How to get the index of a dropdown field?

Question

I want to create an automation to populate a numeric Importance field based on the index of the dropdown fields Severity and Frequency like so:

Importance = Severity * Frequency

where the Severity values "Minor", "Major" and "Critical" are converted into their index in the dropdown (that is, Minor = 1, Major = 2...).

My automation Edit Field step looks like this:

{{#=}}{{issue.Severity}} * {{issue.Frequency}}{{/}}

but these are obviously translated into their value texts, not their indices.

Is there a way for me to get the index of a dropdown value? If not, how do I set variables based on dropdown values and use them to do the math?

John Funk · Accepted Answer

Hi Roberto,

We do something similar and below is an example. There might be a more efficient way of doing it, but I created a Branch for each value in the Severity field (in my example it is the Impact field). Then I use the numeric value in the calculation of the Importance (in my case, Risk Score). Hope that helps. Ignore the variable I created, I had to do some other more complicated stuff with it.

Bill Sheboy · Accepted Answer

Hi @roberto_sc

You could do this using conditional logic (to return the value for the fields) or use lookup tables to translate the fields into their numeric values.

Then, perform the calculation with a math expression.

Kind regards,
Bill

roberto_sc · Accepted Answer

To anyone interested, this is what worked for me:

{{#=}}
{{if(not(exists(issue.Severity.value)),0)}}
{{if(equals(issue.Severity.value,"Trivial"),1)}}
{{if(equals(issue.Severity.value,"Minor"),2)}}
{{if(equals(issue.Severity.value,"Major"),3)}}
{{if(equals(issue.Severity.value,"Critical"),4)}}
*
{{if(not(exists(issue.Frequency.value)),0)}}
{{if(equals(issue.Frequency.value,"Rare"),1)}}
{{if(equals(issue.Frequency.value,"Occasional"),2)}}
{{if(equals(issue.Frequency.value,"Frequent"),3)}}
{{if(equals(issue.Frequency.value,"Permanent"),4)}}
{{/}}

I'm not sure this is as succinct as it could be as I don't know this syntax well.

I feel I should have done the lookup table as described in the other answer, though.