Using a specific link type for swimlanes

Hello Benjamin,
Stan from YouTrack Support here, I'll be glad to assist you! 

Currently, only direct subtasks are added to a swimlane that is based on an issue. If you have Epic → parent for → User Story → parent for → Task, and define swimlanes based on the Epic issues, only the User Story issues will be added to this swimlane directly. You can define the lanes based on the User Story issues, then the Task issues will be added to swimlane. It's not possible to have multi-level swimlanes at this time. We have a related feature request in our public tracker. Please feel free to vote for this issue. This helps us gauge how much impact this feature will have on our customer base.
At the same time, the card's subtasks, though not added to the swimlane directly, are shown on the card itself. If you define the lanes based on Epic issues, you'll see the cards of User Stories with Tasks displayed as subtasks of the stories. 
The screenshot below is an example with an XL board size; the view may differ depending on the size.

I can only create “string” fields so I tried to put epics names on tasks with automation

Can you elaborate on this, please? Why can't you create other field types? It is true that you can't use string fields as swimlanes, but you can use state, enum, user, ownedField, version, or build type. 

Don't hesitate to reach out anytime if you have any questions or need assistance. Have a great day! 

I can only create “string” fields so I tried to put epics names on tasks with automation

I don't know why but the custom field type input was not showing :/ 
( Seems better now ) 

The thing is, even with that, I don't have an “Issue” type so I can set an Issue here

The example on the screenshot doesn't works because it shows the US status and not the Tasks status.

Plus I also discovered that when using issues as swimlanes, the Epic should have a sprint. But Epics are not really issue and therefore, should not have Epics. 

So yeah, you have a feature requests opened for 4 years now, but with no ETA. :/ 

How can I hope to be able to do it one day ? 
 

Hello Benjamin,

Our roadmap is driven by the company vision, internal requirements, and analysis of external feedback. An existing feature request doesn't guarantee implementation, and we do not set due dates or commit to specific releases. Please feel free to check the detailed information on how we process different types of issues in our Knowledge Base at https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/articles/SUPPORT-A-2282/How-we-process-issues-in-YouTrack. 

It's possible to define swimlanes by the values in an enum-type field. You can create a custom field, let's name it ‘Epic for Agile’ in this example, that'll store the names of the Epics and set the swimlanes based on that field's values. To propagate the name of the Epic to the Task's ‘Epic for Agile’ field, you can utilize our Workflows. Below is an example of a Workflow that checks the parent chain, finds the issue of Epic type, and puts the title of the Epic issue in the corresponding custom field. You can adjust the workflow to your use case. Please see our Workflows documentation at https://www.jetbrains.com/help/youtrack/devportal/YouTrack-Api-Documentation.html 

  guard: (ctx) => ctx.issue.isReported && ctx.issue.fields.Type && ctx.issue.fields.Type.name === 'Task',
  action: (ctx) => {
    const findEpic = (issue) => {
      if (!issue.links['subtask of'] || !issue.links['subtask of'].isNotEmpty()) return null;
      const parent = issue.links['subtask of'].first();
      if (parent.fields.Type && parent.fields.Type.name === 'Epic') return parent;
      return findEpic(parent);
    };
    const epic = findEpic(ctx.issue);
    const field = ctx.issue.project.findFieldByName('Epic for Agile');
    if (!field) return;
    if (!epic || !epic.summary) {
      ctx.issue.fields['Epic for Agile'] = null;
      return;
    }
    const value = field.findValueByName(epic.summary) || field.createValue(epic.summary);
    ctx.issue.fields['Epic for Agile'] = value;
  },

Please feel free to contact us if any questions arise. Have a great day! 

Hi,

Thanks for the help.
Just tried that ( I had issues because I needed to trim the summary ), but I still have an issue.
Using an enum means that all my boards show all swimlanes even if they don't contains any issues. :/ 

Is it possible to hide simlanes based on enum field if it doesn't contains any issue ? 

Hi! 

At the moment, there's no option to hide or collapse empty swimlanes automatically, I'm afraid. You can only collapse each swimlane manually. However, we do have a related feature request: JT-35814 – options to hide or collapse empty swimlanes. Please feel free to vote for it.