Parser Performance: Use Obsidian's cache instead of parsing the markdown manually

This is just to track and discuss a great idea which was hidden in a user comment in the following post:

https://github.com/blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview/issues/811#issuecomment-1024369351

In short:

• Obsidian already has a very detailed cache describing the markdown contents and structure of all documents.
• There are still some things that Dataview needs to parse manually (such as its inline Key:: value support), but most of the data that Dataview needs is already cached by Obsidian.
• The Obsidian cache contains values such as all frontmatter variables, all chunks, lists, status of tasks, all section headers, all tags, etc.
• It may therefore be possible to use that cache instead, to massively speed up Dataview’s scanning. Especially on mobile, where it has been reported that Dataview runs very slowly https://github.com/blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview/issues/602
• If Obsidian’s cache is enabled, there may have to be a Dataview toggle which lets the user know that “using the Obsidian cache disables Key:: value support”, since that data doesn’t exist in Obsidian’s own cache. But pretty much all other values Dataview wants exists in their pre-built cache.

[Bananaman]

Found this detailed guide for debugging Obsidian Mobile:

https://keathmilligan.net/obsidian-plugin-cross-platform-testing#mobile-testing

[blacksmithgu]

It’s a good question - I’m a chronic laptop user and so I don’t use Obsidian Mobile enough to be able to even guess at performance bottlenecks. I guess it’s time to actually install my own plugin on a phone and see if I can attach chrome debugging tools to it.