Create a chart only with Applescript

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

Is there any way to make a plot (line graph) without invoking Excel, Numbers etc…?

#2

No, but AppleScriptObjC can create a chart with NSRects and NSBezierPaths.

#3

Thanks! But it sounds a bit too complicated …

#4

Yes, you create NSWindow, then put in it NSFrame, then put in it some content as NSImage. No sense, as it will be very slow code

#5

It depends on exactly what you’re trying to avoid when you say “not invoking Excel, Numbers, Etc.”

If you mean “not invoking any external software,” then I think the extremely complicated method of using AsObjC to draw your graphs would be your only choice.

However, I’m not totally clear on what you want to avoid - if you just want to generate plots in a “headless” fashion from Applescript - ie, not actively controlling some app that might need to be a foreground app - then you could use a shell or python graphing solution and control it from Applescript.

For example, gnuplot http://www.gnuplot.info/
or Matplotlib: https://matplotlib.org/

There are others.

These could generate a plot entirely in the background and save it as a file without appearing to control any user applications while running.

#6

An SVG graphic is composed entirely of text, so you could use only Applescript to construct one.

#7

kerflooey - You could probably figure out a way to write out the raw data to comprise any graphics format with Applescript. I had assumed we were restricting answers to something that could be coded in less than a year. He’d have to write the code to generate the graph and convert it into an image format and save it… I assumed he’d be looking for a graphing tool that generates graphs from data.

#8

Thanks for the feedback to all.

I was hoping for something similar to “Image Events”, but for plotting …
to avoid “watching” Applescript “creating” the graph in the foreground.

SVG is interesting (I dint know it is a “pure” text. But I would need to learn it …

I will doble check the two other options you suggested:

L.

#9

Yes, if you just want to avoid watching Applescript create the graphs in the foreground, then using a CLI graph generation utility should work fine for you.

Another good option besides those already mentioned is R

https://cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx/

  • Tom.
#10

SVG is basically xml, so I was thinking it would be relatively easy to do one typical chart in Illustrator or whatever, and then use that as a template where he could simply substitute the new data points with a search/replace operation. Limited, but doable without having to learn much at all about SVG.

#11

Yes, that seems doable. It depends on how general purpose he needs it.

Now that we know he just wants it headless (he’s not trying to avoid dependencies), I think a CLI Graphing program is definitely the way to go.

One more option, instead of a CLI graphing program, is a graphing API.

https://developers.google.com/chart/

So you could run a headless browser like Chrome Headless, Firefox Headless, or Phantom JS and use the Google Charts API to make your graph and then download it.

#12

R is a good idea.
I actually always wanted to learn the basics of R.

Thanks !