Avoid Jira expression errors

Owned by Daniel Barrow
Aug 30, 2023
1 min read

When a Jira expression throws an error, Jira considers the result as false and hence the workflow condition/validator fails. The best way to avoid errors in your Jira expressions is to test your Jira expressions against an issue using the "Jira expression tester" before saving the condition/validator. Here are typical problems you need to look out for:

  • null values: If your Jira expression returns nullit is considered a non-boolean value and hence Jira returns an error. For example, to check that the issue is assigned, if you provide the Jira expression as:

    issue.assignee

    when tested against an issue that is unassigned the expression returns null. In such cases, the easiest is to use two logical not operators (!!) to return true if the issue is assigned ( !issue.assignee returns false hence !! issue.assignee will return true when the issue is assigned).

    !! issue.assignee

    You can also write a Jira expression to check that the result is not null like this:

    issue.assignee != null

     

  • If your Jira expression accesses properties of an object that is null, then your Jira expression and thereby your workflow condition/validator fail with an error. For example, to check that the issue's parent is a Story if you provide the Jira expression:

    when tested against an issue without a parent, the Jira expression will return an error "Type null does not have any properties". To handle this you should include an expression to test that the issue has a parent.

 

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