Can I chart in Numbers using AppleScript

Question

I have just started learning AppleScript so that I can automate some business processes and save myself some time. Because of better design and ease of use I use the latest version of iWork and don't even have Office installed on my Mac, nor do I want to install it. However, one area I cannot work out is how to automate the creation of a chart in Numbers using AppleScript.
Is this possible? If so, how, and if not, why not?

Answer 1

Answering questions like : how may we do this or that, is what we are supposed to try to achieve in this forum.
Answering questions like yours : why this or that, can't be seriously done here.
Here you ask to end users like you. We don't belong to the teams designing the apps.
We just may try to guess.
To build tables and charts Pages and Numbers share the same pieces of code so there is no technical reasons able to explain the omission.
So I guess that, as Pages is in its 4th version, designers had more time available to embed features in the AppleScript support than those working upon Numbers.
What's funny is that there is a minimal support for charts in Pages (as well as a microscopic support for tables) but there is a correct support for tables (which may be enhanced) in Numbers but nothing for charts.
Honestly, I really don't think that the difference is huge.
I posted my script too fast.
I forgot to insert the handler allowing us to bring a sheet at front which is required to apply GUIScripting.
It's probably the main drawback of the need to use GUIScripting here.
I don't waste time trying to apply some edit tasks to the charts.
I just wanted to fill the gap between Pages and Numbers about scripting charts.
Here is an enhanced version.
--{code}
--[SCRIPT add_charts]
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France)
2011/08/27
on run
          my activateGUIscripting()
          tell application "Numbers" to tell document 1
                    set dName to its name
                    set sName1 to name of sheet 1
                    set sName2 to name of sheet 2
Select sheet 1 of document 1
The doc name may be passed by a number but the sheet must be identified by its name .
As it's just a sample, in the first call I reference the doc by its index *)
                    my selectSheet(1, sName1)
                    tell sheet sName1 to tell table 1
Always define the selection before creating a chart *)
                              set selection range to range (name of cell 4 of column 2 & " : " & name of cell 8 of column 3)
                              my selectSubMenu("Numbers", 5, 4, 9) -- Scatter chart
Always define the selection before creating a chart *)
                              set selection range to range (name of cell 4 of column 2 & " : " & name of cell 8 of column 3)
                              my selectSubMenu("Numbers", 5, 4, 3) -- Bars
Always define the selection before creating a chart *)
                              set selection range to range (name of cell 4 of column 2 & " : " & name of cell 8 of column 3)
                              my selectSubMenu("Numbers", 5, 4, 4) -- Stacked Bars
Always define the selection before creating a chart *)
                              set selection range to range (name of cell 4 of column 3 & " : " & name of cell 8 of column 3)
                              my selectSubMenu("Numbers", 5, 4, 20) -- 3D Pie
                    end tell
Select sheet 2 of document 1
This time, I reference the document by its name *)
                    my selectSheet(dName, sName2)
                    tell sheet sName2 to tell table 1
Always define the selection before creating a chart *)
                              set selection range to range (name of cell 4 of column 2 & " : " & name of cell 8 of column 3)
                              my selectSubMenu("Numbers", 5, 4, 9) -- Scatter chart
Always define the selection before creating a chart *)
                              set selection range to range (name of cell 4 of column 2 & " : " & name of cell 8 of column 3)
                              my selectSubMenu("Numbers", 5, 4, 3) -- Bars
Always define the selection before creating a chart *)
                              set selection range to range (name of cell 4 of column 2 & " : " & name of cell 8 of column 3)
                              my selectSubMenu("Numbers", 5, 4, 4) -- Stacked Bars
Always define the selection before creating a chart *)
                              set selection range to range (name of cell 4 of column 3 & " : " & name of cell 8 of column 3)
                              my selectSubMenu("Numbers", 5, 4, 20) -- 3D Pie
                    end tell --sheet 2…
          end tell -- Numbers…
end run
--=====
on parleAnglais()
          local z
          try
                    tell application "Numbers" to set z to localized string "Cancel"
          on error
                    set z to "Cancel"
          end try
          return (z is not "Annuler")
end parleAnglais
--=====
on activateGUIscripting()
  (* to be sure than GUI scripting will be active *)
          tell application "System Events"
                    if not (UI elements enabled) then set (UI elements enabled) to true
          end tell
end activateGUIscripting
--=====
==== Uses GUIscripting ====
on selectSheet(theDoc, theSheet)
          script myScript
                    property listeObjets : {}
                    local maybe, targetSheetRow
                    tell application "Numbers"
  activate
                              set theDoc to name of document theDoc (* useful if the passed value is a number *)
                              tell document theDoc to set my listeObjets to name of sheets
                    end tell -- "Numbers"…
                    set maybe to theSheet is in my listeObjets
                    set my listeObjets to {} -- So it will not be saved in the script *)
                    if not maybe then
                              if my parleAnglais() then
                                        error "The sheet “" & theSheet & "” is unavailable in the spreadsheet “" & theDoc & "” !"
                              else
                                        error "La feuille « " & theSheet & " » n’existe pas dans le tableur « " & theDoc & " » ! "
                              end if -- my parleAnglais
                    end if -- not maybe
                    set maybe to 5 > (system attribute "sys2")
                    tell application "System Events" to tell application process "Numbers"
                              tell outline 1 of scroll area 1 of splitter group 1 of splitter group 1 of window theDoc
                                        if maybe then (* macOS X 10.4.x
'(value of attributes contains 0)': '(value of attribute "AXDisclosureLevel" is 0)' sometimes works in Tiger, sometimes not.
The only possible instances of 0 amongst the attributes are the disclosure level of a sheet row and the index of the first row, which represents a sheet anyway.
Another possibility is '(value of attribute -1 is 0)', which makes me uneasy. *)
                                                  set targetSheetRow to first row where ((value of attributes contains 0) and (value of first static text is theSheet))
                                        else (* macOS X 10.5.x or higher *)
                                                  set targetSheetRow to first row where ((value of attribute "AXDisclosureLevel" is 0) and ((groups is {}) and (value of first static text is theSheet)) or (value of first group's first static text is theSheet))
                                        end if -- maybe…
Handler modified to accomodate sheets requiring a lot of time to get the focus
                                        tell targetSheetRow to set value of attribute "AXSelected" to true
                                        set cnt to 0
                                        repeat (*
Must way that Numbers becomes ready to receive the value *)
                                                  try
                                                            tell targetSheetRow to set value of attribute "AXDisclosing" to true
                                                            exit repeat
                                                  on error
                                                            set cnt to cnt + 1
  delay 0.5 -- half a second
                                                  end try
                                        end repeat
                              end tell -- outline…
                    end tell -- "System Events"…
                    tell application "Numbers" to tell document theDoc to tell sheet theSheet to tell table 1
                              with timeout of 20 * 60 seconds (*
WITH this setting, the script will be able to wait 20 minutes for the asked value.
I hope that the document will not be so huge that this delay prove to be too short. *)
                                        value of cell "A1"
                              end timeout
                    end tell -- "Numbers"…
                    tell application "System Events" to tell application process "Numbers" (*
Do the trick one more time to be sure that the sheet is open *)
                              tell targetSheetRow to set value of attribute "AXDisclosing" to true
                    end tell -- "System Events"…
End of the modified piece of code
          end script
  run myScript
end selectSheet
--=====
my selectSubMenu("Pages",6, 4, 26)
==== Uses GUIscripting ====
on selectSubMenu(theApp, mt, mi, ms)
          tell application theApp
  activate
                    tell application "System Events" to tell process theApp to tell menu bar 1 to ¬
                              tell menu bar item mt to tell menu 1 to tell menu item mi to tell menu 1 to click menu item ms
          end tell -- application theApp
end selectSubMenu
--=====
useful to get the indexs of the triggered item
my select_SubMenu("Numbers", 6, 4, 3) (* Table > Chart> Bars *)
on select_SubMenu(theApp, mt, mi, ms)
          tell application theApp
  activate
                    tell application "System Events" to tell process theApp to tell menu bar 1
                              get name of menu bar items
01 - "Apple",
02 - "Numbers",
03 - "Fichier",
04 - "Édition",
05 - "Insertion",
06 - "Tableau",
07 - "Format",
08 - "Disposition",
09 - "Présentation",
10 - "Fenêtre",
11 - "Partage",
12 - "Aide"}
                              get name of menu bar item mt
  -- {"Tableau"}
                              tell menu bar item mt to tell menu 1
                                        get name of menu items
01 - "Feuille",
02 -  missing value,
03 - "Tableau",
04 - "Graphique",
05 - "Figure",
06 - "Zone de texte",
07 - "Fonction",
08 - "Ligne de connexion",
09 - missing value,
10 - "Remplissage",
11 - missing value,
12 - "Rangs copiés",
13 - "Colonnes copiées",
14 - missing value,
15 - "Date et heure",
16 - "Nom du fichier",
17 - "Numéro de page",
18 - "Nombre de pages",
19 - missing value,
20 - "Commentaire",
21 - "Lien",
22 - "Saut de colonne",
23 - "Équation MathType",
24 - missing value,
25 - "Choisir…"}
                                        get name of menu item mi
  --> "Graphique"
                                        tell menu item mi to tell menu 1
                                                  get name of menu items
01 - "Colonnes",
02 - "Colonnes empilées",
03 - "Barres",
04 - "Barres empilées",
05 - "Ligne",
06 - "Couches",
07 - "Couches empilées",
08 - "Diagramme circulaire",
09 - "Nuage de points",
10 - "Mixte",
11 - "2 axes",
12 - missing value,
13 - "Colonnes 3D",
14 - "Colonnes 3D empilées",
15 - "Barres 3D",
16 - "Barres 3D empilées",
17  - "Linéaire 3D",
18 - "Couches 3D",
19 - "Couches 3D empilées",
20 - "Circulaire 3D"}
                                                  get name of menu item ms
  --> "Barres"
  click menu item ms
                                        end tell
                              end tell
                    end tell
          end tell -- application theApp
end select_SubMenu
--=====
--[/SCRIPT]
--{code}
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) samedi 27 août 2011 15:19:15
iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.0
My iDisk is : <http://public.me.com/koenigyvan>
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