the case? Previously, I've chained together multiple fields, but there's something about this if statement for the customfield_15842 that seems to be causing issues

Bill Sheboy

Hi @philip_song

It is the stray comma which is outside of the conditional expression, and so it appears before the section for customfield_15851 when the first field is null. Please try moving it inside.

TIP: for dynamic JSON expressions, I recommend building them in a Created Variable and logging them before use in the rule action for create / edit work item. That helps diagnose problems in the resulting JSON attempt.

Kind regards,
Bill

philip.song

Hi @Bill Sheboy ,

Sorry can you explain how you're meant to use the logger?

I built a variable here with the following logic:

{{#if(triggerIssue.customfield_15842)}} "customfield_15842": { "id": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15842.accountId}}" }, {{/}}

And then used the `Log Action` component with the log message {{testvariable}}

but in the audit log, the log action simply says Log:

Bill Sheboy

Hi @philip_song

I am starting a new answer to this question to avoid colliding with the other suggestions, and to provide more ideas to try...

First, what type of project are you using: company-managed or team-managed?

What I meant was using the variable for the entire JSON expression and to correctly test for the presence of the field with exists() in the condition:

action: create variable
- variable name: varJson
- smart value:

{
  "fields": {
    {{#if(exists(triggerIssue.customfield_15842.accountId))}}
      "customfield_15842": { "id": "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15842.accountId}}" }, 
    {{/}}
    "customfield_15851" : "{{triggerIssue.customfield_15851}}"
  }
}

action: Log, to write to the audit log
- my JSON is: {{varJson}}
action: create work item
- using {{varJson}} in the advanced edit

Kind regards,
Bill

philip.song

Hi @Bill Sheboy

the flow of my automation is:

create variable (issues)
Branch rule (for each key in issues)
Create work item

The summary causes the rule to error which atm is intended to prevent issues from being created during testing

Bill Sheboy

For testing, you could create the variable with the JSON as I described earlier, and write that to the log and remove the Create Work Item action.

Please try that to confirm the JSON matches what you expect. Once it works, you may re-add the Create Work Item action to test further.

philip.song

Hi @Bill Sheboy

Sorry I think I wasn't clear - I was able to put in the variable and output it in the log, but it's pulling through as empty, similar to Gor's suggestion but slightly different.

{ "fields": { "customfield_15851" : "" } }

I thought it was maybe because I'm confusing when to use issue vs triggerissue, so I may need to look into it more

Welcome!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Quick Links

Find more posts tagged with

jira

cloud

jira-cloud

jira-automation