# How to manage the table component of a report when column number can change at runtime **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** perspective\ **Created:** [November 23, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-to-manage-the-table-component-of-a-report-when-column-number-can-change-at-runtime/53383 "2021-11-23T14:02:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**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:** [November 23, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-to-manage-the-table-component-of-a-report-when-column-number-can-change-at-runtime/53383/3 "2021-11-23T14:56:48Z")
This approach is probably the best you can do: > [@Dynamic Table in Reporting](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/dynamic-table-in-reporting/21397/9): > > If the formatting difference you’re looking for is the number of rows/columns in the table, and the names on the columns, this can be done, but it is a big of a slog. Here’s how I did it: In my report, I have a table with the most columns I expect I could ever need (7 in my case). That table looks for column names like ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ in the dataset it is pulling from. Some layout features of the cells like hidden and width are bound to custom report data named like ‘COL\_x\_HIDDEN’ and ‘CO… TL/DR: Reporting tables cannot have variable numbers or columns, nor variable column names. You can fake it to a certain extent by hiding columns and using other variables for the column names in the table header. Consider using a script data source to transform any given dataset to have the needed column names while populating the variables for the column headers from that given dataset. And hiding the unused columns. Good luck. --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-to-manage-the-table-component-of-a-report-when-column-number-can-change-at-runtime/53383)._