Generic function to set attribute of a component?

[nirajanrk]

Is there a generic function to set attribute of a component? For instance setAttr or setAttribute?

My specific need is to set the chart type i.e. switch the chart type from, say, 'scatter' to 'line'.
I know there are some setter functions like setHtml(), but those don't exist for all attributes.

[mitchellsimoens]

To do that it is best to remove the chart and add in a new chart with the config you want.