Using variables in functions in smart values in JIRA for automation purpose

[Julien Robert]

Hello,

I'm looking to use jira automation rules in an advanced way using variables in smart value functions.

I saw that a ticket covered this topic some time ago but even though it is marked as resolved I am having trouble applying the syntax.
Here is the ticket : https://codebarrel.atlassian.net/browse/AUT-168

I want to do the same, e.g. :

{{issue.summary.replace("blah", "{{issue.fields.reporter.displayName}}")}}

Is there a way to use variables in smart value functions?

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Julien Robert 

Yes, that works.  If you remove the quotation marks and extra curly braces that would work.  For example:

{{issue.summary.replace("blah", issue.reporter.displayName)}}

Best regards,

Bill

[Julien Robert]

Hi @Bill Sheboy 

Thanks a lot for your answer.

I tried to combine your solution with a variable added by "Create variable" 

But I failed to use this variable in the replace method. This didn't return anything using the variable whereas it did return something when I directly used values ​​like fieldChange.fromString and fieldChange.toString (the trigger of my action is a change of a field)

Instead of using a custom variable, I used a way to concat "[" and "]" with another topic (https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/Smart-value-with-concatenate-string-in-string-replace-replaceAll/qaq-p/1363587)

Here is my final code that do what I want to do :

{
"fields": {
"summary": "{{issue.summary.replace(fieldChange.fromString.left(0).concat("[").concat(fieldChange.fromString).concat("]"), fieldChange.toString.left(0).concat("[").concat(fieldChange.toString).concat("]"))}}"
}
}

There is probably some way to make it prettier but I stop my search here! 

Thanks again !

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi, and I am glad you got that to work!

Regarding Create Variables, they definitely need some investigation and improvements to be a more useful tool for automation rules.  Currently, I have only found them useful to build JSON strings for complex edits and to remove things from lists (e.g. Components).

Best regards,

Bill

[Julien Robert]

Thank you

Best regards

Julien

[Boris Zozoulia]

I have discovered a similar issue, where I am unable to use earlier created variables as function arguments in smart values, and the workaround is to use issue entity properties instead:
https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Management/Re-Pass-in-function-parameters-by-reference-in-smart-val/qaq-p/1806987/comment-id/87452#M87452

---

For some issue, which has at least 6 comments, automation goes as follows...

Create smart variable:
Variable name: commentNumber
Variable value: 5

Set entity property for issue:
property name: prop_commentNumber
property value (JSON):

{"val": {{commentNumber}} }

Log action:

{{issue.comments.get(issue.properties.prop_commentNumber.val)}}

 
Is it the best approach at this moment, and there is a bug in accessing list elements via smart variable values?

[Martin Cleaver]

Hey Boris,

Did you figure this out?

Thanks