Installation

1. Log in to your Jira instance as an administrator.
2. Select the user icon.
3. From the dropdown menu which appears, choose Atlassian Marketplace. The 'Find new apps' screen will be displayed.
4. Use the search function to locate vLinks. The correct app version will be shown in the search results.
5. Click on 'Install' to download and install vLinks.

Creating a custom field

• Select Custom fields in the administration area and continue by clicking on 'Add custom field'.
• Search for vLinks in the Advanced fields.
• vLinks offers two field types: Multiple Issue Picker, Single Issue Picker and Linked Issue Field.
• Select one of the options and click on 'Next'.
• Name your vLinks custom field and provide a description, if required.
• Select a screen in which you want the vLinks field to appear.

Configuring the custom field

In the newly created field, the user has to select "Configure" and then to click on the "Add vLinks Context Config" link. 

There are four options available:

• Issue Link Type (required field) - you can select any of the existing Jira issue link types.
• JQL filter - you can insert a desired jql filter in the textfield. On the right side you can see either a green icon if the filter is valid or a red icon if the filter isn't.
• Set Permission - while checked, custom field dropdown will show all issues regardless of user permissions.
• View Template - you can decide how the template will look. By clicking on the field, a handful of options will show up, like: $key, $summary, $reporter, $assignee, $status, $priority, $customfield_XXXXX. By the $customfield_XXXXX option, you have to insert the correct ID of the desired custom field, for example $customfield_10200. Otherwise, the value of the option will be set to "N/A".

Activating the custom field in a Service Desk project

Go to Project settings → Request types → choose a request type → Edit fields → Add a field and check vLinks. Click on the "Apply" button.

Inline dialog

After choosing an issue an icon () will appear right next to the content. By clicking on it an inline dialog containing all the relevant issue information will appear. 

JQL function

There is a built-in JQL function called "customFieldValueFromIssue("", "")". The function takes two parameters. The first one is an issue key and the second one is the ID of the custom field. The function returns the value of the custom field and the specified issue.

Example: vLinks = customFieldValueFromIssue("TEST-2", "10300")

or 

cf[10300] = customFieldValueFromissue("TEST-2", "10300")