Custom Keywords
Basics of JQL Custom Keywords
A JQL keyword serves as metadata for an issue that has been evaluated and saved prior to performing a JQL search. The value associated with the JQL keyword is determined by running a function on the Power Scripts side.
In our case, the indexing function is implemented as a SIL script on the Power Scripts side. This script returns the value that will be used in Jira.
To enable custom properties indexing for this indexing process, follow these steps:
Access the administration settings in Jira.
Locate and click on the "Manage apps" tab.
Locate and click on the "Manage apps" link in the left hand navigation.
Locate and click the “Power Apps Config” link in the left hand navigation.
Click the “Power Scripts” tab in the configuration menu.
Click the “JQL” tab in the configuration submenu.
Go to “Custom keywords” tab.
Enable the custom properties indexing feature by toggling the setting to "On" or "Enable."
Save the changes to apply the custom properties indexing.
Next, you need to define an indexing function and the keyword to be used.
The SIL Script as the Indexing Function
All indexing scripts run by Power Scripts are run in an issue context. This means that you may consider the indexing function one that takes as parameter the issue and returns a single value of type DATE, INTEGER, STRING or TEXT.
A good indexing function is:
stable, i.e. if you call it in two moments of time with the same input data, it will return the same result
fast, i.e. calculation should be as short as possible
self-reliant, i.e. calculation is based as much as possible only on the local, immediate, available data.
Examples of indexing functions/scripts:
A. The Good
//this is fast, self-reliant, stable
return length(summary);B. The Bad
//this is not stable. Tomorrow we will get another result!
return (integer)(((number)(currentDate() - created)) / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000));C. The Ugly
include "chatgpt/functions.incl";
return derivedCustomerSatisfactionScore(subject, description, priority, getLastComment(key)["text"]); This last example, although fully possible, it will be slow (and probably costly).
You may write your own indexing function in the SIL Manager editor.
The Keyword
Next step is to register the keyword you want to use with Jira. For that, you have a button “Add JQL Keyword“:
When pressed, the above dialog will appear; you are required to provide a very simple name, no spaces and its data type (string, text, number or date).
Saving it will register it to Jira. For our example, we have the above stable function which we saved under slen.sil, and for simplicity we named our keyword slen too:
Next step is to associate the keyword we just created with the script. Click on the edit icon:
Script return should match or be convertible to the data type that Jira accepts. Incorrect types will yield incorrect results
Once you associated the script the screen will show you the keywords and their scripts:
Searching
Because we changed the configuration, we need to trigger the initial synchronization. After synchronization is completed, we will be able to search for the property we just defined in the normal JQL search box:
Advanced Usage
The script that returns the values to be indexed actually may return more than the value. The accepted return is:
This is because you might encounter situations in which you need to maintain the index value on a different issue (or a bunch of issues), and thus we offer the possibility of specifying where to put the value and how.
OPERATION may be one of the following:
Operation | Synonyms | Comments |
|---|---|---|
+ | add, plus | For strings, it adds the value separated by space, if not found previously in the indexed string. For numbers it performs the addition. For dates, the returned value must be an interval, and it performs the addition of the date already in place with the interval you provide |
- | delete, remove, minus | For strings, it removes the value previously added; if not found does nothing. For numbers it performs the normal subtraction For dates, the returned value must be an interval, and it performs the subtraction of the date already in place with the interval you provide |
= | set equal | This is the default operation. It just sets the value you provided, which must be convertible as type to the target JQL type. |
Examples
Of course, it is better to see some examples to master this feature.
Example 1
Let’s examine a simple example. Suppose we want to keep a list of keys of the subtasks on the parents of the issue, so that when we search for the key of the subtask, the parent is found instead:
If you install this on a property of type TEXT named sbt you may (after indexing) search for sbt ~ SUBTASKKEY and it will yield in search results the parent of the subtask you provided.
Example 2
Let’s see another example, this time a numeric one, maintaining a number on the parent issue, as the sum of the number of characters in their summaries:
In the above example we used the synonyms for the “+“ operation just to make it a bit more clear. Of course, the example is just an intellectual exercise, and you should come up with more useful aggregators.
Example 3
Last, an example that returns an array of issues as the last parameter:
Here, you see two operations: one is from parent to child issues, the other is from the target issue itself. If you configure a STRING property with name childof afterwards you may search for it with the JQL childof = "TEST-1234"
Additional Notes
To save on I/O note that if the property is not modified by the operation, no write operation is issued. Also, the “+“ and “-“ operations require an extra I/O operation (they will get the value which was pre-existing in the operation)
Old value from the index is not retrieved prior to the execution of the script because we cannot know in advance the target issues.
For type STRING or TEXT keywords: if there’s no value on the target, it is assumed an empty string. For NUMBER keywords, the missing value is considered 0 (zero). For DATE type keyword, you must set up a value (we do not assume anything).
Keep your indexer scripts tuned and cover all the corner cases. Avoid scripts yielding exceptions. Failure to do so may yield bad performance on PowerScripts side (and potential OOMs) and also will provide incorrect results in the Jira search.
SIL Routines linked to JQL
You may manipulate the JQL value directly, although it’s not recommended because it may lead to inefficient I/O.
There are two functions you may use in any listener (for instance).
https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PSJC/pages/734134284
https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PSJC/pages/733775542
The usage is straightforward:
You will need to use the correct formatting for the data type you use.
Legacy Keywords
In the past, JQL keywords had to be pre-registered with Jira and therefore the names can not be customized, only the values. Because of this, Power Scripts for Jira Cloud came with 3 sets of each keyword data type. This allows you to add custom values to these keywords through scripting.
It is recommended to move these configurations and give them more interesting names, since these may be very hard to use by your users.