Filter Tasks by Properties Frontmatter

[Foffo96]

⚠️ Please check that this feature request hasn't been suggested before.

• I searched previous Ideas in Discussions didn't find any similar feature requests.
• I searched previous Issues didn't find any similar feature requests.
• I am only requesting a single feature. Multiple changes should be split into individual requests, with links between them.
• I believe my requested feature will be generally applicable to other users, not just me: it is not uniquely tied to my personal workflow.

🔖 Feature description

It will be useful to filter tasks from the file properties frontmatter by {key} and {value}.

✔️ Solution

In my case, i’m trying to use this plugin to handle tasks coming from work meetings.
Since I have multiple work projects, it would be useful to filter them with info from the file properties frontmatter.

For example
‘ ‘ ‘tasks
Properties.{key} includes {value}
‘ ‘ ‘
Or

‘ ‘ ‘tasks
Filter by function task.file.properties.{key} = {value}
‘ ‘ ‘

I know that a workaround is to insert a tag in the task description like follows, but that would mean to write it for every task in that particular meeting and to have less readable tasks.

• #AI #Project1 This is a task coming from a meeting for Project1

‘ ‘ ‘tasks
Description includes Project1
‘ ‘ ‘

❓ Alternatives

No response

📝 Additional Context

Added by @claremacrae:

See #2480 (comment) below for remaining steps for the implementation.

[claremacrae]

Hi, thanks for using Tasks.

Indeed, this would be useful.

Searching the docs for 'Frontmatter' shows this:

https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/Getting+Started/Tags#Using+tags+in+YAML%2C+Frontmatter+or+file+Properties

So feel free to upvote #232 and I'll close this as a duplicate.

[claremacrae]

I'm reopening this so that I can track its progress - which cannot be done in Discussions.

[claremacrae]

Remaining actions for first release

• Add support for task.file.frontmatter
• Standardise TasksFile.frontmatter.tags
  • Add # prefix
  • Remove duplicate values
  • Remove null values - see parseFrontMatterStringArray()
• Add support for task.file.hasProperty('property name')
• Add support for task.file.property('property name')
• Add support for task.file.propertyAsDate('property name')
• Ensure that Tasks updates its cache when frontmatter is edited
  • For files containing tasks
• Address the TODO in this code section to ensure always correct handling of frontmatter when a file is renamed.
  • Or add debug logging
• Decide what to do with any null values in frontmatter values and arrays - on non-tags list properties
  • Probably convert [null] to []
  • Test with array of numbers
  • If fixing it is less work than documenting working around the main!
• Decide whether any tag global filter should be removed from lists of tags - YES
• Review and remove all the TODO comments in code for this facility

Testing

• Test filter by function query.file.hasProperty('property name')
• Test filter by function query.file.property('property name')
• Test with JSON frontmatter

Documentation

• Document filter by function task.file.hasProperty()
• Document filter by function task.file.property()
• Document level of support for nested properties
• How to put a default due date as a property in a file, for tasks that don't have due dates
• Tasks in Kanban plugin boards
• Tasks not in Kanban plugin boards

Example for documentation

group by function \
    '`[' + task.file.property('tags').join('').split('/')[1] + ']`' + \
    ' [[' + task.file.filenameWithoutExtension + ']]'

Actions for later releases

• Provide access to all tags in a file (body and frontmatter)
• Remove any tag global filter from list of all tags in the file
• Standardise aliases
• Add support for query.file.hasProperty('property name) and query.file.property('property name)
  • Query constructor needs ability to take TasksFile, not just path
• Show how to use a multi-line property in the query file to place common text in any Tasks queries in the file
  • Note that Mustache does not support logic, so we cannot call functions inside placeholders like {{query.file....}}

Searching

• Implement property-name includes/does not include etc - to be able to do searches without knowing JavaScript
  • Need to figure out to supply property names that have spaces in.

[claremacrae]

Hi, we have an implementation of this that is very close to release - I am hoping it will go out this coming weekend....

It would really, really help us out if people here could test it out please.

It's been a lot of work to implement this and get it to a usable state. Testing like this is a fantastic way for you to contribute back to the plugin and help out both the developers and other users, please....

I am specifically looking for:

1. Comments if any particular bits of the documentation are unclear
2. Real-world examples of use to add to the documentation.

To try it out:

1. Read the documentation.
   • Read the warning about the known bug that will be fixed before release.
2. Download a test build, from here
   • The Tasks-Demo... link is a test vault
   • Or you can expand dist-verified and overwrite the Tasks plugin installation in your vault.

Thanks to @ilandikov for help on this feature.

[claremacrae]

Please record any feedback or examples in this ticket. Thank you!

[claremacrae]

I've shared the above post in #232, where we have received comments from multiple people in the past...

[ilandikov]

@claremacrae couple of comments after reading the docs. I'm nitpicking here...

• Note the [Quote!] at the start of the quote. I don't think it should be there.
• I think front matter is spelled in 2 words. But in any case, I think we should not be talking about front matter at all. I suggest changing In the Tasks documentation, we refer to these as Frontmatter Properties, to distinguish them from Task and Query properties. to In the Tasks documentation, we refer to these as File Properties, to distinguish them from Task and Query properties.. (I replaced Frontmatter to File)
• The # prefix is added to all tag values in frontmatter -> The # prefix is added to all tag values in the output
• Tasks reads both YAML and [JSON](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Properties#JSON+Properties) properties. -> Tasks reads both YAML and [JSON](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Properties#JSON+Properties) formats. (properties -> formats)
• Are you sure there is space after !: filter by function ! task.file.property('tags').includes('#notasks')? (There is another line like that later)

[claremacrae]

Thanks!

[claremacrae]

• Note the [Quote!] at the start of the quote. I don't think it should be there.

Done.

• I think front matter is spelled in 2 words. But in any case, I think we should not be talking about front matter at all. I suggest changing In the Tasks documentation, we refer to these as Frontmatter Properties, to distinguish them from Task and Query properties. to In the Tasks documentation, we refer to these as File Properties, to distinguish them from Task and Query properties.. (I replaced Frontmatter to File)

I should have explained earlier - my concern about calling them File Properties is how to distinguish them from all the existing File Properties:

I feel that using 'File Properties' for two different types of thing is potentially rather confusing.

Also, in future we will likely provide access to the OS' file creation date and modification date, and some users store that kind of data in front-matter too... So that's another thing that could be confusing if this new feature uses 'File Properties'.

I initially used 'Obsidian Properties' but felt it was unclear or unspecific...

• The # prefix is added to all tag values in frontmatter -> The # prefix is added to all tag values in the output

I wasn't sure that output was clear, so went for:

• The # prefix is added to all tag values returned by this function.

• Tasks reads both YAML and [JSON](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Properties#JSON+Properties) properties. -> Tasks reads both YAML and [JSON](https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Properties#JSON+Properties) formats. (properties -> formats)

Done

• Are you sure there is space after !: filter by function ! task.file.property('tags').includes('#notasks')? (There is another line like that later)

Yes, it definitely works, and I thought that the space character might make the ! stand out a bit more clearly....

[claremacrae]

I opted for "Obsidian Properties" in the end, having found some articles online calling them that:

• An Introduction to Obsidian Properties - Obsidian Rocks
• Obsidian "properties" to help sort your stuff - Mickey Mellen

[claremacrae]

This has just been released in Tasks 7.7.0.

For details and examples, see the Obsidian Properties documentation page.

[ilandikov]

Awesome! =)