Develop Reference

Time.sleep() affecting the code above it in python

I am making a KIVY program in python and have a time.sleep(3) in my code so that it waits three seconds before changing the screen. But the function above it works after the 3 seconds and not before it. I am having no errors and I have tried everything but nothing seems to work.
Here is the snippet.
def input_button(self, instance): # creating the button that when pressed updates the label
query = "You Said {}".format(self.command()) # making the query
if query == "You Said None":
self.update_info('Please input a command')
else:
self.update_info(query) # updating the label
time.sleep(3)
pa_app.screen_manager.current = "Result"
The self.update_info(query) runs after three seconds but the time.sleep is after it.

I fixed this problem by using the from kivy.clock import as Clock module. I used Clock.schedule_once functions and passed self.change_screen, 10. I created the self.change_screen function as the Clock.schedule_once only takes a function and time as the parameters. Although I wanted to wait for 3 seconds, passing 3 in the function didn't make it wait for 3 seconds but less than it. So for having the same effect I passed in 10. This solved the problem.

Kivy is a GUI framework and you cannot add sleep statements safely.
when
self.update_info(query)
is called kivy will update the GUI only after the last line of your function is called, because this is when you give back the control to the Kivy gui engine.
You have to check whether kivy does have timers.
You can start a timer and tell it to call another function that does the
pa_app.screen_manager.current = "Result"
whenever the timer finished.

Simple animation with Tkinter Python

I've searched for a simple animation code with Tkinter but I've found very different examples and I can't understand the correct way to write an animation.
Here my working code to display a simple moving circle:
import tkinter as tk
import time
root=tk.Tk()
canvas=tk.Canvas(root,width=400,height=400)
canvas.pack()
circle=canvas.create_oval(50,50,80,80,outline="white",fill="blue")
def redraw():
canvas.after(100,redraw)
canvas.move(circle,5,5)
canvas.update()
canvas.after(100,redraw)
root.mainloop()
In this code I can't correctly understand: how the after method works, where correctly put the update and the move method (before after method ?), is there another way to write an animation code? may you post me another example and comment the code please?
Thanks :)

Calling update
You should not call canvas.update(). As a general rule of thumb you should never call update. For a short essay on why, see this essay written by one of the original developers of the underlying tcl interpreter.
If you take out the call to canvas.update(), you have the proper way to do animation in a tkinter program.
Calling after to start the animation
You don't need to call after immediately before calling root.mainloop(). This works just as well:
...
redraw()
root.mainloop()
The choice to use or not use after in this specific case is dependent on if you want the animation to start immediately (possibly even before the widget is visible) or if you want it to happen after a short delay (possibly after the widget is made visible)
How after works
mainloop is nothing more than an infinite loop that checks the event queue for events. When it finds an event, it pops it off of the list and processes it. after is nothing more than making a request that says "in 100 ms, please add a new event to the queue". When the time limit expires, an event is added to the queue that says, in effect, "run this command". The next time the loop checks for events, it sees this event, pulls it off of the queue, and runs the command.
When you call after from within a method that itself was called by after, you're saying in effect "wait 100ms and do it again", creating an infinite loop. If you put the call to after before moving the object, you're saying "every 100ms run this function". If you put it after you're saying "run this function 100 ms after the last time it was run". The difference is very subtle and usually not perceptible unless your function takes a long time to run.

my code is:
from tkinter import *
import time
tk = Tk()
płótno = Canvas(tk, width=500, height=500)
płótno.pack()
płótno.create_polygon(10,10,10,70,70,10,fill="blue",outline="black")
for x in range(0,51):
płótno.move(1,5,0)
płótno.update()
rest(0.05)
płótno means canvas

Sleep without lock Gtk.main() in a function

I have got a function in my gtk app. I want to wait 2 seconds in that function.
For example:
[...]
def do_something_and_wait(self):
#do something here
time.sleep(2)
# do something more
Gtk.main()
If I use time.sleep(2) directly, Gui freezes for 2 seconds.
How can I wait 2 seconds in a function without lock Gtk.main()?

You can use gtk.Main_iteration() to temporarily hand control back to the GUI, see:
http://www.pygtk.org/pygtk2reference/gtk-functions.html#function-gtk--main-iteration
and
http://book.huihoo.com/gtk+-gnome-application-development/sec-mainloop.html
This will not sleep for exactly 2s, but will pause for approximately 2s and still allow the GUI to respond to other events. As bazza points out, disabling the calling widget would also be a good idea.
def updateGUI():
'''Force update of GTK mainloop during a long-running process'''
while gtk.events_pending():
gtk.main_iteration(False)
def wait_2s():
for i in range(10):
time.sleep(0.2)
updateGUI()

You could add a gtk timeout. See
http://www.pygtk.org/pygtk2tutorial/ch-TimeoutsIOAndIdleFunctions.html
Your existing function would add the timeout instead of time.sleep(), and then return. A second function would 'do something more', and would be specified as the callback function for the timeout.
You'd probably want the first function to disable whichever GUI widget is used to set this part of your program running. This will stop the user pressing that button twice whilst you're waiting for the 2 seconds to elapse. The second function should re-enable it.

Is there an instant-updating function for texts or patterns as button.config() in tkinter?

I wrote a modified program of the 'mines' game, and I hope it shows every step/click graphically. I use time.sleep(0.5) to make a pause. So, in general the main program is like:
check_block():
if mine == 0:
buttons[current].config(image = tile_clicked)
elif mine == 1:
buttons[current].config(image = tile[1])
...
while(1):
time.sleep(0.5)
check_block()
get_next()
if check_fail():
break
However, the buttons don't update every 0.5 second: they are all updated together when the game(loop) finishes.
I guess it's just like 'cout' in C++: if you don't flush they will get stacked. So, is there a method to get them updated step by step, or say, instantly?
Thanks!

In all GUI systems you have to allow the message loop to run so that Windowing events occur promptly. So do not use a while loop like this. Instead, create a method that calls check_block() and get_next() and use after to call that function after a delay. At the end of that function, you use after again to call the same function again so that this function is called every 0.5 second forever. The after function queues a timer event and then lets the message queue be processed. Once your timer event fires, the callback function is run which allows you to do things and keep the UI responsive.

You should never call sleep in a GUI program. This is because the GUI must be "awake" at all times so that it can service events (including internal events that cause the screen to update). Instead, leverage the already-running eventloop by using the after method to put events on the queue at regular intervals.
In your case, you would replace the while loop with something like:
def do_check():
check_block()
if not check_fail():
root.after(500, do_check)
# in your initialization code, start the loop by calling it directly:
do_check()
I don't know what your get_next function does, so I don't know if you need to call it periodically too. Probably not. I'm guessing it waits for the next button press, which you don't need to do with tkinter or most other GUI toolkits. Instead, you configure the button to call a function when clicked.
Regardless, the way to do the type of looping you want is to place events on the event queue at a regular interval.

Python - How do I continuously repeat a sequence without a While loop and still be able to stop the sequence at any time

I have a Raspberry Pi with the Piface adaptor board. I have made a GUI which controls the LED's on the Piface board.
I wrote a small piece of code to make the LED's run up and down continuously, like Knight Riders car, using a While loop.
I then wrote another piece of code that created a GUI. In the GUI is a button that starts the LED's running up and down continuously with the While loop piece of code.
What I want to do is to have that GUI button start the LED running sequence, and then the same button stop the sequence at any time.
I do understand that the code is sitting/stuck in the While loop. And hence any buttons in the GUI are not going to have an effect.
So is there a better way of doing it? Any pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Another option is to run the LED while loop in a separate thread. Like in
the next code. The while loop is stopped by toggling the shared led_switch
variable.
"""
blinking LED
"""
import tkinter as tk
import threading
import time
led_switch=False
def start_stop():
global led_switch
led_switch=not led_switch
if led_switch:
t=threading.Thread(target=LED)
t.start()
def LED():
while led_switch:
print('LED on')
time.sleep(1)
print('LED off')
time.sleep(1)
root=tk.Tk()
button=tk.Button(root,command=lambda: start_stop(),text='start/stop')
button.pack()
tk.mainloop()

If you have a while loop and a GUI you can use generators to still use the loop and let the GUI run properly.
I sketch the Idea here and create an example for the Tkinter GUI.
You want to write your code as a loop and still use it in a GUI:
from Tkinter import *
from guiLoop import guiLoop # https://gist.github.com/niccokunzmann/8673951
#guiLoop
def led_blink(argument):
while 1:
print("LED on " + argument)
yield 0.5 # time to wait
print("LED off " + argument)
yield 0.5
t = Tk()
led_blink(t, 'shiny!') # run led_blink in this GUI
t.mainloop()
Output while the GUI is responsive:
LED on shiny!
LED off shiny!
LED on shiny!
LED off shiny!
...
Sadly Tkinter is the only GUI I know and it is a bad example because you can always update the GUI in your loop with the update() method of GUI elements:
root = Tk()
while 1:
print("LED on")
t = time.time() + 0.5
while t > time.time(): root.update()
print("LED off")
t = time.time() + 0.5
while t > time.time(): root.update()
But with such a guiLoop you can have multiple loops:
t = Tk()
led_blink(t, 'red')
led_blink(t, 'blue')
led_blink(t, 'green')
t.mainloop()
Here are some examples for starting and stopping the loop with a button.

If you're using Tkinter, there's a very easy pattern for running a loop. Given that the UI (in just about every UI toolkit) is already running an infinite loop to process events, you can leverage this to run code periodically.
Let's assume you have a python object "led" which has a method for toggling it on and off. You can have it switch from on to off every 100ms with something as simple as these three lines of code:
def blink(led):
led.toggle()
root.after(100, blink, led)
The above code will run forever, causing the led to blink every 100ms. If you want to be able to start and stop the blinking with a button, introduce a flag:
def blink(led):
if should_blink:
led.toggle()
root.after(100, blink, led)
When you set the toggle to True, the led will start blinking. When it's False, it will stop blinking.
The main thing to take away from this is that you already have an infinite loop running, so there's no need to create one of your own, and no need to use something as complex as threading. Simply create a function that does one frame of animation, or calls some function or does some unit of work, then have the function request that it be run again in the future. How far in the future defines how fast your animation or blink will run.