Updated way to set Description field using ADF in an Automation rule

[Rebekka Heilmann (viadee)]

It used to be possible to set the Description field in an Automation via the "more options" using JSON and ADF, see Solved: Updating description field using REST API and Atla... for reference.

I just tried it out again and am now getting an Error message stating

(Operation value must be a string (description))

Pretty sure the solution provided in the other thread worked at some point as I used that before. 

My workaround now is to recreate the formatting via Markdown using the "normal" set Field option (no JSON). But my colleague needs a numbered header column which I cannot set via Markdown.

Any idea why ADF isn't working within the JSON anymore?

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ 

Would you please post images of your complete rule and the audit log details showing the rule execution?  Those may help provide some context for the symptom you are seeing.

When I tried that same ADF expression with v3 Edit Issue endpoint, it worked for me with the Send Web Request action from a rule.

And when trying this with JSON and the Edit Issue action, I got the same error you saw:

Operation value must be a string (description)

Kind regards,
Bill

UPDATE:

As an FYI, when trying to make the ADF dynamic, the rule editor can be a bit "misbehavey", as it will not easily allow one to use things like created variables in the request data AND publish the rule.  The workaround is to select the audit log tab in the editor, publish, ignore the warning error, and then test your rule.

[Rebekka Heilmann (viadee)]

Thanks @Bill Sheboy for testing/confirming - so it would at least be another workaround to use the Web Request. The lovely @Darryl Lee also made me aware of the original question referring to Web requests rather than Automation actions.

So two options for filling the description field with a pre-defined ADF-formatted text within an Automation rule:

1. use the Web Request action

2. use the "Edit Issue Action", set the description field (not via JSON, but the "normal" field) and DON't use ADF instead use the Wiki Markup

[Darryl Lee]

Hey @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ - I'm looking at that article you referenced, and...

• Updating description field using REST API and Atlassian Document Formatting (ADF) 

As far as I can tell, @Isaac Powell was using the REST API, not Automation.

Isaac - did you ever try to use ADF in Automation Rules?

I realize that the format there looks similar to Advanced field editing using JSON but the error you provided does seem to indicate that Automation will only accept a string (text), as opposed to the structured format of ADF:

Operation value must be a string (description)

Which is a bummer, because it would be SUPER HANDY to be able to easily update with ADF since the new  Action items in Jira inexplicably does NOT support their creation via Markdown in Automation.

[Isaac Powell]

Correct, we were pretty exclusively using the REST API.
No, we did not try to use ADF in an Automation rule.

[Vishal Biyani]

@Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ 

I tried updating description using below and it worked fine. Can you share what are your rule in Additional fields

{
"fields": {
"description": "Updating description using automation {{issue.key}}."
}
}

[Rebekka Heilmann (viadee)]

My question was not about updating the field in general but specific to updating it with the ADF format. See the linked question for reference.

This was the accepted answer in the other question and i am quite sure this has worked for me in the past but it now doesn't.

{
  "update": {
    "description": [
      {
        "set": {
          "version": 1,
          "type": "doc",
          "content": [
            {
              "type": "paragraph",
              "content": [
                { "type": "text", "text": "Existing text" }
              ]
            },
            {
              "type": "paragraph",
              "content": [
                { "type": "text", "text": "Newly added text" }
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}