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The tkinter GUI Module and Tools

tkinter (named Tkinter in Python 2.X, and a module package in Python 3.0) is a portable graphical user interface (GUI) construction library shipped with Python as a standard library module. tkinter provides an object-based interface to the open source Tk library and implements native look and feel for Python-coded GUIs on Windows, X-Windows, and Mac OS. It is portable, simple to use, well documented, widely used, mature, and well supported. Other portable GUI options for Python such as wxPython and PyQT are third-party extensions with richer widget sets but generally more complex coding requirements.

tkinter Example

In tkinter scripts, widgets are customizable classes (e.g., Button, Frame), options are keyword arguments (e.g., text="press"), and composition refers to object embedding, not pathnames (e.g., Label(top,...)):

from tkinter import *               # widgets, constants

def msg():                          # callback handler
    print('hello stdout...')

top = Frame()                       # make a container
top.pack()
Label(top,  text="Hello world").pack(side=TOP)
widget = Button(top, text="press", command=msg)
widget.pack(side=BOTTOM)
top.mainloop()

tkinter Core Widgets

Table 1-21 lists the primary widget classes in the tkinter module. These are true Python classes that can be subclassed and embedded in other objects. To create a screen device, make an instance of the corresponding class, configure it, and arrange it with one of the geometry manager interface methods (e.g., Button(text='hello').pack()). In addition to Table 1-21’s classes, the tkinter module provides a large set of predefined names (a.k.a. constants) used to configure widgets (e.g., RIGHT, BOTH, YES); these are automatically loaded from tkinter.constants (Tkconstants in Python 2.X).

Table 1-21. Module tkinter core widget classes

Widget class	Description
`Label`	Simple message area
`Button`	Simple labeled pushbutton widget
`Frame`	Container for attaching and arranging other widget objects
`Toplevel, Tk`	Top-level windows managed by the window manager
`Message`	Multiline text-display field (label)
`Entry`	Simple single-line text entry field
`Checkbutton`	Two-state button widget, used for multiple-choice selections
`Radiobutton`	Two-state button widget, used for single-choice selections
`Scale`	A slider widget with scalable positions
`PhotoImage`	Image object for placing full-color images on other widgets
`BitmapImage`	Image object for placing bitmap images on other widgets
`Menu`	Options associated with a `Menubutton` or top-level window
`Menubutton`	Button that opens a `Menu` of selectable options/submenus
`Scrollbar`	Bar for scrolling other widgets (e.g., `Listbox`, `Canvas`, `Text`)
`Listbox`	List of selection names
`Text`	Multiline text browse/edit widget, support for fonts, etc.
`Canvas`	Graphics drawing area: lines, circles, photos, text, etc.
`OptionMenu`	Composite: pull-down selection list
`PanedWindow`	A multipane window interface
`LabelFrame`	A labeled frame widget
`Spinbox`	A multiple selection widget
`ScrolledText`	Python 2.X name (available in module `tkinter.scrolledtext` in Python 3.0); Composite: text with attached scrollbar
`Dialog`	Python 2.X name (available in module `tkinter.dialog` in Python 3.0); Old: common dialog maker (see newer common dialog calls in the next section)

Common Dialog Calls

Module tkinter.messagebox (tkMessageBox in Python 2.X)

showinfo(title=None, message=None, **options)
showwarning(title=None, message=None, **options)
showerror(title=None, message=None, **options)
askquestion(title=None, message=None, **options)
askokcancel(title=None, message=None, **options)
askyesno(title=None, message=None, **options)
askretrycancel(title=None, message=None, **options)

Module tkinter.simpledialog (tkSimpleDialog in Python 2.X)

askinteger(title, prompt, **kw)
askfloat(title, prompt, **kw)
askstring(title, prompt, **kw)

Module tkinter.colorchooser (tkColorChooser in Python 2.X)

askcolor(color = None, **options)

Module tkinter.filedialog (tkFileDialog in Python 2.X)

class Open
class SaveAs
class Directory
askopenfilename(**options)
asksaveasfilename(**options)
askopenfile(mode="r", **options)
asksaveasfile(mode="w", **options)
askdirectory(**options)

The common dialog call options are defaultextension (added to filename if not explicitly given), filetypes (sequence of (label, pattern) tuples), initialdir (initial directory, remembered by classes), initialfile (initial file), parent (window in which to place the dialog box), and title (dialog box title).

Additional tkinter Classes and Tools

Table 1-22 lists some commonly used tkinter interfaces and tools beyond the core widget class and standard dialog set.

Table 1-22. Additional tkinter tools

Tool category	Available tools
tkinter linked-variable classes	`StringVar`, `IntVar`, `DoubleVar`, `BooleanVar` (in `tkinter` module)
Geometry management methods	`pack`, `grid`, `place` widget object methods, plus configuration options in module
Scheduled callbacks	Widget `after`, `wait`, and `update` methods; file I/O callbacks
Other tkinter tools	Clipboard access; `bind`/`Event` low-level event processing widget object methods; widget `config` options; modal dialog box support
tkinter extensions (search the Web)	PMW: more widgets; PIL: images; tree widgets, font support, drag-and-drop, tix widgets, ttk themed widgets, etc.

Tcl/Tk-to-Python/tkinter Mappings

Table 1-23 compares Python’s tkinter API to the base Tk library as exposed by the Tcl language. In general, Tcl’s command strings map to objects in the Python language. Specifically, in Python’s tkinter, the Tk GUI interface differs from Tcl in the following ways:

Creation: Widgets are created as class instance objects by calling a widget class.
Masters (parents): Parents are previously created objects, passed to widget class constructors.
Widget options: Options are constructor or config keyword arguments, or indexed keys.
Operations: Widget operations (actions) become tkinter widget class object methods.
Callbacks: Callback handlers are any callable object: function, method, lambda, class with __call__ method, etc.
Extension: Widgets are extended using Python class inheritance mechanisms.
Composition: Interfaces are constructed by attaching objects, not by concatenating names.
Linked variables: Variables associated with widgets are tkinter class objects with methods.

Table 1-23. Tk-to-tkinter mappings

Operation	Tcl/Tk	Python/tkinter
Creation	`frame .panel`	`panel = Frame()`
Masters	`button .panel.quit`	`quit = Button(panel)`
Options	`button .panel.go -fg black`	`go = Button(panel, fg='black')`
Configure	`.panel.go config -bg red`	`go.config(bg='red') go['bg'] = 'red'`
Actions	`.popup invoke`	`popup.invoke()`
Packing	`pack .panel -side left -fill x`	`panel.pack(side=LEFT, fill=X)`

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