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# Rule examples

Examples of creating rules are listed below.

In this topic:

## Count the number of times defects are re-opened

For the purpose of improving quality processes, you can track the number of times defects are re-opened after being set to Fixed.

1. In the Defect entity, create a Reopen Counter field of the integer type. For details, see Add custom fields.
2. Create a new rule for the Defect entity.

3. Action details. Select the following values on the Action tab:

   Setting | Value
   --- | ---
   Action | Set field value
   Timing | When saving an entity
   Field | Select the Reopen Counter field.
   Increment value by | 1

4. Condition details. Define the following conditions on the Condition tab:

   | Field | Operator | Value
   --- | --- | --- | ---
   #1 | Phase | Current = | Opened
   AND
   #2 | Phase | Orignal ≠ | New

## Record the Last Modifier of a manual test

It can be useful to know who made the last change to a manual test. You can create a rule to record this information in a user-defined field. The field will be populated when specified changes are made to the manual test.

1. In the Manual Test entity, create a Last Modifier field of the User type. For details, see Add custom fields.
2. Create a new rule for the Manual Test entity.

3. On the Action tab, select the following values. Use the screenshot below for assistance.

   Setting | Value
   --- | ---
   Action | Set field value
   Timing | When changing a value Note: Select the fields upon which a change to their values will record a change to the Last Modifier field.
   Field | Select the Last Modifier user-defined field.
   Set value | [Current User]

## Combine Lookup lists for use under certain conditions

Create a rule that adds additional Lookup list values to a defect's Severity if the defect's release is 2.00.

For example, the available Severity values for release 1.16 might be 1-Low, 2-Medium, and 3-High. For release 2, additional severity values were added, so the complete list is 1-Low, 2-Medium, 3-High, 4-Very High, and 5-Urgent.

Prerequisites

Create a new Severity list that contains the values 4-Very High, and 5-Urgent. Call it Severity2.

Create a rule to define the circumstances when additional list values are needed

Action: Use an additional Lookup list for the defect's possible Severity values, in addition to the original Lookup list's values. Select Severity2 in the List field and if desired, select individual Sublist values.

Condition: If a defect's Release is 2...

Result:

- In the ALM Octane UI, if you open any defect whose Release is 2, you will be able to choose from all five Severity values, not just from the original three Severity values.

- When filtering by Severity, all five values are available.

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## Set a subset of a Lookup list

Depending on the current team, certain item origins for defects are not available. For example, if a certain team only works with ALM and ALM Octane, the item origins for that team's defects cannot be Service Anywhere or Jira. You can create a rule that makes only a sub-list of the current lookup list available, based on the team.

Condition: If the Team field is a specific value...

Action: Select the Item Origin values that are relevant to that team.

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## Make fields required

Make the testing tool type required to prevent empty values for automated tests.

Condition: If the Testing tool type field Is Empty...

Action: The Testing tool type field is required.

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## Set default field values (Set Field Value)

To make sure each manual test is assigned to an application module, set the Application modules field value to a default application module for all empty statuses.

Condition: If the Edit mode for the test is New, it means the test was just created

Action: Set the Application modules field to General.

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## Set a value when a related item changes (Set Field Value)

Automatically set a user story to Done when all its child tasks are done (DoD).

- Condition: The number of child tasks with the phase New or In Progress is zero. Use the following values to formulate this condition:

  Field | Value
  --- | ---
  Operand | Child task count
  Operator | {filter = Phase: ( New, In Progress ) }
  Equals | 0

- Action: Set the Phase field for the user story to Done.

Consider the following:

- The transition from current phase to Done is possible based on the workflow. For example, if the phase of a user story is New, it cannot be promoted to Done.

- The Set Field Value rule does not validate to make sure required fields have values. For example, if Severity is a required field when promoting to Done, the promotion rule will still update the phase to Done even if Severity is blank.

- The rule overrides manual changes. So once you define this rule, there are no exceptions. You cannot, for example, manually modify user story's phase if all its related tasks are done. The next time the rule runs, the phase will be reset to Done.

- When the rule runs, its actions are performed by an internal system user.

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## Copy values from fields for related items (Set Field Value)

Available in: ValueEdge and ALM Octane 16.0.400 and later

You can create a business rule action to automatically populate system and user-defined fields, based on the fields for related items. For example, fields for backlog items can be automatically populated based on the corresponding fields for their parent feature.

Note: You can copy field values only from those related items that are single reference fields, such Feature, Test, Test suite, BDD specification, Team, Owner, and other. This rule does not apply to related items that are multiple reference fields, such as Manual run, Suite run, BDD scenario, Application modules, or Tags.

Prerequisites

When creating a rule action, ensure that the related items' fields meet the following prerequisites:

- The source primary field is a single reference field.
- The source and target field types are compatible. For example, the value can be copied from the Team field of an item to the corresponding Team field of its related item.
- The compatible fields exist for both item types, on the source and target. If necessary, you can create compatible user-defined fields. For details, see Add custom fields.

Create a rule action

Define the rule action as follows:

Field | Value
--- | ---
Action | Set field value.
Timing | Select any suitable timing option.
Field to change | Select the field whose value you want to populate automatically.
Change > Copy value from field | Select a related item's cross field whose value should be copied to the Field to change. Note: From the Copy value from field drop down, you can select cross fields for related items that are single reference fields. Multiple reference fields or their cross fields will not be available.

When the business rule is turned on, the source field value replaces or is copied to the target field of a related item.

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## Trigger webhooks (call a URL)

For webhook integration with another application when an entity is created, deleted or updated, you can use a Trigger Webhook rule to POST a request to an endpoint URL. The service at the URL receives the call and processes the request.

Condition: <None>

Actionable upon: New, Update, Delete

Action: POST ALM Octane entity information to the endpoint URL: http://myServer:8081/myAPI.

For details on setting up Trigger Webhook rules to POST information to endpoint URLs as a result of an event, see Trigger Webhooks for other applications.

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## Switch forms

When a tester creates a defect to report a bug, organizational policy dictates that the tester should be able to view and edit the following fields: Description, and Severity.

Similarly, when a developer starts fixing a defect, the developer must be able to view and edit the following fields: Fixed on, Fixed in Build, and Owner.

Define two rules:

- Rule 1: Sets a form for developers.

  Condition: If the team is the Developer team...

  Action: The form for developers is used.

- Rule 2: Sets a form for testers.

  Condition: If the team is the Tester team...

  Action: The form for testers is used.

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## Send an email when a item's attributes are updated

When a user story, defect, or other item changes its status, you may want to be notified that such an item has been updated.

To do this, you define it in one the following ways:

- If you want to be notified of any change in a specific field - such as the phase of an item - select Is Modified as the operator for the field.

- If you want to be notified of a change in specified field to specific value - such as a defect moving from Opened to Fixed - set the Original = field to the previous value and the regular operator to = for a new value.

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## Prevent developers from closing a defect, while all other users can

Developers should not be able to close defects, so we can create a workflow rule that blocks this transition.

We recommend you create the rule from the Workflow tab for the entity. This way, the From and To phases for the transition are already entered for you. Select the transition between Proposed Closed and Closed, and add a rule using the Rules panel.

Condition: If the Current User Role includes Team Member...

Action: Block transition from Proposed Closed to Closed.

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## Allow testers to open defects on some releases but not others

Testers work on different releases.

First, ask your space admin to make sure that the tester has create/edit permissions for defects. For details, see Assign roles and permissions.

Then we add an Alert User rule with a condition that lists the releases for which the tester cannot update defects.

If the condition in the rule evaluates to true, the rule alerts the user that the updates violate the specified condition and prevents all updates to the defect.

Action: Alert the user when creating, modifying or deleting a defect if the condition indicates a problem (meaning, the condition evaluates to true).

Condition: If the Current User Role includes Tester, and Release equals a forbidden release, the condition evaluates to true. The user is alerted and updates are prevented.

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See also:

- Design business rules

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