Trying to set an Asset Object Reference that might be empty with A4J

[C_ Derek Fields]

Environment

• I have an Asset custom field called ObjectA. This field may be empty or may contain an Object
• I have a second Asset custom field called ObjectB. 
  • ObjectB has an attribute that is a reference to an Object A type of object
• I have an automation that sets the reference on ObjectB to ObjectA. This uses the smart value {{issue.ObjectB}}

Problem

• When ObjectA has a value, it works as expected.
• When ObjectA is empty, the Automation indicates an error 
  • OBJECT-123 (ObjectA = '') 
• This is because ObjectA is empty and the smart value returns an empty string

The error doesn't actually affect the operation of the automation, but it raises an error, which sends me an email, which is annoying. I can turn off the notifications, but that means that if something else breaks, I don't get notified.

What I want to do is to clear the ObjectA attribute when ObjectA is empty on the issue or set ObjectA when it is set on the ticket.

Any suggestions?

[Lisa Forstberg]

Hi @C_ Derek Fields ,

I might not be catching on completely.

Can you add a condition to the automation to only fire if the custom field "Object A" is populated.

Perhaps you can add a screenshot of the automation, that tends to speed up the help.

br

Lisa

[C_ Derek Fields]

Here is a partial screen shot. I am using the "Create Object" action to create an Assets object.

If one of these fields from the issue is empty, A4J throws an error message. The object is created correctly and the rule continues on. However, I get a failure email notification. I tried using an {{if}} conditional, but that raises the same problem.

The root problem appears to be that the smart value returns an empty string instead of a null and that confuses the rest call when it tries to update the value.

[Rune Rasmussen _Admin_]

Did you ever find an answer to this situation?

I'm facing similar issues with empty strings versus null, and it's driving me up the wall.

[Lisa Forstberg]

Possible workarounds?

1) use validations in Jira to ensure the data is completely filled 

2) Have a two step approach in the automations.

Step one:  Create the object with the fields you know will always be populated

Step two: If field  X  is populated, then action "update object"  to complete those attributes of the object.

Just an idea, have not tested it myself ;-)

/Lisa