Create Slack template

Navigate to the Template tab page on the ARN screen & click on the Create button.

Open

As shown in the below image, you are brought to the Create template page. Select Template type as Slack and add Template name. You select whether the template is Local or Global. Define ARN branding checkbox then use the existing content as it is or modify as needed. Click on Save.

Open

Edit Slack template

From the Templates tab, click on the relevant template name that you want to edit. Make necessary changes and save.

Local level templates can always be edited right away. However, whether a global template can be edited in the given project depends on where it was created. If it was created within the current project, then it can be edited otherwise it cannot be.

Template that can be edited

Template that you can edit will have editable pre-populated data in fields and the Save button at the left bottom of the screen.

Template that cannot be edited

If the template was not originally created within the current project, then it cannot be edited here. Save button will not be available in this case. And an additional message is displayed indicating the parent project for the template.

Delete an Slack template

An existing Slack template can be deleted by clicking on the delete icon from the list.

Local level templates can always be deleted right away. But whether a global template can be deleted in the given project depends on where it was created. If it was created within the current project, then it can be deleted otherwise it cannot be.

Template that can be deleted

Template that you can delete will have a Delete option in the rightmost column of the template list view as shown in the image above.

Template that cannot be deleted

If the template was not originally created within the current project, then it cannot be deleted here. Delete icon will not be available in this case.

Slack template fields

• Template name

  • This is for internal reference & doesn’t show up in the actual release emails.

• Level

  • Local or Global - Determines whether the email template is available to be used in other projects across Jira.

  • Slack templates on cross-project screen have this field disabled from editing & set to Cross-project by default.

• Empty check

  • If checked, the release email is not generated when none of the JQL sections return any Jira issues. e.g. Imagine if no issues have been tagged against given fix version & that version is mistakenly marked as released. If an ARN rule is executed (based on the version release trigger), the email action won’t generate the release email.

• ARN branding

  • If checked, following line is added to the ARN-generated emails at the bottom - ‘This email is generated by Automated release notes add-on for Jira.’

• Context

  • The actual release content is generated within the context section. More details are mentioned below.

Different blocks to design the Slack template

In this section won’t allow to type anything manually. All the content that one wants to create, has to be created only through the available options. For the Slack template, there are four content options as mentioned below -

Header

The only available attribute in the Header type content is Text. Here the user can insert plain text along with ARN variables. User can insert the variables by using the + Variables button.

Section

In this content option, it is possible to add either plain text or markdown. If the markdown option is selected, then the formatting options (Bold, Italic, Line break, Link) are available. Additionally, it is possible to add a button (with configurable button text & URL).

Context

This content type is exactly same as that of the section except for the button related configurations.

Divider

This is the simplest type of content available in the Slack template. With no attributes associated with it, when you click on + Divider it will simply insert the divider section without the need for any pop-up (since there are no additional attributes).

JQL section

This is replicated from other visual templates. Differences between the Usual JQL section & this one are listed below -

• When clicked on Edit, it shows three tabs and 1st tab will be called Section & it will be exactly the same as what we have in other templates. Only difference will be that the Title here will be plain text.

• Description will use the Context (Markdown/plaintext content as shown here).

• Fields tab will remain the same but whether we can use show as link, show as image/text configurations will determine whether those configurations are kept the same here.

• The layout tab has a single layout option that is similar to the Sequential layout in our usual templates. This will allow you a pattern creation using variables.

• The pattern created above will be repeated for all the Jira issues returned by the JQL.

• All types of content except Divider will offer the option to Edit & Delete when clicked.

Preview Slack template & use it in Slack

When creating or editing an Slack template, it can be previewed immediately. Just click on the Preview button, once desired changes have been done.

This will bring you to the preview page. Choose inputs based on JQLs used in the template & click Preview. This will generate the template preview. Click on Copy to Clipboard and paste the code into Slack.

You can use https://app.slack.com/block-kit-builder to see the exact preview of your template in Slack. Copy the code as mentioned above and paste in the Block kit builder. Refer below image -

Verify the release note content and make necessary changes if needed. Once the template is all set it's time to set Rules and Actions. https://amoeboids.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ARN/pages/69337103 are same as it is for any other template. In case of the action read for more details.