Tkinter

<h2 id="description">Description</h2>
<p>As with most other modern Tk bindings, Tkinter is implemented as a Python wrapper around a complete <a href="/facts/Tcl/s7fbKYtR">Tcl</a> <a href="/facts/Interpreter_(computing)/JB85fbyb">interpreter</a> embedded in the Python <a href="/facts/Language_interpretation/7NxWE3xS">interpreter</a>. Tkinter calls are translated into Tcl commands, which are fed to this embedded interpreter, thus making it possible to mix Python and Tcl in a single application.
</p><p>There are several popular GUI library alternatives available, such as <a href="/facts/Kivy_(framework)/edCnHqH5">Kivy</a>, <a href="/facts/Pygame/DKtaG9LK">Pygame</a>, <a href="/facts/Pyglet/os0Jzzf7">Pyglet</a>, <a href="/facts/PyGObject/6kJhjDoJ">PyGObject</a>, <a href="/facts/PyQt/n8x1XTxb">PyQt</a>, <a href="/facts/PySide/RBoGeL5E">PySide</a>, and <a href="/facts/WxPython/sTdK8guC">wxPython</a>.
</p>
<h3>Definitions</h3>
<h4><a href="/facts/WIMP_(computing)/cJcV8GAA">Window</a></h4>
<p>This term has different meanings in different contexts, but in general it refers to a rectangular area somewhere on the user's display screen.
</p>
<h4>Top-level window</h4>
<p>A window which acts as a child of the primary window. It will be decorated with the standard frame and controls for the <a href="/facts/Desktop_manager/VXBpMWnG">desktop manager</a>. It can be moved around the desktop and can usually be resized.
</p>
<h4>Widget</h4>
<p>The generic term for any of the building blocks that make up an application in a graphical user interface.
</p>
<ul><li>Core widgets:
<ul><li>Containers:
<ul><li>frame</li>
<li>labelframe</li>
<li>toplevel</li>
<li>paned window.</li></ul></li>
<li>Buttons:
<ul><li>button</li>
<li>radiobutton</li>
<li>checkbutton (checkbox)</li>
<li>menubutton.</li></ul></li>
<li>Text widgets:
<ul><li>label,</li>
<li>message</li>
<li>text</li></ul></li>
<li>Entry widgets:
<ul><li>scale</li>
<li>scrollbar</li>
<li>listbox</li>
<li>slider</li>
<li>spinbox</li>
<li>entry (singleline)</li>
<li>optionmenu</li>
<li>text (multiline)</li></ul></li>
<li>Canvas (vector and pixel graphics)</li></ul></li>
<li>Tkinter provides three modules that allow pop-up dialogs to be displayed: tk.messagebox (confirmation, information, warning and error dialogs), tk.filedialog (single file, multiple file and directory selection dialogs) and tk.colorchooser (colour picker).</li>
<li>Python 2.7 and Python 3.1 incorporate the "themed Tk" ("ttk") functionality of Tk 8.5.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> This allows Tk widgets to be easily themed to look like the native desktop environment in which the application is running, thereby addressing a long-standing criticism of Tk (and hence of Tkinter). Some widgets are exclusive to ttk, such as the combobox, progressbar, treeview, notebook, separator and sizegrip.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a></li></ul>
<h4>Frame</h4>
<p>In Tkinter, the Frame widget is the basic unit of organization for complex layouts. A frame is a rectangular area that can contain other widgets.
</p>
<h4>Child and parent</h4>
<p>When any widget is created, a parent–child relationship is created. For example, if you place a text label inside a frame, the frame is the parent of the label.
</p>
<h2 id="minimal-application">Minimal application</h2>
<p>Below is a minimal Python 3 Tkinter application with one widget:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a>
</p>
#!/usr/bin/env python3
from tkinter import *
root = Tk() 							# Create the root (base) window 
w = Label(root, text="Hello, world!") 	# Create a label with words
w.pack() 								# Put the label into the window
root.mainloop() 						# Start the event loop

<p>For Python 2, the only difference is the word "tkinter" in the import command will be capitalized to "Tkinter".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a>
</p>
<h3>Process</h3>
<p>There are four stages to creating a widget<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a>
</p>
Create
create it within a frame
Configure
change the widget's attributes.
Pack
pack it into position so it becomes visible. Developers also have the option to use .grid() (row=<i>int</i>, column=<i>int</i> to define rows and columns to position the widget, defaults to 0) and .place() (relx=<i>int or decimal</i>, rely=<i>int or decimal</i>, define coordinates in the frame, or window).
Bind
bind it to a function or event.
<p>These are often compressed, and the order can vary.
</p>
<h3>Simple application</h3>
<p>Using the <a href="/facts/Object-oriented_programming/TxNMEcao">object-oriented</a> paradigm in Python, a simple program would be (requires Tcl version 8.6, which is not used by Python on MacOS by default):
</p>
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import tkinter as tk

class Application(tk.Frame):
    def __init__(self, root=None):
        tk.Frame.__init__(self, root)
        self.grid()
        self.createWidgets()

def createWidgets(self):
        self.medialLabel = tk.Label(self, text="Hello World")
        self.medialLabel.config(bg="#00ffff")
        self.medialLabel.grid()
        self.quitButton = tk.Button(self, text="Quit", command=self.quit)
        self.quitButton.grid()

app = Application()
app.root = tk.Tk()
app.root.title("Sample application")
app.mainloop()

<ul><li>line 1: <a href="/facts/Hashbang/brtu1F1o">Hashbang</a> <a href="/facts/Interpreter_directive/Mzge8JUW">directive</a> to the program launcher, allowing the selection of an appropriate interpreter executable, when self-executing.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a></li>
<li>line 2: Imports the tkinter module into your program's namespace, but renames it as tk.</li>
<li>line 5: The application class inherits from Tkinter's Frame class.</li>
<li>line 7: Defines the function that sets up the Frame.</li>
<li>line 8: Calls the constructor for the parent class, Frame.</li>
<li>line 12: Defining the widgets.</li>
<li>line 13: Creates a label, named MedialLabel with the text "Hello World".</li>
<li>line 14: Sets the MedialLabel background colour to cyan.</li>
<li>line 15: Places the label on the application so it is visible using the grid geometry manager method.</li>
<li>line 16: Creates a button labeled “Quit”.</li>
<li>line 17: Places the button on the application. Grid, place and pack are all methods of making the widget visible.</li>
<li>line 20: The main program starts here by instantiating the Application class.</li>
<li>line 21: Creates main window app.root as a Tk object.</li>
<li>line 22: This method call sets the title of the window to “Sample application”.</li>
<li>line 23: Starts the application's main loop, waiting for mouse and keyboard events.</li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/IDLE/8d4ka1cx">IDLE</a> — integrated development environment in Python, written exclusively using Tkinter</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/TkInter"><i>TkInter</i></a>, Python Wiki</li>
<li><a href="https://coderslegacy.com/python/python-gui/">Tkinter GUI Tutorial</a>, covers each widget individually.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.tkdocs.com">TkDocs</a>: includes language-neutral and Python-specific information and a tutorial</li>
<li>John Shipman, <a href="https://tkdocs.com/shipman/"><i>Tkinter 8.5 reference: a GUI for Python</i></a></li>
<li>Ferg, Stephen, <a href="http://thinkingtkinter.sourceforge.net"><i>Thinking in Tkinter</i></a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Tkinter — Python interface to Tcl/Tk — Python v2.6.1 documentation". Retrieved 2009-03-12. <a href="https://docs.python.org/library/tkinter.html" target="_blank">https://docs.python.org/library/tkinter.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Tkinter - Pythoninfo Wiki". <a href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/TkInter" target="_blank">https://wiki.python.org/moin/TkInter</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>tkinter—Python interface to Tcl/Tk—Python 3.9.10 Documentation <a href="https://docs.python.org/3.9/library/tkinter" target="_blank">https://docs.python.org/3.9/library/tkinter</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Shipman, John W. (2010-12-12), Tkinter reference: a GUI for Python, New Mexico Tech Computer Center, retrieved 2012-01-11 <a href="https://tkdocs.com/shipman/" target="_blank">https://tkdocs.com/shipman/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>"Tkinter - Tkinter Wiki". Archived from the original on 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2013-11-13. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131113222939/http://tkinter.unpythonic.net/wiki/Tkinter" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20131113222939/http://tkinter.unpythonic.net/wiki/Tkinter</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>"Python issue #2983, "Ttk support for Tkinter"". <a href="http://bugs.python.org/issue2983" target="_blank">http://bugs.python.org/issue2983</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>"Python subversion revision 69051, which resolves issue #2983 by adding the ttk module". <a href="http://svn.python.org/view?view=rev&revision=69051" target="_blank">http://svn.python.org/view?view=rev&revision=69051</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>"Tkinter ttk widgets - Python Tutorial". CodersLegacy. Retrieved 2022-01-13. <a href="https://coderslegacy.com/python/tkinter-ttk-widgets-tutorial/" target="_blank">https://coderslegacy.com/python/tkinter-ttk-widgets-tutorial/</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:9"><p>"Tkinter 8.5 reference: a GUI for Python". <a href="https://tkdocs.com/shipman/minimal-app.html" target="_blank">https://tkdocs.com/shipman/minimal-app.html</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:10"><p>Fleck, Dan. "Tkinter – GUIs in Python" (PDF). CS112. George Mason University. Retrieved 18 August 2018. <a href="https://cs.gmu.edu/~dfleck/classes/cs112/spring08/slides/tkinter.pdf" target="_blank">https://cs.gmu.edu/~dfleck/classes/cs112/spring08/slides/tkinter.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:11"><p>Klein, Bernd. "GUI Programming with Python: Events and Binds". www.python-course.eu. Retrieved 18 August 2018. <a href="https://www.python-course.eu/tkinter_events_binds.php" target="_blank">https://www.python-course.eu/tkinter_events_binds.php</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:12"><p>"PEP 397 — Python launcher for Windows — Python.org". Retrieved 2017-06-07. <a href="https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0397" target="_blank">https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0397</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Tkinter open-in-new

Tkinter