Allow users to specify datetime formats

[jkbhagatio]

⚠️ Please check that this feature request hasn't been suggested before.

• I searched previous Ideas in Discussions didn't find any similar feature requests.
• I searched previous Issues didn't find any similar feature requests.
• I am only requesting a single feature. Multiple changes should be split into individual requests, with links between them.
• I believe my requested feature will be generally applicable to other users, not just me: it is not uniquely tied to my personal workflow.

🔖 Feature description

It would be nice to have a way to specify e.g. HH:MM:SS for a relevant task datetime (e.g. start, due, completed, etc.) or to change the format in any way the user desires. I imagine this wouldn't be too hard using javascript's moment.

✔️ Solution

There should be a way for a user to specify a default in Tasks settings, and specify the datetime in any format they wish when creating / editing a task.

❓ Alternatives

No response

📝 Additional Context

No response

[claremacrae]

I imagine this wouldn't be too hard using javascript's moment.

Have you thought about:

• it's not just the writing, it's the reading of tasks too
• what happens when the user changes the format, like from YYYY-MM-DD to [[YYYYY-MM-DD]]...
  • do you convert all their existing tasks to the new format?
    • if you do, that's a significant responsibility, rewriting potentially tens of thousands of tasks in a vault
    • what error-checking and fault-tolerance are required
    • if you don't, then all future reading of tasks has to read the old format and the new one...
    • what if they switch to another new format - do you track all 3 formats and keep reading those?
• tasks does not yet support times on tasks
  • so it's not just allowing users to specify format including hours and minutes...
  • that means reviewing all the search functionality, to ensure it works well with granularity smaller than 24 hours..
  • for example, what is the meaning of 'before' and 'after' now?
  • currently Tasks query results are re-parsed and redrawn at midnight... as things like today change meaning...
  • what other areas like that need to be reviewed once time is supported...
• how does it work with urgency?
• the recurrence code so far only handle whole days...
  • once dates support hours as well, we have to do a lot more around handling things like summer time/daylight savings times...

These - and many similar things - may not all prove to be problems...

But they do all need to be discovered and thought about...

Oh yes, also a number of other plugins support Tasks format...

Once this is customisable in Tasks, presumably they would need to adjust their code to read Tasks' settings and update their reading and writing code.

Or the Tasks parsing code has to be released as a library, which is a whole other kettle of fish....

[claremacrae]

Here are the existing requests tagged with this topic:

Discussions - is:open category:"Ideas: Any New Feature Requests go in Issues please" label:"scope: task dates and times"

[jkbhagatio]

Ah cool, sorry for missing these. Happy if you close this as a duplicate

[claremacrae]

Thanks for being so understanding @jkbhagatio.