Rule Actions

Rule actions are the parts of the rule that actually make modifications to the report. Without any rule actions, a rule does not have any effect on the report template.

There are several types of rule actions:

Stop

Stop is the simplest rule action. It stops generation of the report and presents the user with an error message that you have specified.

Stop actions are useful for enforcing policies within JIRA. For example you should not be able to generate release notes for a version until it is marked as released.

Stop should always be used with rule conditions, otherwise the report would never be generated.

Delete

Delete is a simple action that deletes all content contained in a placeholder.

Delete actions can delete text, images, sections or any other content you need removed from the document.

If a delete action removes a placeholder that is affected by another rule, the content will still be removed, regardless of the effects from the other rules. For example if you delete a document section, the section will be deleted regardles of any other rules that may have filled in content in that section. The other rules will not give any errors.

Delete is often used to remove sections when there are no results from a JQL query. Delete is usually used in combination with rule conditions.

Replace

Replace is an action that allows you to replace document content with JIRA data. Replace is the main action used to fill in your report templates.

Each replace action replaces the content of a single placeholder with JIRA data. The JIRA data is inserted using the same Microsoft Word formatting as the beginning of the content it is replacing. So if the placeholder content is italic, coloured or in a particular font, the JIRA data will have that same formatting applied.

There are several types of replace actions that replace the placeholder with a different type of data:

• Data - replace the placeholder with the contents of a JIRA field selected using a data select component. You can select a field on a single object, or a field on a list of objects. If you select a field on a list of objects, the values will be inserted separated by commas.
• Number of items - replace the placeholder with the number of items in a data select components list. This is often used for counting the number of issues in a JQL query, for example the number of new issues this week.
• Calculation - replace the placeholder with the result of a calculation expression. Many operators and functions are supported in calculations. For details and examples see the calculations reference.
• Total - replace the placeholder with the total of a numerical field on each object in a list data select components list. This can be used for adding total estimate or time logged across a number of issues.
• Average - replace the placeholder with the average of a list of numerical fields in a data select components list.
• Date - replace the placeholder with the date the user generates the document. This is useful for dating generated reports. You can optionally add or subtract a number of days from the report generation date, for listing the date range a report applies to. Note: If you want to replace with the answer to a date question use the replace with data option instead.

Modify

The modify rule action allows you to modify a chart in your Microsoft Word document with JIRA data. The data in the spreadsheet which powers the chart remains editable in the final generated report.

The placeholder for a modify rule action must entirely cover a chart in the document. The modify rule action will only modify the first chart in the placeholder.

Intelligent Reports allows you to add any type of chart available in Microsoft Word including line charts, pie charts, area charts, bar graphs e.t.c. to your reports and have that chart filled in with your JIRA data.

You can follow the instructions for the type of chart that best matches the type of chart you are adding to your report:

• Time based charts
  Time based charts, such as burn down and burn up charts need to be filled in with dates and values in one or more data series. The time based chart type provided by Intelligent Reports is best suited Microsoft Word column charts, line charts, bar charts, and area charts. You can click here for instructions on how to add a time based chart to your report.

• Count based charts
  Count based charts are ideal for comparison type charts such as pie or doughnut charts. Count based charts can be used to fill in the column names and data for charts with a single data series. You can click here for instructions on how to add a count based chart to your report.

• Calculated charts
  Calculated charts allow you to use Intelligent Reports calculations to fill in the data for your chart. The simplest way to understand the calculated charts is to remember that you are specifying the rows and columns in the spreadsheet for your chart. Microsoft Word then interprets this data to draw the chart. You can click here for instructions on how to add a calculated chart to your report.

• Cumulative flow diagram
  Cumulative flow diagrams are a type of chart that can be used to show the progress of a project. Cumulative flow diagrams work best with area charts in Microsoft Word but you can also use a line chart instead. You can click here for instructions on how to add a cumulative flow diagram to your report.

• Progress bar
  You can use a progress bar to quickly show progress in an epic, sprint, project, issue etc. in a highly visual way. You can click here for instructions on how to add a progress bar to your report.