Always display custom field in issue view

[Minh Hoang]

Hello,

I needed a field with labelling-behaviour with a custom name. Since I wouldn't change the name of the system standard field "Labels", I am using a custom field of type: label now.

The problem is, that is won't show up on the standard issue view, if it has no value.

In a nutshell: I want my custom field to behave the usual way like the field "Labels" does: showing up although and displaying "none". So it would be clickable and editable on the fly.

Any ideas, someone?

[RambanamP · Accepted solution]

as of now we can't show the custom field if it is empty, check the following issues

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-6697

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-2997

if you want to display the custom fields then set some default value

[Lucid Software]

That doesn't work for me. I want to show "Sprint", which is locked by Jira Agile.

[Thomas Beauvais]

This functionality is not desirable. I want to provide the user the knowledge of the custom field without knowing exactly how to set it.

[DoD Support]

Yep, typical Atlassian answer:

Created: 20/Jan/2004 11:29 AM

"We have revisited this issue again recently and wanted to highlight that there are still currently no plans to implement this suggestion, and it is not currently on any JIRA team’s roadmap at this stage."

[Eduard Paleček]

Why? 

I'd ned to add a textbox and label-box to my issues and let other users to fill-in appropriate values. Yet not having them visible on view screen is quite inconvenient.

Currently we use "naming conventions" and put these information to Issue Name ... also inconvenient, but practical. Custom fields would have make it much better ...

[Ryan Shillington]

New Answer

You can do this now in the new JIRA issue view. Steps:

• Go to Project Settings -> Issue Layout
• Find the issue type and select to edit the layout
• Add your custom field to the "Description Fields" section at the top

Now it will always show in the new view. For people still using the old view, see my original answer below.

Original Answer

This seems to work: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Core-questions/How-can-I-display-empty-custom-fields/qaq-p/445311#M33862

Basically, make the default two spaces, and then the field will always show up.

[Abby Domanowski]

I was hopeful that this would be a workaround, but it doesn't seem to work in Jira Software (server) 7.12.1.

[Sean M]

Also, doesn't this break certain JQL that rely on 'IS EMPTY' or 'IS NOT EMPTY'?

[Philip Schlesinger]

I got it working!  My company has permitted me to open-source my solution:

https://github.com/theschles/JIRA_ScriptRunner_AlwaysDisplaySelectList

[Vectalis]

Hi Philip, I retrieved your piece of Code. Thanks. I try to tweak it as I my scripted field should return User Picker (multiple users) and not HTML as yours. Any idea where I should start (I'm not a real programmer, just helping the team with jira because oh the holidays ;) ) thanks Julien

[Ryan Shillington]

This only works for select lists, right?  I was hoping for something for text areas.

[Keith Shaw]

Another workaround to a silly problem. 

If you are using a USERPICKER.

Create a place holder user named "Select User" (obv pick whatever name you prefer)

Set that user as the default value (https://jira.hotschedules.com/secure/admin/ConfigureCustomField!default.jspa?customFieldId=XXXXXXX)

[Tony Cann]

Hello

I changed my Default value from "none" to " SELECT TOPIC" this way when ever a new ticket was raised the custom field would display and the users can pick a TOPIC from the drop down. using BLCK CAPS for this entry and upper- lower case for the options helped them notice the option.