The Column Dialog() function has been downgraded in importance in favor of using a New Window. Here is an example of one way to choose columns and to pass them to a Platform. This example is taken from
Help==>Books==>Scripting Guide, page 445
dt = Open( "$SAMPLE_DATA/Big Class.jmp" );
xvar = .;
yvar = .;
win = New Window( "Return Values",
<<Modal,
<<On Validate(
// require the user to select two variables before clicking OK
Show( xvar, yvar );
If( Is Missing( xvar ) | Is Missing( yvar ),
0, // if xvar or yvar are missing, do nothing when OK is clicked
1
);
),
Text Box( " Select two numeric columns. " ),
H List Box(
Text Box( " X, Factor " ),
x = Col List Box(
dt, // data table reference
all, // display all columns from the data table
xvar = (x << Get Selected)[1];
// get the name of the selected column before the window closes
Show( xvar );
),
Text Box( "Y, Response" ),
y = Col List Box(
dt,
all,
yvar = (y << Get Selected)[1];
Show( yvar );
)
)
);
xcol = Column( dt, xvar ); // get the columns
ycol = Column( dt, yvar );
dt << Bivariate( Y( ycol ), X( xcol ) ); // create a Bivariate plot
Jim