When developing a Visualforce page for overiding view page for any object, one problem that creeps up is to display the History details of a record. The standard related list Component doesn't works for History.

With the help of some code from Community ( I now can't find the link to it :( ), I wrote my own code  then to display the history of an object. It mimics the standard list as far as possible.  

Heres the code. It is for the Case object but it can be used for any other object.

 1.Component Code

<apex:component controller="CaseHistoriesComponentController">
<!-- Attribute Definition -->
<apex:attribute name="CaseId" description="Salesforce Id of the Case whose Case History needs to be rendered" type="Id" required="true" assignTo="{!caseId}" />

<!-- Case History Related List -->
<apex:pageBlock title="Case History">
<apex:pageBlockTable value="{!histories}" var="History" >
<apex:column headerValue="Date" value="{!History.thedate}"/>
<apex:column headerValue="User"> <apex:outputLink value="/{!History.userId}"> {!History.who} </apex:outputLink></apex:column>
<apex:column headerValue="Action"><apex:outputText escape="false" value="{!History.action}"/></apex:column>
</apex:pageBlockTable>
</apex:pageBlock>
</apex:component>

2. Apex Code

public class CaseHistoriesComponentController {

public Id caseId {get; set;}
public cHistories[] histories;

// Variables
public Static final Map<String, Schema.SObjectField> CaseFieldmap = Schema.SObjectType.Case.fields.getMap();
public Static final List<Schema.PicklistEntry> fieldPicklistValues = CaseHistory.Field.getDescribe().getPicklistValues();

public List<cHistories> getHistories()
{
list<cHistories> histories = new list<cHistories>();
String prevDate = '';
for(CaseHistory cHistory : [Select CreatedDate, CreatedBy.Name, CreatedBy.Id, Field, NewValue, OldValue from CaseHistory where CaseId = :caseId order by CreatedDate desc])
{
if((cHistory.newValue == null && cHistory.oldValue == null)
|| (cHistory.newValue != null && !(string.valueOf(cHistory.newValue).startsWith('005') || string.valueOf(cHistory.newValue).startsWith('00G')))
|| (cHistory.oldValue != null && !(string.valueOf(cHistory.oldValue).startsWith('005') || string.valueOf(cHistory.oldValue).startsWith('00G'))))
{
cHistories tempHistory = new cHistories();
// Set the Date and who performed the action
if(String.valueOf(cHistory.CreatedDate) != prevDate)
{
tempHistory.theDate = String.valueOf(cHistory.CreatedDate);
tempHistory.who = cHistory.CreatedBy.Name;
tempHistory.userId = cHistory.CreatedBy.Id;
}
else
{
tempHistory.theDate = '';
tempHistory.who = '';
tempHistory.userId = cHistory.CreatedBy.Id;
}
prevDate = String.valueOf(cHistory.CreatedDate);

// Get the field label
String fieldLabel = CaseHistoriesComponentController.returnFieldLabel(String.valueOf(cHistory.Field));

// Set the Action value
if (String.valueOf(cHistory.Field) == 'created') { // on Creation
tempHistory.action = 'Created.';
}
else if(cHistory.OldValue != null && cHistory.NewValue == null){ // when deleting a value from a field
// Format the Date and if there's an error, catch it and re
try {
tempHistory.action = 'Deleted ' + Date.valueOf(cHistory.OldValue).format() + ' in <b>' + fieldLabel + '</b>.';
} catch (Exception e){
tempHistory.action = 'Deleted ' + String.valueOf(cHistory.OldValue) + ' in <b>' + fieldLabel + '</b>.';
}
}
else{ // all other scenarios
String fromText = '';
if (cHistory.OldValue != null) {
try {
fromText = ' from ' + Date.valueOf(cHistory.OldValue).format();
} catch (Exception e) {
fromText = ' from ' + String.valueOf(cHistory.OldValue);
}
}

String toText = '';
if (cHistory.OldValue != null) {
try {
toText = Date.valueOf(cHistory.NewValue).format();
} catch (Exception e) {
toText = String.valueOf(cHistory.NewValue);
}
}
if(toText != '')
tempHistory.action = 'Changed <b>' + fieldLabel + '</b>' + fromText + ' to <b>' + toText + '</b>.';
else
tempHistory.action = 'Changed <b>' + fieldLabel;
}

// Add to the list
histories.add(tempHistory);
}
}

return histories;
}

// Function to return Field Label of a Case field given a Field API name
public Static String returnFieldLabel(String fieldName)
{
if(CaseHistoriesComponentController.CaseFieldmap.containsKey(fieldName))
return CaseHistoriesComponentController.CaseFieldmap.get(fieldName).getDescribe().getLabel();
else
{
for(Schema.PicklistEntry pickList : fieldPicklistValues)
{
if(pickList.getValue() == fieldName)
{
if(pickList.getLabel() != null)
return pickList.getLabel();
else
return pickList.getValue();
}
}
}
return '';
}
// Inner Class to store the detail of the case histories
public class cHistories {

public String theDate {get; set;}
public String who {get; set;}
public Id userId {get; set;}
public String action {get; set;}
}
}

  Let me know your views on the code or if you have any questions