# An Introduction to [[dataview|Dataview]] (Slides) %% Add a description below this line. It doesn't need to be long: one or two sentences should be a good start. %% These are the original markdown slides from my [[Obsidian Community Talks|Community Talk]] on [[YT - An Introduction to Dataview|An Introduction to Dataview]]. You can convert these slides to [[revealjs]] by [[Using Pandoc inside Obsidian|using Pandoc]]. For a better reading experience on the web version of the hub, these notes have been reformatted and provided in [[An Introduction to Dataview|condensed form]]. By [[SkepticMystic]] # Overview --- 1. Broad Intro to Dataview . . . 2. Metadata ::: incremental 3. Dataview Queries - `List` - `From` - `Where` - `Task` - `Table` - `Sort` - `Flatten` - `Group by` ::: # Introduction ## {data-background-iframe="https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/#/README"} # Metadata ## What is it? Metadata provides information _about_ your data. . . . It is _extra_ info that is either already _inherent_ in your data, or info that you **manually add**. ## Examples of Metadata 💡 --- ### Photographs ::: incremental - Date & time ⏰ - Location 🌍 - People 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 ::: --- My display picture has the following _inherent_ metadata: :::::::::::::: {.columns} ::: {.column width="60%"}  ::: ::: {.column width="40%"}  ::: :::::::::::::: --- But it could also be given other properties: { height=400px } --- ### Markdown Notes We can also add metadata to **Markdown notes** using a language called <abbr title="Yaml Ain't Markup Language"><em>YAML</em></abbr>. - YAML is a **structured** way of adding _arbitrary_ metadata to a file. --- #### Adding YAML Metadata 1. At the **top** of your note, add 3 dashes `---` 2. Underneath that, you can start adding key-value pairs in the form `key: value` - In the photo example, this would look as follows: ```yaml --- dimensions: 1200x1200 bit depth: 24 title: "Mandala Display Picture" rating: 5 --- ``` 3. To finish the metadata block, close it off with 3 dashes again `---`. --- ```yaml --- dimensions: 1200x1200 bit depth: 24 title: "Mandala Display Picture" rating: 5 --- ``` ## YAML Lists You can add more than one `value` to each `key` using _lists_. There are two notations you can use: ##### 1. Inline ```yaml foods: [apples, pears, oranges] ``` --- ##### 2. Indented ```yaml foods: - apples - pears - oranges ``` ==Note the spacing== ## Types of Metadata You can find this information on the [Dataview reference page](https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/#/README) ```yaml number: 3.6 string: "Foo all the bars" list: - 1 - -2 - 3.5 - 1.61803 date: - 2021-04 - "2021-04-09" - 2021-04-09T12:12:54 link: [[2021-04-09 Daily Note]] ``` --- ### Implicit Metadata in all notes | Property | Value | Type | | ------------ | ---------------------------------------- | -------- | | `file.name` | File **title** | `string` | | `file.path` | Full file **path** | `string` | | `file.link` | **Link** to the file | `link` | | `file.size` | **Size** (in bytes) of the file | `number` | | `file.ctime` | Date that the file was **created** | `date` | | `file.mtime` | Date that the file was last **modified** | `date` | | `file.day` | The **date** contained in the note title | `date` | --- `file.tags` - An `array` of all **tags** in the note. . . . - Subtags are broken down by each level, so `#Tag/1/A` will be stored in the array as <br> `[#Tag, #Tag/1, #Tag/1/A]` # Dataview Queries ## `List` Creates a _list_ of the specified notes ```dataview list ``` ## `From` Determines **where** to get notes _from_. --- ### From \#Tag You can get all notes _from_ a specified **tag**: ```dataview list from #MOC ``` --- ### From "Folder" All notes from a **folder**: ```dataview list from "1. Projects" ``` --- ### From \[\[Links\]\] And even all notes with links coming _into_ a note: ```dataview list from [[Yoga MOC]] ``` Or going _out of_ a note: ```dataview list from outgoing([[yoga MOC]]) ``` - This syntax may change in an upcoming release. --- ### Combining Sources You can use the 3 basic logical operators to create more complex `from` queries: ::: incremental - `list from #A and #B` - `list from "University" or "Work"` - `list from -#Personal` - `list from [[CSS]] and -#HTML` ::: --- ### String Concatenation In the results of a `list`, you can include metadata fields joined with strings ```dataview list "File Path: " + file.path + " :)" from #SN ``` --- ### Lists of lists A `list` can also display indented sublists of metadata: ```dataview list authors from #SN/Blog ``` ## `Task` `Task` searches for all checkboxes `- [ ] ` in your vault. It returns a list of all tasks, grouped by their parent note ```dataview task from #MOC ``` # `Where` --- After choosing _which_ notes to use, you can narrow down the list further using a `where` block. . . . This lets you use the various _comparison operators_ on the metadata fields in your notes. `>`, `>=`, `<`, `<=`, `=`, `!=` . . . <center>`where {condition}`</center> ## Examples ::: incremental - `where file.size > 1000` - `where file.name != "2021-04-09 Daily Note"` - `where file.mtime >= date(today) - dur(1 day)` - `where !complete` ::: # `Table` --- `Table` can show you a _table_ of various metadata fields linked to each note. `Table {field 1}, {field 2}, ...` ## Examples ```dataview table intensity from #Uni/2021/Asg ```  --- ```dataview table title, type from #SN ``` --- ```dataview table file.tags from Kw/Yoga ``` ## `Sort` You can use `sort` to define which order to list the results in, and which `field` to sort by: `sort field asc/desc` . . . Give multiple fields to decide ties `sort field1 asc/desc, field2 asc/desc, ...` ## `Flatten` Use `flatten` to "unroll" lists into their own rows. ```dataview table authors from #SN ``` Versus ```dataview table authors from #SN flatten authors ``` ## `Group by` `Group by` lets do gather together results based on the value of a field. Examples: - Group tasks by `completed` - Group games by `rating` - Group assignments by `intensity` --- First, gather all the assignments: <center>`from #Uni/2021/Asg `</center> Then, group by `intensity`: <center>`group by intensity`</center> --- ### `rows` Object By grouping the notes, we've created a **new object**. This is a **nested list** of all the assignments grouped by intensity. . . . Something like: ```js [ [A1, A2, A6], // Green [A3, A4], // Yellow [A5, A7], // Red ]; ``` --- To access this new list, we use the `rows` object. - Get the file name of every note in the array: `rows.file.name` - Get the due date of every note: `rows.dueDate` --- ```dataview table intensity, rows.title from #Uni/2021/Asg group by intensity ``` ## Group by tags ```dataview table rows.file.tags, rows.file.link from #Fi/Yoga group by file.tags ``` . . . ### Limitations It will only consider two notes to be in the same group if they have **exactly the same tags**. - So even if two notes have `#Note/Author`, if the one has a tag that the other doesn't, they won't be grouped together. # Functions ## `Contains()` Used to see if: - a `string` _contains_ a substring - a `list` _contains_ a value . . . `where contains(file.name, "Daily Note")` . . . `where contains(authors, "Robert Lamb")` ## `Length()` Returns the _length_ of a `string` or `list` . . . `where length(file.name) > 10` ## `Sum()` Returns the _sum_ of the numbers in a `list` . . . `where sum(minutesStudied) < 60` ## Many other Functions [Further reading](https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/#/functions) # Neat Examples ## [Snippet Showcase](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/dataview-plugin-snippet-showcase/13673) {data-background-iframe="https://forum.obsidian.md/t/dataview-plugin-snippet-showcase/13673"} ## Untagged Notes <center>`list where length(file.tags) = 0`</center> ## Birthdays ```dataview list from #People where Dates.Birthday = "<% tp.date.now(format = "YYYY-MM-DD") %>" ``` %% Hub footer: Please don't edit anything below this line %% # This note in GitHub <span class="git-footer">[Edit In GitHub](https://github.dev/obsidian-community/obsidian-hub/blob/main/04%20-%20Guides%2C%20Workflows%2C%20%26%20Courses/Guides/An%20Introduction%20to%20Dataview%20Slides.md "git-hub-edit-note") | [Copy this note](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/obsidian-community/obsidian-hub/main/04%20-%20Guides%2C%20Workflows%2C%20%26%20Courses/Guides/An%20Introduction%20to%20Dataview%20Slides.md "git-hub-copy-note") | [Download this vault](https://github.com/obsidian-community/obsidian-hub/archive/refs/heads/main.zip "git-hub-download-vault") </span>