How to sync ServiceNow Change type

[xl8bot]

Originally asked by Karen Jennings on 28 September 2021 (original question)

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We are trying to sync an issue type of Change in Jira Software with a Change request in ServiceNow. When looking at the field in ServiceNow I see that the column name is type and the choices (values) are standard, normal and emergency. This is a standard (not custom) field in ServiceNow but it seems that I can’t sync to or from this field. Both fields are Select Lists.

Here is the setup:

Jira Outgoing sync

replica.customFields."Change Type" = issue.customFields."Change Type"

ServiceNow Incoming sync

def changeTypeMap = [
"Normal" : "normal",
"Emergency" : "emergency",
"Standard" : "standard"
]
def remoteChangeType = replica.customFields."Change Type"?.value?.value

entity.type = (changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]?: remoteChangeType)

To check the data:

[debug.info](http://debug.info)("replica.customFields.'Change Type'?.value?.value = ${replica.customFields.'Change Type'?.value?.value}")

Results:

replica.customFields.‘Change Type’?.value?.value = Normal

[debug.info](http://debug.info)("remoteChangeType = ${remoteChangeType}")

Results:

remoteChangeType = Normal

[debug.info](http://debug.info)("ChangeTypeMap is ${changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]}")

Results:

ChangeTypeMap is normal

entity.type = (changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]?: remoteChangeType)

Results:

Cannot cast object ‘normal’ with class ‘java.lang.String’ to class ‘com.exalate.api.domain.hubobject.v1_2.IHubIssueType’

Jira Payload

ServiceNow Payload

because it has not been created yet.

Edited

entity.type = (changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]?: remoteChangeType)

To

entity.type?.value = (changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]?: remoteChangeType)

[debug.info](http://debug.info)("entity.type?.value is ${entity.type?.value}")

Result:

entity.type?.value is null

Edited

entity.type?.value = (changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]?: remoteChangeType)

To

entity.type?.name = (changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]?: remoteChangeType)

[debug.info](http://debug.info)("entity.type?.name is ${entity.type?.name}")

Result

entity.type?.name is null

Edited

entity.type?.name = (changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]?: remoteChangeType)

To

entity.type?.value?.name = changeTypeMap[remoteChangeType]?: remoteChangeType

[debug.info](http://debug.info)("entity.type?.value?.name is ${entity.type?.value?.name }")

Result

entity.type?.value?.name is null

These values are null but the Change IS created in ServiceNow as a Normal change since it is the default type.

However when syncing back to Jira, we get an error:

Could not update issue `183,920`: Field customfield_10112: Specify a valid ‘id’ or ‘name’ for Change Type. Check the documentation for more details.

The issue and the field exist.

ServiceNow Outgoing sync

replica.type = entity.type

Jira Incoming sync

def typeMap = [

// ["remote options" : "local option"]

"normal" : "Normal",

"emergency" : "Emergency",

"standard" : "Standard"

]

def remoteChangetype = replica.type

issue.customFields."Change Type"?.value?.value = typeMap[remoteChangetype]?: remoteChangetype

[debug.info](http://debug.info)(("remoteChangetype is ${remoteChangetype}"))

Result

remoteChangetype is null

ServiceNow payload – does not include any “type” field at all.

Edited

def remoteChangetype = replica.type

To

def remoteChangetype = replica.type?.value.?name

[debug.info](http://debug.info)(("remoteChangetype is ${remoteChangetype}"))

Result

remoteChangetype is null

So it seems that ServiceNow is not sending entity.type data or it is not the right field.

To test that, I created an Emergency Change in ServiceNow to sync over to Jira.

ServiceNow Outgoing sync

replica.type = entity.type

Jira Incoming sync

def typeMap = [

// ["remote options" : "local option"]

"normal" : "Normal",

"emergency" : "Emergency",

"standard" : "Standard"

]

def remoteChangetype = replica.type?.name

issue.customFields."Change Type"?.value?.value = typeMap[remoteChangetype]?: remoteChangetype

ServiceNow payload

Where is issueType coming from?

Jira Payload

This created a Normal Change in Jira and that Normal type synced back to ServiceNow somehow.

Updated the ServiceNow Outgoing sync to

replica.type = entity.issueType

Same result.

What am I missing here? I have tried more than what I have entered here but am running out of ideas.

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[xl8bot]

Answer by Francis Martens (Exalate) on 29 September 2021

Hi Karen Jennings

We have been looking into this question

Jira to Servicenow

Take into account that the the class of entity.type is BasicHubIssueType.

As there is no native exalate support to construct this object through a helper method, you need to construct the object you assign by

• import the class
• Instantiate the object
• Assign it to entity.type

import com.exalate.basic.domain.hubobject.v1.BasicHubIssueType
...

def normalType = new BasicHubIssueType()
normalType.name = "emergency"
entity.type = normalType

This works fine on the sync from Jira to ServiceNow
(you will have to wire in the mapping)

ServiceNow to Jira

The type will only be included in the payload if you add it to the outgoing sync script

For instance - you can do

ServiceNow - Outgoing sync

// replica.change_type will either have Standard, Normal or Emergency

replica.change_type = entity.type.name

And this can then be used on the Jira side

Jira Incoming

def changeTypeMapping = [
		"normal" : "Normal",
 		"standard" : "Standard",
  		"emergency" : "Emergency",
 
    ]


// extract the change type out of the replica, map it and if not found default to 'Normal'
def remoteChangeType = changeTypeMapping[replica.change_type] ? "Normal"


// assign it to the value attribute of the change type custom field
issue.customFields."Change Type".value = remoteChangeType

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Comments:

Karen Jennings commented on 29 September 2021

Thanks Francis Martens (Exalate) I will look into this and let you know how it goes.

Where do I need to put the import?

Francis Martens (Exalate) commented on 29 September 2021

At the beginning of the script (line 1 if there is no other import)