Bind Targets
Bind Targets are a core concept of Meta Bind. They are a text based way to point the plugin at a specific frontmatter property. This tutorial will teach you how to use them.
Syntax
Bind Targets consist of three parts.
storageType^storagePath#propertyCertain parts can be omitted, causing them to default to their default values.
The following bind target will always use the default storage type frontmatter,
meaning it points to a frontmatter property.
storagePath#propertyThe following bind targets will always use the current file as the storage path.
property
storageType^propertyThis means that the following bind targets are equivalent, assuming the current file is Test Note.
property
frontmatter^Test Note#property1. The Storage Type
The storage type tells the plugin where the storage path is pointing to.
There are four different storage types.
The default is frontmatter and will be used if you don’t specify a storage type.
| Storage Type | Description |
|---|---|
frontmatter (default) | The storage path points to a file and the property to a frontmatter field. |
memory | The storage path points to a file and the property to an in memory field. |
globalMemory | The storage path is not allowed and the property points to an in memory field. |
scope | The storage path is not allowed and the property extends another bind target. |
frontmatter
This refers the Obsidian’s frontmatter which is a YAML block at the top of a file.
memory
Memory is an in-memory storage that is scoped but not saved to any file. This means that values you write to a file path in the cache will be lost when nothing uses said file path for a while, or you restart Obsidian.
globalMemory
Global Memory is an in-memory storage that is not scoped and not saved to any file. Global Memory is shared between all notes and will be lost when you restart Obsidian.
2. The Storage Path
The storage path usually points to a file. If it is omitted, the current file is used.
Example
Let’s imagine we are in a note called Overview and we want our toggle not to change this note’s completion status, but the status of our task note called Task A.
This is also possible. We just need to tell the plugin to change completed in note Task A. We do this by binding to Task A#completed (file_name#frontmatter_field).
The input field declaration now looks like this.
INPUT[toggle:Task A#completed]If you have multiple notes with the same name, simply specifying the name will not be enough, as the plugin can’t figure out which one you are referring to. In that case you need to specify the full path relative to the vault root.
INPUT[toggle:path/to/Task A#completed]3. The Property
The property is the name of the field you want to bind to.
For the default storage type frontmatter, this is the name of the frontmatter property.
Properties with Spaces and Nested Properties
The plugin uses JavaScript-like syntax to access the frontmatter. This means that in order to bind to a frontmatter field with special characters such as spaces, you need to use JavaScript’s bracket syntax.
This will not work.
INPUT[toggle:is completed]But this will.
INPUT[toggle:["is completed"]]To access nested frontmatter fields, you can use a simple . or bracket syntax.
The following two examples are equivalent.
INPUT[toggle:this.is.nested]INPUT[toggle:this["is"].nested]