How to get the previous value of "Parent Link" key?
Asked by Mohammad Gharehyazie:

Hello All,

I am trying to write an automation rule that is supposed to go like this:  
When: A task's "Parent Link" has been edited.

What: Do something to the previous parent and the current parent.

To perform an action on the current parent, I just create a branch with JQL query set to:

```
key = {{issue."parent link"}}
```

Side note: I cannot use a regular parent attribute as I am using a custom issue hierarchy, but that is not the issue. The above mentioned code works.

To perform an action on the previouse parent, I have to create another branch. Currently the query looks like this:

```
key = {{changelog.Parent Link.fromstring}}
```

The problem is with the formatting of the return value. For example, if a task has the key "SE-2" and it's summary is "test task", I expect (or want) to have "SE-2" from the right-hand side of that expression (the changelog part) but it returns "SE-2 test task". It concatenates the description to the end of the key. How can I only get the key part? Or how can I compare it to the combination of key and summary at the left-hand side?


Answers:
author: Boldizs?r Vermes
body: [@Mohammad Gharehyazie](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5344242), have you tried *{{fieldChange.fromString}}* instead of changelog?

If it does the same, then, and I know, it's a hack, but use *{{changelog.Parent Link.fromString.substringBefore(" ")}}* to get the key only of the previous parent.

comments: author: Mohammad Gharehyazie
body: Thank you. The hack worked like a charm. I am so grateful.

<br />

BTW, fieldChange did not make any difference, same value returned. I believe the issue is caused because the "Parent Link" is *displayed* in Jira as a concatenation of Key + Summary, thus the fieldchange would still have both of them in the string.


author: Erin Quick-Laughlin
body: [@Mohammad Gharehyazie](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5344242) what happens if you capitalize the 's' in fromstring to fromString?  

This is working for us...

![Screenshot 2023-10-18 140911.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/287020i12C942414EA15EDA/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2023-10-18 140911.png")

comments: author: Mohammad Gharehyazie
body: Thank you for your reply, but it did not make any difference. It still returned (Key + Summary). I am basing my findings on the error report of the audit log.


author: Erin Quick-Laughlin
body: What is in the changelog when you log it via the rule?


author: Mohammad Gharehyazie
body: I do not know how to answer that.

All I know is when I used my expression below, when the key was "SE-3" and the summary was "First story", I expect "SE-3" as the result but it evaluates as "SE-3 First story" and thus throws an error.

```
{changelog.Parent Link.fromstring}}
```

Apparently the word "first" is a reserved keyword, but that is not the important thing here.  

I would be more than happy to try whatever commands you ask me of, but you have to guide me through. How do I get the changelog?


author: Boldizs?r Vermes
body: Just log the {{changelog}} full value and show us the result.


author: Bill Sheboy
body: Hi [@Mohammad Gharehyazie](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5344242) -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

The change log for a specify field returns that field, and so the syntax you are using may be creating some other string.

Perhaps try: {{#changelog.Parent Link}}{{from}}{{/}}

Kind regards,  
Bill

comments: author: Mohammad Gharehyazie
body: Thank you for your reply, but it did not work. It returned empty (or something that could not properly be parsed as a string). I am basing my findings on the error report of the audit log.


Tags: cloud