The Col List Box() display object is probably the best item to use to request input from a user on what columns to process. Here is the entry from the Scripting Index
The example creates a display window that allows for the selection of columns from the data table
From there, you can add instructions and also collect the selected columns to be processed
Names Default To Here( 1 );
dt = Open( "$SAMPLE_DATA/Big Class.jmp" );
New Window( "Select Columns",
text box("Select Columns that need to be converted to numeric/continuous"),
Col List Box( all, width( 250 ), maxSelected( 1 ) ),
lb = Col List Box(),
button box("OK",
selected columns = lb << get items
)
);
Above the selected columns are placed into a JMP list called "selected columns" when the OK button is pressed. You can also add to the button box, the simple looping through the values in the selected columns list, add change the Data Types and Modeling Types.
Jim