JQL to return limited columns

[Melissa Ritts]

How can I create a JQL script that will return only specified columns from the view?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

You don't.

JQL is for *finding* issues. It has nothing to say about how you look at the information on them.

The results from JQL are a simple list of issues, which you then give to a display function. The display function then decides what and how to display it. The issue navigator is one function, each gadget is a different display function, reports are more, and so-on.

I suspect what you want is a "saved filter", because you can save a set of columns with such a filter. This is nothing to do with the JQL, it's done by the issue navigator, and only the issue navigator and excel output will use the saved columns (handing the columns to most other functions is complete nonsense), but I think that's what you're looking for.

[Melissa Ritts]

Thank you Nic. I appreciate it.

[Richard Cross]

It's a reasonable question though, as other notable query languages (such as SQL) do not simply retrieve data but also allow modification of the output in a convenient format.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yup, that's why I have a canned response for these questions - people assume equivalence from similarity, which is perfectly natural and instinctive, no matter how wrong.

[Perry Tancredi]

It seems things may have changed since Nic's answer many years ago (see Mark Mann's answer below). 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No, they've not changed.  The REST API simply replicates what you can do in one of the many ways you can ask the issue navigator to behave.

[Perry Tancredi]

Thanks, Nic

[Mark Mann]

https://docs.atlassian.com/jira/REST/server/#api/2/search-searchUsingSearchRequest shows a way to limit the fields that come back from a search.  You can supply both the JQL to find your matching issues as well as a list of fields (and start date and limit the results to some maximum number).

[Perry Tancredi]

Thanks, this is the real answer

[John M]

No such option for Cloud, is there?

[xtb28twq]

Thanks for your thoughtful, non-canned reply, Mark.  This is my exact use case.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Strictly speaking, it's the wrong answer.

The question was "JQL to return a chosen set of columns".   Using the REST API is not using JQL to define the set of columns.  It's using the reporting on a JQL result set to get the columns you want.  Like most of the other ways of reporting on a JQL result set, the choice of output is made by the reporting system, not the JQL.

So while it's technically wrong, it still does what you need.  As does the issue navigator, export, download and and and.

[Héctor Lira]

You can use the following code:

function main() {
   return Events({
      from_date: 'YYYY-mm-dd',
      to_date: 'YYYY-mm-dd',
      event_selectors: [
         {event: 'event1'},
         {event: 'event2'}
      ]
})
   .map(function(event){
      return {
         'distinct_id':event.distinct_id,
         'Event_name':event.name,
         'Event_time':event.time
      };
   });
}

This will extract specific events (event1, event2: such as 'Visit' or 'App Opened') that occured in specific dates (from_date, to_date) and will retrieve only the columns specified after the .map step. You can also use 'new Date(event.time)' instead of only retrieving event.time to get a date format for the time of the event.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No, that's utterly wrong.  Please re-read the first two lines of the answer.

[rajanibs]

Answer given is for REST API queries and not the JQL.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Exactly, that's why I suggested reading the answer.