Leveraging Groovy Scripts in Atlassian: A Critical Skill for Today's Job Market

[Najjar _Innovura_]

Hello Atlassian Community,

We are in an age where technical prowess has become indispensable in the job market, and in the realm of Atlassian products, the ability to write Groovy scripts has emerged as an essential skill.

Groovy is a powerful and flexible scripting language. It is a dynamic language for the Java platform with many features that are inspired by languages like Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk, making it easy to learn for those familiar with these languages. But why is this important for Atlassian users?

The application of Groovy scripting in Atlassian is vast and carries immense potential in streamlining operations. As an example, with Atlassian's Jira, Groovy scripts can automate and enhance workflows, improving productivity significantly. It allows for customization and automation that can transform Jira from a simple issue tracking system into a powerful project management tool and allow for endless possiblities enhancing Jira systems for any organization.

Moreover, the versatility of Groovy scripts extends to other Atlassian tools. In Bitbucket, Groovy scripts can help with automating the code review process. In Confluence, they can aid in creating dynamic content, and with Bamboo, they can help in creating custom tasks for builds and deployments.

For job seekers and career builders, having Groovy scripting skills on your resume indicates your commitment to maximizing efficiency in the Atlassian ecosystem. It can give you an edge over other candidates who lack this knowledge. Furthermore, businesses that use Atlassian products are continually seeking skilled individuals who can exploit the full potential of these tools, making Groovy scripting knowledge a highly sought-after skill.

For those interested in sharpening their Groovy scripting abilities, there are numerous resources available online, ranging from basic tutorials to complex real-world examples. Consider this as an investment in your career – the returns can be truly substantial.

In conclusion, whether you are a project manager, developer, or IT professional, the ability to write Groovy scripts will undoubtedly enhance your value in the Atlassian-dominated job market. Start learning today and unlock the full potential of Atlassian products.

Let's keep the conversation going. Please share your experiences and insights about the importance of Groovy scripting in your career.

Best regards,

[Tomáš Vrabec]

I totally agree. For anyone advanced - expert in Jira is groovy must have. Well, if we dont talk about Cloud implementations, which is nonsense at all. 

Nevertheless, thanks to Groovy me and my teams over the years implemented extremely complex automations, multi-level approval processes or user-managed automations based on objects in insight. 

What I can see now as downside of groovy is:

1) Lack of documentation of current method from Atlassian

2) Sabotaging acquired products. For new guys in groovy is kind of hard to look after "Asset method documentation" as all method are insight / riada. 

3) Tools like ScriptRunner are trying to verify the code, which, from my point of view, is incorrect in 100% application of advanced code. 

Nevertheless I love groovy, love the way how to handle variable, flexibility of implementations and possibility to implement almost anything on DataCenters. 

Thanks for the topic!

[Reece Lander _ScriptRunner - The Adaptavist Group_]

Lack of documentation of current method from Atlassian

This is quite a big problem, on Data Center there is increasingly less documentation available from Atlassian. Any documentation you do find is likely to be Javadoc, which is only really useful if you are good at guessing which API is relevant.

Fundamentally Atlassian's APIs are not use case driven, or in language approachable by your average Atlassian administrator.

In ScriptRunner we introduced HAPI to address this. HAPI is a Groovy DSL designed for humans, and documented in terminology that Atlassian administrators can understand.

Take a look at our HAPI documentation, you'll see it's broken down by use cases, not APIs or developer terminology.

For new guys in groovy is kind of hard to look after "Asset method documentation" as all method are insight / riada. 

Even prior to the acquisition/rebrand, there was little Insight/Assets API documentation available. ScriptRunner now includes a simplified Assets API via HAPI

Tools like ScriptRunner are trying to verify the code, which, from my point of view, is incorrect in 100% application of advanced code. 

ScriptRunner runs all Groovy code through static type checking, this is only done when code is being edited, and any errors will not prevent script execution themselves.

The biggest advantage of modifying scripts to pass STC is for autocomplete, we can only show accurate completions when the types of objects in the script can be determined statically. Groovy code that is heavily dynamic will generally have Object as the inferred type, causing poor autocomplete results.

ScriptRunner does some magic to make this less irritating, for example we automatically cast the return types of getCustomFieldValue etc, where the custom field name/ID can be inferred from the script itself.

[Reece Lander _ScriptRunner - The Adaptavist Group_]

Groovy is great, despite declining popularity, it is an incredibly flexible language atop the Java platform.

A lot of the complexity when it comes to scripting Jira (and other products) is the Atlassian Java APIs themselves. Cloud is somewhat abstracted by definition, as REST APIs are your only choice there.

I recommend taking a look at HAPI, which is a Groovy DSL designed for humans, part of ScriptRunner for Jira DC 7.11.0+

HAPI is more than just simpler syntax, when combined with the editor within ScriptRunner you have access to autocomplete for project keys/usernames/custom field values (and a lot more).

HAPI is incrementally adoptable, it can be used within existing scripts, and seamlessly interoperates with the existing Atlassian Java APIs. It's pretty cool (author bias).

• ScriptRunner - HAPI
• HAPI Documentation
• HAPI - Create Issues
• HAPI - Update Issues