Need help combining and converting string values (stored as HH:mm:ss) with date value (yyyy-mm-dd)

[Michael Catmur]

Need help combining and converting string values (stored as HH:mm:ss) with date value (yyyy-mm-dd)

• I have a custom field (issue.customfield_11248) which is storing a string for time (StartTime). {format: string}
• I have another custom field (issue.customfield_11124) which is storing a the date (StartDate). {format: date}
• I have another two custom fields for EndTime and EndDate (issue.customfield_11250 and customfield_11125)
• The mask for entering data into the string field is HH:mm:ss

I need to calculate the days, hours, minutes and seconds between start date/time and end date/time, in a Jira Service Desk automation, and to populate that value into another customfield for "duration"

As a first step I tried concatenating the time and date fields using:

{{issue.customfield_11124.concat("T").concat(issue.customfield_11248)}}

But this first step failed with:

"Unable to render smart values when executing this rule:

Too many numbers or variables: d h m s"

I'm not a developer, and stumped how to progress... can anyone shed any light/insight?

---

Update: 

The field I was trying to populate (StartDateTime_GMT_Concatenated) with the concatenated values was of the incorrect type. This has been changed to a string value. While I can populate StartDateTime_GMT_Concatenated with two strings, i can't populate it with a date + string. So need to figure out how to convert issue.customfield_11124 into a string

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Michael Catmur -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

For a question like this, context is important for the community to help.  Please post the following:

• what version of Jira are you using: Cloud, Server, or Data Center
• for Cloud, what type of project is this: company-managed, team-managed, JPD, etc.
• an image of your complete automation rule in a single image for continuity
• images of any relevant actions / conditions / branches
• an image of the audit log details showing the rule execution
• explain what is not working as expected and why you believe that to be the case

Until we see those...

Are you using the built-in Start Date and End Date fields, or did you create additional custom fields with the same names?

What are the types of your fields: text, date, or date / time?

Kind regards,
Bill

[Michael Catmur]

Hi, thanks for the feedback: 

• Jira Cloud
• Company Managed project (service management)
• Image of the Edit process step attached
• Image of audit log attached (same detail details as shared in original post in text)
• In terms of what's not working... i think i've explained that already , but to give it another go-around: I am unable to figure out how to combine a time stored as text, with a date stored as a date, into a date/time in order to be able to use it later in a date calculation. 
• I am using custom fields for the data and time
  • date (issue.customfield_11124) is stored as a date (and checking with postman it is being stored as yyyy-mm-dd)
  • time (issue.customfield_11248) is being stored as a string. the mask on the entry form ensures that the string format is HH:mm:ss (using regex ^(?:[01]\d|2[0-3]):[0-5]\d:[0-5]\d$ )

[Michael Catmur]

moved on a little now.. have managed to get a custom field StartDateTime_Concatenated (issue.customfield_11578) as a string using:

{{issue.customfield_11124.format("yyyy-MM-dd").concat("T").concat(issue.customfield_11248).concat("Z")}}

this is storing values like "2025-08-21T10:10:10Z" in a string field. 

Now i need to convert that ISO datetime  into a proper datetime value. I tried these: but get no value populated and no error message from the automation.  

• {{issue.customfield_11578) | toDate}} and 
• {{issue.customfield_11578 | toDate("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ")}}

Any suggestions?

[Kim Euker]

While this won't solve your issue, it will help with what you are trying to do.

Change your statement to:

{{#Debug}}{{issue.customfield_11124.concat("T").concat(issue.customfield_11248)}}{{/}}

Then post the output here.  If you get an error, post each piece separately so that we can see your data

[Michael Catmur]

Thanks, for that. I tried it, but unfortunately get no extra info in the audit log