What is correct format for dates in list in Front Matter

[Skier83]

I am trying to store milestones (descriptor with a date) in a list type property in the frontmatter.

My objective is to later on search for and retrieve those milestones with dataviewjs and pass the descriptor and date to a plugin (not active while testing this and no other date related plugins running right now).

I get strange results as detailed below. I could not find anything like this in the forum discussions. I’m not sure what I am doing wrong.

YearOpen in my examples below is a simple date property.
MileStonesList is the list property of concern here.

What is the correct format for putting dates in a list in frontmatter properties?

Obsidian Help (Properties - Obsidian Help) says to use this format.

Date and Date & time type properties are stored in the following format:

---
date: 2020-08-21
time: 2020-08-21T10:30:00
---

The above format seems to be ‘descriptor colon single space date’.

But when I use it, it fails and generates orange text in reading view (A).

YearOpen: 2024-01-01
MileStonesList:

• RopeTow: 2023-01-01
• TBar: 2023-02-02
• Chair: 2023-03-03
• JBar

---

If I remove the space (description colon date), it generates external links (B):

YearOpen: 2024-01-01
MileStonesList:

• RopeTow:2023-01-01
• TBar:2023-02-02
• Chair:2023-03-03
• JBar

---

If I omit the colon and use a single space, things seem to work (C).

YearOpen: 2024-01-01
MileStonesList:

• RopeTow 2023-01-01
• TBar 2023-02-02
• Chair 2023-03-03
• JBar

---

If I format it as descriptor single space colon date, things seem to work (D).

YearOpen: 2024-01-01
MileStonesList:

• RopeTow :2023-01-01
• TBar :2023-02-02
• Chair :2023-03-03
• JBar

---

[ariehen]

It appears as if you are trying to nest properties. That isn’t currently supported (using the Properties in document interface). Some topics below; the second one being the feature request and possibly some options to use for now.

Cannot edit nested properties in Preview mode

Steps to reproduce Create a metadata file with nested properties, like this: --- test: thing1: value1 thing2: value2 another: value3 --- Expected result I want to change various property values in Preview mode as easily as before. Strangely, some can be changed, some can’t. It’s confusing, arbitrary and not helpful. I want to created nested properties in Preview mode. This seems now to be impossible. The choices of properties do not even include this as an option. It seems unsupported…

Properties: Support multi-level YAML (nested attributes)

Use case or problem We need to be able to support multi-level YAML. Especially for Dataview users --- parent: - child1: - grandchild1: 1 - grandchild2: 2 - child2: - grandchild3: 3 - grandchild4: 4 ---

[holroy]

@Skier83

I am trying to store milestones (descriptor with a date) in a list type property in the frontmatter.

In the current version you’d be better off using a custom task decoration in the main text (or dedicated sections) like in:

‐ [M] RopeTow (date:: 2023-01-01)
- [M] TBar (date:: 2023-02-02)
- [M] Chair (date:: 2023-03-03)

Using this format you can query all your milestones using a simple task query searching for status = "M", and you can style the tasks however you like. And since we now are setting the date using an inline field, you could also do all kinds of date queries/manipulation.

Until Obsidian gets the long promised database stuff, this I believe would be the better option.

[Skier83]

@ariehen Being able to group key:value sets would be really nice. Thanks for the reference to the discussion. Please add my vote for nested properties.

[Skier83]

@holroy I had deferred on using tasks because I did not need the functionality of marking things as complete/incomplete. I will revisit tasks with your idea of decoration and the possibility of queries. This might be workable. I also see from a quick look that tasks support nesting. Thanks for the suggestion.