How to update worklog to be difference between original and remaining time

[Gordon McDonald]

I'm using an app to update the time tracking field from excel but unfortunately it can only update original estimate and remaining time, and not log time worked.

As a workaround, I would like to make an automation that fires up whenever time tracking is updated, and updates work time logged to be the difference between original estimate and remaining time.

I've tried the following but it fails. How can I fix it so that time already spent is updated as the difference between original estimate and remaining time?

Additional fields:

{
  "update": {
    "worklog" : [
      {
        "set": {
          "timeSpent" : {{issue.timetracking.originalEstimate.diff(issue.timetracking.remainingEstimate).hours}}
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Error that I get:

Extension I am using to update time tracking column: Excel 365 connector for JIRA  

[James Navin]

Hi @Gordon McDonald ,

My guess is that the smart value expression you are using is not evaluating to a number and so the resulting JSON is not valid (as detailed in the error you are seeing).

I would suggest you start by debugging the smart value expression to ensure it is doing what you think it's doing. There are some options described in https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/debug-an-automation-rule/ for how to debug a rule.

Once you have ensured the smart value expression is working as you expect then you should be able to update your rule.

Something like the following would be a good starting place:

Cheers,

James