why isn't Epic link an available option for the "Field value changed" trigger?

[Curt Holley]

I've been trying to help a colleague write automation that would ideally trigger when an Epic link is added, changed or removed from a Story. But it isn't an available option under "Field value changed" trigger. Been able to get so far with JQL, but ultimately this functionality would make the process so much simplier.

Is there a reason why it isn't an option?

[Ste Wright · Accepted solution]

Hi @Curt Holley 

I'm not sure why it's not there - it used to be possible to enter a field even if it wasn't present in the list, but that's not possible anymore.

However, Epic Link is part of the trigger Issue Updated - so that would be a more general trigger you could use instead to enable an action based on Epic Link being modified.

If this is insufficient - let us know the specifics of your rule and we can try to assist further :)

Ste

[Curt Holley]

Yeah, i did play around with Issue updated and some JQL. Frankly I think you 'they" want is overkill and now we have Jira Premium, Advanced Roadmaps will help inspire changes in behaviour and their current need will go away.

Thanks again!

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Curt Holley 

Issue Updated will work - it's just that each edit made to an issue will count as an execution.

This makes it better to use at project-level where there are virtually unlimited executions, rather than it counted towards your global count.

There is a bug in regards to this - see AUT-1264 

If you do want to build-out the rule, feel free to give me what actions/conditions you need and I'd be happy to try create something for you :)

Ste

[Curt Holley]

Thanks @Ste Wright 

I got it working using {{changelog.Epic Link}} in the Advanced compare condition

[Erin Blomert]

Hi there - I'm finding this issue a few months later, and I'm noticing that the Issue Updated trigger does NOT trigger when Epic Link is changed.  Has anyone experienced this change/found a workaround, etc?  

I am working with preventing people from adding issues to epics with status "closed", so this trigger is important.  

@Ste Wright  I hope you're still around!

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Erin Blomert 

Is the trigger the Epic Link being added? 

I find it can be easier to replicate the full rule; what are the other components (conditions, actions, etc)?

Ste

[Erin Blomert]

Hi @Ste Wright , thanks for responding!

I haven't written the rest of the rule yet, because I can not get the trigger to work.  At the moment, I just have a 'log' action.   My trigger is "When Issue updated", and adding an epic link does not trigger it.  I can't figure it out, as it seemed to be working for you folks above.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Erin Blomert 

Is it a Next-Gen project, or a Classic project?

Ste

[Erin Blomert]

@Ste Wright  Nxt Gen!

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Erin Blomert 

As far as I know this is still not possible; the modification of the Epic Parent in Next-Gen does not trigger as an issue update.

I've tried a few other options such as...

• Related issue conditions
• Branches

...but not found one that consistently triggers well for Next-Gen Epics!

Ste

[Erin Blomert]

Thanks for trying!  Kind of ridiculous that the functionality just randomly isn't there.

[Ste Wright]

Update: Nov 23

Got a notification for this question so re-tested this issue - looks like it is possible now using the trigger Field Value Changed again

You can monitor for the field Parent - which appears to link to the Epic/Story relationship in both CMP and TMP. Just tried it and it seemed to be successful.

Ste

[David Marcial]

I was messing around with this and the automation rule below works (for Stories anyway), but I'm not actually sure why it works. It must be that the 2 smart values change at different times (as they should be the same thing) and therefore triggers the rule when editing the Epic Link in a Story. 

[Steve Tobin]

The above from @David Marcial was not quite right to me, but it was enough to tip me off to the right solution to ensure that an issue's fixVersion is corrected to match the fixVersion of its epic (whjen the epic changes):

The above worked for me on Jira cloud.

BTW, I created another automation triggered on change of an epic's fixVersion to loop through all its issues and automatically update the fixVersion also. This covers the case where future epics get moved around in the roadmap as to when they will get done. 

[Vivian Escalante]

Hello @Curt Holley , are you using an add-on for this automation, such as Automation for JIRA or CPrime? Trying to understand from where you're trying to trigger this automation. 

[Curt Holley]

Using Automation for Jira on Cloud

[Vivian Escalante]

Got it, looks like Automation for Jira has a bug filed for this issue: 

https://codebarrel.atlassian.net/browse/AUT-707

The main reason why this is not supported is because when there's an Epic Link change Jira triggers 2 events which could potentially cause a loop in the Automation for Jira side: https://codebarrel.atlassian.net/browse/AUT-334#icft=AUT-334

2 bugs were sent to Atlassian (one for Cloud and one for Server), but seems like Atlassian closed them out due to "Timing Out": https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWCLOUD-16118

For now what can be done is check the "Epic Link" field through regular expressions. A4J allows you to type in the field name if it's not available and "match" it. Let me know if that helps.

[Curt Holley]

Some more hints on how to "match" it would be much appriciated @Vivian Escalante  :-)

[Vivian Escalante]

I tried "Epic Link" and it worked haha. Simply type it and hit enter. 

[Curt Holley]

You on Cloud Jira? as that does not work for me...Tried both Epic Link and "Epic Link"

[Vivian Escalante]

@Curt Holley , sorry for the delay here. Unfortunately I'm not, but I see what you mean! I submitted an Atlassian ticket and will report back if they let me know about this. Thanks!

[Curt Holley]

Thanks @Vivian Escalante see accepted and my final comment

[Vivian Escalante]

@Curt Holley , great!

[Aditya prasad]

njhgh

[Suresh Mantrala]

On Cloud Epic Link under Field value changed trigger still does not appear. Not sure how someone got it though.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Suresh Mantrala 

Try Parent instead.

Ste