Let us use more complicated data types for table variables than just text and numbers

[jthi]

What inspired this wish list request? 

Table variables are nice place to store information which users can then access as table variable or use in formulas. Currently we are limited to text and numeric values which limits the usage and requires workarounds

save matrix as table variable? 

What is the improvement you would like to see?

I would like that Table Variables would support all JMP data types (or at least lists, matrices and associative arrays). Currently we have to use workaround where we convert these into string and then back to the original datatype using Parse()

Names Default To Here(1);
dt = Open("$SAMPLE_DATA/Big Class.jmp");
dt << New Table Variable("Day_mat", Char([42 43]));

m = Parse(:Day_mat);

Why is this idea important?

Makes table variables more useful without the requirement to use workarounds which might or might not work.

[nikles]

Thanks for submitting this wish @jthi .  I would add that the provided workaround of saving the matrix as a string (or alternatively saving the matrix as a jsl table script), means the value is essentially being saved to the table as text.  For very large matrices, my concern with either method is that this could result in greatly increasing the disk space needed for each table, and the corresponding load/save times.  I have not confirmed if that is really an issue, but it seems plausible.  Therefore, I too would like to see the ability to save matrices, lists, and associative arrays as table variables.

[hogi]

application case of (nested) associative arrays: store metadata when concatenating multiple input files

related wish:
General information about table