# Vision Bar Chart - Format Date in Dataset from MES Analysis Controller

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/vision-bar-chart-format-date-in-dataset-from-mes-analysis-controller/37768>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [August 16, 2020, 9:38am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/vision-bar-chart-format-date-in-dataset-from-mes-analysis-controller/37768 "2020-08-16T09:38:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bill\_S](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bill_s/32/6705_2.png) [@Bill\_S](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Bill_S)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 9:38am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/vision-bar-chart-format-date-in-dataset-from-mes-analysis-controller/37768/1 "2020-08-16T09:38:59Z")

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In Ignition 8.0.5 and MES 2.0,

I’m trying to take the output of the MES analysis controller and build a bar chart that shows production target and actual values for each hour of the shift. The only problem is that my category label is something like “Sat Aug 15 22:30:00 EDT 2020” when what I want is “22:30”.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I could reformat this data?

Apologies if this would have been better suited for the “3rd Party Modules” category.

Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bill\_S](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bill_s/32/6705_2.png) [@Bill\_S](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Bill_S)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2020, 10:15am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/vision-bar-chart-format-date-in-dataset-from-mes-analysis-controller/37768/2 "2020-08-17T10:15:19Z")

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Okay, I got this to work by copying the dataset from the MES Controller into a new dataset using system.dataset.formatDates() function. Then I copy that to a table that I make invisible, and I bound my bar chart to that table.

Was there a smarter way?