@mention user in Azure DevOps work item discussion

[RSSO93]

I'm building a flow which should end with a comment in the discussion field of an Azure DevOps work item tagging two people.
For now, I was trying with just one, and I can't get it to work: everytime it creates a hyperlink-looking text that doesn't mention the user - it's not bold and highlighted in grey and the user is also not receiving an e-mail notification.

I have looked through @jk10 (here) and @Phani 's (here) questions and @Expiscornovus 's answers and blog post to no avail. I believe @Magnus had the same issue but got no answer.

I have tried using both the user's e-mail or their display name. I have also tried getting the user ID with the Office 365 connector and using that (didn't work) and getting the user profile with the Azure DevOps connector to get that user's ID (both with e-mail - failed - and with the Office 365 ID output - ran in circles).

For my user ID I'm using my e-mail (does it make a difference? If I change it it stills posts as myself since it's my connection).

(Even though the screenshot has the Organization Name as empty I'm obviously testing it with it filled...)

Thank you for any tip you could spare!

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @RSSO93,

You can use a search for User Entitlements HTTP request for this:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/azure/devops/memberentitlementmanagement/user-entitlement...

Below is an example

This does require the usage of an Personal Access Token.

1. URI HTTP request

https://vsaex.dev.azure.com/@{variables('OrgName')}/_apis/userentitlements?api-version=7.1-preview.1

2. Filter Array matches a mail from a Get User Profile (v2) action profile

@equals(item()['user']['mailAddress'], outputs('Get_user_profile_(V2)')?['body/mail'])

3. POST HTTP request to update work item which uses the id and the displayname of the first matching user.

{"text": "<div><a href=\"#\" data-vss-mention=\"version:2.0,@{first(body('Filter_Array'))['id']}\">@@{first(body('Filter_Array'))['user']['displayName']}</a>&nbsp; Test Comment with mention with user id lookup in User Entitlements</div>"}

Test result

[RSSO93]

Thank you for taking the time! However in the very first step I got a roadblock: "The user is not authorized to access this resource.".

Is there any other way to do it?

[Expiscornovus]

Hi @RSSO93,

Did you create a Personal Access Token in Azure DevOps? And what access scopes did you assign to this token?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/accounts/use-personal-access-tokens-to-...

Also make sure you select the Basic option in the Authentication dropdown of your HTTP action and use the Organisation name and your access token in the Username and password fields.

[RSSO93]

Hello @Expiscornovus and thank you very much for your help.

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@Expiscornovus wrote:

Did you create a Personal Access Token in Azure DevOps? And what access scopes did you assign to this token?

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I did not because I couldn't get over the fact that I wasn't able to get the guid to do this in an easier way, so I got it using a few comments also from you on other posts.

Here's how: 

1. Created a work item with the people I wanted to mention (they are always the same) in "Person" fields

2. Sent a "GET" HTTP Request (Azure DevOps) asking for the revisions

https://dev.azure.com/organization/project/_apis/wit/workItems/workitem#/revisions?api-version=6.0 

3. On the last revision the users were identified, and I could take out their Azure DevOps guid ("id")

4. Sent a "POST" HTTP Request (Azure DevOps) where the body was a variation of what you wrote before and in other posts. I don't exactly understand what the @ person's name is supposed to do because it always uses the Display Name, but if I didn't write anything it didn't work:

{"text": "<div><a href=\"#\" data-vss-mention=\"version:2.0,guid 1\">@Person 1's name</a>&nbsp; <a href=\"#\" data-vss-mention=\"version:2.0,guid-2\">@Person 2's name</a>&nbsp; Comment</div>"}

I don't know what the formatting conventions are in this forum but for lay people like me, I put what we should change in Arial Black 😊