Configuring Issue Shapes

To reach the Issue Shapes page, log-in as an administrator and click on JIRA ADMINISTRATION > Manage apps in the banner. Then, locate the OSLC Connect section and click on Issue Shapes.

From OSLC perspective, the Shape of a resource is the set of properties that composes it. Changing the issue shape implies, therefore, to change the set of properties/fields that are exposed or visible to other resources/applications. In the Rebuilding TRS Feeds topic, the complete default list of all Issue system fields that are exposed to other OSLC applications can be consulted [1]. Now, since these exposed properties are the ones used by reporting tools (like IBM Report Builder) to build their reports, it can very convenient to modify the Jira Issues' Shapes with Jira custom fields.

By setting this configuration, you will be able to include or remove Jira custom fields from the exposed properties. Be aware that since Jira custom fields can have very different implementations on their own, it is not guaranteed that all of them will work as expected. This means that they might end up with an meaningless value when displayed. For this, the configuration page includes a Status column to inform the supporting level:

Supported
Represented by a green checkmark icon, it means the custom field has been tested and proved that its value will be displayed as in the Issue page.
Not Supported
Represented by a red exclamation mark icon, it means the custom field has been tested and it is known that its value won't be meaningful/usable.
Undetermined
Represented by a yellow exclamation mark icon, it means the custom field is not either a well or bad known working field [2], you will have to discover it on your own. This is typically the case for custom field types provided by third-party applications.

Before passing to the configuration steps, it is worth to mention that this configuration will apply for all issues of all projects sharing an Issue Type Scheme. Since these changes need to reported to all TRS feeds clients, it is highly recommended to use it very carefully as it may trigger a lot of TRS notifications and HTTP requests [3].

  1. Select the scheme for which you want to configure the issue shapes in the Scheme combo.
  2. A table with three columns will be rendered for the Name, Type and Status of the configured custom fields. In the bottom of the table, you will find the same control used to configure the fields of a screen [4], use it in the same way to select and add a custom field in the Issue shape.
  3. Repeat the last step to add other custom fields until you have defined all required ones.
  4. Click on the Save button located at the top right corner of the page.

To remove a custom field:

  1. Locate the custom field you want to remove and hover the corresponding row.
  2. Click on the cross icon displayed at the end of the row.
  3. Click on the Save button located at the top right corner of the page.

Show Resource Shape

To get more details about how standard and selected custom fields are exposed to external OSLC applications, click the Show Resource Shape button. This will bring up a table where you can:

[1] On the Exposed Resources column of the OSLC Connect for Jira CM Resources (TRS 2.0) TRS feed. [2] All custom fields provided by other Jira plugins will fall in this status category. [3] The actual amount of notifications/requests will depend on the amount of Jira associated projects and the issues within them. [4] With the difference that this includes the Status of the custom field right away.