Where do I debug the Jira Misc Workflow Extensions??!!

[scott.fawcett]

A while back we had 3 tickets that seemingly randomly changed status (from Released to In Progress).  The Status was changed by the Jira Misc Workflow Extensions.  Somehow, after hours of digging, I found why...and thought I had fixed it.

Now, months later, it happened again yesterday.  For the life of me I can't find where the workflow is affected by this extension.

If you could point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.  I've poked all around the workflow.

[David Fischer]

Hi Scott,

you should go to the JMWE Logs admin page and filter by the issue key that was transitioned. This will show you the post-functions that run on that issue. However, if the post-function that transitioned the issue is actually a Transition Linked Issues post-function or a Transition Parent Issue post-function run on another issue, then you won't find any logs because these post-functions don't log the _target_ issues they transition, only the issue on which the post-function runs (the issue being transitioned by the user).

If that's what's happening, you can filter the logs by post-function name instead - look for the Transition Linked Issues post-function and then the Transition Parent Issue post-function, if you see any execution then you'll need to check these post-functions.

[scott.fawcett]

unfortunately the log doesn't go back far enough.  I only have a couple days of logged info.  The transition occurred 3 weeks ago, but was just noticed yesterday.

[John Funk]

Hi Scott,

Did you look at the Post Functions on the Transitions in the workflow associated with the project where it happened? There is might be an auto-transition on another previous transition that is firing. 

[scott.fawcett]

I did...which adds a little to the confusion.  In this specific case it's moving from Released to Needs Requirements.

• For ALL (because All is configured as a transition input to Needs Requirement) there's nothing that references JMWE.  And nothing looks abnormal.
• For Update Resolution there's nothing that references JMWE.
• For Released the first post function references JMWE.  Here it is:

For each issue linked to the current issue through the relates to link type, the first applicable transition from this list will be triggered on that issue:

• Released Awaiting Feedback of any workflow

Run as current user. A comment will be provided to the transition screen with the following text: Ticket has been released! Please confirm with your client it has met their need..

There are also 2 errors and 2 warnings.  The errors are Post-function "Transition linked issues" errors.  The errors are "Found no transition available for issue MSD-745"...which reference a Service Desk ticket.  Maybe I need to look there (we create tickets in this project from Service Desk tickets).  Although the error and warming timestamps don't coincide with the Status change.  The errors occurred 3 weeks later (and I suspect it was when the parent ticket was changed back to Released and possibly attempted to trigger a change to the originating ticket in the MSD project).

There are 4 Relates To tickets linked.

• One of them is at Needs Requirements and I don't see anything odd that would related to this.
• Two of them were Released.  Nothing odd.
• For one of them, JWME set the Status FROM Needs Requirements TO Needs Requirements (odd) at the same timestamp the parent ticket was changed back to Needs Requirement.  That must be a clue.  But...same question.  What changed this child ticket to Needs Requirement (when it was already at Needs Requirement)?

[David Fischer]

You apprently checked the post-functions on all transitions that can lead the parent issue back to "Needs Requirement", and the only one you found was on a transition from Released to Needs Requirements, and it triggers a "Released Awaiting Feedback" transition. What does that transition do? Also, it would have added a comment on the linked issues, and that doesn't seem to be the case.

Also, since the Status change made by JMWE is from "Needs Requirements" to "Needs Requirements", that means JMWE triggered a transition that _can_ start from "Needs Requirements" and that leads to "Needs Requirements". Do you have any like that?

Finally, when the parent ticket was changed back to Needs Requirement, can you check in the parent history who the user was who made the change (to the Status field)?

[David Fischer]

Oh, and also don't discount the possibility that the workflow was modfied since the problem happened 3 weeks ago...

[scott.fawcett]

Let me clarify.  The original ticket was changed by JMWE from Released to Needs Requirement.  No user made the change.  That is the problem I am trying to debug...because the last thing I need is Product Managers reviewing tickets that have already been released...which is how this was found.

The ticket that changed from Needs Requirement to Needs Requirement is a Related To ticket (linked to the ticket that changed from Released to Needs Requirement) and the transition was also made by JMWE (and we don't know why).

Both of the tickets transitioned at the same time (same timestamp), so it seems there's a clue there.

What would make a post function transition happen 2 weeks later?  These tickets were in a state on Sept. 23.  JMWE transitioned them on Oct. 2.  There is no History of changes between those timestamps...so no user interaction.

The admins have not changed the workflow recently.  When this same problem was seen about 2 months ago, we made a change (deleted a transition that wasn't needed...from what we can remember).  I was wondering if that change was possibly not published.  In the Workflow view there is an information icon that indicates the workflow has an unpublished draft, but I don't know how to view that draft or what the changes are to determine if I should publish it.

[David Fischer]

I must say I'm a little confused - I can't figure out what you consider normal and what you cannot understand. 

"The original ticket was changed by JMWE from Released to Needs Requirement.  No user made the change.  That is the problem I am trying to debug": does it mean your problem is with this transition, or the transition on the linked issue from Needs Requirement to Needs Requirement? 

Also, if the Released to Needs Requirement transition was also triggered by JMWE, you need to understand which post-function triggered it. 

Finally, the only way to figure out the difference between the published and draft workflows is to export both as XML and compare the XML files.

[scott.fawcett]

For some reason my response didn't get saved.

The problem is with the JMWE transition from Released to Needs Requirement.

While looking into that problem, I discovered that a linked tickets was also transitioned by JMWE, at exactly the same time, from Needs Requirement to Needs Requirement.  I'm less concerned about this, but I highly suspect when I fix the main problem (transitioning from Released to Needs Requirement)) I'll understand this one also.

I've attached what I'm looking at in the workflow.  If that's not the right spot, or something clearly points to the problem, that would be awesome.