User observed NullPointerException while editing the transition name

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Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.

Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Summary:

When user is editing the transition name, the error "common.forms.ajax.servererror" is thrown in the UI. Here is the screenshot for more information. 


Environment :

8.13

Diagnosis:

  • When checking the har file, check the PUT endpoint that tries to make the modification of transition name:

    rest/workflowDesigner/latest/workflows/transitions
    • You should see that it always picks up sourceStepId as 1 and system checks for step with that particular ID in system for that workflow:
  • When checking the Jira logs, you should see the java.lang.NullPointerException as mentioned below:

    Uncaught exception thrown by REST service: null
    java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.edit.Workflow.isDuplicateStepTransitionName(Workflow.java:793)
    at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.edit.Workflow.isDuplicateTransitionName(Workflow.java:743)
    at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.edit.Workflow.isDuplicateTransitionName(Workflow.java:506)
    at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.edit.WorkflowTransitionsImpl.verifyTransitionCanBeUpdated(WorkflowTransitionsImpl.java:325)
    at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.edit.WorkflowTransitionsImpl.updateTransition(WorkflowTransitionsImpl.java:95)
    ... 3 filtered

Cause:

As the step with ID 1 is not found in the system, it fails with NullPointerException. 

Solution:

  • Export the workflow as xml.
  • Open it is up in text editor. 
  • Check for tag  <initial-actions> in the XML.

  • Notice what step ID is mentioned in 

    <unconditional-result old-status="null" status="open" step="10">
  • When status is open(which is create step), API checks for step ID 1 as next step. 
  • Take the back up of XML. Modify this step ID to 1 and also track corresponding <step> tag to modify its ID as well to step id="1"
  • Delete the existing workflow and import the modified one.
  • Here is an example of edit workflow for reference: 


    Example: How to locate it in workflow:


Last modified on Oct 20, 2021

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