Hey all! I have a challenge from a customer that has me stumped - I think it should be simple, but it's fighting me. The challenge is as follows - Make the parallel plot show the number of members for each level of a categorical factor on the plot itself. The script below uses sample data and gets a parallel plot and the goal is to have graph builder automatically put a "20" next to the left handed entry.
Thoughts before I put this in as a feature request?
Names Default To Here( 1 );
Clear Log();
dt = Open( "$Sample_Data/Discovery US 2018 Survey.jmp" );
dt << Graph Builder(
Size( 1231, 567 ),
Show Control Panel( 0 ),
Fit to Window( "On" ),
Variables(
X( :Handedness ),
X( :Analysis, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :BBQ, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :Pie, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :Discoveries, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :OS, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :Age, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :Usage, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :Boy Band, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :DGA, Position( 1 ) ),
X( :Type, Position( 1 ) )
),
Elements(
Parallel(
X( 1 ),
X( 2 ),
X( 3 ),
X( 4 ),
X( 5 ),
X( 6 ),
X( 7 ),
X( 8 ),
X( 9 ),
X( 10 ),
X( 11 ),
Legend( 6 ),
Combine Sets( 1 )
)
)
);
don't know if there is a built-in way to do this but maybe this could work using hover labels ; added a new column and hover label for distribution for handedness.
Data Table( "Discovery US 2018 Survey.jmp" ) <<
New Column( "first", Character, "Nominal", <<SET initial="" data="https://community.jmp.com/"></SET>
Definitely closer than what I was trying - but they would want the hover label to reflect the counts for the group the cursor is currently over. (angsty-sigh)... over to the wish list...
You could manually create a new transform column in the Graph Builder column list. For each and every column, ugh. This is a bit of a hack, and would require a lot of repetition, but it might work and could be scriptable. I tried a bit of using the new Scoping features to make the formula more general, but didn't come up with a solution. You might have better results.
Jed_Campbell_0-1787153025134.pngJed_Campbell_0-1787153025134.pngJed_Campbell_0-1787153025134.pngJed_Campbell_0-1787153025134.png
That's the closest... but yeah... tedious for many columns. I put in a request in the wishlist - give it a thumbs up if you feel so inclined!: Add count labels to parallel plots in graph builder.
It's not a fix for the root issue here (glad you added it to the wish list -- this should be easy for users without additional work) but I wanted to mention that multiple column formulas (introduced in 18) will let you make all those formula columns @Jed_Campbell suggested at once (which is handy to know about in so many situations):
- Select all the columns you want to make formulas for in the table > right click > formula
- Select "Together" to make a formula for all of them at once
Screenshot 2026-08-26 at 7.43.05 AM.pngScreenshot 2026-08-26 at 7.43.05 AM.png
- Design your formula and use the _relative_from_COL dynamic column reference from the column sets area.
Screenshot 2026-08-26 at 7.46.42 AM.pngScreenshot 2026-08-26 at 7.46.42 AM.png
This will substitute the column reference each time the formula is made for each of the columns you have selected. For example, for the OS 2 generated column, the formula reads:
Screenshot 2026-08-26 at 7.51.15 AM.pngScreenshot 2026-08-26 at 7.51.15 AM.png
Jules
Thanks for that Jules! That does help things. I completely forgot about that capability.
