Can I automate creation of subtasks base on list in story description?
Asked by Luke O'Rafferty:

I'd like to be able to create a story and list a number of tables, and then have Automate pick up that list and create subtasks for all of the steps (design/build/test/etc) for each of my list.  

I think I might be able to do it for a single table at a time, i.e. use smart values to get a name from a consistently structured story summary ("Provide access to data from table tableName"), add it to the sub tasks (e.g. "Design tableName", "Build tableName", etc) and add the dependencies between them all.  

What I'd really like to do though is have a single story covering several tables generating a workflow for each of the sources. E.g. I give it a bullet list (though I'm open to alternatives) of tableName, tableName1, tableName2, etc. and dependencies relating all of the tickets relating to the specific table. Any ideas? Using Jira out of the box is preferred if possible


Answers:
author: Trudy Claspill
body: Hello [@Luke O'Rafferty](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/569308)

If you want to provide the information in a text field, you will need to have a consistent format that you could parse in an Automation rule.

Is it feasible for you to provide a custom multiple selection field that provides a list of the table names from which selections could be made?

Will your story just provide the table names?

I see in your subtask summary examples you list Design, Build, etc. Would you be creating the same set of subtasks regardless of the number or names of the tables?

Another thing to consider in both cases is when do you want the subtasks to be created? What event in the main issue triggers the creation of subtasks? Would that be just when the main issue itself is created? What would you expect to happen if the main issue was later updated and the table name information changed?

comments: author: Luke O'Rafferty
body: Good questions, thanks Trudy.  

I'd like to be able to define the table names when the story is created and I'm not worried about keeping it updated if things change.  

I would indeed want the same subtasks to be created each time. Part of my design process (though I'm open to change if there's a smarter way) is that to be "done" I need to attach the design document to the build ticket - my intention was to create all of the tickets immediately with dependencies and add a flag to each that wasn't first in the queue.  

I have discovered that if I use a manual trigger I can ask for user inputs, so I could predefine "entityName1", "entityName2", "entityNameN", etc. but can I loop over these? I.e. to create Design {{entityName1}} \> Build {{entityName1}} \> Test {{entityName1}} \> Deploy {{entityName1}}, and again for each non-empty user input?


author: Luke O'Rafferty
body: As part of a related aspect, can I use the userInputs as a label? I can't find any documentation, but would like to add userInputs.dataSource as a defined input with the manual trigger, then add that as a label if it is not empty. I can't work out if I add {{if(not(userInputs.dataSource.isBlank) {{userInputs.dataSource}} {{/}} directly in the labels fields or it needs to go into the advanced section at the bottom and I'm wary of testing all of this in our Jira environment and mass creating a bunch of tickets that might not be right


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