Quick questions: javelins with dueling style and natural weapon proficiency

[ThorOdinson]

The rule is not, "You are only making an attack in the exact moment you roll an attack roll." The rule is that, if you have any question about whether an action is an attack or not, you can tell that it is an attack by the fact that you make an attack roll as part of it.

Yup. But if we need to sort out what exactly counts as an attack and what doesn't we can with the rule. "Step 1: Pick a Target" is a prepatory step for an eventual attack (that specifically occurs in Step 3) but Step 1 in isolation is not an attack (since Step 1 features no attack roll).

When we consider Steps 1 to 3 collectively together we can call that making an attack, since an attack roll occurs in Step 3. But Step 1 in isolation is not an attack. Neither is step 2 in isolation an attack. Once again, this works exactly as we would expect.