Written way to set dates - possible?

[Whyglobaleyes]

Greetings,
Here's the usual newbie disclaimer and advance apology if the answer is obvious.
Also wanted to say how much I like the plugin: like everyone it's a daily essential for me! and, and, I'm especially pleased that it's under active development, just spotted the priorities feature!! Thank you.

So, I don't use the due / start dates etc because the only way I know how is to launch the [Tasks: Create or edit task] dialogue box ... I find that takes away my attention when I'm bashing out a list of tasks. I'd like to be able to type something in the task description that sets the due/ scheduled/ start date.
example:
I type something - [ ] #todo get dressed due:2021.12.01 ==> the plugin automagically sets the due date/ emoticon flag thingy :: of course natural dates would be great eg - [ ] #todo get dressed start:next Monday

TBH I just realised I'd love to be able to do this with setting priority as well (eg) - [ ] #todo get dressed pri:medium

My work-around has been to use hashtags and then set up filters for that hastag when I display task lists but it's a tricky keeping it straight.

fingers crossed
bw
A

[sytone]

There was a discussion on the obsidian forums about this and I believe @schemar was involved in it and it mentioned a standard format. Not sure what the plan is there for supporting that but there is a PR in progress that is changing the way that dates are matched and formatted that may support it long run.

That said I use AHK a lot and the following hotstring would work. Just type in due: and the it will be replaced. Remove the date if you just want to shortcut the emoji.

#Hotstring EndChars :
::due::
  FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyy-MM-dd
  Send {U+1F4C5} %CurrentDateTime%
return

[sytone]

Also natural language dates would help here. Using

#Hotstring EndChars :
::due::
  Send {U+1F4C5}
return

you would type due: <space> @Mon and it would become 📅 2021-11-22

[schemar]

As @sytone already suggested, I would go with the natural language dates plugin. It works really well for me.

In the (not so soon) future, Tasks will support due::, done::, etc. in addition to the emojis to allow for easier input and be more compatible with other plugins. It's just that I don't have any time right now.