How can I modify the release notes to display all issues with AffectsVersion set?

[Chris Johnston]

I would like to modify the velocity template for releasenotes so that it also displays a section which queries all issues with AffectsVersion, just like it currently does with FixVersion.

Is there a way to modify the existing velocity files for release notes to perform an additional JQL query and then iterate over those results?

[Tarun Sapra]

Hello @Chris Johnston

Creating a custom release notes template is pretty well documented.

Have you gone through the docs

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver/creating-release-notes-938847219.html

https://developer.atlassian.com/server/jira/platform/creating-a-custom-release-notes-template-containing-release-comments/

[Tarun Sapra]

In the template you can call the method getAffectsVersion of the issue object and that should do what you want.

https://docs.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/api/7.6.1/com/atlassian/jira/issue/Issue.html#getAffectedVersions--

[Chris Johnston]

I've been through the docs and they do not explain how to modify the scope of $issues that are passed into release notes.  They only show you how to get information about the $issues ... with the assumption that all of the issue data is based on a fixVersion = X.

GetAffectsVersion does not work.  This is because the $issue objects in the template are where fixVersion = 1.0 (for example).  For known issues, the Affects Version = 1.0 but the fixVersion does not.

[Tarun Sapra]

"For known issues, the Affects Version = 1.0 but the fixVersion does not."

So you mean you want to show issues which have the affectsVersion but empty fixVersion (one possibility)

I am not sure if this case will be supported in release notes as the whole concept of release notes is built around the fixVersion.

[Chris Johnston]

Yes this is correct.  The typical scenario is:

You have a bunch of issues you want to fix in a release... so fixVersion = 1.0.  Now you fix those issues and you are ready to release 1.0.  Meanwhile, you are testing 1.0 and you find a bunch of new issues.  So you mark these new issues as Affects Version 1.0.  However, these issues, may just sit in the backlog and will be fixed in a future release.

So you release 1.0.   You have a bunch of issues with fixVersion = 1.0 (the things you fixed) and you have a bunch of issues that you found in version 1.0 (Affects Version = 1.0).

Typical release notes contain both pieces of information -- things you resolved in that particular release, and things you know exist in that release, but are not fixed.

I would like to modify the release notes page, so that it shows both pieces of information.  However, in order to do that, I need to create another velocity object that will do a JQL query (AffectsVersion = FixVersion of one of the $issues) and then loop through over that result set and create an "Known Issues" section.

[Tarun Sapra]

Hello @Chris Johnston

I now understand exactly what you mean, my suggestion to you is to go for a much better approach i.e. don't waste time in modifying release notes.

Instead create a confluence page and write couple of Jira files in Jira macro in confluence and that confluence page can be used as your Release notes for a specific version. The page can easily display issues with fixVersion 1.0 and issues with no fixVersion but with AffectsVersion 1.0. I personally have been using confluence for much complex release notes for many years and it works like a charm as confluence page is much more collaborative than the jira generated release notes.

You can also use the filters to display the information on confluence page as well as Jira dashboards.

[Chris Johnston]

Confluence isn't an option.  It's not available for all of our development communities, and also that would require creating a new page for every new release created.  Not hard when you have few releases, but if you have a large number of software products getting new releases on a regular basis it becomes cumbersome to update.

The nice thing about the "release notes" page in Jira is it's automatic and you get it for free as you make releases.  The default is just missing the known issues aspect.

From my reading of velocity and usage of it, it seems you can make java api calls, but my experience in velocity is about 5 hours of research only, and I cannot find any examples that make sense to me on how I can make a query object that calls back to the java api in Jira to fetch the data I need.

So if there are any velocity experts out there that can give me an example to fetch results from a jql query, that would be fantastic.