Workaround for: How to look up Assets objects in automation when the AQL contains an "&&"

[Phong Nguyen - Atlassian Solutions Engineer]

Problem

There is a known bug about looking up Assets (Insight) objects in Jira automation when the AQL contains an “&” character throws an error and returns no results: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDCLOUD-11142

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create an object with a Name containing an & (e.g. "A & B")

2. Create an automation rule (schedule trigger, lookup objects action)

3. Add an IQL like "Name = "A & B"

4. Execute the automation rule

Expected Results

The IQL is executed and the object with the name "A & B" is returned in the results

Actual Results

An error is returned like "IQL has invalid syntax... token recognition error at..."

Workaround

1. Create a new attribute (Alternative Name) as the alternative attribute for Name.

2. Set the alternative value without “&” to the new attribute Alternative Name for all objects that contain the “&” character. For example: If the Name is "A & B", the Alternative Name should be set to “A and B”.

3. Via automation rule, create a formatted search input to replace the “&” character by “and” word:
   
   

   (The searchInput can be a custom field value or a variable)

   {{searchInput.replace("&", "and")}}

4. Update the AQL with the formattedSearchInput instead.
   
   

   • BEFORE:

     key IS NOT EMPTY AND Name = "{{searchInput}}"

   • AFTER:

     key IS NOT EMPTY AND (Name = "{{formattedSearchInput}}" OR "Alternative Name" = "{{formattedSearchInput}}")

     (The part "key IS NOT EMPTY" is just a test AQL to remind using the parentheses () after this test clause - without the parentheses () it will not work as expected).
     
     

5. Test result: 
   
   

Pros and cons

Pros

• The original attribute value with “&” is preserved and can be found via AQL.

Cons

• Have to add a new alternative attribute.

• Have to populate the alternative attribute for all affected objects.
  However, we might automate this step if there are too many objects:
  
  

  • Branch on AQL through all objects.

  • Check if {{object.Name}} contains "&".

  • Edit the object to set the Alternative Name = {{object.Name.replace("&", "and")}}:

     

[Phong Nguyen - Atlassian Solutions Engineer]

UPDATE: You no longer need this workaround since Atlassian has fixed the bug.

[Jennifer Luo]

I've been using a web request in my automations to grab the object key, which queries for a name that includes the ampersand:

This will return the object/s you specify.