Calculated (Scripted) Date/Time custom field type

Search template

When creating a Calculated Date/Time custom field type, you can configure the Search template as 

• Date range picker - Allows searching for a date and time that is between two other dates and times
• Date/Time range searcher (Statistics by day/week/month/quarter/year) - Allows searching for a date and time that is between two other dates and times. Supports Statistics Gadgets, grouping values by day/week/month/quarter/year respectively

Using these searchers you will be able to search issues within a date/time range of values for that custom field. The default search template is Date/Time range searcher (Statistics by day). If you select “None” for the searcher, then you won’t see any reference to this field in the Issue Navigator search fields. Note that changing a custom field searcher requires a re-index. 

Date/Time range searcher (Statistics by day/week/month/quarter/year) are custom statistics compatible searchers provided by JMCF that allow Date/Time type custom fields of Jira and JMCF to be used in the statistics gadgets. See here for more information. 

Configuring the Groovy formula for a Calculated Date/Time custom field type

To write a formula for the Calculated Date/Time custom field type;

1. Locate the custom field on the Custom Fields administration page.
2. Click on the cog wheel and click on Configure
3. Click on Edit Groovy Formula
4. In the editor write a Groovy script that returns a String containing a date+time in the format specified in your Jira settings or a date object or a JodaTime object. Also, you can test your script against any issue using the Groovy script tester.
5. Click on Save.

As documented on the Expected Value tab of the Groovy editor help, the Groovy formula must return either:

• A String representing a date+time or 
• A Date object or
• A JodaTime object or
• null

Examples of Groovy formula for a Calculated Date/Time custom field:

• A Groovy expression returning a String containing a date+time. For example,

  "11/Apr/18 2:00 PM"

• A Groovy expression returning a date object. For example, the current date

  new Date()

• A Groovy expression returning a JodaTime object. For example, the current date

  import org.joda.time.DateTime
  DateTime date = new DateTime();

• A Groovy expression that references any field of the issue that returns a java.util.Date. For example, referring the issue updated date/time.

  issue.get("updated")

• A Groovy expression that includes arithmetic operators as well as any other Groovy operator, and Groovy method calls. For example, adding a specific number of days to the issue creation date.

  issue.get("created") + 5

Customizing the formatting of the Calculated Date/Time custom field value

By default, the Calculated Date/Time custom field type value is displayed using Jira's default date format (if you leave the Date Format to Default). However, you can customize it. To select a format for a Calculated Date/Time custom field type value;

1. Locate the custom field on the Custom Fields administration page.
2. Click on the cog wheel and click on Configure

3. Click on Edit Date Format.

4. Select a format from the Date format drop-down.
5. Click on Save.

Customizing the formatting of the Calculated Date/Time custom field value in the List views

By default, the Calculated Date/Time custom field type value is displayed using Jira's default date format (if you leave the Date Column Format to Default) in the tabular views. However, you can customize it. To select a format for a Calculated Date/Time custom field type value in the List views;

1. Locate the custom field on the Custom Fields administration page.
2. Click on the cog wheel and click on Configure

3. Click on Edit Date Column Format.

4. Select a format from the Date format drop-down.
5. Click on Save.

For example, if you select the COMPLETE option in the Edit Date Format/Edit Date Column Format, and the value returned by the Groovy formula is Thu Jan 25 15:20:34 IST 2018, then the value will be formatted to 25/Jan/18 3:20 PM.

Customizing the display of the Calculated Date/Time custom field value

You can define a velocity template that will return the Html representation of the calculated custom field. Leave it empty to use the default template. 

To write a velocity template for a Calculated Date/time custom field type value;

1. Locate the custom field on the Custom Fields administration page.
2. Click on the cog wheel and click on Configure
3. Click on Edit Velocity Template.
4. Input the template.
5. Click on Save.

You can use the following Velocity variables in the template:

• $value: the raw field value, a Date object
• $formattedValue: the field value formatted according to the field configuration above
• and other variables described on this page

For example:

<div style="border: dashed">
  $formattedValue
</div>

displays the date in a dashed box.

Displaying the Calculated Date/Time custom field type on Transition and Edit screen

The Never show on Transition and Edit screens option controls whether the calculated Date/Time custom field can appear on transition and edit screens. If you select this option, the field will not be visible on any Edit or Transition screen, even if it is added to the screen.

Accessing the Calculated Date/Time custom field value from other Groovy scripts

You can access this field using any of the following getters of the Issue interface

• get("Your custom field name") or get("customfield_xxxxx") that returns a Timestamp

• getAsString("Your custom field name") or getAsString("customfield_xxxxx") that returns a String representing a date+time