Installation
Log in to your Jira instance as an administrator.
Select the user icon.
From the drop-down menu which appears, choose Atlassian Marketplace.
The 'Find new apps' screen will be displayed.Use the search function to locate vLinks. The correct app version will be shown in the search results.
Click on 'Install' to download and install vLinks.
Introduction
vLinks provides three new custom field types, which allow the user to select issues (single, multiple or linked issue picker) and create and/or remove issue links depending on the selection. These fields can be used in JQL queries. You can also use some variables or keywords to display data about the issue appearing in the custom field.
Custom field
Creating a custom field
- Under the Issues section in the administration area choose Custom fields, continue by clicking Add custom field.
- Search for vLinks in the Advanced fields.
- vLinks offers four field types: Confluence Page Picker, 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 (Click on gear icon and select Screens).
Configuring the custom field
In the newly created field, the user has to select "Configure" and then click on "Add vLinks Context Config" link.
There are five options available:
Issue Link Type (required field) - you can select any of the existing Jira issue link types.
- Synchronise Issue Links - if checked, vLinks will create issue links between issues selected in the vLinks field and the issue where you are using the field.
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, all the issues that are corresponding to the JQL filter will be shown, regardless of the users permissions.
View Template - you can decide how the template will look. By clicking on the field, a handful of options will show up, like: $issuekey, $summary, $reporter, $assignee, $status, $priority and $customfield_. In the $customfield_ 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".
Enable Inline Issue Creation
The issue you are looking for in the vLinks Custom field doesn't exist yet?
Now it is possible to create issues out of the Issue View as inline creation.
vLinks Context Configuration
You are now able to configure more than one configuration to the individual custom fields. Multiple JQLs and visual options can be configured to show exactly the needed information.
Inline dialog
If the search comes up empty, the option Create new will appear. Now you can create a new issue.
After the click on the Create new button a panel shows to the right of the custom field. It shows the summary and the issue type of the to-be-created issue.
The configured issue types can be directly chosen through the panel.
In the newly configured vLinks field, choose an issue. After choosing an issue an icon will appear right next to the content.
By hovering over it an inline dialog containing all the relevant issue information will appear.
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.
Issue linking scheme
If you only want certain links between issues you can do that by heading over to Issue Linking Scheme under the Issues section in the administration area.
By clicking on the Create new linking scheme you can select which types of links you want to use. After you have created a scheme, you need to associate that scheme with a project. To do this click on the Associate link and select which projects you want the scheme to be applied to.
Enable editing by project admin
By using this feature you can make editing linking schemes available to your project admins. This will enable them to edit the linking schemes that are associated with their projects.
If the project doesn't have a custom Issue Linking Scheme, the project admin can create a new one by editing the scheme that is applied (Default Scheme). This will create a new Issue Linking Scheme and associate it with the current project.
To enable this, simply click on the button Enable editing by project admin.
How to for project admins
Once the editing by project admin has been enabled, the project admin can navigate to Project Settings and find the page Issue Links (vLinks). This page contains the following:
- How many projects are using the scheme and which ones
- All the linking types that are used in the scheme and their outward and inward descriptions
- A button to edit the scheme
Editing the linking scheme
Click on the Edit linking scheme button, a new page will be opened. Here you can specify which Issue Link Types you want to use. You will see ones that are already in use on the left, and available link types on the right. You can edit this by simply dragging and dropping the link type.
After you are finished with editing, click the Save button to save your scheme. This will redirect you back to the Issue Links page.
JQL functions
There are two built in JQL functions called customFieldValueFromIssue("", "") and customFieldValueListFromIssue("", "", "").
The JQL function called customFieldValueFromIssue("", "") 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 in the specified issue.
Example: vLinks = customFieldValueFromIssue("TEST-2", "10300")
or
cf[10300] = customFieldValueFromissue("TEST-2", "10300")
The JQL function called customFieldValueListFromIssue("", "", "") takes three parameters. First two parameters are the same as in the function above. The third parameter can be true or false, meaning that the function will look at the field either as a CSV (comma-separated values) or as a regular list. – if you use true the result will be treated as CSV.
Example: vLinks (MutliPicker) = customFieldValueListFromIssue("TEST-1", "10300", "true")
If you are using the function currentIssue() inside of these functions; customFieldValueFromIssue("", "") or customFieldValueListFromIssue("", "", ""), the currentIssue() mustn't be between quotation marks ( "" ).
Further information
The App provides a new custom field type to Jira which enables the user to identify and select issues (single or multiple) easily and quickly. This user-defined field allows the user to create and remove issue links depending on the options selected. In addition, the linked custom issue field can be used in JQL functions and dashboard gadgets.
Searching using the linked issue custom field
In case of issues, you can use the linked custom field in JQL queries. This makes searching for linked topics a lot easier.
Easy management of issue links in a user-friendly field
All you have to do is to identify the issues to be linked and complete them automatically.
Configuration of the linked issue custom field
The custom field is assigned to the issue link type of your choice. Furthermore, you can restrict which issues are displayed by specifying a JQL request.