Save Proto Timestamp as a string instead of object in Typescript

Question

I currently have a birthday field in my proto definition defined as

google.protobuf.Timestamp birthday = 1;

When data is saved in the database its saved as an object of nanos and seconds which is normal

"birthday":{
       "seconds":"563587200",
       "nanos":0
 }

But this date is not easily readable looking at the birthday field in the database.

Is there a way i can still use the google.protobuf.Timestamp for the birthday definition and save it in a more readable format - say an ISOString format or so. e.g 1945-11-11T00:00:00.000Z instead of an object of nanos and seconds - Something more readable

I tried this

const nanos: any = protoBirthday.nanos;
const seconds: any = protoBirthday.seconds;
const birthday: google.protobuf.Timestamp = new Date((seconds * 1000) + (nanos / 1000000)) as google.protobuf.Timestamp 

where protoBirthday is the birthday in protoTimestamp

This prints out the birthday in string format but when its saved its saved as an empty object

"birthday":{
       
 }

i want something like this, if its possible

"birthday": "1945-11-11T00:00:00.000Z"

but still using the google.protobuf.Timestamp type or if there is another way i can save it in a more readable format

Answer 1

This is very easy. For google.protobuf.Timestamp, it will convert the Datetime to seconds and nanos to reduce the transportation size.

If you want to send the ISOString JSON is using, you can just use string as the type.

change google.protobuf.Timestamp birthday = 1; to string birthday = 1;