Why can't I use AS to change Keyboard prefpane settings?

Hey y'all, I got a question for you.
I have a windows keyboard that I plug into my iBook at home. A very common arrangement, I'm sure.
When I plug the keyboard in, I go into the Keyboard prefpane and use the controls there to swap the <COMMAND> and <OPTION> Keys, so the keys are more mac-like.
What I want to do is pretty simple: Create an applescript to do that for me, so I don't have to, everytime, go Apple -> System Preference -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard -> Modifier Keys etc.
As a total AS newbie, here are my questions:
1. Can AS do this?
2. If not, why not? This is a serious question: What good is AppleScript if it won't actually do the things -- especially an extremely simple thing like change a system preference -- that I want it to?
3. Is there a better way to do this?
Thanks for whatever guidance you can offer!
Alaska Jack
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi Jack and welcome to Apple Discussions!
To answer your questions:
1) Apparently so. See this thread in the Automator forum.
2) AppleScript is very good at automating repetitive tasks and inter-application communication - provided developers incorporate scriptability into their applications. In the case of System Preferences, Apple themselves haven't put in the "hooks" that allow preferences to be changed without resorting to UI scripting, as in the solution linked above.
3) It might be possible to parse the preference files themselves.
Hope this helps,
H

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Why can't I use AS to change Keyboard prefpane settings?

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