Two questions before I’m able to tackle that query, what is the actual name of your Author notes, is it “King, Stephen” (or “Stephen King”)? And how do you list multiple authors now in a Book note?
You are amazing! You both are!! Just changing the WHERE to
WHERE meta(Author).display = this.Alias
was enough to make it work.
WHERE contains(meta(Author).display, this.Alias)
also seems to work. However this doesn’t work for books with multiple authors. (see comment below)
1 Like
So, the author notes are “King, Stephen”.
And books with multiple authors seem to be an issue with the above solution. The creator of the frontmatter links plugin (Multiple links in one line? · Issue #22 · Trikzon/obsidian-frontmatter-links · GitHub) told me to do multiple authors like this:
Author: ["[[King, Stephen|Stephen King]]", "[[Toliken, J.R.R.|J.R.R. Tolkien]]"]
or
Author:
- "[[King, Stephen|Stephen King]]"
- "[[Toliken, J.R.R.|J.R.R. Tolkien]]"
but this doesn’t seem to work with the solution from @justdoitcc as cool as it is.
Frippin joy.
WHERE meta(Author).display = this.Alias
I got sooooooooo close to that several times but kept on missing the sweet spot. Brilliant answers.
2 Likes
Indeed!! I now just need to find a way for this to work if there are multiple authors… But thanks all around!!
1 Like
But Dataview can interpret a value as a link, yes? 
Links in YAML Frontmatter
If you reference a link in frontmatter, you need to quote it, as so:key: "[[Link]]". This is default Obsidian-supported behaviour. Unquoted links lead to invalid YAML frontmatter that cannot be parsed.
parent: "[[parentPage]]"Please be aware that this is only a link for dataview, but not for Obsidian anymore - that means it won’t show up in the outgoing links, won’t be displayed on graph view and won’t be updated on i.e. a rename.
I think that’s what the plugin I linked does: it links links formatted like that in the usual way. I’ not sure though.
1 Like
This is confusing, but what you say here is a key point. Dataview can interpret it as links.
Also the last paragraph of your quote is crucial: when renaming notes these fields are not updated, nor show up in graph view or as backlinks.
It seems like that this Frontmatter links plugin tries to address these issues. I’ve not used it and can’t vouch for its correctness.
All my other comments are done without considering any effects that plugin might infere.
1 Like
The link thing is definitely a grey and fuzzy issue. Think Datacore is going to be quite a shakeup, given what the roadmap says.
God helg 
So I made myself some books, which are enclosed in the next collapsed section.
My library of books
I made five books, with the content under the file name header:
King of Obsidian
---
Author: "[[King, Stephen|Stephen King]]"
Year: 2023
---
Hobbit King
---
Author: ["[[King, Stephen|Stephen King]]","[[Tolkien, J.R.R|J.R.R. Tolkien]]"]
Year: 2024
---
Hobbit King II
---
Author:
- "[[King, Stephen|Stephen King]]"
- "[[Tolkien, J.R.R|J.R.R. Tolkien]]"
Year: 2024
---
King of the Folders
---
Author:
- "[[King, Stephen|Stephen King]]"
Year: 2025
---
No Alias King
---
Author:
- "[[King, Stephen]]"
Year: 2025
---
Note how the different books, uses slight variations of how to present the authors, with the final book not presenting an alias for the author.
The one and only Stephen King
King, Stephen
---
Alias: Stephen King
---
### Using FLATTEN and ECONTAINS on alias
```dataview
TABLE Author, Year, this.alias, meta(OneAuthor).path, meta(OneAuthor).display
FLATTEN Author as OneAuthor
WHERE file.folder = this.file.folder
WHERE econtains(meta(OneAuthor).display, this.alias)
```
### Using FILTER on alias
```dataview
TABLE Author, Year, this.alias
WHERE file.folder = this.file.folder
WHERE Author AND filter(Author, (a) => meta(a).display = this.alias)
```
### Using FLATTEN and ECONTAINS on file path
```dataview
TABLE Author, meta(OneAuthor).path
FLATTEN Author as OneAuthor
WHERE file.folder = this.file.folder
WHERE Author AND econtains(meta(OneAuthor).path, this.file.path)
```
### Using FILTER on file path
```dataview
TABLE Author, Year
WHERE file.folder = this.file.folder
WHERE Author AND filter(Author, (a) => meta(a).path = this.file.path)
```
In the previous section, I’ve included four queries, which outputs the following:
The scripts uses either a combination of FLATTEN and econtains or just a filter on the entire Author field. The two first matches against the meta( ... ).display part, aka the aliased version, and the last two matches against the actual file path to the note, aka the meta( ... ).path part.
The two last ones are the only one showing the book “No Alias King”, since that doesn’t use an aliased link as the Author. A similar case could be if you type the wrong alias, so I would recommend using the file path version, as it’s a given where the file path is, but you don’t really know which alias someone wants to use for an author. In addition, that would also allow for multiple pseudonyms (or aliases) to be used for any author.
So there you have some script alternatives, which should be adaptable to your case, and ready for use. As the files and query here are presented as something ready to run as long as you place all files in the same folder, you need to change the first WHERE clause of the scripts, to match your settings. (Or exchange it with a FROM (which needs to be before any FLATTEN lines)
Adding
FLATTEN Author as OneAuthor
WHERE Author AND econtains(meta(OneAuthor).path, this.file.path)
works! So I marked it as the solution, just another question, none of your file.folder work, though I think they’re not necessary? But what were they meant to do?
Thanks a bunch!
They were used to make my code a self contained example. It limits the query to only use files in the current folder.
So they’re not necessary in your case, that’s correct.
Ah OK, that makes sense 
Thank you!!
Just in case anyone’s interested, I’ve now implemented that into my crazy query:
TABLE without id
("![](" + Cover + ")") AS "Cover",
P_BookByAuthor + P_MediumIcon + P_FavoriteIcon AS "Title",
Q_YearRating + Q_PagesHours + " || " + Q_FLAG AS "Time and Place",
R_Dates AS "Dates",
"(" + S_ReadingTime + " || " + S_ReadingSpeed + ")" AS "Reading Time"
FROM "Book Log" OR "Y Movies and Games" OR "0 Currently Reading" OR "Set Aside"
FLATTEN {
"Book": Author,
"Audiobook": Author,
"Podcast": Author,
"eBook": Author,
"AcademicBook": Author,
"AcademicArticle": Author,
"GraphicNovel": Author,
"Movie": Director,
"TV": Director,
"Game": Director
}[Medium] AS OneAuthor
WHERE econtains(meta(OneAuthor).path, this.file.path)
SORT DateFinished asc
FLATTEN link(file.link, Alias) + " by " + OneAuthor AS P_BookByAuthor
FLATTEN choice(contains(tags, "Favorite"), "💛", "") AS P_FavoriteIcon
FLATTEN {
"Book": " 📖 ",
"Audiobook": " 🎧 ",
"Podcast": " 📻 ",
"eBook": " 📃 ",
"AcademicBook": " 📚🎓 ",
"AcademicArticle": " 📰 ",
"GraphicNovel": " 💬 ",
"Movie": " 🎞️ ",
"TV": " 📺 ",
"Game": " 🎮 "
}[Medium] AS P_MediumIcon
FLATTEN DateStarted + " — " + DateFinished AS R_Dates
FLATTEN choice(((DateFinished - DateStarted).days = 1), "1 day", choice((DateFinished != DateStarted), (DateFinished - DateStarted).days + " days", "0 days" )) AS S_ReadingTime
FLATTEN {
"Book": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), Length, (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 1) + " p/d",
"Audiobook": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), Length, (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 2) + " h/d",
"Podcast": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), Length, (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 2)+ " h/d",
"eBook": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), Length, (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 1) + " p/d",
"GraphicNovel": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), Length, (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 1) + " p/d",
"AcademicBook": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), Length, (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 1) + " p/d",
"AcademicArticle": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), Length, (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 1) + " p/d",
"Movie": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), round((Length/60), 1), (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 1) + " h/d",
"TV": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), round((Length/60), 1), (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 1) + " h/d",
"Game": round(choice((DateFinished = DateStarted), round((Length/60), 1), (Length / (DateFinished - DateStarted).days)), 1) + " h/d"
}[Medium] AS S_ReadingSpeed
FLATTEN Year + " || " + " ⭐ " + Rating + " || " AS Q_YearRating
FLATTEN {
"Book": Length + " p",
"Audiobook": Length + " h",
"Podcast": Length + " h",
"eBook": Length + " p",
"GraphicNovel": Length + " p",
"AcademicBook": Length + " p",
"AcademicArticle": Length + " p",
"Movie": round((Length/60), 1) + " h",
"TV": round((Length/60), 1) + " h",
"Game": round((Length/60), 1) + " h"
}[Medium] AS Q_PagesHours
FLATTEN join(map(split(Country, ", "), (c) => {
AD: "🇦🇩",
AE: "🇦🇪",
AF: "🇦🇫",
AG: "🇦🇬",
AI: "🇦🇮",
AL: "🇦🇱",
AM: "🇦🇲",
AO: "🇦🇴",
AQ: "🇦🇶",
AR: "🇦🇷",
AS: "🇦🇸",
AT: "🇦🇹",
AU: "🇦🇺",
AW: "🇦🇼",
AX: "🇦🇽",
AZ: "🇦🇿",
BA: "🇧🇦",
BB: "🇧🇧",
BD: "🇧🇩",
BE: "🇧🇪",
BF: "🇧🇫",
BG: "🇧🇬",
BH: "🇧🇭",
BI: "🇧🇮",
BJ: "🇧🇯",
BL: "🇧🇱",
BM: "🇧🇲",
BN: "🇧🇳",
BO: "🇧🇴",
BQ: "🇧🇶",
BR: "🇧🇷",
BS: "🇧🇸",
BT: "🇧🇹",
BV: "🇧🇻",
BW: "🇧🇼",
BY: "🇧🇾",
BZ: "🇧🇿",
CA: "🇨🇦",
CC: "🇨🇨",
CD: "🇨🇩",
CF: "🇨🇫",
CG: "🇨🇬",
CH: "🇨🇭",
CI: "🇨🇮",
CK: "🇨🇰",
CL: "🇨🇱",
CM: "🇨🇲",
CN: "🇨🇳",
CO: "🇨🇴",
CR: "🇨🇷",
CU: "🇨🇺",
CV: "🇨🇻",
CW: "🇨🇼",
CX: "🇨🇽",
CY: "🇨🇾",
CYMRU: "🏴",
CZ: "🇨🇿",
DE: "🇩🇪",
DJ: "🇩🇯",
DK: "🇩🇰",
DM: "🇩🇲",
DO: "🇩🇴",
DZ: "🇩🇿",
EC: "🇪🇨",
EE: "🇪🇪",
EG: "🇪🇬",
EH: "🇪🇭",
ENG: "🏴",
ER: "🇪🇷",
ES: "🇪🇸",
ET: "🇪🇹",
FI: "🇫🇮",
FJ: "🇫🇯",
FK: "🇫🇰",
FM: "🇫🇲",
FO: "🇫🇴",
FR: "🇫🇷",
GA: "🇬🇦",
GB: "🇬🇧",
GD: "🇬🇩",
GE: "🇬🇪",
GF: "🇬🇫",
GG: "🇬🇬",
GH: "🇬🇭",
GI: "🇬🇮",
GL: "🇬🇱",
GM: "🇬🇲",
GN: "🇬🇳",
GP: "🇬🇵",
GQ: "🇬🇶",
GR: "🇬🇷",
GS: "🇬🇸",
GT: "🇬🇹",
GU: "🇬🇺",
GW: "🇬🇼",
GY: "🇬🇾",
HK: "🇭🇰",
HM: "🇭🇲",
HN: "🇭🇳",
HR: "🇭🇷",
HT: "🇭🇹",
HU: "🇭🇺",
ID: "🇮🇩",
IE: "🇮🇪",
IL: "🇮🇱",
IM: "🇮🇲",
IN: "🇮🇳",
IO: "🇮🇴",
IQ: "🇮🇶",
IR: "🇮🇷",
IS: "🇮🇸",
IT: "🇮🇹",
JE: "🇯🇪",
JM: "🇯🇲",
JO: "🇯🇴",
JP: "🇯🇵",
KE: "🇰🇪",
KG: "🇰🇬",
KH: "🇰🇭",
KI: "🇰🇮",
KM: "🇰🇲",
KN: "🇰🇳",
KP: "🇰🇵",
KR: "🇰🇷",
KW: "🇰🇼",
KY: "🇰🇾",
KZ: "🇰🇿",
LA: "🇱🇦",
LB: "🇱🇧",
LC: "🇱🇨",
LI: "🇱🇮",
LK: "🇱🇰",
LR: "🇱🇷",
LS: "🇱🇸",
LT: "🇱🇹",
LU: "🇱🇺",
LV: "🇱🇻",
LY: "🇱🇾",
MA: "🇲🇦",
MC: "🇲🇨",
MD: "🇲🇩",
ME: "🇲🇪",
MF: "🇲🇫",
MG: "🇲🇬",
MH: "🇲🇭",
MK: "🇲🇰",
ML: "🇲🇱",
MM: "🇲🇲",
MN: "🇲🇳",
MO: "🇲🇴",
MP: "🇲🇵",
MQ: "🇲🇶",
MR: "🇲🇷",
MS: "🇲🇸",
MT: "🇲🇹",
MU: "🇲🇺",
MV: "🇲🇻",
MW: "🇲🇼",
MX: "🇲🇽",
MY: "🇲🇾",
MZ: "🇲🇿",
NA: "🇳🇦",
NC: "🇳🇨",
NE: "🇳🇪",
NF: "🇳🇫",
NG: "🇳🇬",
NI: "🇳🇮",
NL: "🇳🇱",
NO: "🇳🇴",
NP: "🇳🇵",
NR: "🇳🇷",
NU: "🇳🇺",
NZ: "🇳🇿",
OM: "🇴🇲",
PA: "🇵🇦",
PE: "🇵🇪",
PF: "🇵🇫",
PG: "🇵🇬",
PH: "🇵🇭",
PK: "🇵🇰",
PL: "🇵🇱",
PM: "🇵🇲",
PN: "🇵🇳",
PR: "🇵🇷",
PS: "🇵🇸",
PT: "🇵🇹",
PW: "🇵🇼",
PY: "🇵🇾",
QA: "🇶🇦",
RE: "🇷🇪",
RO: "🇷🇴",
RS: "🇷🇸",
RU: "🇷🇺",
RW: "🇷🇼",
SA: "🇸🇦",
SB: "🇸🇧",
SC: "🇸🇨",
SCOT: "🏴",
SD: "🇸🇩",
SE: "🇸🇪",
SG: "🇸🇬",
SH: "🇸🇭",
SI: "🇸🇮",
SJ: "🇸🇯",
SK: "🇸🇰",
SL: "🇸🇱",
SM: "🇸🇲",
SN: "🇸🇳",
SO: "🇸🇴",
SR: "🇸🇷",
SS: "🇸🇸",
ST: "🇸🇹",
SV: "🇸🇻",
SX: "🇸🇽",
SY: "🇸🇾",
SZ: "🇸🇿",
TC: "🇹🇨",
TD: "🇹🇩",
TF: "🇹🇫",
TG: "🇹🇬",
TH: "🇹🇭",
TJ: "🇹🇯",
TK: "🇹🇰",
TL: "🇹🇱",
TM: "🇹🇲",
TN: "🇹🇳",
TO: "🇹🇴",
TR: "🇹🇷",
TT: "🇹🇹",
TV: "🇹🇻",
TW: "🇹🇼",
TZ: "🇹🇿",
UA: "🇺🇦",
UG: "🇺🇬",
UM: "🇺🇲",
US: "🇺🇸",
UY: "🇺🇾",
UZ: "🇺🇿",
VA: "🇻🇦",
VC: "🇻🇨",
VE: "🇻🇪",
VG: "🇻🇬",
VI: "🇻🇮",
VN: "🇻🇳",
VU: "🇻🇺",
WF: "🇼🇫",
WS: "🇼🇸",
YE: "🇾🇪",
YT: "🇾🇹",
ZA: "🇿🇦",
ZM: "🇿🇲",
ZW: "🇿🇼"
}[c])) AS Q_FLAG
1 Like
That is indeed a crazy query. Could you also show how it actually looks, or the top of a result from it?
Did you get that other post regarding how the subtraction of dates could be a little off when the days exceeded over a month? Shouldn’t matter a whole lot, but I just thought I’d mention it.
I didn’t see that other post, but honestly the dates are just for estimates. Not doing science here haha
Combined with Cards, this is a sample of my gallery:
I just finished aliasing all authors and movie directors, so now all book/movie titles and all authors/directors are clickable.
3 Likes
Related to this, I tried doing the same aliasing to my two-letter country code, e.g. Country: US to Country: "[[United States of America|US]]"
so I can also have a list by country page.
However, your awesome solution to my earlier problem from a few months ago, now no longer works, meaning I broke my query again:
FLATTEN join(map(split(Country, ", "), (c) => {
BZ: "🇧🇿",
CA: "🇨🇦",
US: "🇺🇸"
}[c])) AS Q_FLAG
I can’t figure out how to implement this with the aliasing, since I now separate the Countries like this:
Country:
- "[[United States of America|US]]"
- "[[Canada|CA]]"
instead of like previously with a comma. The split command no longer works, since there’s no longer a split by commas, but removing the split thing doesn’t solve the problem.
Something like this also doesn’t work:
FLATTEN Country {
BZ: "🇧🇿",
CA: "🇨🇦",
US: "🇺🇸"
} AS Q_FLAG
Can this be fixed? Thanks!
Topic
Summary
- How to to transform a country code into a flag icon via a JavaScript object?
Test
Summary
- dataview: v0.5.55
Input
Summary
dictionary files:
Summary
- Location: “100_Project/02_dataview/Q25_MetaFunction/Q25_test_data02”
folder: 03_a_string
- filename :
dic_19620306
---
Date: 1962-03-06
Country: "[[Canada|CA]]"
---
folder: 04_a_list
- filename :
dic_19800401
---
Date: 1962-04-06
Country:
- "[[United States of America|US]]"
---
folder: 05_a_list
- filename :
dic_19800501
---
Date: 1962-05-06
Country:
- "[[United States of America|US]]"
- "[[Canada|CA]]"
---
DQL11_transform_country_code_into_flag_icon_via_JavaScript_object_and_TABLE
Summary
Main DQL
| Code Name | Data type | Group By | Purposes | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DQL11 _transform_country_code _into_flag_icon _via_JavaScript_object _and_TABLE |
Country:1.a string like “[[Canada|CA]]” 2.an array of strings like [“[[United States of America|US]]”] |
no | 1.To filter by Country 2.To transform a country code into a flag icon via a JavaScript object 3.To sort by file.name in ascending order 4.To display the result as a table |
For Windows OS (To see Notes of the DQL10 _transform_country_code _into_flag_icon _from_HTML_Hex _and_TABLE): from Q20_Flags: S1 1.To require NotoColorEmojiLimited.css2.To enable the CSS snippet |
Notes:
Summary
Q1: How to modify the following code?
Summary_Q1
Original Example: Q1 (To be modified and explained)
Original INPUT
- filename : O1
---
Country: "US"
---
- filename : O2
---
Country: "US, CA"
---
Original DQL
```dataview
TABLE WITHOUT ID
file.link AS "FILE",
Q_FLAG AS "Q_FLAG"
FROM "100_Project/02_dataview/Q25_MetaFunction/Q25_test_data02"
WHERE Country
// The input of map() method is an Array of Strings in the example.
// AoS is an abbreviation for an Array of Strings.
// O1: AoS = split(Country, ", ") = ["US"];
// O2: AoS = split(Country, ", ") = ["US", "CA"];
// c = an element of AoS;
// O1: c = "US";
// O2: c = "US", or "CA";
FLATTEN join(map(split(Country, ", "), (c) => {
BZ: "🇧🇿",
CA: "🇨🇦",
US: "🇺🇸"
}[c])) AS Q_FLAG
```
A1_11:
Another Example: A1_11
New INPUT
- filename : N1
---
Country: "[[United States of America|US]]"
---
- filename : N2
---
Country:
- "[[United States of America|US]]"
- "[[Canada|CA]]"
---
New DQL
```dataview
TABLE WITHOUT ID
file.link AS "FILE",
Q_FLAG AS "Q_FLAG"
FROM "100_Project/02_dataview/Q25_MetaFunction/Q25_test_data02"
WHERE Country
// The input of map() method is an Array of Strings in the example.
// AoS is an abbreviation for an Array of Strings.
// N1: AoS = list(Country) = ["[[United States of America|US]]"];
// N2: AoS = Country = ["[[United States of America|US]]", "[[Canada|CA]]"];
// c = an element of AoS;
// N1: meta(c).display = "US";
// N2: meta(c).display = "US", or "CA";
FLATTEN join(map(choice(typeof(Country) = "array", Country, list(Country)), (c) => {
BZ: "🇧🇿",
CA: "🇨🇦",
US: "🇺🇸"
}[meta(c).display])) AS Q_FLAG
```
Code DQL11_transform_country_code_into_flag_icon_via_JavaScript_object_and_TABLE
Summary_code
title: DQL11_transform_country_code_into_flag_icon_via_JavaScript_object_and_TABLE =>0.For Windows OS:To require `NotoColorEmojiLimited.css` and To enable the CSS snippet 1.To filter by `Country` 2.To transform a country code into a flag icon via a JavaScript object 3.To sort by `file.name` in ascending order 4.To display the result as a table
collapse: close
icon:
color:
```dataview
TABLE WITHOUT ID
file.link AS "FILE",
Q_FLAG AS "Q_FLAG"
FROM "100_Project/02_dataview/Q25_MetaFunction/Q25_test_data02"
WHERE Country
FLATTEN join(map(choice(typeof(Country) = "array", Country, list(Country)), (c) => {
BZ: "🇧🇿",
CA: "🇨🇦",
US: "🇺🇸"
}[meta(c).display])) AS Q_FLAG
SORT file.name ASC
```
Screenshots(DQL10): NotoColorEmojiLimited.css used on win7
Screenshots(DQL10): NotoColorEmojiLimited.css not used on win7
Reference
1 Like
Perfect, thank you!!!
1 Like
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