Can I combine two bindings? - python

I want to update a widgets on a canvas widget when the window is resized. You can bind a function call on window resize via the <Configure> flag:
window.bind("<Configure>",resize)
However, this calls resize continuously while the window is being updated, many times per second. What would be better is if I could call resize after the window has been resized. So I imagine, once MB1 has been released.
So can I combine bindings? I need to combine both <Configure> and <ButtonRelease-1>
I was thinking of creating a global variable that contains the state of MB1, and updating this state via <ButtonRelease-1> and <ButtonPress-1> but I'm wondering if there's a lass hacky method.

A simple solution is to not do the work immediately, but instead schedule it for some time in the future. Each time the <Configure> event is handled you can cancel any previously scheduled work before scheduling the work again.
The following example shows how to update a label in the middle of a frame on <Configure>, but only after the window size hasn't changed for 200ms.
import tkinter as tk
def handle_configure(event):
global after_id
if after_id:
event.widget.after_cancel(after_id)
after_id = event.widget.after(200, update_label)
def update_label():
width = root.winfo_width()
height = root.winfo_height()
text = f"Size: {width}x{height}"
label.configure(text=text)
root = tk.Tk()
frame = tk.Frame(root, width=400, height=400)
frame.pack(fill="both", expand=True)
label = tk.Label(frame, text="")
label.place(relx=.5, rely=.5, anchor="c")
after_id = None
frame.bind("<Configure>", handle_configure)
root.mainloop()

Related

Tkinter recursion error when calling update several times

I want to create a frameless resizable window, the problem is, when there are many widgets, they glitch when the window is resized using a Sizegrip. The only solution that I found that removes this glitch effect is to update the window during the resize.
Unfortunately if you keep resizing for a few seconds a recursion error will occur and I have no idea why.
Here's my code
import tkinter as tk
from tkinter.ttk import Sizegrip
root = tk.Tk()
root.overrideredirect(True)
root.geometry("500x400")
def on_resize(event):
global root
root.update()
tk.Label(root, text = "Use the bottom right grip to resize, try for a few seconds").pack()
sg = Sizegrip(root)
sg.pack(side = tk.BOTTOM, anchor = tk.E)
sg.bind("<B1-Motion>", on_resize)
root.mainloop()
Check if you're already resizing and don't call root.update() again.
resizing = False
def on_resize(event):
global resizing
if not resizing:
resizing = True
root.update()
resizing = False

Python: How to destroy buttons with the same name (tkinter)

The loop in the program created a number of buttons with the same name. How to destroy them?
For example:
for i in range(5):
global btn
btn=Button(text=name,command=startfile_)
btn.place(x=5,y=5)
def destroy_it():
btn.destroy()#Its destroying only 1
destroy_btn(text=name,command=destroy_it)
It strongly depends on your use case. By the way, I suggest you to ensure your code is reproducible as-is, so that we can adapt our answers to your specific case.
Here some ways to address your problem.
1. save all buttons in a list and iterate over the list to delete them
pros: very easy to use and understand
cons: you need to pass your list along the code to work on it
import tkinter as tk
root = tk.Tk()
buttons = []
for i in range(5):
btn = tk.Button(root, text=f'test{i}', command=None) # TODO fill with your command
btn.pack()
buttons.append(btn)
def destroy_it(buttons):
# You must know the list of buttons to destroy
for btn in buttons.copy():
btn.destroy()
buttons.remove(btn) # also delete buttons from the list
tk.Button(root, text="Destroy all buttons", command=lambda: destroy_it(buttons)).pack()
root.mainloop()
2. destroy all widgets that satisfy a specific rule (i.e. Buttons with a specific text)
pros: you have a large flexibility on the widgets you are going to delete
cons: you may accidentally delete widgets, you must correctly deal with it
import tkinter as tk
root = tk.Tk()
for i in range(5):
btn = tk.Button(root, text=f'test{i}', command=None) # TODO fill with your command
btn.pack()
def destroy_it():
# Iterate over any widget and destroy it if it is a button with text "test....."
for child in root.winfo_children():
if isinstance(child, tk.Button) and child['text'].startswith('test'):
child.destroy()
tk.Button(root, text="Destroy all buttons", command=destroy_it).pack()
root.mainloop()
3. Give your buttons a name and address them by name
pros: easy to include in the code and to understand
cons: you must remember the names you used and you may get KeyError
import tkinter as tk
root = tk.Tk()
for i in range(5):
btn = tk.Button(root, name=f'btn{i}', text=f'test{i}', command=None) # TODO fill with your command
btn.pack()
def destroy_it():
# Get each button by its name
for i in range(5):
btn = root.nametowidget(f'.btn{i}')
btn.destroy()
tk.Button(root, text="Destroy all buttons", command=destroy_it).pack()
root.mainloop()
There are probably many other ways to achieve it, such as associating an "autodestroy" method to each button that is triggered by command, or include your buttons in a Frame and destroy the frame at once... But you may start from the examples above

When designing a desktop app to be resizable, are there any hidden drawbacks to using two sequential Tk instances?

In order to ensure that my program will be compatible with any screen size, I first have a very small 'setup' window open when the program is launched, which will then allow the user to select the desired dimensions for the main window.
Once the 'finalize' button on the 'setup' window is pressed, the setup window disappears and the main window opens. This is handled by calling .destroy() on the setup window and creating a new instance with Tk() inside the button's command function.
To make the example code more compact and highlight the part which is relevant to this question, I left out the size selector and just set the main window to be a fixed 800x800 pixels here:
import tkinter as tk
# Start out small, to fit on any screen size
startWindow = tk.Tk()
startWindow['width'] = 400
startWindow['height'] = 200
startWindow.title("Setup")
# Use lists here so that the widgets created inside 'initializeMainWindow' will be
# accessible from the global scope.
mainWindow = [None]
mainWindowButtons = [None]
# Closes the 'setup' window and opens a new window which will be the main application.
# Also initializes all widgets which will belong to the new window.
def initializeMainWindow():
startWindow.destroy()
mainWindow[0] = tk.Tk()
print("New window initialized.")
mainWindow[0]['width'] = 800
mainWindow[0]['height'] = 800
mainWindow[0].title("Main Window")
mainWindowButtons[0] = tk.Button(master=mainWindow[0], text="Test", command=testNewWindow)
mainWindowButtons[0].place(x=350, y=375, width=100, height=50)
mainWindow[0].bind('<Key>', test2)
#mainWindow[0].mainloop()
# To demonstrate that the new window is interactive
def testNewWindow():
print("Success!")
# Works whether or not 'mainloop' is called on the new window
def test2(e):
print("Also success! '" + e.keysym + "' key pressed.")
setSizeButton = tk.Button(master=startWindow, text="Resize", command=initializeMainWindow)
setSizeButton.place(x=150, y=75, width=100, height=50)
# This prints BEFORE the 'setup' window is closed, as expected
# If 'mainloop' is uncommented, it works the same except IDLE won't show the '>>>' prompt
# after the text "Not yet initialized".
if startWindow:
print("Not yet initialized.")
#startWindow.mainloop()
This works exactly as I intend it to so far. However I'm aware that when an application has more than one window, it's standard to use Toplevel() and not create multiple instances of Tk(). But this example isn't trying to run multiple instances of Tk() at once, instead, they're sequential: think of it as a separate 'launcher' program that then opens the main program, as is common on many desktop games. (This is exactly how I'm using it in the full program).
Before building on a potentially flawed foundation, I'd like to know if there are any hidden problems which could surface later with this approach. If the consensus is that it's better to switch to using Toplevel() or even have two separate Python files, I'd rather find out sooner than later!
I have already viewed this question and answer:
What's the difference between tkinter's Tk and Toplevel classes?
but they don't cover this specific question.
A related issue: I also experimented with calling .mainloop() vs. not calling it, and at least with the Mac version of IDLE and using Python 3.9.4, it seems to be optional. This was discussed here When do I need to call mainloop in a Tkinter application?
and it looks like the reason omitting it still works is that IDLE has its own event loop (credit to Ori for this solution https://stackoverflow.com/a/8684277/18248018).
If this is the case, is it advisable to explicitly call .mainloop() anyway (where I have it commented out in the example code) for reliability? I haven't tested this yet, but if it's something IDLE does, I'd guess the automatic event loop functionality might not transfer over when I convert the program to a standalone app using py2app, without explicit calls to .mainloop() in the .py file.
Here's the code in your answer with a minor change — the finalFrame doesn't get created until the openMainWindow() function is called since it's not needed until then. I think this is a little more logical instead of having creation and usage scattered about.
import tkinter as tk
window = tk.Tk()
# Start out with a small popup, so it will fit on any screen size.
# Width and height must be specified as attributes of the frame, so that the
# frame can set the window's size.
setupFrame = tk.Frame(master=window, bg='green', width=400, height=200)
# Using 'pack' will cause the window's size to be equal to setupFrame's size
# Using 'place' here would not work: the window would open with the default size
# (small and square) and cut off the frame.
setupFrame.pack()
# In the actual program, these values will be determined by user input
W = 800
H = 800
def openMainWindow(w, h):
# finalFrame # Uncomment if ever needed.
# Destroy the 'launcher' frame once it is no longer needed.
setupFrame.destroy()
# This frame will reset the size of the window and will display the
# program's main content.
finalFrame = tk.Frame(master=window, bg='lightblue', width=w, height=h)
sizeScalingExample = tk.Label(master=finalFrame, bg='purple', fg='white',
text="This label's size is set with `place` and "
"depends on the frame's size.")
finalFrame.pack()
sizeScalingExample.place(x = 0.125*w, y = 0.375*h, width=0.75*w, height=0.25*h)
resizeButton = tk.Button(master=setupFrame, text="Finalize", bg="yellow",
fg="darkblue", command=lambda: openMainWindow(W, H))
resizeButton.place(x=150, y=75, width=100, height=50)
window.mainloop()
Following martineau's suggestion in the comments of switching between two different Frame widgets, I rewrote the code in my question as the following. This achieves the same visual effect as the original code, and eliminates any need for a second Tk() instance.
This is a minimal example of the method I will be using in my resizable application:
import tkinter as tk
window = tk.Tk()
# Start out with a small popup, so it will fit on any screen size.
# Width and height must be specified as attributes of the frame, so that the
# frame can set the window's size.
setupFrame = tk.Frame(master=window, bg='green', width=400, height=200)
# Using 'pack' will cause the window's size to be equal to setupFrame's size
# Using 'place' here would not work: the window would open with the default size
# (small and square) and cut off the frame.
setupFrame.pack()
# This frame will reset the size of the window and will display the program's
# main content
finalFrame = tk.Frame(master=window, bg='lightblue')
sizeScalingExample = tk.Label(master=finalFrame, bg='purple', fg='white',
text="This label's size is set with `place` and "
"depends on the frame's size.")
# In the actual program, these values will be determined by user input
W = 800
H = 800
def openMainWindow(w, h):
# Hide the 'launcher' once it is no longer needed
setupFrame.pack_forget()
finalFrame['width'] = w
finalFrame['height'] = h
finalFrame.pack()
sizeScalingExample.place(x = 0.125*w, y = 0.375*h, width=0.75*w, height=0.25*h)
resizeButton = tk.Button(master=setupFrame, text="Finalize", bg="yellow",
fg="darkblue", command=lambda: openMainWindow(W, H))
resizeButton.place(x=150, y=75, width=100, height=50)
window.mainloop()
Although the ability to implement the same functionality using only Frame widgets means there is no practical reason to use a second Tk() instance, I'd still be interested from a theoretical perspective to learn about any unexpected outcomes which could result from using the original approach.

How can I delete a Python-Tkinter def LabelFrame?

I'm using buttons to call def variables that create labelframes. I'm switching between the buttons like tabs and want to display my new frames underneath respectively yet the old labelframe is left behind and is not defined to be called for erasing.
Here's an example of how i'm phrasing the code.
from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
root.state('zoomed')
def A1():
lf=LabelFrame(root,text='new frame')
lf.pack()
d=Button(lf, text='Added', width=0, borderwidth=3)
d.pack()
a = Button(root, text="add", command=A1)
a.pack()
b=Button(root,text="Delete me",command=lambda:b.pack_forget())
b.pack()
c=Button(root,text="Delete Added",command=lambda:lf.pack_forget())
c.pack()
root.mainloop()
Thank you for your time and advice.
You could:
Make a function to delete the frame.
Create the button with no command initially.
Set the button's command when the frame is created.
Then, when the frame is deleted, reset the button's command.
Such as this:
from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
root.state('zoomed')
# Added a function to delete the frame and reset the button's command
def remove_frame(lf):
lf.pack_forget()
c.config(command=None)
def A1():
lf=LabelFrame(root,text='new frame')
lf.pack()
d=Button(lf, text='Added', width=0, borderwidth=3)
d.pack()
# Sets the remove_frame function to the button's command.
# Since lf is created locally it will need to be passed to the remove_frame function.
c.config(command=lambda: remove_frame(lf))
a = Button(root, text="add", command=A1)
a.pack()
b=Button(root,text="Delete me",command=lambda:b.pack_forget())
b.pack()
c=Button(root,text="Delete Added") # Create the button with no command.
c.pack()
root.mainloop()
Currently this will allow you to add several frames, but only delete one.
If the goal is to only have one frame, disabling the add button until the frame is deleted would be the easiest option.
If you wanted to delete them sequentially or all of them, appending the frames to a list and using a pack_forget on each item in the list would be one method of accomplishing this.

Widgets disappear after tkMessageBox in Tkinter

Every time I use this code in my applications:
tkMessageBox.showinfo("Test", "Info goes here!")
a message box pops up (like it is supposed to), but after I click OK, the box disappears along with most of the other widgets on the window. How do I prevent the other widgets from disappearing?
Here Is My Code:
from Tkinter import *
import tkMessageBox
root = Tk()
root.minsize(600,600)
root.maxsize(600,600)
p1 = Label(root, bg='blue')
p1.place(width=600, height=600)
b1 = Button(p1, text="Test Button")
b1.place(x="30", y="50")
tkMessageBox.showinfo("Test", Info")
root.mainloop()
Ok, there are a few things going wrong here. First, your label has no string or image associated with it. Therefore, it's width and height will be very small. Because you use pack, the containing widget (the root window) will "shrink to fit" around this widget and any other widgets you pack in the root window.
Second, you use place for the button which means its size will not affect the size of the parent. Not only that, but you place the button inside the very tiny label. Thus, the only thing controlling the size of the parent is the label so the main window ends up being very small.
You have another problem is that you're showing the dialog before entering the event loop. I'm a bit surprised that it even works, but Tkinter sometimes does unusual things under the covers. You should enter the event loop before calling the dialog.
Try this variation of your code as a starting point:
from Tkinter import *
import tkMessageBox
def showInfo():
tkMessageBox.showinfo("Test","Info")
root = Tk()
p1 = Label(root, bg='blue', text="hello")
p1.pack()
b1 = Button(root, text="Test Button", command=showInfo)
b1.pack()
root.mainloop()

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