Is there a way to return the issue key for linked work items?

Question

Hi! I am trying to do some automation based on linked issues (ultimately I want to update the status of a particular issue based on the status of a linked issue on another project, but the statuses are not identical, I need to do some mapping between statuses on the projects)

My current block is that I cannot seem to get the Issue key for a linked issue. I can get the smart value of {{issue.issueLinks.id}} but not the issue key. Is there any way (without addons) that I can do this? Does a smart value of {{issue.issueLinks.key}} exist?

Secondary question, related to my ultimate goal, if I can only get the linked issue Id, is my best bet to try and get the issue's status via the API? or is {{issue.issueLinks.status.name}} or something similar usable?

Thanks!

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @james_vanderhaeghe

For a question like this, context is important for the community to help.  Please post the following:

* What problem are you trying to solve with this rule?  That is, "why do this?"
* An image of your complete automation rule in a single image for continuity
* Images of any relevant actions / conditions / branches
* An image of the audit log details showing the rule execution
* Explain what is not working as expected and why you believe that to be the case

Until we see those...

Both the id and key of linked work items are available under the {{issue.issuelinks}} smart value, and one needs to ensure you are looking at the correct one for outer versus inner link direction.  Please use this how-to article with an example work item to better understand the structure of that smart value:

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/find-the-smart-value-for-a-field/

As @Marc -Devoteam- describes, sometimes it may be better to use JQL with the linkedIssues() function and the Lookup Work Items action (or a branch on JQL) to access them.  Which technique to use depends upon your scenario / needs.

Kind regards,
Bill

james.vanderhaeghe · Answer

See I need to have this rule apply broadly across an entire project.

So for each work item on this project, I need to find the linked issues, then based on the status of the linked issues change the status on the work item.

Marc -Devoteam- · Answer

HI @james_vanderhaeghe

You should use a lookup work items action to find linked issues based upon a specific link, then you can list the issues.

Then you could add a condition to find if the found issues have a key that matches.