GUI Programming with Tkinter in Python

• A graphical user interface (GUI) is an application with buttons, windows, and other widgets a user can interact with
• Example of a GUI includes a web browser with buttons, tabs, and a main window

GUI Programming

• A top-level root windowing object contains little windowing objects in a GUI application
• Windowing objects include text labels,buttons and list boxes
• Individual little GUI components are called widgets

GUI Method - Tkinter

• Python offers multiple GUI options, however, the most commonly used GUI is Tkinter
• Tkinter is easy to start with, and is Python's standard GUI package for GUI programming
• As the Python interface to Tk, Tkinter can be pronounced as "Tea-Kay-inter"

Tkinter in Python

• Python standard library, Tkinter, creates graphical user interfaces for desktop applications
• It is not complex to develop desktop based applications with Tkinter

Tkinter Steps

• To create a Tkinter window application:
• Import the Tkinter module
• Create the main application window
• Add widgets like labels, buttons, frames, etc., to the window
• Call the main event loop

Importing Tkinter

• Importing Tkinter is the same as importing any other module
• In Python 2.x, the module name is Tkinter
• In Python 3.x, the module name is tkinter
• Code: import tkinter or from tkinter import *

Main Window

• After importing the Tkinter module, create a main window
• Tkinter provides the Tk() method to create a main window
• The code to create the main window is: top = tkinter.Tk() or top = Tk()
• After creating the main window, add components or widgets like labels, buttons, frames, etc.
• To run an application, Tkinter offers the mainloop() method
• The code to run an application is: top.mainloop()

Tkinter Geometry Methods

• Tkinter offers access to the geometric configuration of the widgets to organize them in the parent windows

Pack Method

• The pack() method organizes components or widgets in the main window
• Syntax: widget.pack(options)

Pack Options

• side : Represents the side to which the widget is placed
• The side can be LEFT, RIGHT, TOP (default), or BOTTOM

Grid Method

• The grid() method organizes widgets in a tabular form and specifies rows and columns
• Syntax: widget.grid(options)

Grid Options

• column: The column number in which the widget will be placed, starting with 0
• padx, pady: Represent the number of pixels to pad the widget outside the widget's border
• row: The row number in which the widget will be placed,starting with 0

Place method

• The place() method organizes widgets to specific x and y coordinates
• Syntax: widget.place(x, y)
• x, y: Refers to the horizontal and vertical offset in pixels

Tkinter Widgets

• Tkinter supports widgets or components to build GUI applications
  • Button: Creates various buttons in an application
  • Checkbutton: Select one or more options from multiple options
  • Entry: Allows the user to enter a single line of text
  • Frame: Acts like a container to hold other widgets
  • Label: Displays non-editable text on a window
  • Listbox: Displays a list of items where a user can choose one or more items
  • Radiobutton: Selects one option from multiple options
  • Text: Allows the user to enter single or multiple lines of text
  • Scale: Creates a graphical slider where the user can slide through the range of values
  • Toplevel: Used to create and display top-level windows

Button Widget

• Buttons add functions to Python applications, associating a method or function with a button press
• Syntax: name = Button(parent, options)

Button Options

• activebackground: Background color of the button when it is active
• activeforeground: Font color of the button when it is active
• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the button
• command: Function call which is scheduled when the function is called
• text: Text displayed on the button
• fg: Foreground color of the button
• height: Height of the button
• padx: Additional padding to the button in the horizontal direction
• pady: Additional padding to the button in the vertical direction
• width: Width of the button

Checkbutton Widget

• Display Checkbuttons on the window, providing choices for the user
• Syntax: name = Checkbutton(parent, options)

Checkbutton Options

• activebackground: Background of the Checkbutton when active
• activeforeground: Font color of the Checkbutton when active
• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the Checkbutton
• command: Function call which is scheduled when the function is called
• text: Text displayed on the Checkbutton
• fg: Foreground color of the Checkbutton
• height: Height of the Checkbutton
• padx: Additional padding to the Checkbutton in the horizontal direction
• pady: Additional padding to the Checkbutton in the vertical direction
• width: Width of the Checkbutton

Entry Widget

• Used to provide a single-line text box to accept string input from the user
• Syntax: name = Entry(parent, options)

Entry Options

• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the Entry
• show: Shows the entry text of some other type instead of the string.
• Example: passwords typed as stars (*)
• fg: Foreground color of the Entry
• width: The width of the Entry

Frame Widget

• Used to organize widgets, acting as a container the other widgets
• Rectangular areas of the screen are used to organize the widgets
• Syntax: name = Frame(parent, options)

Frame Options

• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the frame
• width: Width of the frame
• height: Height of the frame

Label Widget

• Used to specify a container box to place text or images
• Syntax: name = Label(parent, options)

Label Options

• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the label
• text: The text displayed on the label
• fg: Foreground color of the label
• height: Height of the label
• image: Image displayed on the label
• padx: Additional horizontal padding to the label
• pady: Additional vertical padding to the label
• width: Width of the label

Listbox Widget

• Displays the list items to the user and enables the selection
• Can only place text items in the Listbox and a user can choose one or more items
• Syntax: name = Listbox(parent, options)

Listbox Options

• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the listbox
• fg: Foreground color of the listbox
• width: Width of the listbox
• height: Height of the listbox
• Method to insert a list item to listbox at specified index: insert()
• Syntax: Listbox.insert (index, item)

Radiobutton Widget

• Used to select one option among multiple options
• Different from a checkbutton, providing various options where the user can select only one
• Syntax: name = Radiobutton(parent, options)

Radiobutton Options

• activebackground: Background of the Radiobutton when active
• activeforeground: Font color of the Radiobutton when active
• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the Radiobutton
• command: Function call which is scheduled when the function is called
• text: Text displayed on the Radiobutton
• fg: Foreground color of the Radiobutton
• height: Height of the Radiobutton
• padx: Additional horizontal padding to the Radiobutton
• pady: Additional vertical padding to the Radiobutton
• width: Width of the Radiobutton
• Variable: Keeps track of the user's choices and is shared among all radiobuttons

Text Widget

• Allows multiple lines of text that has editing capabilities
• Syntax: name = Text(parent, options)

Text Options

• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the Text
• show: Used to show the entry text of some other type instead of the string
• Example: password using stars (*)
• fg: Foreground color of the Text
• width: Width of the Text
• height: Vertical dimension of the widget in lines

Scale Widget

• Allows the user to choose values within range
• Syntax: name = Scale(parent, options)

Scale Options

• activebackground: Represents the background of the Scale when it is active
• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the Scale
• command: It is set to the function call which is scheduled when the function is called
• fg: Foreground color of the Scale
• from_: Represents one end of the widget range
• to: Represents a float or integer value that specifies the other end of the range represented by the scale
• orient: Can be set to horizontal or vertical type depending on type of the scale

Toplevel Widget

• Creates and displays windows directly managed by the window manager
• Syntax: name = Toplevel(options)

Toplevel Options

• bd: Border width in pixels
• bg: Background color of the Toplevel
• fg: Foreground color of the Toplevel
• width: Width of the Toplevel
• height: Vertical dimension of the widget in lines

Other GUI Methods

• Tix (Tk Interface eXtensions)
• Tix is an extension library for Tcl/Tk that adds new widgets, image types, and other commands for Tcl/Tk-based GUI applications
• Includes standard widgets tixGrid, tixHList, tixInputOnly, and tixTlist
• Pmw (Python MegaWidgets Tkinter extension): a toolkit using Tkinter module to build high-level compound widgets in Python
• Has base classes and a library of flexible, extensible megawidgets like notebooks, comboboxes, selection widgets, paned widgets, scrolled widgets, and dialog windows
• wxPython (Python binding to wxWidgets): a blending of the wxWidgets GUI classes and the Python programming language
• A Python package imported at runtime including Python modules and an extension module (native code)
• Provides Python classes that mirror many of the wxWidgets GUI classes