Is there an easy way to edit rich text for use in Automation rules?

[Brock Jolet]

I received a request from a user to allow him to create issues with a specific table in the description as needed.

I was able to make a manual automation that generates a task and populates a table in the description field based on some markup.

This link is a great help for understanding what is possible: (https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/WikiRendererHelpAction.jspa?section=tables) However, there are some outdated details on that link such as how panels work, i.e. they don't really work because of the new UI for panels. Also, there are some edits that cannot be made via markup and require a rich text editor.

My biggest issue is that I cannot format the width of columns when generating them via markup, they are all spaced evenly and are set to take up the full width of the section on the issue view. In a table with three columns, each column would be 33% of the total width. I've tested editing tables in a description field via the issue view, then copying and pasting that into another issue and the table width is retained. So that got me thinking about having a rich text editor in Automation.

Does this exist? If so, I can't find it.

Even outside of a true rich text editor, there's no way to preview what your markup will produce without running the automation once. My colleague found a place in Jira that does have a preview button when adding markup that works very nicely, but I'm almost afraid to mention it for fear of Atlassian taking it away.

Am I missing a simple solution somewhere?

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Brock Jolet 

No, I do not believe you are missing anything: there does not appear to be a simple solution or preview for this from automation rules.

You will have more formatting control using the Atlassian Document Format (ADF) and creating / updating the issue using the Send Web Request action.  I have not tried doing this using the advanced edit with JSON to know if it works in the same way.  Here is the documentation on ADF: https://developer.atlassian.com/cloud/jira/platform/apis/document/structure/

There is a WYSIWYG builder / viewer to help with experimenting with the formats.

Kind regards,
Bill

Update: I found this knowledgebase article which indicates ADF cannot be used in the advanced edit and the Send Web Request action must be used to call the REST API.

https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/adding-a-comment-that-is-stored-in-a-smartvalue-variable-as-an-adf-atlassian-document-format-using-automation-1387598043.html

[Brock Jolet]

Thanks for the insight, Bill. You're always helpful.