How to convert SQL Server's timestamp column to datetime format

In SQL Server, the timestamp (or rowversion) column is not a datetime value. It is a binary value used for versioning rows. If you need to convert it to a human-readable datetime format, you need to store and work with an actual datetime column instead of timestamp.

However, if you're dealing with a Unix timestamp stored as an integer or bigint, you can convert it to a readable date format in JavaScript. Here's how:

🔹 Convert SQL Server Unix Timestamp to JavaScript Date

If the timestamp column contains a Unix timestamp (seconds since 1970-01-01), you can use JavaScript's Date object:

let sqlTimestamp = 1709750400; // Example: Unix timestamp (seconds)
let date = new Date(sqlTimestamp * 1000); // Convert to milliseconds

console.log(date.toISOString()); // ✅ Output: "2024-03-06T00:00:00.000Z"
console.log(date.toLocaleString()); // ✅ Output: Local date format

✔ Multiply by 1000 since JavaScript uses milliseconds, while Unix timestamps are in seconds.

🔹 Convert Binary timestamp (rowversion) to Datetime

If your timestamp column is a binary value, it cannot be directly converted to a datetime. Instead, ensure you have a separate DATETIME column in SQL Server.

Example SQL:

ALTER TABLE your_table ADD created_at DATETIME DEFAULT GETDATE();

Then, query the created_at column instead of the timestamp.

🔹 Fetch SQL Server Datetime in JavaScript

If your database column is a DATETIME or DATETIME2, JavaScript will receive it as a string. You can convert it into a Date object easily:

let sqlDatetime = "2024-03-06 14:30:00"; // Example SQL DATETIME string
let date = new Date(sqlDatetime);

console.log(date.toISOString()); // ✅ Output: "2024-03-06T14:30:00.000Z"
console.log(date.toLocaleString()); // ✅ Local format

🎯 Summary

✔ timestamp in SQL Server is not a date—use DATETIME instead.
✔ If dealing with a Unix timestamp, multiply by 1000 to convert to milliseconds.
✔ If working with a SQL Server DATETIME column, JavaScript can parse it directly.

🚀 Let me know if you need more details! 😊