[Pythonmac-SIG] Appscript and Excel

[has]

Daniel Lord wrote:

>from appscript import *
>ws = app('Microsoft Excel').Workbooks[1].Worksheets[1]
>ws.Range['R1C1'].Formula.Set('Test_From_Python_Appscript',)
>
>THE RESULT:
>
>          Error: -1708
>          Generic error message: 'the AppleEvent was not handled by 
>any  handler'


Welcome to the brain-damage that is Excel scripting.

The problem here is that Excel's 'Set' command («event XCELsetd») is 
different to the core 'set' command («event coresetd»)  that your 
AppleScript is using. (Turn on AEDebug and friends in the shell to 
see.)

I doubt there's any good reason why Excel should define a 
non-standard 'Set' command in the first place, and it seems 
particularly stupid to do so and then not bother to install an Apple 
event handler to handle it.

The best solution would be to fix Excel's aete resource. Start by 
filing a bug report on it, though I'm also assuming you don't want to 
wait till MS get around to releasing a formal patch. If you're 
feeling brave, you could hack the app directly with a ResEdit-style 
tool. Alternatively, there's an as-yet undocumented system for 
working around aete problems by exporting and compiling aete data 
into a Python module where it can be hacked manually. This module can 
then be imported into your script and passed to appscript via the 
app() function's 'terms' argument:

	from appscript import *
	from customterminology import Excel_10_1_0

	excel = app('Microsoft Excel', terms=Excel_10_1_0.appTerminology)
	formulaRef = excel.Workbooks[1].Worksheets[1].Range['R1C1'].Formula
	print formulaRef.get()
	formulaRef.set('Test_From_Python_Appscript')

I'm still trying to decide on the best formal policy for dealing with 
buggy aetes (appscript is much less forgiving of bad aetes than 
AppleScript), and while this particular system works I really don't 
like it much - it's complicated, clumsy, and hard for users to 
follow, why I've not been quick to publicise it or release the full 
resources to use it. However, I'm going to write it up for the 0.5.0 
release which should be out in another week or so, with the proviso 
that it's being made public purely for discussion purposes and is 
subject to change or removal at any time.

HTH

has
-- 
http://freespace.virgin.net/hamish.sanderson/