Skip to main content

Creating Your First Rule

This guide walks you through creating a rule from start to finish. You'll learn each step in the configuration process and understand what each option does.

tip

By the end, you'll have a working rule and the knowledge to create more sophisticated rules on your own.

Before You Start​

Prerequisites:

  • The Administer spaces permission in your Jira project (in company-managed projects, Jira admin rights)
  • The fields you want to work with already on the project's Jira screens
info

New to Formify?

The Rule Creation Process​

Rules belong to a field. You start from the field, pick the kind of rule, and fill in one form:

  1. Select the screen - the Create Issue, Issue View or Transition tab
  2. Select the field - the field the rule will affect
  3. Open a tab and add a rule - the tab sets the kind of rule: Visibility, Options, Required, Value, Read-only, Description, Name or Validation
  4. Choose the work types - which work types the rule applies to
  5. Choose the action - one of the tab's actions, such as Show field or Hide field, and its settings
  6. Add conditions - when the action applies
  7. Create the rule and test it

Each rule has one action on one field. To make a field hidden in some cases and required in others, create one rule on its Visibility tab and another on its Required tab.

Let's walk through each step with a practical example.

Example: Show Root Cause for High-Priority Bugs​

info

Business scenario: Your team wants to capture root cause analysis for high-priority bugs, but this field clutters the form for routine bugs. You want Root Cause to appear only when Priority is High or Critical.

Goal: Show the "Root Cause" field only when creating Bug issues with Priority = High or Critical.

Approach: A rule's action applies only while its conditions are met, and a field on the screen is visible otherwise. So the rule hides Root Cause whenever Priority is neither High nor Critical.

Step-by-Step Rule Configuration​

  1. Select the Screen​

    First, choose where the rule should apply.

    1. Open Space settings → Apps → Dynamic Screen Rules in your project
    2. Select the tab for the screen you want: Create Issue, Issue View or Transition

    For our example: Select Create Issue (we want the rule to apply when creating work items).

    info

    Why this screen? We want to control field visibility while the work item is being created, so fields appear as users make selections. A rule runs only on the screen it was created for.

  2. Select the Field​

    The tab lists the fields on the project's screens, with their type and how many rules each has.

    1. Find the field, using the search box or the filters if the list is long
    2. Select the field's name (or Configure rules in its ⋯ menu)

    For our example: Select Root Cause.

    info

    Formify works with fields that are already on the screen; it doesn't add fields to screens. Add fields through Jira's own screen configuration first.

    warning

    Can't find your field? Check that it's on the screen for this view in Jira's screen configuration. Some field types aren't listed because Jira doesn't let apps change them; see Supported Field Types.

  3. Open a Tab and Select + Add Rule​

    The field's page has one tab per kind of rule: Visibility, Options, Required, Value, Read-only, Description, Name and Validation. Which tabs you see depends on the screen and the field type.

    1. Select the tab for the kind of rule you want
    2. Select + Add Rule

    For our example: Select Visibility, then + Add Rule. The Add Field Visibility Rule form opens.

  4. Choose the Work Types​

    Scope shows the project (fixed) and Work type, which sets the work types the rule applies to.

    1. Open Work type
    2. Select one or more work types; at least one is required

    For our example: Select Bug.

    Why scope matters: Rules can target specific work types without affecting others. Our Root Cause field is only relevant for Bugs, not Stories or Tasks, so we limit the scope to Bug.

    tip

    Several work types: You can select several work types if the rule should apply to all of them (for example Bug and Incident).

  5. Choose the Action​

    Action shows the actions of the tab you opened. On Visibility they are Show field and Hide field.

    For our example: Select Hide field.

    info

    Show field only shows. It never hides a field when its conditions aren't met, because a field on the screen is visible by default. Use Show field to bring back a field that another rule hides. To show a field only in some cases, use Hide field with the opposite conditions, as in this example.

    Other tabs ask for more:

    • Value: the value to set, typed or as a Smart Value
    • Name and Description: the new label or help text
    • Options: which options to show or hide
    • Validation: the validation type, its limits and the error message

    Hide field needs nothing beyond the conditions.

  6. Add Conditions​

    Conditions, under When (Conditions), set when the action applies.

    1. Select Add Condition
    2. Under Condition type, select Field value, User group, User role, User permission or Issue status (Issue View and Transition only)
    3. Fill in the condition and select Save

    For our example - a Field value condition:

    1. Condition type: Field value
    2. Field: Priority
    3. Condition: not equals
    4. Value: High

    Add a second condition for Critical priority:

    1. Select Add Condition again
    2. Condition type: Field value
    3. Field: Priority, Condition: not equals, Value: Critical
    4. Keep the default AND between the two conditions

    Result: The rule applies when Priority is neither High nor Critical, and hides Root Cause.

    info

    A rule's conditions are joined by AND by default. Here AND is what you want: the rule applies only when both conditions are met, that is when Priority isn't High and isn't Critical. With OR, every work item would meet one of the two conditions, so Root Cause would always be hidden. The choice covers all of the rule's conditions: one rule can't mix AND and OR.

    tip

    No conditions? If you don't add conditions, the rule applies to every work item of the selected work types (all Bugs in our example). This is useful for rules that should always apply to certain work types.

  7. Review Your Configuration​

    Before creating the rule, check the form:

    • Field: Root Cause (the field whose page you're on)
    • Screen: Create Issue
    • Work type: Bug
    • Action: Hide field
    • Conditions: Priority not equals High AND Priority not equals Critical

    Mental check:

    • Does this match your business requirement?
    • Will it apply in the right situations?
    • Are there edge cases you're missing?

  8. Create the Rule​

    1. Select Create Rule
    2. The rule is created, enabled, and shown as a card on the Visibility tab

    The card shows the rule's name, the work types under Scope and one IF line per condition. Syncing appears on the card while the rule is saved to Jira. When it disappears, test the rule on the form: the card doesn't show an error if saving to Jira failed.

    info

    Rule naming: Formify builds the name from the rule's settings, like "Hide root Cause when Priority not equals High and Priority not equals Critical". You don't type the name and can't edit it; it changes when you edit the rule. The work types appear on the card, not in the name.

  9. Test Your Rule​

    Now verify the rule works as expected.

    Testing checklist:

    1. Open the Create dialog - Select Create in Jira's top navigation
    2. Select the work type in scope - Select Bug
    3. Observe initial state - The Root Cause field should be hidden (Priority is empty or a lower priority, so the rule's conditions are met)
    4. Trigger the condition - Select Priority = High
    5. Verify the action - The Root Cause field should appear
    6. Test the other condition - Change Priority to Critical - The Root Cause field should remain visible
    7. Test non-matching condition - Change Priority to Low or Medium - The Root Cause field should disappear
    8. Test a different work type - Change the work type to Story or Task - The rule is scoped to Bug only, so it doesn't apply: if Root Cause is on that work type's screen, it shows whatever the priority
    tip

    Rule working correctly? Congratulations! You've created your first rule. The form now adapts to user input, showing the Root Cause field only when relevant.

What You've Learned​

tip

Congratulations! You now have the foundational knowledge to create any rule in Formify.

You now know how to navigate configuration, pick a field and the kind of rule, set the work types, choose an action, add conditions, and test your rules. This foundational process is the same whether you're creating simple visibility rules or complex multi-condition rules with advanced actions.

Next Steps​

Continue your learning journey:

  • Explore All Actions - Guide to every action: show/hide, required, read-only, set value, field name, description and limit options
  • Master Conditions - Deep dive into field-based, context-based, and user-based conditions
  • Field Validations - Enforce data quality with 15 validation types across presence, date, number, and text categories
  • Smart Values - Compute dates, copy values from other fields and fill in the current user automatically
  • Use Cases & Examples - Ready-to-use configurations for common scenarios
  • Managing Rules - Enable, disable, edit, delete, and organize your rules