Field pickers overview

When you set a field in the Task Creator or Task Editor, you do not type a raw value. Operon opens a picker: a small control sized to that field. A date opens a calendar, a status opens your pipeline's stages, a color opens a palette. This page is how Operon chooses which picker to open, and where each picker is documented in full.

How Operon picks the picker

Two things decide which picker opens:

  • The field. Built-in fields each have a purpose-built picker. status opens the status picker, dateDue opens the date picker, repeat opens the recurrence picker, and so on. These are the specialized pickers.
  • The type. A field you defined yourself, a custom key, has no purpose-built picker, so Operon opens the general picker that matches its property type: a date custom key opens the date picker, a list custom key opens the list picker. See Custom field pickers.

So a built-in field is matched by name, and a custom field by its type. Every picker still reads and writes the same Markdown field underneath. See Task properties for what a property type is.

Specialized pickers and where they live

Each built-in field opens a picker built for it. The property type is noted so you know what kind of value it writes.

Field Property type Picker Page
dateDue, dateScheduled, dateStarted, dateCompleted, dateCancelled Date Date picker Date and time picker
datetimeStart, datetimeEnd, datetimeRepeatEnd Date & time Date and time picker Date and time picker
repeat Text Recurrence picker Recurrence picker
status Text Status picker Status and priority picker
priority Text Priority picker Status and priority picker
taskIcon Text Icon picker Icon picker
taskColor Text Color picker Color picker
location Text Location picker Location picker
parentTask, blocking, blockedBy, related Text and List Task link pickers Task link and list pickers
assignees, contexts, tags, links List List pickers Task link and list pickers
estimate Number Estimate picker Task link and list pickers
reminderDatetimes List Date and time picker, in add or edit mode Reminders
reminderRules List Reminder rule picker Reminder rules

The two reminder pickers are list editors

Most pickers set one value. The two reminder fields hold a list, so their pickers work on one item at a time: they open in add mode from the field's own control, and in edit mode when you click an existing reminder's chip, where they also offer to remove it. See Reminders.

The two differ in what they ask for:

  • ReminderDatetimes reuses the ordinary date and time picker, so a fixed reminder is chosen exactly like a due date, and it refuses a time in the past or one the task already covers.
  • ReminderRules is a picker of its own, and the only one that does not ask for the value it stores. You type an offset such as 1d, and it shows what that resolves to against each of the task's dates so you can pick the one you meant. It does not open at all when the task has no date to count back from. See Reminder rules.

General pickers for custom keys

A custom key opens a picker by its type, not its name. Five types are surfaced:

Property type Picker behavior
Text Free text, with suggestions from values already used.
Number A numeric entry.
Date The same date picker the built-in dates use.
Date & time The same date and time picker.
List A list picker for multiple values.

A checkbox custom key is stored but does not get a picker surface yet. The full detail is in Custom field pickers.

Suggestions before you type

With an empty search box, Parent Task, Assignees, Tags, Contexts, Task Type, and custom Text and List pickers put likely values first:

  1. A value from the most recently created task that has an eligible value for the field.
  2. A different eligible value from the most recently modified task that can supply one.
  3. The remaining values, ordered by how many tasks use them.

For a list field, each of the first two suggestions contributes only one value: the most widely used eligible item on that task. If the modified task would suggest the first value again, Operon looks for the next eligible different value. Missing suggestions are skipped, and no value appears twice.

The counts include all indexed tasks, including completed and cancelled tasks, with each task counted once per value. Equal counts keep the picker's existing order. Already selected or otherwise unavailable values remain excluded by the picker's usual rules. This is based on task data, not a history of picker clicks; a modified date does not mean the field itself was just selected.

Start typing and the normal search rules take over. Clear the search, including any remaining spaces, to return to this order. The first result is active, so you can use the arrow keys and Enter without typing. There are no extra groups or labels to navigate.

Date, Date & time, Status, Priority, Links, Related, dependency pickers, and preset or filter choosers keep their existing order. See Task link and list pickers and Custom field pickers for the field-specific behavior.

Why this matters

Knowing the field-to-picker rule explains the whole editing experience: why a custom date key behaves exactly like a built-in due date, why a list key lets you add several values, and why setting a type on a custom key decides how you will fill it. Choose a custom key's type with the picker you want in mind. See Custom keys.