Standard Variables and Variable Resolution

Owned by Jonathan Muse
Last updated: Oct 15, 2024 by Shane Smith
3 min read

Referencing an Issue

By default, the issue standard variables are pre-declared along with their synonyms. For instance,the key is an issue standard variable. You should avoid to re-declare it, since it will lead to subtle errors. We recommend you to prefix your variables with certain string if you are unsure of its name.

There are certain constructs that reflect the issue structure, for instance:

  • parent.id - refers to the parent id, and it is valid only if this issue is a subtask

  • TSTP-123.id - refers to the issue TSTP-123 id (on the project TSTP)

  • %k%.id - (Substitution, see below) refers to the issue designed by k, where k is a string variable already defined, containing a valid issue key, like in this example:

string k = "TSTP-123"; %k%.reporter = currentUser();

 

Tip

You will see the last construct comes in hand when used in cycles (for, while, do-while) or when creating an issue from SIL.

Substitution

It often happens that you need the value of a variable designated by another value. For example, we might have a custom field that specifies what certain data other field contains. The general syntax for substituting variables is:

%varname%

The above expression will evaluate to the value designated by the variable name contained inside the value of varname.

Example
string myCustomField = "customfield_10000"; // myCustomField is a local variable %myCustomField% = "a value";

 

Note

 While is a very powerful mechanism, please check the substitution variables before they are interpreted as variables. Having an uninitialized or an empty substitution is bad practice.

Standard Variables

Here is a list of the variables that are already defined in a SIL environment and that you can use right away. Note that these are all standard issue fields.

Note

 Standard variables can be used without explicitly referencing the issue only when the script has an issue context.

 

 

Variable

Aliases

Type

Read Only

Explanations and Usage

affectedVersions

affectedVersion
affectedVers
affectedVer
affVers
affVer

string []

no

The affected versions field of the issue. If attempting to add an invalid value, it will be ignored.

assignee

-

string

no

The assignee of the issue. Represents the user key, not the real name.

attachments

attach

string []

yes

The filenames of the attachments.

argv

-

string []

no

This standard variable is used to pass information from one script to another.

components

component
comps
comp

string []

no

The components of the issue. If attempting to add an invalid value, it will be ignored.

created

-

date

yes

The date when the issue was created.

description

desc

string

no

The description of the issue.

dueDate

due

date

no

The due date of the issue.

estimate

est
remaining

interval

no

This is displayed as "Remaining" in the Jira interface. Requires Time Tracking.

environment

env

string

no

The environment of the issue.

fixVersions

fixVersion
fixVers
fixVer

string []

no

The fix versions field of the issue. If attempting to add an invalid value, it will be ignored.

id

-

integer

yes

The id of the issue.

issueCreator

-

string

yes

Represents the user key of the creator.

issueType

type

string

yes

The name of the issue type.

issueTypeId

-

string

yes  

The id of the issue type.

key

-

string

yes 

The key of the issue.

labels

-

string []

no

The labels of the issue.

originalEstimate

origEstimate
origEst

interval

no

The original estimate of the issue. Requires Time Tracking.

parent

-

string

no

The key of the parent issue.

parentId

-

integer

no

The id of the parent issue.

priority

prio

string

no

The name of the priority.

priorityId

-

string

no

The id of the priority.

project

prj

string

yes

The key of the project.

projectId

-

integer

yes

The id of the project.

reporter

-

string

no

Represents the user key, not the real name of the reporter.

resolution

res

resol

string

no

The name of the resolution. When set will also modify the resolution date.

resolutionDate

-

date

yes

The current resolution date. If the resolution is modified, the date will also be updated.

resolutionId

resId

resolId

string

no

The id of the resolution. When set will also modify the resolution date.

securityLevel

security

string

no

The name of the security level.

securityLevelId

securityId

integer

no

The id of the security level.

status

-

string

yes

The name of the status.

statusId

-

string

yes

The id of the status.

summary

-

string

no

The summary of the issue.

timeSpent

spent

interval

no

The time spent (logged work) on the issue. Requires Time Tracking.

updated

-

date

yes

The date when this issue was last updated. It will update automatically after the current transition.

votes

-

integer

no

The number of votes this issue has.

watchers

-

string []

no

The watchers of the issue. The elements in the array are usernames.

workflow

wrkflw
wf

string

no

The workflow name of the issue.

workflowId

-

integer

no

The workflow id of the issue.

 

 - Since the version 5.8.0.0, we will actively deny the attempt to change a read-only field. Previously, we were simply ignoring the requests to change such fields (those marked with a star). In fact, they were still read-only, but we ignored the set requests on them.

It is worth to know that very old versions of SIL were able to change directly the project and the issue type because the internal Jira API allowed it, in certain conditions. However, this is no longer the case. 

Custom Fields

Aside from the standard issue fields, you can also access custom fields from SIL selecting from the one of the following three ways:

  • by id, using the construct customfield_xxxxx - where xxxxx is the ID of the custom field.

  • by name - don't forget to use #{ and } if the name contains spaces.

  • by its alias.


Examples

 

Peacock