If Property Empty Display Different Property In Dataview

Caroline Mae

2 min read

·

01-01-2025

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Dataview's power lies in its ability to dynamically display information from your Obsidian vault. However, what happens when a key property is missing? This post explores how to elegantly handle empty properties and display alternative data using Dataview's query language.

The Problem: Empty Properties

Let's say you're using Dataview to display notes containing properties like project and subproject. Some notes might only specify a project, leaving subproject blank. A simple Dataview query like this:

TABLE project, subproject
FROM "Notes"

Will result in blank entries for subproject where the property is undefined. This isn't visually appealing and can make your query less informative.

The Solution: The if Statement

Dataview's built-in if statement provides a clean solution. We can check if subproject is defined and display a default value if it's not.

TABLE project, if(subproject, subproject, "No Subproject")
FROM "Notes"

This enhanced query checks if subproject exists. If it does, it displays the value of subproject. Otherwise, it displays "No Subproject". You can easily customize this default value to suit your needs; for instance, you could display the project name instead.

TABLE project, if(subproject, subproject, project)
FROM "Notes"

Advanced Techniques: Nested if Statements and Other Operators

The possibilities extend beyond simple replacements. You can nest if statements to create more complex logic:

TABLE project, if(subproject, subproject, if(status, status, "No Status or Subproject"))
FROM "Notes"

This example checks for subproject; if it's missing, it then checks for status, providing a more nuanced fallback.

You can also incorporate other Dataview operators like contains for more sophisticated conditional displays.

Example: Handling Multiple Properties

Suppose you have properties client, project, and task. You want to prioritize task but fall back to project if task is empty and finally client if both task and project are missing.

TABLE client, if(task, task, if(project, project, client))
FROM "Notes"

This query demonstrates the cascading effect of nested if statements, ensuring a value is always displayed even if multiple properties are missing.

Conclusion

Handling missing properties gracefully is vital for creating clear and informative Dataview queries. By leveraging the if statement and combining it with other operators, you can create dynamic displays that adapt to the data available in your Obsidian vault, enhancing your workflow and providing a cleaner user experience. Remember to always tailor your queries to reflect the specific structure and content of your notes.