Can a subtask inherit a required field from its parent?

[Esther Strom]

I know that I can have a subtask inherit a value from its parent by using the Copy Field postfunction and choosing the same field name for both source and destination, then choosing Copy from Parent.

This works fine when the field being copied isn't a required field. But the Account field is, for us, required at the time of issue creation, and when I tried to use this postfunction, the create screen for the subtask doesn't automatically select the Account value from the parent.

Parent:

Subtask creation:

How can I accomplish this?

[Parvaneh Zand]

Hi @Esther Strom ,

First of all, you need to Move Down the Copy field value post function, it should be placed after the "Creates issue originally" function.

Post functions run after a transition is performed and they don't update field on screens automatically.

You can select a value for Account field manually on create issue screen. If this post function is added to the Create Issue transition (Before Open status!), the field will be updated to the new value after creation.

[Esther Strom]

I was told by an actual Atlassian employee that the copy field value postfunction should be in the location I have it; it works correctly for all of our other workflows that use that functionality. 

And we don't want to select a value for the Account field manually; the whole point of this is so that users don't have to select a value manually.

[Parvaneh Zand]

Well, I'm afraid there is no easy solution to your question. I'm using Jira Server and I found a solution using Behaviours module ("Script Runner" add-on), which, unfortunately, is not supported on Cloud.

[John Funk]

Hi Esther - If Parvaneh does not completely provide a solution for you then you can also do this with Automation For Jira. 

[Esther Strom]

Thanks, John. First, the newly-native automation rules have restrictions on how many executions per month you get. Second, it still doesn't handle populating the selection on the Create screen, which is what we need.

It's kind of silly that there's no existing native function to allow subtasks to inherit field values from their parents.

[Abhinandan Shah]

@Esther Strom Hey Esther. Yes, completely agree, inheriting values from parent issue seems like a no-brainer must in subtasks, but I guess it isn't there. Were you able to find a solution to this? I'm in the exact same position right now.

The only solution I can think of is use a different scheme for subtask which doesn't have the required field, well required. But I don't really want to do that.

[Esther Strom]

@Abhinandan Shah we did what you don't want to do: created a separate field config for subtasks that has Account as optional, and separate subtask screens for create and edit. The create screen doesn't display the Account field (so a user doesn't select something on creation and then have it overwritten by the postfunction.)

[Abhinandan Shah]

Thanks @Esther Strom