Re: Possible bug with AppScript and Excel?
Re: Possible bug with AppScript and Excel?
- Subject: Re: Possible bug with AppScript and Excel?
- From: Tommy Bollman <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:35:00 +0200
There is only on thing in your list that is correct, and that is the support for MySql which becomes rather awkward in As.
And he cross platform benefits of AS is rather non existent! Go check out Smile Lab if you need extensions, AppleScript is as a matter of fact very good at object oriented programming, supporting polymorphism. Basic things like XML and CSV is handled easily.
And given the list structure intrinsic in AppleScript you can do much "semi serious" stuff here as well, and there is a decent debugger here,
- with a price tag. Go check out for your self at late night software, I believe they give you a free 30 days trial period.
I think Python is very ok, but I think you really haven't discovered AS yet.
On 30 Jul 2010, at 13:52, Christian Prinoth wrote:
> Well, leaving aside my personal preference for Python's syntaxis as opposed
> to Applescript's, I think that the major advantage of Python is the
> availability of numerous extensions, have a look at
> http://pypi.python.org/pypi
>
> Applescript is fine for automating repetitive tasks, but I have not found
> satisfying solutions for more complex tasks.
>
> In my case, I am using python to easily access data in a mysql database,
> read in XML and CSV files, then process all this data with R (which can be
> used as a Python extension giving it a wide range of statistical tools) and
> SciPy (a matlab-like scientific module), then I display everything on Excel
> for Mac (have done it with Numbers also, but the Applescript dictionary for
> Numbers is too limited) for a nice user friendly output.
>
> Basically, python allows to easily handle complex data, doing (semi) serious
> programming stuff, and, thanks to appscript, also take advantage of all the
> Applescript goodiness provided on Os X.
>
> And, python comes with every OsX installation, so it seems natural to me to
> use it.
>
> Finally, Python is cross-platform (apart from the applescript specific
> stuff), so the investment of learning it is useful also in other contexts.
>
> I could add many other reasons (availability of a real debugger, easy and
> clear syntaxis, powerful OO features etc.)
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 13:18, Timothy Murphy <email@hidden> wrote:
>
>> Is there any particular advantage or benefits of using P+A over just
>> Applescript that you could point out?
>>
>> On 30 Jul 2010, at 10:11, Christian Prinoth wrote:
>>
>> Thanks. In fact, I think that the problem I was experiencing is in fact due
>> to AppScript (which is the python module allowing access to AppleScript
>> dictionaries from Python), and I have solved it with the approach from my
>> previous post.
>>
>> BTW, I recommend Python+AppScript to every Applescript user, it opens a
>> whole new world of possibilities ;)
>> In fact, I really hope that Apple one day makes Python an official OS X
>> scripting language by allowing direct access to IPC tools from Python or by
>> at least officially supporting AppScript.
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 02:39, Timothy Murphy <email@hidden>wrote:
>>
>>> There is a difference in approach depending on whether you are creating,
>>> or addressing, a chart as an object in a worksheet, or as a chart sheet.
>>> Charts embedded in a worksheet belong to the chart object class so, in
>>> general terms:
>>> <some code...>
>>> --::this creates the chart object itself
>>> *set* oChartObj *to* *make* new *chart object* at *end* ¬
>>> with properties{ whatever..}
>>> --::address the chart element of the object
>>> *tell* *chart* *of* oChartObj
>>> *set* chart type *to* line chart
>>> *set* newSeries *to* *make* new *series* at *end* ¬
>>> with properties {series values:¬
>>> (-*insert reference-*), xvalues:¬
>>> (-*insert reference-*), name:¬
>>> (-*insert reference-*)}
>>> --::still addressing the chart element of the object, we now address its
>>> category axis, or x axis
>>> *set* categoryAxis *to* *get axis* axis type category axis ¬
>>> which axis primary axis
>>> *tell* categoryAxis
>>> --set has title to true
>>> *set* has title *to* false
>>> *set* crosses at *to* maximum scale
>>> * end tell*
>>> --::still addressing the chart element of the object, we now address its
>>> value axis, or y axis
>>> *set* valueAxis *to* *get axis* axis type value axis ¬
>>> which axis primary axis
>>> *tell* valueAxis
>>> *set* major unit is auto *to* true
>>> *set* major tick mark *to* tick mark none --options are:¬
>>> --tick mark cross / tick mark inside / tick mark none / tick mark
>>> outside
>>> *set* minor tick mark *to* tick mark none
>>> *set* tick label position *to* tick label position high --places value
>>> labels (ie. the scale) outside the chart
>>> (*options are: tick label position high/tick label position low/tick
>>> label position next to axis/tick label position none*)
>>> *set* maximum scale *to* 1
>>> *set* minimum scale *to* 0
>>> *set* has title *to* false
>>> * **end tell*
>>> *--::End Tell -- (telling* *chart* *of* oChartObj)
>>>
>>> If you are telling a chart sheet, there is a difference:
>>> *set* myChart *to* (*make* new *chart sheet* at *end* *of* active
>>> workbook with properties {name:.....})
>>>
>>> *tell* active chart
>>> --::this line gets the data for a series
>>> *make* *its* *series* with properties {series values:-insert ref-,
>>> xvalues:-insert ref-, name:-insert ref-}
>>>
>>> *set* size with window *to* true
>>> --set chart type to line chart
>>> *set* chart type *to* xy scatter smooth
>>> * set* the_x_Axis *to* (*get axis* axis type category axis ¬
>>> which axis primary axis)
>>> *tell* the_x_Axis
>>> * set* major unit is auto *to* false --etc.etc.
>>> end tell
>>> end tell
>>>
>>> I hope this answers your question regarding Excel.
>>> Regarding Python...nfc, sorry.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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Best regards
Tommy Bollman
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