Retain data when column data type is changed

[ih]

When a column data type is changed, for example from character to numeric, make it possible to access the original data that was in that column, perhaps by storing a column script to revert that column.  This would alleviate several pain points:

• Column is changed from character to numeric but user doesn't notice that a few values were set to missing until later in analysis.
• User changes column from character to numeric, realizes it is wrong, tries to change it back, and then is missing data.  They might or might not notice this now, but even if they do it is not obvious and very inconvenient that they need to keep hitting undo to fix it.
• Data is automatically typed as numeric or character when it should have retained is original format, as in this post: Stop JMP from trimming whitespace 

[nao]

I assume Character Columns are frequently converted to Numeric ones, often leading to issues including the one described here.

I would suggest:

1. When a Character Column is converted to a Numeric Column, a warning should be displayed, saying "This will cause an irreversible change. Data in XXX out of XXX rows will be set to missing because of non-missing but non-numeric data. Will you rather create a New Numeric Column?"

2. Provide a GUI option, preferably with a corresponding JSL function, to create a new Numeric Column along with another Numeric (binary) Column indicating whether the Character data has been converted to a number. (For example, 1=Character string has been converted to number, 0=Character string present but not converted to number, .=Null string, etc.) Coloring cells may also be useful.

3. When a Character Column is converted or a text data is loaded, provide an option to let JMP "smartly" select the optimal number of subdecimal digits to be displayed (Format - Fixed Dec).

4. Stop interpreting "x.x.x" Character strings (three numbers separated with periods) as numbers, unless it is explicitly demanded by the user.

[Sarah-Sylvestre]

Hi @ih, thank you for your suggestion! We have captured your request and will take it under consideration.