# Incoherence in tag's timestamp when set "manually"

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/incoherence-in-tags-timestamp-when-set-manually/95888>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [September 12, 2024, 8:16am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/incoherence-in-tags-timestamp-when-set-manually/95888 "2024-09-12T08:16:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pascal.fragnoud](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pascal.fragnoud/32/24728_2.png) [@pascal.fragnoud](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pascal.fragnoud)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 8:16am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/incoherence-in-tags-timestamp-when-set-manually/95888/1 "2024-09-12T08:16:39Z")

</div>

Hello folks,

I'm setting a memory tag using a `BasicQualifiedValue`, to force its quality and timestamp.  
Basically, something like that:

```python
qval = BasicQualifiedValue(val, qual, timestamp)
system.tag.writeBlocking([path], [qval])

```

I do get the proper timestamp in the tag browser, ie:  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/9/c/9c1f10d0e473e4f7e8cbf1dbb4a07873267b649a.png)

and when reading that timestamp specifically with

```python
system.tag.readBlocking(["path.timestamp"])[0].value
>>> Fri Dec 15 06:15:00 CET 2023

```

but reading the timestamp of the value shows what I assume was the time when the tag was written:

```python
system.tag.readBlocking(["path"])[0].timestamp
>>> Thu Sep 12 10:05:14 CEST 2024

```

So, basically, `tag.timestamp != tag.timestamp.value`,  
That's highly unintuitive and had me scratch my head a while, wondering why I got different results when script-reading the tag and just looking at it in the tag browser.

edit:  
Hm, it appears I got it wrong.  
The tag in question was named "value", in an udt instance, and I was reading `path/to/udt.value` instead of `path/to/udt/value`.

Nevermind. Leaving this here anyway because it's always good to be reminded how easy it is to mess things up !