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abdul_saqib
Level III

how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Hi,

 

In one of the Data Table columns in JMP, I want to have both, text (e.g, WAITING) and numbers in different rows of the same column. However, when I try to write text in a cell it says that data type is not correct.

 

Is there a straightforward solution please? (straightforward = using clicks, not programming).

 

Thanks

 

2 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

Accepted Solutions
abdul_saqib
Level III

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Good suggestion Jeff.

 

I used 0 instead of WAITING which made it possible to color rows based on this. Also, an additional column can be created to convert 0 back into WAITING using the logical 'if' formula. Thanks

View solution in original post

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Enter a period (".") character (without double quotation marks) as the value to represent missing and "WAITING" for the label.

Capture.PNG

The values now appear as text in the data column (left justified) but they still had the numeric data type and the continuous modeling type.

Capture.PNG

View solution in original post

15 REPLIES 15
Craige_Hales
Super User

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Yes, make the column be a character column, which can hold character strings that look like numbers.

Right-click in the column header->column properties, change Numeric to Character.

Numbers represented as character strings may not behave the way you expect. Sorting, in particular, makes "9.2" > "1000.0" because the first character, "9" is bigger than "1".

Craige
abdul_saqib
Level III

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Thanks Craig.

 

Changing the column property to Text resulted in the loss of 'Row marking by column' (the color assigned to different rows). Whereas, I want to assign colour to rows based on both the numbers and the text in the reference column.

 

Thanks

 

txnelson
Super User

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Rather than changing the column to a character modeleing type, you can specify the column property "Value Labels" to have specific falues displayed as a character string.  You can either specify specific values to be displayed as specifc character strings, or you can specify ranges of values to be displayed.  Any numeric values not covered by the defined values in the Value Labels are displayed as their original values.

Jim
abdul_saqib
Level III

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Thanks for the suggestion, but didn't seem to make it work. Please see the attachment where I added WAITING = WAITING rule and still could not enter the text WAITING in the continuous column.

 

PreviewScreenSnapz002.png

Got the following message when I entered WAITING in a cell of the ‘Continuous’ column:

PreviewScreenSnapz003.png

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Enter a period (".") character (without double quotation marks) as the value to represent missing and "WAITING" for the label.

Capture.PNG

The values now appear as text in the data column (left justified) but they still had the numeric data type and the continuous modeling type.

Capture.PNG

abdul_saqib
Level III

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

It worked. Thansk Mark.

Jeff_Perkinson
Community Manager Community Manager

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

As you've discovered, a column in JMP is either Numeric or Character.

 

You said that you'd have "WAITING" or a number. Do you want to take an average of these numbers? What "number" should "WAITING" contribute to this average?

 

Perhaps you can explain what this data represents and how you'd like to analyze it, and we can help provide some more direction.

 

-Jeff
abdul_saqib
Level III

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

Good suggestion Jeff.

 

I used 0 instead of WAITING which made it possible to color rows based on this. Also, an additional column can be created to convert 0 back into WAITING using the logical 'if' formula. Thanks

txnelson
Super User

Re: how to enter both text (character) and numeric (continuous) data in the same coloumn in JMP 13.2

You may want to explore using a Missing Value, ".",  instead of a zero.  It can also be used in a logical IF clause, and as a value in Value Labels, and it has the added advantage of automatically being excluded when performing calculations on the column.

Jim