Using {{approval.approver.displayName}} does not work in Automation

[Rodolfo Romero]

I'm working on an Automation rule that will send an email to the approvers when the ticket approval process has been completed. All smart values are properly calculated, except for {{approval.approver.displayName}} which should give me the display name of the person who approved the change.

Based on the documentation, {{approval.approver}} should give you the user id of the person who approved the change and it is mentioned that user smart values can be combined with this so I assumed that adding ".displayName" would do the trick but when the email is sent that value shows empty.

Here is the structure of the email I'm sending:

{{approval.approver.displayName}} has completed the approval on {{approval.completedDate}} with {{approval.decision}} decision for {{issue.key}}.

*** Approvals status: ***
{{#issue.Approvals}}
{{#approvers}}
Name: {{approver.displayName}} - Action: {{approverDecision}}
{{/}}
{{/}}

Any thoughts?

[James Navin · Accepted solution]

Hi @Rodolfo Romero ,

Thanks for raising this issue. It looks like you've stumbled across a bug. The `{{approval.approver}}` is actually currently being rendered as a plain `String`, rather than as a `User` object and hence won't work for your use case.

I have raised https://codebarrel.atlassian.net/browse/AUT-2414 to address the problem. Will hopefully be able to fix it soon.

Cheers,

James

[Rodolfo Romero]

Hi James,

I can confirm that this has been fixed and deployed to Cloud.

Thanks!

Rodolfo

[Clemens Fischer]

Hi @James Navin ,

unfortunately I don't seem to make it work. I have a workflow configured where the status of the workflow is transitioned from "Warte auf Genehmigung" (waiting for approval) to "In Arbeit" (in progress).

Once the approval is complete, I want to inform the IT department, that the issue has been approved and can be worked on now.

This is how my Automation rule looks: 

The email looks like this:

Die Hardwareanforderung <a href="{{issue.url}}">{{issue.key}}: {{issue.summary}}</a> wurde genehmigt durch {{approval.approver.displayName}}.

Now whenever there is an email, the text just looks like this:

I am on Jira Cloud and supposedly the latest version. Would appreciate any help.

Thanks!

Clemens

[Rodolfo Romero]

@Clemens Fischer are you using Jira Service Management and configuring your workflow to do approvals? This is required to make this work.

[Clemens Fischer]

@Rodolfo Romero The workflow has an approval step which is the transition from "Warte auf Genehmigung" to "In Arbeit". So whenever the approval is triggered and the workflow transitions to "In Arbeit", the rule is executed.

Is there another way to do it?

[Rodolfo Romero]

@Clemens Fischer a few things are needed for this to work.

1. Your project needs to be a Jira Service Management project. This does not work in a Software project.
2. The status in the workflow needs to have the "Include approval step" checked.
   
3. The approval process needs to be configured.
   

After this is done, the values in the {{approval.approver.displayName}} will be available.

[Clemens Fischer]

Hi @Rodolfo Romero

thanks for getting back to me. I have everything configured as you have shown, however it is still not working.

The return value for {{approval.approver}} is an empty string, so {{approval.approver.displayName}} naturally does not work as well. Debugging this is rather tricky, because the audit log for the automation rule does not provide further information.

Maybe the fix is not live yet in the Cloud version that I am using. But that really does not make any sense.

[robert.davenport]

@Clemens Fischer  , you might have figured this out already.  I would check to make sure the ticket has a request type associated to it.  Approval behaviors appear to be tied to a request type or visibility through the portal.

[Jack Brickey]

what if you test w/o DisplayName then check if it is giving the correct accountID? Just trying to dissect the problem to find the broken bit. You might use the log action to record {{approval.approver.displayName}}  as well. 

[Rodolfo Romero]

Without "displayName" it provides the account ID.

[Jack Brickey]

ok that is good to know. if you use log action with 

{{approval.approver.displayName}}

what is logged? 

[Anil Jassi]

I have the exact same problem, I'm trying to use Automation to work out who is the approver in a request with multiple approvers, then send an email which includes the name of the person who approved the request.

The following shows all possible approvers which is what I do not require.

{{issue.Approvers.displayName}}

The following is blank, logging it only returns 'Log'

{{approval.approver.displayName}}