Creating separate select options for different projects

Often, it is useful for custom fields to have different values depending on the selected project and issue type combination. A good example would be for a select list custom field to show different sets of options for different projects.

We will look at how to achieve this with a custom field configuration scheme, also known as context. A custom field configuration scheme controls what data the custom field will display, such as the field's default value and select options. Just like all other configuration schemes in JIRA, the custom field configuration scheme is applied on a project and issue type context.

How to do it…

We need to create a new custom field configuration scheme in order to set up a new set of select list options:

1. Log in to JIRA as a JIRA administrator.
2. Navigate to Administration | Issues | Custom Fields.
3. Click the Configure link for the field configuration used by the project and issue type.
4. Click on the Add new context link.
5. Give a name for the new context.
6. Choose Issue Types and Projects that the new context will be applied to, and click on Add.
7. Click the Edit Options link for the new context.
8. Add new options and click on Done when finished, as shown in the following screenshot:
   

   Tip

   Project specific schemes will override the default scheme.

How it works…

When you are creating or editing an issue, JIRA will look up custom field configuration schemes that are applicable to the current project and issue type selection. The scheme with the most specific project/issue type context will be selected (or default scheme will be selected if none is found), and its configurations will be applied for the custom field.

Note that you can only create one context per project. You cannot have different issue type contexts within the same project.

There's more…

As mentioned earlier, you can also set different default values with custom field configuration schemes, so you can have fields pre-filled based on different project and issue type combinations.