Display last n comments

[Vanessa Marie Delfin]

I am working on Automation to send the last n comments through email. For example, an issue contains 4 comments. Comments 1-4. I know that in order to get the latest comment I use {{issue.comments.last.body}}. Is it possible to show comments 2-4? 

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Vanessa Marie Delfin  -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Have you tried this function: getFromEnd()

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/smart-values-lists/#Smartvalueslists-list.getFromEnd-index-

You could first check if {{issue.comment.size}} is < 5 and then show the whole list, or use the function and count backwards for your values: 3, 2, 1, 0

Kind regards,
Bill

[Vanessa Marie Delfin]

Hello @Bill Sheboy  Thank you for the welcome! 

I'm sorry I explained my situation wrong. If I have an issue that contains 10 comments and I want to print out the last 3 comments including the author's name

I thought about using the getFromEnd function like you suggested but it will not work in my situation since the index is static. For an issue with 10 comments, I will put 

getFromEnd(10)

getFromEnd(9)

getFromEnd(8)

but if the issue gets a new comment, now a total 11 comments, it will always get the comments 10 9 8.

I need something more dynamic and after looking at the link you gave me  it might not be possible. Would you happen to know of a different approach?

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Vanessa Marie Delfin 

The index used in getFromEnd() is relative from the end of the list.  I just tried this again with my test rule, and when I use:

• {{issue.comments.getFromEnd(2).body}}  -- I get the third from the end, no matter how many comments exist
• {{issue.comments.getFromEnd(1).body}}  -- is second to last
• {{issue.comments.getFromEnd(0).body}}  -- is the last one

Here is my test rule, which successfully wrote the correct comments to the audit log.

[vincenzo.spatafora]

Hi @Bill Sheboy, happy to find you in here.

Would you know which is the syntax to get the second-last comment of a child issue?

I have tried the followings out but they haven't worked: 

{{issue.subtasks.comments.getFromEnd(1).body}}

{{issue.subtasks.comments getFromEnd(1).body}}

Thanks in advance,

Vincenzo.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @vincenzo.spatafora 

My apologies for the delay in responding as I have been offline for a while.

Next thing, as this is an older thread, I recommend creating a new question, perhaps linking back to this one.  That will ensure the maximum number of people see it to offer suggestions.

When you create your new question, please include:

1. what problem are you trying to solve; that is, "why do this"
2. an image of your complete rule
3. an image of the action / condition / branch where you are using that expression
4. an image of the audit log details showing the rule execution

Those will provide context for the community to help.

From what I can see thus far in your rule syntax...

• {{issue.subtasks}} is a list of issues;
• for a specific issue, the comments smart value is also a list; and
• thus when you use {{issue.subtasks.comments}} that accesses a list within a list, producing something like this, where the comment list for each issue becomes an array with square brackets (or empty brackets when there are no comments):
  • [ a comment 1, another comment], [], [more comments]

This results in getFromEnd() probably operating on the second-to-last subtask, and not comments.

Back up to point #1, what problem are you trying to solve, as that will indicate how to proceed?

Kind regards,
Bill

[vincenzo.spatafora]

Thanks @Bill Sheboy

Sorry for the delay as well but I was off a couple of days.

In the meantime I have resolved it.

Thanks also for your suggestions.

Kind Regards, Vincenzo.