Tasks query that shows all tasks that are existing in (the current note's) outgoing links.

[superjangooo]

Hello everyone,
I'm deeply in love with both Obsidian and the Tasks plugin and have been working with them so much over the past year.
Currently, I'm at a point where my data has grown so much, that I want to add another layer to better manage all my tasks.
I want to thank everyone that'll take the time to read this and make an effort to help.
I would also hope that this thread could be helpful for many people in the future, as it does seem like a natural way of adding some hierarchy/structure to tasks/projects.
(I'd be open for other/better suggestions as well though)

My goal:

A query that shows all tasks that are existing in the current note's outgoing links.

Why:

I have many projects (single notes that contain many tasks; henceforth referred to as "sub-projects").
I want to bring them together under bigger projects (henceforth referred to as "super-projects").

Example:

I have 1 note called "Obsidian task management.md" (this would be the super-project)
I have 3 notes called "tasks plugin.md", "CSS for tasks.md" and "taxonomy of tags in tasks.md" (these would be the sub-projects)

I would love to add wikilinks of the 3 sub-projects into the super-project.
This means that the note "Obsidian task management.md" would only contain this (in reality there would be more plain text, but that's not relevant):

[[tasks plugin]]
[[CSS for tasks]]
[[taxonomy of tags in tasks]]

While the 3 sub-project notes would contain different tasks:
"tasks plugin.md" could contain:

- [ ] Open thread on GitHub to figure out the query code I can't get working myself.
- [ ] Think about which of the custom statuses are most useful and how to relate them to each other.

"CSS for tasks.md" could contain:

- [ ] Figure out how to reduce the space between tasks.
- [ ] Figure out how to change custom status symbols or add new ones.

"taxonomy of tags in tasks.md" could contain:

- [ ] Add #TSKalmostdone to tasks are basically finished but need a last check (ideally at a moment I'm not tired or stressed)
- [ ] Add #TSKquicky to tasks that should be finished within 10 minutes, so I can later query them for when I want to be productive but I'm short on time.

The Tasks query (that I'm trying to create) would show, at the bottom of "obisidian task management.md", all the tasks that are included in the 3 sub-projects (ideally grouped), which would render as something like this:

# tasks plugin
- [ ] Open thread on GitHub to figure out the query code I can't get working myself.
- [ ] Think about which of the custom statuses are most useful and how to realte them to each other.
# CSS for tasks
- [ ] Figure out how to reduce the space between tasks.
- [ ] Figure out how to change custom status symbols or add new ones.
# taxonomy of tags in tasks
- [ ] Add #TSKalmostdone to tasks are basically finished but need a last check (ideally at a moment I'm not tired or stressed)
- [ ] Add #TSKquicky to tasks that should be finished within 10 minutes, so I can later query them for when I want to be productive but I'm short on time.

Possible solutions (that aren't scaling properly):

I'm aware that I could list the 3 sub-projects in the Tasks query, by manually typing them out in filename includes.
Or I could add specific tags into the task description and query for them.

And there are probably more "simple" ways like that.
However, my actual notes aren't as limited as in the example above.
I.e. sub-projects could contain up to 80 tasks and there could be up to 20 sub-projects included in the super-project. Lastly, they may all change all the time, meaning any sub-project could get assigned to another super-project.
With the simpler approaches, this would mean editing the query every time or adding/removing/modifying tags.

What I have so far:

While I couldn't find a solution for a Tasks query, I found a thread in the official Obsidian forums.
This user has the exact same wish as myself, and he/she has found a way to create the query via DataviewJS.
This is the thread: https://forum.obsidian.md/t/dataview-dataviewjs-how-to-fetch-tasks-that-are-in-the-outgoing-links-of-a-note/66176
This is the last entry of his/her code (I only understand small parts of it, unfortunately, but it works like this for me):

dataviewjs
// get all unique outlinks without .png and current note
let notes = dv.current().file.outlinks
.map(x => x.path)
.filter((value, index, self) => index === self.indexOf(value))
.where(x => !x.endsWith("png") && x != dv.current().file.path);

// create empty array
let arr = [];

// push notes element to empty array
arr.push(dv.current().file.path);
notes.map(y => arr.push(y));

// printing tasks from unique outlinks
let ntasks = arr.map(x => dv.page(x).file.tasks.where(t => !t.completed));
ntasks.map(x => x.length > 0 && dv.taskList(x));

What's left to do:

The above code shows what I want, but it does so in Dataview and not Tasks (which I greatly prefer).
However, I've found out that there are ways to "feed" Dataview results into a Tasks query.
This is described in the official Tasks documentation: https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/How+To/How+to+get+tasks+in+current+file#Sample+code+-+and+how+to+use+it

I've tried to add the Dataview code from above into the example code of the Tasks documention, but can't get it to produce the result I want. I tried many different ways of inserting the code but, thanks to my lack of understanding the code in the first place, to no avail so far. Here's one example of how I tried to combine them:

dataviewjs

const query = `
${let notes = dv.current().file.outlinks
.map(x => x.path)
.filter((value, index, self) => index === self.indexOf(value))
.where(x => !x.endsWith("png") && x != dv.current().file.path);
let arr = [];
arr.push(dv.current().file.path);
notes.map(y => arr.push(y));
let ntasks = arr.map(x => dv.page(x).file.tasks.where(t => !t.completed));
ntasks.map(x => x.length > 0 && dv.taskList(x));}
# you can add any number of extra Tasks instructions, for example:
# group by heading
limit 10
`;

dv.paragraph('```tasks\n' + query + '\n```');

I would hope that someone who's more knowledgeable about code could help me either:

• Get the DVjs code to be properly "rendered" as a Tasks query.
• Or, even better, come up with a Tasks query that could achieve the desired result directly, skipping the Dataview to Tasks "conversion".

Thanks so much in advance and let me know if anything is unclear or needs more information!

[claremacrae]

@superjangooo - OK here it is...

I don't normally ask for donations in support queries, but this took a lot of time, and so I've added my donations link as a comment in the query, in case anyone who reads this feels that they are able to support the development of the Tasks plugin.

```dataviewjs
/*
    PURPOSE: Tasks query that shows all tasks that are existing in (the current note's) outgoing links
             https://github.com/obsidian-tasks-group/obsidian-tasks/discussions/2392
    
    Tasks query logic code written by Clare Macrae
    Donations invited, to support the development of Tasks:
             https://github.com/sponsors/claremacrae
    
    Limitations:
     - Works in Tasks 5.0.0 or above/
     - Tasks search will not work if any of the file paths has a ( or ) character anywhere in the path.
*/

// Get all unique outlinks without .png and current note
// Credit for these 4 lines:
//      by: [aboode95](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/aboode95)
//      in: https://forum.obsidian.md/t/dataview-dataviewjs-how-to-fetch-tasks-that-are-in-the-outgoing-links-of-a-note/66176/16
let paths = dv.current().file.outlinks
    .map(x => x.path)
    .filter((value, index, self) => index === self.indexOf(value))
    .where(x => !x.endsWith("png") && x != dv.current().file.path);

// Create a list of Tasks path filters, one for each outlink path:
const pathFilters = paths.map((path) => `( path includes ${path} )`);

// Join the Tasks path filters in to a Boolean OR query.
let filterForOutlinks = pathFilters.join(' OR \\\n');

// Construct the Tasks query string:
const tasksQuery = `
    # Note that as of Tasks 5.0.0, this search will fail if any
    # of the outlinks have a ( or ) anywhere in their paths:
    ${filterForOutlinks}
    
    not done
    group by filename
    # Any other Tasks instructions can be added to this.
    
    # Get an explanation of the Tasks query.
    # Comment this out once you are happy with the results:
    explain
`;

// For debug purposes, write out the Tasks query as text.
// Remove this once you are happy with the results:
dv.paragraph('```text\n' + tasksQuery + '\n```');

// Finally, run the Tasks sarch
dv.paragraph('```tasks\n' + tasksQuery + '\n```');
```

An example generated Tasks query block is:

```tasks
# Note that as of Tasks 5.0.0, this search will fail if any
# of the outlinks have a ( or ) anywhere in their paths:
( path includes Obsidian/tasks/tasks user support/02 In Progress - tasks user support/2392 - QandA - files in outgoing links - samples/tasks plugin.md ) OR \
( path includes Obsidian/tasks/tasks user support/02 In Progress - tasks user support/2392 - QandA - files in outgoing links - samples/CSS for tasks.md ) OR \
( path includes Obsidian/tasks/tasks user support/02 In Progress - tasks user support/2392 - QandA - files in outgoing links - samples/taxonomy of tags in tasks.md )

not done
group by filename
# Any other Tasks instructions can be added to this.

# Get an explanation of the Tasks query.
# Comment this out once you are happy with the results:
explain
```

[MattTheVV]

This is amazing, greatly improves obsidian tasks' project management potential. For reference, using dv.pages('[[NoteTitle]]') allows for a more generalized approach here (as shown here)

The lack of supports of bracket(s) anywhere in the filepath (also as of 6.0.0) is proving to be quite a challenge in a few of my notes though, any way in which we can escape the brackets or work around this limitation?

[claremacrae]

The lack of supports of bracket(s) anywhere in the filepath (also as of 6.0.0) is proving to be quite a challenge in a few of my notes though, any way in which we can escape the brackets or work around this limitation?

I think this is probably referring to:
#1308

It would be possible for someone with some time and some JavaScript experience to rework the above query to use filter by function instead of ) OR ( - which would then prevent #1308 from kicking on.

[MattTheVV]

Never tried the filter by function before, that was what I needed: thanks!
(filter by function is not affected by special characters in the note titles).

Posting my solution in case it could help others.

The goal: to have the following re-usable snippet to render a list of tasks, based on all notes that link to the current file:

```dataviewjs
const { DvTasksParagraphBuilder } = customJS
// DvTasksParagraphBuilder.verbose = true // if you want logging
const queryPrefix = `
not done
`
const querySuffix = `
group by filename reverse
`
const searchString = '[[Test Project]]' // <% tp.file.title %> if using templater
const sourcePages = dv.pages(searchString)
const dvTasksParagraph = DvTasksParagraphBuilder.buildObsTasksElement(sourcePages, queryPrefix, querySuffix)
dv.paragraph(dvTasksParagraph)
```

This uses the CustomJS plugin to refer to the following class, which is saved in a centralized .js file:

class DvTasksParagraphBuilder {
  constructor() {
    this.verbose = false;
  }

  log(msgPrefix, msg) {
    if (this.verbose) {
      console.log(msgPrefix, msg);
    }
  }

  buildObsTasksElement(linkedPages, queryPrefix, querySuffix) {
    const filteredPages = linkedPages.filter(this.pageFilter);
    this.log("filteredPages: ", filteredPages);
    const fileQuery = this.buildFileQuery(filteredPages);
    this.log("fileQuery: ", fileQuery);
    const tasksQuery = [queryPrefix, fileQuery, querySuffix].join("\n");
    this.log("tasksQuery: ", tasksQuery);
    const dataViewParagraph = "```tasks\n" + tasksQuery + "\n```";
    this.log("dataViewParagraph: ", dataViewParagraph);
    return dataViewParagraph;
  }

  pageFilter(x) {
    // did not want my weekly or daily journal's tasks to be included
    // can customize according to own needs
    const isJournalNote = x.file.tags.includes("#type/journals");
    const returnArr = [isJournalNote];
    return !returnArr.some((x) => x);
  }

  buildFileQuery(selectedPages) {
    let fileQuery = "";
    if (!selectedPages.length) {
      // console.log("No pages selected, returning nothing")
      fileQuery = "not done\n";
      fileQuery += "done";
      return fileQuery;
    }
    const selectedFilePaths = selectedPages.map((x) => x.file.path);
    // console.log("selectedFilePaths", selectedFilePaths)
    fileQuery = this.buildFileQueryString(selectedFilePaths);
    return fileQuery;
  }

  buildFileQueryString(filePaths) {
    const filePathSelectionQuery = filePaths
      .map((filePath) => {
        return `    "${filePath}", \\`;
      })
      .join("\n");

    const outString = `filter by function \\
        [ \\
        ${filePathSelectionQuery}
        ].includes(task.file.path)
    `;
    return outString;
  }
}

[claremacrae]

Wow - thanks very much indeed @MattTheVV!

[claremacrae]

I found I could make it find tasks that link to the current note using this search string:

const searchString = `[[${dv.current().file.path}]]`

[ctretyak]

I think you can base on this query somehow

group by function task.description.match(/\[\[.+?\]\]/g)

[claremacrae]

Right, but the trick is how to find all the notes that are outgoing links in the current note.

[claremacrae]

Here is how to find all tasks in files that the query file links to:

```tasks
filter by function query.file.outlinks.some(link => link.destinationPath === task.file.path)
```

This has been possible since Tasks 7.21.0.

[superjangooo]

Amazing, thanks for getting back to this! That's fantastic and so much better then the previous solutions (which I never got fully working).

[claremacrae]

(@superjangooo, for future reference, at least the courtesy of a reply to my earlier messages would have been welcome...)

[superjangooo]

You're absolutely right and I'm sorry for that.
To give my perspective: I tried the earlier suggestions and couldn't get them to work as intended. I didn't want to nag for further assistance right away and attempted to fix it myself.
I wasn't able to make that work either but settled on some "simpler" workarounds (as mentioned in my initial post) for the time being, with the plan to come back to it later, either to work it out myself or ask for further assistance. As it often goes, other projects, problems and life issues came along and I didn't get to this one for a while.
I've now gotten the update and had exactly that thought: I didn't even reply so far and should get to it before something else distracts me again.

[claremacrae]

Many thanks - much appreciated.