The people who are familiar with the Live Server of VS Code, would have easily understood what is the main motive of this question.
But for others, here's the explanation:
Main motive of Live Server is to Automatically Reload Your Site on Save in web development! (Which get changed for python tkinter).
When ever I change something in my python file which contains tkinter code, the change should be reflected in the main window (the main window should not re-open to reflect the changes).
I have tried to search on web as well as on stack over flow, but all the results are for updating value in entry, label, buttons etc. But what I want is, the whole window should be updated when ever I change something in my main file, and the main window should not be reopened to do so. So in short, updating whole window without closing it, on every changes in the main file or automatically reload your program on save without reopening!
What have I tried?:
I tried to detect change in file using os.getsize which satisfied the first part of my question, but however I am not able to solve the second part i.e window should not be closed.
import os
main__tkinter_filename="myfile.py"
initial_filesize=os.path.getsize(main_tkinter_filename) # Getting size of the file for
# comparison.
while 1:
final_filesize=os.path.getsize(main_tkinter_filename)
if final_filsize<intial_filesize or final_filesize>initial_filesize:
webbrowser.open(main_tkinter_filename)
Example:
from tkinter import *
root=Tk()
root.mainloop
results in the below GUI:
If i have added a=Label(text='text')anda.pack() after root=Tk(), it should show me the label, and if i have removed the same code, it should remove them.
I will answer your question by the best of my understanding,
I have some (a few projects of my own, still way too limited) experience with flutter which has hot-reload feature (same as you described above, which you want with python, mainly tkinter), I recently switched to python for gui (Loved it!), so I would like to share my research here:
I was successfully able to set up hot-reload both with kivy (kivymd hot reload, which comes with watchdog and kaki, which works real-time), and with tkinter, while there is a hitch with the later, you will have to press Ctrl + R as to reload the tkinter window, but it works without having to re-run the python program, I will leave the link to the found resources here, hope it helps with your query!
To setup hot-reload with tkinter (requires Ctrl + R), please refer here.
To setup hot-reload with kivy/kivymd (real-time), which I personally prefer, you can find the official docs here.
To mention, I use the above on Manjaro (Arch linux) with pycharm, atom, but I have also tried and have made it run successfully on Windows 10 with vs code (worked like charm)
Hope I could be of help! If you face any problem regarding the same, please feel free to ask! Thanks!
After digging around I have finally found out a way to implement hot reload feature (which #Stange answers provides) but just updating the selected frame or code.
The basic idea is constanly reading the file and executing the selected code, and removing the object in a list which are meant to be removed.
# Live Checker.py
import keyboard
while 1:
if keyboard.is_pressed("Ctrl+r"):
with open('test.py','r') as file:
file_data=file.read()
file_data_start_index=file_data.find("'#Start#'")
file_data_end_index=file_data.find("'#End#'")
exec_command=file_data[file_data_start_index:file_data_end_index]
with open('exec_log.txt','w') as txt_file:
txt_file.write(exec_command)
Here I am constantly checking if if ctrl+r key is pressed, and if pressed
it reads the file,
writes the selected code from the file into a txt file.
I have specified the start and end of the code to be updated by #Start# and #End# respectively.
# Main.py
def check():
with open('exec_log.txt','r') as exec_c:
exec_command=exec_c.read()
if len(exec_command)==0:
pass
else:
print(exec_command)
exec('for i in root.winfo_children():i.destroy()\n'+exec_command)
print('exec')
with open('exec_log.txt','w') as exec_c:
pass
root.update()
root.after(100,check)
root.after(100,check)
And in the main file, i have added the above code which continusly check if exec_log.txt file has any changes, and if changes are there, then it executes them and all so destroys the widget specified in the remove_list.
This is just a temporary solution which in my case helps me to implement the hot reload feature in tkinter.
I'm trying to speed test my code for a tkinter GUI. Naturally, requiring humans to hit buttons would make speed testing inconsistent. I was thinking that I could just have a timed script run each callback sequentially, but some callbacks like image displays wouldn't be able to run without the GUI open. Now I'm looking for ways to run a script on a GUI that's already in its main loop. Is there a way to do this?
Python has a few modules for handling GUI automation but here is a pretty nice tutorial https://automatetheboringstuff.com/chapter18/.
Also with windows you should be able to simulate keystrokes and mouse movements using the win32 api https://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/.
I am using a code designed by another person in MAC OS. I am using Windows instead and have slightly modified it, but the problem comes when using the GUI that is created.
I have already dealt with a similar issue with a slider. Once I pressed the slider, I couldn´t release it or press another button. I was forced to quit the GUI and start again. I solved it by changing the event command from EVT_COMMAND_SCROLL to EVT_COMMAND_SCROLL_THUMBTRACK. However I did not understand why it worked in MAC OS and does not work in Windows.
Now, I want to close the GUI with the typical cross inside the red button in the right corner of the window. I can do it if it is the first order I do in the GUI. If I first press any button or slider, the exit button does not work.
It made me consider if a major problem is hidden in the code which I am not seeing. I am new at wxPython, which is the module used in the code.
I just ask for your opinion and hope it is a basic error.
Thanks very much
Update: My problem is solved.
My fault is totally misunderstanding kivy, if your variable is changing over time, you have to trigger this on python (e.g clock.schedule).
Sorry for my English, it's not my native.
I try to write a Gui for my automation code (checking gmail, reading e-mail, do some simple actions on web). Main Python-selenium code is ready and working well.
My questions is how can i establish a communication between py code and kv code? I'll generate a python text variable, work as an simple event log and I need to update (grow-expand) a label text on kivy side simultaneously.
I have looked at similar questions that may answer my question but I am still very unclear on how to go about the following:
I can create programs to run in the Python Shell in Idle and I can also set up windows with widgets in Tkinter, but whatever I create in Tkinter is pointless because I cannot figure out how to take my Python Shell code and "wrap" it in the Tkinter GUI.
I have assumed that it cannot be done, and that entirely new code must be written to assist the language that is specific to Tkinter. I am very confused on how to create a well-rounded program without being left with just a GUI "skeleton" with random buttons, labels, entries, etc. and a Python program that is very unappealing and can only run in the ugly little Shell.
What you create with Tkinter is not pointless. It sounds to me like you're trying to compile a stand-alone program in Python, using the Tkinter library to provide the GUI. Once you have a script working, you can use a program to compile into a standalone program. Look into using py2app on a mac, or py2exe on Windows. Google them and see if that's what you're looking for.
Porting an application from command line to GUI might require some rework (depending on degree of interactivity you want to achieve).
Basically, in a GUI application, you build a few widgets (buttons...) at startup, and then perfom all your actions "on reaction" of user input. You typically do this by binding callbacks onto your widgets (button, input field), and then enter a mainloop (or eventloop).
You might read this chapter about events and binding.
If your application is mainly computing oriented, providing a gui with a "launch" button, and an output field is straightforward. If you perform some command line input, you can switch to widget input at low cost. More interactive apps will require to be architectured toward interaction capabilities.