Confluence's JIRA macro does not show issue links in other instance
Asked by Reinhard Mayr:

I have a Confluence instance and 2 JIRA instances. JIRA1 runs on the same machine as Confluence, JIRA2 on a different machine.

I use the JIRA macro to show a table of issues, and I include the *LinkedIssues* column.

The Confluence document lists issues from JIRA1, which potentially link to other issues on JIRA1 and/or JIRA2

Linked issues in JIRA1 are shown in the *LinkedIssues* column, but i miss those of JIRA2.

What can I do to see all linked issues?

Thanks!


Answers:
author: Petter Gon?alves
body: Hello Reinhard,

Just to confirm we are on the same page, I would like to ask some questions about the current behavior you are seeing in the macro:

- You mentioned the macro is displaying linked issues from JIRA1, which potentially link to other issues on JIRA1 and/or JIRA2. Per your description, I understand you are able to see the issues in the column when both are in JIRA1, however, cannot see the link when one issue is in JIRA1 and another in JIRA2. Is that correct?

- Most of JIRA Macros are related to JQL queries, including the columns displaying in the view. Can you confirm if the current macro is based on a JQL query from JIRA?

If your gadget is configured by a JQL, you might be impacted by the following bug:

[Linked issues from another JIRA instance are not displayed on the issue navigator](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRASERVER-63418)

This bug is a JQL query limitation, which will absolutely cause the macro to reproduce the same behavior.

If that's the case, we recommend you to vote and watch the bug to increase its priority and also receive notifications about its fix implementation and possible workarounds.

Let me know if this is the scenario you are facing.

comments: author: Reinhard Mayr
body: Hi Petterson,

yes, that is precisely the situation we have encountered.

I am sure you understand how disappointing this behavior is to us. We chose to work with 2 JIRA instances (public / internal) assuming that instance linking works. Not partially, but in full -- apparently this is not the case, and even worse, the issue has already been reported 3.5 years ago...

I am aware of Atlassians bug fixing and release policies. Apart from that: what can I expect from the bug report? Is there a real chance of a fix or will the issue be open for some more years?

Thank you!

Reinhard


author: Petter Gon?alves
body: Thank you for confirming, Reinhard.

I understand how this bug is impacting your business, precisely because of the time you would waste to open each of the issues to identify what issues from the other instance are linked to it. This is indeed a blocker when you have a tight schedule for a big amount of issues.

Fortunately, this bug has gotten some tracking and was upgraded to Level 2 priority. In other words, its fix is already been considered for the next versions of JIRA Server and JIRA Cloud, although we still don't have any date or the version where the fix would be implemented.

As a temporary workaround, I suggest you create a text custom field (Linked issues from JIRA2) to get the linked issues from another instance, instructing the users to update the field with the issue link/summary once they link issues. You will be able to display this field as a column in the macro.

Please, let me know if this information helps and if there's anything else we can help you with.


author: Shannon S
body: Hello Reinhard,

Thank you for contacting us. Can you confirm the versions of your instances?

1. Confluence Instance
2. Jira Instance 1
3. Jira Instance 2

Have you already linked Jira Instance 2 to your Confluence instance via application links?

Regards,

Shannon

comments: author: Reinhard Mayr
body: Hi Shannon,

1. Confluence: 6.7.2
2. JIRA 1: 8.0.2
3. JIRA 2: 8.2.2

Application Links:

* Confluence -- JIRA 1
* JIRA 1 -- JIRA 2
* Confluence -- JIRA 2

Reciprocal links are present and connected.

Thanks, Reinhard


author: Shannon S
body: Thank you, Reinhard!

I've asked a Jira engineer to help me out with this, so my colleague Petterson has replied in a separate answer. Go ahead and follow-up with him when you have a chance and we can get to the bottom of this!

Regards,

Shannon


Tags: issue-link

macro