Issue Transition screen - can I pre-calculate fields

[Michael Spackman (SSO)]

I set up a transition screen for when we move a story to the next status that shows the "Log Work" field which adds a couple of fields that allow you to enter time spent and remaining time.  Remaining time gets calculated automatically based on what you put in the time spent field, but you can still edit that field.

Configure Screen Page:

The screen in action:

Then in an effort to try and help capture time in a more automated way, I set up some automation rules for when the status changes.  When an issues enters "in progress", it sets a custom "AppDevStartTime" field.  When it leaves "in progress" we have an automation rule that calculates the difference between the custom field and now date.  The automation then creates an entry in the time log for the assigned user.  This works great, but it's invisible to the user and happens after the transition to the new status.

What I really want is to pre-calculate the "Time Spent" field in the transition screen to be the difference between our custom field start date and the current time, but then let the person moving the story change the Time Spent if there needs to be manual correction for whatever reason and to visually confirm that that time is correct.

How can I add some pre-calculations to a field on the transition screen?   Is there a setting that lets you do that? A plugin/app?  I don't see a place to add that type of thing.  There are workflow triggers, validators, conditions, and post functions, but none of those seem to provide what I'm looking for to calculate a field on the issue screen during the transition.

[CJ Edwards · Accepted solution]

HI Michael

The log work fields are special/unique and cannot be pre populated in the way you are hoping.

After-the-fact calculations and field manipulations can be done, but not in a pre-populated way as you have described.

[Michael Spackman (SSO)]

OK, thank you for the reply. 

I understand that I can't use the existing Log work fields, but could I pre-calculate a value into a field - say my own custom "AutoLoggedTime" text or number field?  I think that if I could do that, I could come up with a solution that would work for me not using the Log Work widget field.  I just don't know how to run that calculation on the issue screen.

[CJ Edwards]

morning, any of the standard scripting tool can definitely help you out with calculating values in workflows or automations!

ex. ScriptRunner, JMWE, JSU, Power Scripts