Advanced configuration and usage of the Create issue(s) post-function

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Creating multiple issues

Using the "Multiple issue creation" feature of the Create issue post-function you can create multiple issues at once during the execution of this post-function, optionally linking them to the current issue. The iterator template is a Nunjucks template that must return either a comma-separated list of values or an array of values, in JSON format. The post-function will iterate over this list or the array of values and create one new issue per value. The below sections explain some of the use cases.

Create one issue per value and set a field of the newly created issue

To create one issue each for the users jdoe,tblack and dcharlie and assign the newly created issues to the respective user

1. In the Iterator section input

   jdoe,tblack,dcharlie

2. Go to Set fields of new issue section

3. Under Additional fields select "Assignee"

4. Click on Add

5. Select Set field value to option from the drop-down

6. Input this template:

   {{it}}

To create one issue per user in a multi-user-picker field, and assign the issue to that user

1. In the Iterator section input

   {{ issue.fields["Multi user picker"] | join(",","accountId") }}

2. To assign the newly created issues to the respective user:

   1. Go to Set fields of new issue section

   2. Under Additional fields select "Assignee"

   3. Click on Add

   4. Select Set field value to option from the drop-down

   5. Input this template:

You can similarly create multiple issues for values in any multi-values field like Affects Version/s, Component/s etc.

Build an iterator to create multiple issues and set fields of the newly created issues

Instead of a list of values or an array of values as in the examples above, each value in the list can be an arbitrary JavaScript object with multiple values and each object will be available through the it variable in the rest of the post-function configuration. For example, if the iterator returns the following:

then with the "Iterator returns JSON" option is set, two new issues will be created. Under the "Set fields of new issue" you can set the Summary of the newly created issue to:

and Assignee to:

Create issues from a combination of two custom fields

You can create multiple issues from a combination of two single-select custom fields and set the respective fields of the newly created issue. For this, you'll need to generate an array of all possible combinations and provide it in the iterator. One issue will be created for each combination. Let's assume you have two Multi-select fields Resource and Environment, then your iterator logic will be something like:

Iterator logic

Select the "Iterator returns JSON" option, since the iterator returns an array of objects.

Setting fields

In the "Set fields of new issue" section, set the Resource field to:

and the Environment field to:

Cloning an issue and its linked issues

Using the Sequence of post-function post-function you can clone an issue and its linked issues too. Let's assume on the trigger of the transition "Clone now" you want to clone an Epic and its Stories to a different project.

Link newly created issues

When using the "Multiple issue creation" feature of the Create Issue post-function, you can link the newly created issues together. There are two approaches to this as explained below. Consider you are creating 3 issues and this is your iterator script:

Using the newIssueKeys variable

This is a very generic approach in which you can use the newIssueKeys global variable that exposes the array of the issue keys of the issues already created by the post-function during previous iterations. For example, if your iterator value is an array of three values (three issues will be created), during the creation of the third issue, newIssueKeys global variable array holds the first two issue keys. This way, you can add in your Iterator objects information about the links to create between issues.

For example:

• Add linking information to the above array as shown below with the "Iterator returns JSON" option selected, where

  • linkTo: represents an index pointing to the issue to be linked to. 0 for the first issue, 1 for the second issue and so on.

  • linkTypeName: represents the name of the link type to be created, like, Blocks

  • direction: represents the direction to be linked to, like, outward

     

• Under the "Set fields of new issue" select Linked Issues field

• Select "Set field value to" in the drop-down and input the following template:

Now when the transition is triggered

• 3 issues are created, 

• the second issue is linked to the first one through "is blocked by" link and

• the third issue is linked to the second by the "blocks" link.

Using the iterator

This is an easier approach in which you can specify the issue links to create in the iterator section, using the following syntax:

• Add the "Create issue" post-function

• Select the "Issue type"

• Select the link type (link from the current issue to the newly created issues)

• Select "Create multiple issues" under "Multiple issue creation"

• Add the following information under the "Iterator" selecting the "Iterator returns JSON" option

Iterator script

Prevent issue creation when the transition is run the second time

To avoid creating a second issue when the transition is run a second time you can use the jmwe.last.issue.created (see here for more information) property of the issue to check that there is no issue created already by the post-function. Select the conditional execution section and input the template:

This will avoid the creation of an issue by the post-function, the second time the transition is triggered. This approach only works if there is a single Create Issues post-function on the issue's workflow, and it creates only one issue. For other use cases refer https://innovalog.atlassian.net/wiki/x/LQBfLQ article.

Prevent loop on the Create transition

When creating a new issue during the creation of an issue, it leads to a recursive loop. For example:

1. If you are creating subtasks to a Task on the Create transition then the post-function will try to create sub-tasks to each newly created sub-task and you will see the error: "Cannot create a subtask to a subtask".

2. If you are creating tasks linked to the Story on the Create transition then the post-function creates linked tasks to each newly created task thereby creating a loop. JMWE identifies the loop and stops the issue creation with an error message: "Identified a loop. Execution Stopped."

To avoid this you can use the conditional execution section and break the loop. 

1. In the first example, add a condition in the conditional execution template to check that the main issue (issue from which multiples issues are created) is not a subtask. 

2. In the second example, identify the main issue by its issue type as follows. 

3. The best is to use the jmwe-created-from property of the issue; Using this approach check that the issue is not created from another issue.

Workaround to move an issue and its linked issues

Moving issues to a new project is not supported by the Jira Cloud APIs, so it cannot be implemented by JMWE or any other app. A workaround is to re-create the task and its linked issues in the destination project and delete the main issue and its linked issues. See here Advanced configuration and usage of the Create issue(s) post-function | Cloning an issue and its linked issues to know how to clone a task and its linked issues. In addition to it add the "Delete issue" post-function with a 10-sec delay to the "Clone now" post-function to delete the Story.