Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

hogi — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 19:04:51 GMT

JMP has 1 million cool features which allow the user to analyze the data at warp speed.
There are just a few tiny traps. They are less annoying for users who know where they are hidden.
→ Let's make a map! - and stay away from the dangerous places.

[More Topic Containers like this one]

Topic:	additional info	v18	V19	V20
Graph Builder and Reports
	TS-00034150 actually, not just an issue with histograms ...	X	X	X
not possible to create plots with same size of the plot area (e.g. for export to PowerPoint + smooth transitions from page to page)	TS-00076249	X	X	X
In Jmp it is not "as easy as" in Excel to overlay plots from different columns / data tables	workaround	X	X	X
the colors in Graph Builder differ from the color settings in other platforms	workaround: use another color scheme, e.g. JMP Blue Red Green	X	X	X
The size of xGroup/yGroup/Wrap labels can NOT be changed interactively.	to cycle through differet size settings, use on the	X	X	X
	workaround: For each column, manually add a separate plot element.	X	X	X
bug when selecting blocks of entries in the legend	https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discussions/Some-Tricks-with-Parallel-Y-Axes/m-p/913495/highlight/true#M107341	X	X	X
options for "order by" in Graph Builder	significant change of the ordering behavior from JMP18 to JMP19. The new one is more "correct" - but "useless".	X	X	X


Data Tables
Collisions when several users work on a file stored in Sharepoint.		X	X	X
blocked data tables: it's not possible to sort a table, to concatenate tables or to add rows if a linked subset or a report is open		X	X	X
some platforms don't allow pivate(0)	TS-00127556	X	X	X
formula column with contains doesn't get updated https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discussions/Differentiate-between-entire-column-and-current-row/m-p/677713/highlight/true#M86406	TS-00053745 what's the reason behind this issue?	X	X	X
When a column data type is changed, e.g. from character to numeric, non matching entries get lost		X	X	X
Text to Columns differs from Text to Columns in MS Excel: groups of separators are treated as a single one -> empty data leads to shifted data (!)	[actually, the Jmp version is also very useful!]	X	X	X
	TS-00053519	X	X	X
A collision between localized/translated column names and default column names can lead to a	TS-00176113	X	X	X
no PRIVATE option for MFI	Private option for Import Multiple Files	X	X	X

Application Builder
		X	X	X

JSL
COl N Unique() expects a column as first argument. This requirement is not there for other Col ... functions.	TS-00216935 doesn't work: New Column( "bug1", Formula( Col N Unique( Col Max( :height, :age ) ) ))		X	✔
other bugs of (in combination with Scoping)			X	✔
The Where() and Contains() functions are not compatible	https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discussions/Select-rows-where-column-values-match-items-in-an-arbitrary-list/m-p/769072/highlight/true#M94951 TS-00225505	X	X	X
JSL Debugger: doesn't show local variables		X	X	X
inserting an expression into the same kind of expression flattens the expression	TS-00076135	X	X	X
When column names are changed, table scripts get updated automatically (so cool!!!) - but other scripts don't get updated		X	X	X
By default, the first >full< Week of Year(...) is #2, therefore, Week of year (dateDMY(31,12,2023))=54! --> use	Calculating-WEEKOFYEAR-for-weeks-that-start-on-a-day-other-than/m-p/714426/highlight/true#M89773	X	X	X
Informat("XX.YY.year") and File import (!!!) assume "month.day.year" for XX.yy.zzzz with xx ≤ 13 (!)	for informat, use Format Pattern option! for file import, vote here:	X	X	X
Date Increment converts missing to 0! Date Increment(., "Week", 0) = 01Jan0000;	harmful because Graph builder uses this trick for its date binning: TS-00147884	X	X	✔

	TS-00235515 TS-00235798	X	X	X

Namespaces
	root variable to globalize the namespace + local variable to get access from within a project	X	X	X
is namespace() is 1 for deleted namespaces namespace exists(ns) is 1 even if ns is no namespace		X	X	X
Formula Column + Namespaces re-evaluation is triggered every time a cell is selected.	Workaround:	X	X	X

Jmp in general
... it can lead to unpredictable results	TS-00043014	X	X	X
-> slow!	TS-00128387	X	X	X
- not working on Windows	TS-00275926	X	X	X

old traps which got fixed in the meantime:

JMP - New Features and Release Notes

Graph Builder	fixed in Jmp
	v17.2
	v18
	v18
	v18
	v18
TS-00044559	v18.1
	v18.2.2

Data Tables
	v18
	v18
TS-00076052	v18
did you know that Ctrl + F doesn't work in almost 50% of the cases?	v18.1
... after copy column/ paste column TS-00127922	v18.1
Why-does-selecting-deselecting-rows-trigger-column-formulas	v18
- one cannot move a column to the top of a column group (fixed in JMP19) - a new formula column is generated outside of the group	v19
	v19
Multi File Import - File List has to be evaluated (Name filter gets automatically evaluated) further info	v19
Conflict of Compact Columns and linked tables summary table with a compact column	v18.2.2
Edit binning Formula for dates: cutpoints in seconds https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discussions/I-want-to-create-a-column-that-split-dates-into-quot-Before-quot/m-p/910006/highlight/true#M106883	v19

Data Filters
A data filter ignores all changes of the data table if "conditional" is used TS-00049919	v17.2
A data filter doesn't get updated when the column name or data type is changed TS-00053718	v18
A Data Filter gets reset if there is no row in the current data table which matches the filter setting. v19:	v19


Tabulate
	v17

JSL
fixed: Col Rank	v18
not fixed yet: Col Sum similar bug with formula column:	v19
virtual link with a wrong table reference	v18.2.2
col max(if(string comparison))	v19
additional JSL code is executed before a column formula is finished. in the log << run formulas () is added automatically	v19

Python
Python data access --> speed issue caused by collision with JMP "interactivity"	v19.0.3

JMP in General	v19
	v19

Re: Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

hogi — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 07:12:56 GMT

Actually, I think a community post is not the right place to do this, but it's a place to start.
If we keep it slim: just links to other community posts, I will try to add such links to the list on top.

Maybe we need something more professional than a community post with links?

- option to discuss individual topics (for now, please do this in the linked post)

- option to sort and restrict the list (e.g. select just Table issues > Jmp v17.1)
- possibility for more / (all ?) user to edit the list

Re: Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

WebDesignesCrow — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 06:13:35 GMT

I think it is still good to have someone summarize/recap the discussion (that's how I learn of certain things that may not be an interest now but can be useful for future projects).

So I have to thank your effort here.

Re: Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

Florian_Vogt — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 08:58:32 GMT

Great work, Holger @hogi :)

Re: Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

hogi — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:36:10 GMT

with JMP18.1, some of the issues got fixed : )

Re: Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

hogi — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 08:54:40 GMT

Some more issues were fixed with JMP19. : )

Re: Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

hogi — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 21:43:29 GMT

nice improvement in JMP19:

issue: additional JSL code is executed before a column formula is finished.
JMP19: in the log << run formulas () is added automatically. -> automatically generated code is robust against this issue.

Re: Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

hogi — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 21:41:12 GMT

JMP 19.0.3

Bugfix for:
Python data access --> speed issue caused by collision with JMP "interactivity"
Python in JMP: dataframe column to datatable column best practices and computation speed implication...

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Tiny Traps in Jmp and JSL

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