Question
I'm using the Changes - Previous value or Changes - New value attribute from the Updates history dataset in an Explore formula. I inserted the ticket field values that I see in the UI, but my report doesn't return any results. Why not, and how do I find the correct values to use in the formula instead?
Answer
The Changes - Previous value and Changes - New value attributes require that you use the API value of a field, not the value you see in the UI.
To find the API value of a field
- Find the ID of the ticket field whose values you want to report on.
- Plug the ID into a URL to return a JSON file about that ticket field.
- Review the JSON file to find the field values you need to use with the Changes - Previous value and Changes - New value attributes.
For example, let’s say you have a ticket field called Type of Support
, with possible values of Beginner Support
, Intermediate
Support
, and Advanced Support
. You want to report on the Advanced Support
value.
Find the ID of the ticket field
- In Admin Center, click the Objects and rules icon () in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Fields.
- In the Field ID column, find the ID number of the ticket field you want to report on, in this example,
Type of Support
. Make a note of this number, which you’ll need in the following step.
Plug the ID into a URL
- In your web browser, visit the following URL, replacing <subdomain> with the name of your Zendesk subdomain and <ticket field ID> with the ID you noted previously.
subdomain.zendesk.com/api/v2/ticket_fields/<ticket field ID>
Review the JSON file to find the field values
In the example above, you would see something like the following:
- “id”: 360048826392,
- “name”: “Advanced Support”,
- “raw_name”: “Advanced”,
- “value”: “advanced_support”,
- “default”: false
The value to use in a formula with the Changes - Previous value or Changes - New value attribute is “advanced_support”.
If you were to use Advanced Support
instead, the formula would technically be valid, but it wouldn’t return any results.
For more information, see these articles: