How to copy multi-value field in using Advance Options in Automation Rule?

[Arun Makhija]

In an automation rule, created a sub-task and copying a multi-value field like labels/components/fix version etc. from Parent to the child sub-task

I tried both below to set labels from the Parent issue,

"labels": "{{issue.labels}}"

"labels": [ "{{#issue.labels}} {{.}}{{/}}"]

but if the parent has multiple values in the Labels field, it errors out

Error creating issue - The label 'Label1, Label2, Label3' contains spaces which is invalid. (labels)

Doing this graphically works but trying to achieve it via Advance options using JSON

How do you copy a multi-value field using Advance Options in Automation Rule?

any help is appreciated

~Arun

[Erik Buchholz]

The problem is, that you need to use the following syntax for arrays.

{
    "fields": {
        "labels": ["label_1", "label_2"]
    }
}

You can achieve this syntax easy with the following smartvalues {{labels.asJsonStringArray}}

So one solution is the following code.

{
    "fields": {
        "labels": {{labels.asJsonStringArray}}
    }
}

If you want to do it with the list syntax you can use the following code.

{
    "fields": {
        "labels": [{{#labels}}"{{.}}"{{^last}},{{/}}{{/}}]
    }
}

With this code you enclose every label with ' " ' and seperate them with ' , '

More information about the asJsonStringArray and similar options you can find at

https://docs.automationforjira.com/issues/edit-additional-fields.html#using-smart-values

there is also a reference for other fields like custom fields.

About the list options the reference is at

https://docs.automationforjira.com/reference/lists.html#list

PS: Thanks to Victor Seger from Automation for Jira for giving me the right input on my problem with a custom field.

[Daniel Oriold]

Really helpful, thanks. But how do I add these Labels to existing labels? This currently removes existing labels

[Erik Buchholz]

Hi @Daniel Oriold ,

that's right. "fields" is an alias for update > set, so you overwrite existing values. That's no problem if you create a new issue in the automation but may be, if you want to update an existing one.

If you want to add some labels, you need to use the update syntax like

{
    "update": {
        "labels": [{"add": "label_1"}, {"add": "label_2"}]
    }
}

This syntax is a bit more complicated than the "fields" syntax, what makes us need to change the other code examples, too. I thought we could use the asJsonObjectArray("add") function to get it the simple way, but that doesn't give us anything.

So we need to use list syntax:

{
    "update": {
        "labels": [{{#labels}}{"add": "{{.}}"}{{^last}},{{/}}{{/}}]
    }
}

Please note that this gives an error if the issue has no labels. To cover this case you could add an {"add":""} at the beginning and move the comma.

{
    "update": {
        "labels": [{"add":""}{{#labels}},{"add": "{{.}}"}{{/}}]
    }
}

Regards

PS: If you like my answer, I'd appreciate if you upvote it. Thanks!

[Simone Kaiser]

Thank you very much! This was a great help :)

[Andreas Lärkfeldt]

Awesome - such a small task however annoying! This solved it :D TY!

[Kalyan Sattaluri]

Thanks @Erik Buchholz  This was great.

[Daniel Oriold]

Hey Erik, I am actually using a custom field call 'Segment' which is a Select List (multiple choices). I want the automation to copy the values in the Segment and add them as individual Labels to the Labels field. When I do this:

{
"update": {
"labels": [{"add":""}{{#segment}},{"add": "{{.}}"}{{/}}]
}
}

Then I get the following Error

('Field 'labels' cannot appear in both 'fields' and 'update')

[Erik Buchholz]

Hi @Daniel Oriold ,

the error says that you still have labels in the fields part of the JSON. Is that just the old code or do you try to do something different there?

Regards

[Daniel Oriold]

Super weird. Now all of a sudden it is working. You have no idea how helpful this is to so many of our users. Thanks so much. I wish I could buy you a beer...