Automation not deleting issue links but successful in Audit Log

[Jeremiah]

Title kind of sums it up.

I have a simple automation that should delete all issue links on an issue after a field change event and then apply a new issue link.

The Audit Log reports successful deletion, but the previous issue links remain and the new one is just added to the list.

Here is the Automation rule:

The outcome (according to the log) is successful. However, the comment IS NOT added and the issue links ARE NOT removed. The only thing that does happen is the new issue link is added to the list.

EDIT: Updated the screenshot to show what actions are not working vs working.

[Jeremiah · Accepted solution]

Figured it out. Once I moved the Delete Issue Links and Comment actions above the JQL, it all worked as expected.

Thanks for your help @Jack Brickey and @Bill Sheboy !

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Jeremiah 

Would you please post an image of your automation rule?  That may provide some context for this symptom.

Until that is shown, I suspect what is happening is when you perform the link delete and then add more links, the trigger issue's data at the time of rule start is being used later.

For example:

1. trigger: some trigger
2. action: edit a rule some way
3. action: edit a rule in another way

In this example, if step 3 builds on step 2, the rule will not work as expected as it will overwrite the changes.  The fix for this use case to to add a Re-fetch action to load the data again before proceeding.  

1. trigger: some trigger
2. action: edit a rule some way
3. action: Re-fetch
4. action: edit a rule in another way

Please note that Re-fetch will slow down the rule by a second or more, but it is essential in many use cases such as this one.  The other primary use is after the Issue Created trigger to slow a rule/reload data before condition tests.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Jeremiah]

Thanks, Bill. I thought about the re-fetch action as well and that didn't seem to change the outcome. I'll put it back and try again and post the rule.

[Bill Sheboy]

Okay, I reproduced the symptom you are seeing: comments are not always added, although the link deleting seems to work consistently for me in a free Jira instance. 

I would suggest submitting this one to Atlassian Support ( https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/ ) but it appears you are on a free license and so cannot do that.

Please try to select a specific type of link for the delete and so how that helps.

Also I wonder: branches which could be more than one issue (such as for JQL) run asynchronously and independently.  Based on the comment issue we both observed, there is clearly something not working as expected inside of that branch.

[Jeremiah]

Yeah, I don't know why it says free, but we are definitely not on the free plan.

Please try to select a specific type of link for the delete and so how that helps.

I did try that originally. I started there in-fact because I don't want all of them gone, just a certain type but that didn't work so I went with all for t/s purposes.

[Jack Brickey]

Hi @Jeremiah , first I love the torn edges look on your screenshot. 👍🏼

So it appears that you are deleting one (more?) link and then adding others. Is that correct? When you look at the issue post rule execution. What do you see and how does it compare with prior to execution? Maybe you could share a couple of images of the issue before and after? Oh, and include the school torn edges.😉

[Jeremiah]

Thanks @Jack Brickey I never leave home without Snagit!

Ideally I want to delete just one type of link, but that wasn't working so I thought I'd go nuclear and delete them all. When that didn't work I opened this question.

The issue in question prior to execution has (let's say) two linking issues on it. I change a value in a field that triggers the automation. The automation should remove all links and then add a new one based on the JQL. The outcome is nothing is removed and the new link is added.

I updated my post to include the automation rule.

[Jack Brickey]

Hi @Jeremiah ,

I did a quick test of the following rule. Below that you will see the pre-run and post run images. This worked for me. Note the condition is not required just something I threw in there.

sooooo.... now to figure out where your's is failing. A couple of suggestions to test;

1. Can you manually delete links on the same issue?
2. can you review the Histoy of the test issue an see if their are clues?
3. can you create a manual trigger rule like mine and test? If so the you can add in other components until we find the culprit.

[Jeremiah]

Thanks @Jack Brickey , I will conduct some more testing based on your suggestions and report back.

Can you manually delete links on the same issue?

Yes.

can you review the Histoy of the test issue an see if their are clues?

Yes. It simply shows my edit of the field that triggers the automation, then it shows the automation updated the link. Nothing else.

can you create a manual trigger rule like mine and test? If so the you can add in other components until we find the culprit.

It yields the same results when ran manually.