Automatically assigning today's date as the value to #startDate after a note is created

[SunriseWind]

I would like the sub-notes I create to automatically assign the label #startDate with today's date as the value for that label. How can I do this?

[dosubot[bot]]

Trilium doesn't have a built-in feature to automatically assign #startDate with today's date when you create a sub-note, but you can do this with a backend script. Create a new backend script note (type: JavaScript backend), then attach it to the parent note or subtree using the runOnAttributeChange relation. In your script, you can use something like:

// This script runs when any attribute (label) changes on the note
if (!note.hasLabel("startDate")) {
    note.setLabel("startDate", "TODAY");
}

This will set #startDate=TODAY on notes that don't already have it. Trilium supports dynamic date expressions like TODAY, so #startDate=TODAY will always resolve to the current date when the label is set. For more details and examples, see this discussion and supported date expressions.

If you want this to happen only for newly created sub-notes, you may want to refine the script to check for note creation events or use templates for new notes, but the backend script approach is the most flexible for automation.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[eliandoran]

@dosu is right about needing to write a script, but is wrong about TODAY. You'd have to manually form your date using day.js.

[dosubot[bot]]

To automatically assign the label #startDate with today's date when a sub-note is created, you should use a backend script triggered by the runOnChildNoteCreation relation. In Trilium's backend scripting environment, day.js is available for date formatting, but you can also use standard JavaScript date formatting.

Here's an example backend script that sets the label using day.js:

// This script should be attached via the 'runOnChildNoteCreation' relation
const dayjs = require('dayjs'); // dayjs is available in backend scripts
const today = dayjs().format('YYYY-MM-DD');
childNote.setLabel('startDate', today);

Or, if you prefer, you can use Trilium's built-in date formatting:

const today = api.formatDateISO(new Date());
childNote.setLabel('startDate', today);

Attach this script to the parent note using the runOnChildNoteCreation relation. Every time a child note is created, the script will set the #startDate label with the current date as its value. For more details on scripting note creation events and label assignment, see the Trilium scripting documentation and BNote API reference.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[SunriseWind]

@eliandoran The script doesn't create any labels or generate any dates. I only get a 500 error when I run the script. How do I fix this?

[SunriseWind]

Did I do something wrong?

[rom1dep]

@SunriseWind if the parent note carries the attribute #startDate, can't you just make it inheritable? (e.g. #startDate(inheritable)=foo)

[SunriseWind]

foo is not a date value generated relative to the creation date of the subnote!
Even that doesn't work.#startDate(inheritable)="${now.format('YYYY-MM--DD')}"

[SunriseWind]

@eliandoran Do you have a magic solution to solve this problem?

[rom1dep]

got it, the parent/child relation effectively doesn't matter it seems, you just want new notes to have today's date set for #startDate. Then indeed, scripting is the way to go (can't help you with that). That said, I do hope that in the future we will:

• get "calculated attributes" (whose value can be defined computationally, possibly from the note's other attributes' and relations' values)
• expose notes metadata (dateCreated, dateModified, …) to collections, so we can view and manipulate notes on the calendar by creation date (see https://github.com/orgs/TriliumNext/discussions/6604), which I suspect is a goal here?