How do I edit a field in an issue with the Summary of a linked issue?
Asked by Danno:

I need to update a field with the summary from a linked issue. So far I have been able to extract the value of the summary of the linked issue but I can't figure out how to put that back into the field that is in the original issue. I believe I can use smart values to do this but I'm not sure what the smart value would be to point to the linked issue that the field is in to edit it.

I will provide what I have in automation as soon as the post is up.


Answers:
author: Bill Sheboy
body: Hi [@Danno](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1287831)

Until we see your rule details...you can use this how-to article which explains how to find the smart values for an issue. It also shows the structure, helping to know how to get at the information for things like linked issues.

<https://confluence.atlassian.com/automation/find-the-smart-value-for-a-field-993924665.html>

Kind regards,  
Bill

comments: author: Danno
body: Good afternoon and thank you for the prompt reply as usual [@Bill Sheboy](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1685313)

I said I would add the automation here but got stuck doing some other work. I'll put what I thought would be the way to do this below.

I have been working on this within a server project today so I'm in new territory here. I know how to find the smart values for a cloud instance but don't know how it's done in a server project. That said I might postpone going much farther with this right now as I found out this afternoon they are going to migrate to the Cloud over the weekend so I think I'll pick this back up then.

Here is what I have so far:

![linked issue automation.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/288356iAB88E6BCD5948973/image-dimensions/251x182?v=v2 "linked issue automation.png")![linked issue automation_audit log results.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/288355iA7D844294072EB3D/image-dimensions/287x164?v=v2 "linked issue automation_audit log results.png")

This returns the information I want (Summary) but I don't know how to grab that value and then point back to the "original" issue that it is linked to to populate a field in that issue. I hope that makes sense.


author: Bill Sheboy
body: Hi, Danno!

The link I provided for finding the smart values is specifically for Jira Server...the technique the same, with just some differences in the specifics, so please give it a try if needed.

Are you trying to update the trigger issue with data from a linked issue?

If so, please take a look at the lists in the issue data:

{{issue.issuelinks.inwardIssue}} and {{issue.issuelinks.outwardIssue}}

...filtering as needed to get the data needed.


author: Danno
body: [@Bill Sheboy](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1685313) will do. I think you have solved it for me though with the inward-outward linking. I was pretty sure there was a way to point to them like that but I couldn't find any reference to it in the documentation.

Just to be clear, an outward link would be when an issue "Blocks" the other issue which would have the inward link of "Is Blocked By", correct?


author: Bill Sheboy
body: Yes, that is correct.

All that information about link direction is in the smart values for each stored link. When lower down in inward and outward sections, knowing where you are (relative to the starting issue) is key.


author: Danno
body: [@Bill Sheboy](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1685313) that was the solution to my problem. I have the rule working for one case where you create the outward link within the issue that has the needed info. (summary) to populate the field on the inward linked issue that needs to be updated. I would like the rule to be bi-directional.

I still am not clear where the two smart values you clued me in to are coming from unless they only show up in the find your smart values info. which I did get to work.

    https://<yourinstanceurl>/rest/api/2/issue/<issuekey>?expand=names

I will post a link to my solution when I get it working for both condtions.


Tags: jira

server

smart-value