Common Field Mapping Types

Backbone Issue Sync supports a wide range of Jira fields that can be synchronized. For a lot of fields, there are multiple field mapping types supported. Here we're listing the most common ones and explain their behavior. For more specific ones, please refer to the respective field mapping reference.

Passthrough

This is the default mapping type if you want to synchronize two fields of the same field type with each other. In a passthrough mapping Backbone copies the field value from one issue to the other issue without changing the field value.

Example: You are mapping the field Summary in project A to Summary in project B. Summary is a text field in Jira and mapping two text fields is possible by default. In this case, Backbone will take the value of the Summary in project A and writes the same value to the Summary in project B.

Correlation

A correlation mapping type is often used for fields which provide different options to be selected. In this case you can define which options from project A should be mapped to the options in project B. The mapping for each option is determined by the order of the mapping in the correlation list.

Example: You are mapping the Priority fields in project A and project B. Since the priority options are different in each project, you are using the correlation mapping to define how each priority option in project A is mapped to its related option in project B. You define the following correlation list in the field mapping dialog:

In this case, priority High is mapped to P1, Medium to P2 and Low to P3. In case you have defined more options for one side, the remaining options will be ignored.

To Text

Another common mapping type is to convert a field's value into text. In this case you can map a field value of project A into a text field of project B. A few mapping types also provide a template where you can configure the format of the text value.

Example: You are mapping a user field like Assignee into a text field. By default, the user's name will be copied over into the text field, but you can provide a template to further define the format.

Custom

With the Backbone Public Java API we enable you to extend Backbone's synchronization mechanism by providing custom field mapping types. These field mapping types are prefixed by "Custom:" to identify them. In case you are not sure about the behavior of such a field mapping, please reach out to the developer of this field mapping type or the person who installed it on your Jira system, usually your Jira system administrator.

Example: You want to synchronize Xray test data and install Backbone's Xray Connector App. This app provides various custom field mapping types for custom fields from Xray. For instance, if you synchronize the Xray field Manual Test Steps you can use the field mapping "Custom: Xray Manual Test Steps Passthrough Mapping".