Is there a specific permission or role needed to apply a blueprint/template modification?

[Aaron Howard Field]

For the space I am currently working on, I am the owner and Space Administrator. My version of Confluence is Cloud based.

I selected the Edit link for the Decision template located under Decisions Blueprint (Space Settings - Content Tools - Templates) and modified the Status variable response option from a Text field to a List field. The options I provided for the List field were Open,In Progress,Pending,Complete. After I save my changes, I attempted to create a new decision page and found that my modifications were not appearing in the status field, but rather the original out-of-the-box Text field option Confluence provides.

Please let me know if I am doing something incorrectly or need additional permissions. Thanks

[Diego]

Hello there!
I would like to start by saying that yes, accessing the feature to edit Blueprints is indeed bound to your permissions in the instance. We need the administrator permission for such. The situation we are facing seems to stem from the fact that currently, we can not edit the values of system variables.
Even though the interface allows values to be inserted there, the actual value is controlled server side.

As a possible workaround, you could create a new template and set the variable values as desired:

Blueprints and user created templates

For a more complete experience (a new Blueprint), with dialog and everything else we need to create a new Blueprint for your instance. Creating Blueprints require some knowledge on development and an appropriate environment:

Multi-page blueprints with Confluence Connect


Under our documentation you will find some steps to get a kick-start for this!
Please, let us know about your thoughts.

[Aaron Howard Field]

I forwarded your response to my Site Admin and he said this helps a lot. We are in the process of refining my permissions/role. Thank you so much!

[Diego]

Really good to know that we were able to help you out Aaron.

You can always come back to the Community if you end up needing assistanace or to help others with your knowledge!

[Aaron Howard Field]

@Diego I am still having issues with the updated/edited template. My Confluence Admin set me with permissions for Site Administrator, so I am able to see and manipulate the settings globally.

As a test, I added a new row to the Decision blueprint/template table form and called it "Test Row" in the label section. In the next cell of the row, I created a new variable called "$testingvar" and set it's property to a list with the values of Test1,Test2,Test3. I saved the updates to the blueprint/template and went back out to my Testing Space. From there, I removed the existing decision log and decision pages from the space and added them back in, thinking this would purge and reset what is being pulled in from the Decision blueprint/template.

The result was being able to see the "Test Row" on the newly created and published Decision page, but I was unable to see the list drop down with the values of Test1,Test2,Test3. Also, when you initially create a new decision, it doesn't show the new row on the popup dialog box that appears for the initial data entry of the decision.

We are stuck from here and do not know what else we need to do to make the blueprint/template updates apply to the site.

[Aaron Howard Field]

[Diego]

Hello Aaron!
For you to replicate the experience provided by the built-in Blueprint (dialog box, new fields), a new Blueprint needs to be created. Our Confluence Cloud Developer Documentation can introduce this part:
Confluence Cloud Developer
Some programming knowledge is needed to implement this.

Further, searching reported issue I could find this:
CONFCLOUD-37807 | "insert a variable into a template" on System Global Template Fails

I was able to reproduce the issue using both the toolbar insertion and also the $ shortcut. We could go ahead to Vote and Watch this report. Voting increases the issue visibility and watching will keep you up to date with changes applied there!

For short:

- Developing a new Blueprint is needed to implement the same experience bundled Blueprints offer
- There is a bug report listed to tackle the issue with new variables not being respected

Aaron, please let us know your thoughts!

[Aaron Howard Field]

@Diego I will watch the CONFCLOUD-37807 issue and be on the lookout for updates. In the meantime, do you know what priority this issue has in the grand scheme of things? Is Atlassian looking to resolve it soon, or will it reside in a backlog until more users complain about the bug?

I hope it is considered a high priority, as we at Mecklenburg County IT Services are looking to potentially utilize Confluence (as well as JIRA) as a solution at the Enterprise level. My current project has been nominated to be the "pilot" test run on Confluence, and depending on how well my team and I utilize the application will determine if we wish to invest in Confluence further. The more customization we can implement into the site/spaces, the better.

Thank you again Diego!

[Diego]

Hi there Aaron, thanks for replying with your thoughts and questions!
Currently, there is no roadmap for us to share with the community about this report. The best approach is really to watch the report so we are up to date with it.

Confluence Cloud does offer some level of customization. Further, the infrastructure is one less chore to be taken care of while on Cloud. You can check our docs on Cloud customization for Confluence here:

Customize your site

Our server solutions offer a higher level of customization at the cost of infrastructure maintenance. Keep in mind that both Cloud and server have the bug report on Blueprint variables:

CONFSERVER-37807

Even on server you would need to create a new blueprint to have the desired experience:

Server - Write a simple Confluence blueprint

You can check further comparisons of both platforms here:

Atlassian Cloud vs Server features and use cases

Functional differences in Atlassian Cloud