How to update popup (drop down) cells in Numbers using Applescript

Question

I understand that the list popups (dropdown lists in cells) cannot be dynamic in Numbers.
I have the same dropdown list in multiple cells and tables, and this list often needs to be changed. Its not practical to amend one list, then copy/paste it into 200 plus cells that require the dropdown facility (they are not in sequential rows).
Can Applescript be used to do the copy/paste function, as i could specify the cell ranges. My simple attempt only managed to copy/paste the cell values rather than the dropdown/popup list.
Any constructive help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi Hiroto,
I have this script running, with one issue.
set tValues to my doThis(1) -- get values of the selection
if tValues is not "" then
  activate
          display dialog "Select the cells where you want to create the PopUp." & return & "After that, click on the 'OK' button."
          my doThis(tValues) -- set the cell format of the new selection to "PopUp Menu" and set the values of the each menu item
          tell application "Numbers" to display dialog "Done"
else
          tell application "Numbers" to display dialog "You must select the cells in a table before running this script."
end if
on doThis(n)
          tell application "Numbers"
                    set tTables to (tables of sheets of front document whose its selection range isnot missing value)
                    repeat with t in tTables -- t is a list of tables of a sheet
                              if contents of t is not {} then -- this list is not empty, it's the selected sheet
                                        set activeTable to (get item 1 of t)
                                        if n = 1 then return value of cells of selection range of activeTable-- return values of the selection
                                        set format of (cells of selection range of activeTable) to pop up menu -- set the format to pop up menu
                                        return my setValuePopUp(n) -- set value of each menu item
                              end if
                    end repeat
          end tell
          return ""
end doThis
on setValuePopUp(L)
          tell application "System Events"
                    tell process "Numbers"
                              set frontmost to true
                              delay 0.3
                              set inspectorWindow to missing value
                              set tWindows to windows whose subrole is "AXFloatingWindow"
                              repeat with i in tWindows
                                        if exists radio group 1 of i then
                                                  set inspectorWindow to i
                                                  exit repeat
                                        end if
                              end repeat
                              if inspectorWindow is missing value then
  keystroke "i" using {option down, command down} -- Show Inspector
                              else
  perform action "AXRaise" of inspectorWindow -- raise the Inspector window to the front
                              end if
                              delay 0.3
                              tell window 1
  click radio button 4 of radio group 1 -- the "cell format" tab
                                        delay 0.3
                                        tell group 2 of group 1
                                                  set tTable to table 1 of scroll area 1
                                                  set tc to count rows of tTable
                                                  set lenL to (count L)
                                                  if tc < lenL then -- ** add menu items **
                                                            repeat until (count rows of tTable) = lenL
  click button 1 -- button [+]
                                                            end repeat
  keystroke return -- validate the default name of the last menu item
                                                  else if tc > lenL then -- ** remove menu items **
                                                            repeat while exists row (lenL + 1) of tTable
                                                                      select row (lenL + 1) of tTable
  click button 2 --  button [-]
                                                            end repeat
                                                  end if
                                                  tell tTable to repeat with i from 1 to lenL -- ** change value of each menu item **
                                                            set value of text field 1 of row i to item i of L
                                                  end repeat
                                        end tell
                              end tell
                    end tell
          end tell
end setValuePopUp
==============================
When the popup is created, if there is one header row, it adds "1" to the list of popup items, if there are two header rows, it adds "1", "2" to the list of popup items. What should i amend to remove this (i have two header rows in my sheet).
I would ideally like to add a "-" to the list (to represent nothing selected in the cell) as default i.e. top of the list (i could add the symbol to my source data but that would look untidy). At the moment, after running the script all cell values change to 1.
Oh, what would the best way to modify the script so it selects a specific cell range? At the moment i have to first select a column, then run the script, then select the source cells, then click ok on the dialog box before it does the magic.
Someone else will be running the script, and if its easy to change, i would prefer to have an absolute source cell range values so the user can just rund the script without any selection required.
If you can advise on this, that would be most helpful.