# Formatting time stamp in Perspective View Table **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** perspective\ **Created:** [July 11, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/formatting-time-stamp-in-perspective-view-table/93095 "2024-07-11T16:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wdfus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/848f3c/32.png) [@wdfus](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/wdfus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/formatting-time-stamp-in-perspective-view-table/93095/1 "2024-07-11T16:05:22Z")
I have a couple of tables and I simply wish to format the time stamp to a human readable form. Gemini and ChatGPT are usually pretty good but they both have failed me this time as none of the simple suggestions have worked. The table has a tag history binding that returns a single string representing a recipe name and a time stamp. As an added bonus, an easy way to rename the columns would be nice. From what I can determine the time stamp is not an actual column because when I added two columns manually they both affect the recipe name column but not the time stamp. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/9/9/99d77e46d4b372f2f2a1ce339d644427ad5d72c4.png) ---
**Author:** ![djs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@djs](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/djs)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/formatting-time-stamp-in-perspective-view-table/93095/2 "2024-07-11T16:36:52Z")
You'll want to add the columns under the `columns` prop with the field that matches your header name in the dataset. From there, you can specify that the column should render as a date, as well as specify the date format. You can also choose to render a different label for the header. Oftentimes it helps to read the documentation. You'll find the answers in these pages: > **[Perspective - Table | Ignition User Manual](https://www.docs.inductiveautomation.com/docs/8.1/appendix/components/perspective-components/perspective-display-palette/perspective-table)** > > The Table component displays database data in tabular form. > **[Table Column Configurations | Ignition User Manual](https://www.docs.inductiveautomation.com/docs/8.1/appendix/components/perspective-components/perspective-display-palette/perspective-table/table-column-configurations#changing-applied-formatting)** > > This page contains examples that involve making changes to a table component's columns property. ---
**Author:** ![wdfus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/848f3c/32.png) [@wdfus](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/wdfus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/formatting-time-stamp-in-perspective-view-table/93095/3 "2024-07-12T13:48:25Z")
When you ask a question from AI it will often just point to a useful page in the manual but it leaves out the snarky comment that humans seem to need. They should use that property to test for bots. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 1:57pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/formatting-time-stamp-in-perspective-view-table/93095/4 "2024-07-12T13:57:18Z")
> [@wdfus](#): > > Gemini and ChatGPT are usually pretty good Ignition is too niche for LLMs to provide useful responses. Posting content from an LLM **here** is discouraged for that reason--see [this forum's rules](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/faq). ---
**Author:** ![wdfus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/848f3c/32.png) [@wdfus](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/wdfus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/formatting-time-stamp-in-perspective-view-table/93095/5 "2024-07-12T14:04:39Z")
Thanks for the answer, no matter how painful it was. It's counter-intuitive to add columns for ones that already exist, though I get it now. Everything is simple once done. I'm just thinking it should auto-populate that from the binding. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/1/8/186d66a40d9d65c76f9bc0e9de9a5b0fdfd1ca5f.png) ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/formatting-time-stamp-in-perspective-view-table/93095/6 "2024-07-12T14:20:37Z")
> [@wdfus](#): > > I'm just thinking it should auto-populate that from the binding. It does, if left completely empty. But that auto-populated `props.columns` is simply the defaults for everything. Which doesn't get the behavior you need for this case. You can write your own binding on `props.columns` to customize dynamically if necessary, reading the column names and data types out of a dataset. Be aware that the table **in the browser** is working from a JSON representation of the dataset, whether your binding specified it or not. ---
**Author:** ![djs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@djs](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/djs)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/formatting-time-stamp-in-perspective-view-table/93095/7 "2024-07-12T18:24:59Z")
I apologize for any snarkiness in my response. It wasn't meant to painful. I simply wanted to point out that Ignition is relatively well documented, and its manual is therefore quite helpful. Because (as @pturmel said) Ignition is too niche for AI, as an alternative, the manual is a great place to go. I personally use it all almost every day when developing.