Python has a lot of GUI frameworks, but Tkinter is the only framework that’s built into the Python standard library. Tkinter has several strengths. It’s cross-platform, so the same code works on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Visual elements are rendered using native operating system elements, so applications built with Tkinter look like they belong on the platform where they’re run.
Although Tkinter is considered the de facto Python GUI framework, it’s not without criticism. One notable criticism is that GUIs built with Tkinter look outdated. If you want a shiny, modern interface, then Tkinter may not be what you’re looking for.
However, Tkinter is lightweight and relatively painless to use compared to other frameworks. This makes it a compelling choice for building GUI applications in Python, especially for applications where a modern sheen is unnecessary, and the top priority is to quickly build something that’s functional and cross-platform.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to:
Get started with Tkinter with a Hello, World application
Work with widgets, such as buttons and text boxes
Control your application layout with geometry managers
Make your applications interactive by associating button clicks with Python functions
Once you’ve mastered these skills by working through the exercises at the end of each section, you’ll tie everything together by building two applications. The first is a temperature converter, and the second is a text editor. It’s time to dive right in and learn how to build an application with Tkinter!
Note: This tutorial is adapted from the chapter “Graphical User Interfaces” of Python Basics: A Practical Introduction to Python 3.
The book uses Python’s built-in IDLE editor to create and edit Python files and interact with the Python shell. In this tutorial, references to IDLE have been removed in favor of more general language.
The bulk of the material in this tutorial has been left unchanged, and you should have no problems running the example code from the editor and environment of your choice.
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Building Your First Python GUI Application With Tkinter
The foundational element of a Tkinter GUI is the window. Windows are the containers in which all other GUI elements live. These other GUI elements, such as text boxes, labels, and buttons, are known as widgets. Widgets are contained inside of windows.
First, create a window that contains a single widget. Start up a new Python shell session and follow along!
Note: The code examples in this tutorial have all been tested on Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu Linux 20.04 with Python version 3.10.
If you’ve installed Python with the official installers available for Windows and macOS from python.org, then you should have no problem running the sample code. You can safely skip the rest of this note and continue with the tutorial!
If you haven’t installed Python with the official installers, or there’s no official distribution for your system, then here are some tips for getting up and going.
Python on macOS with Homebrew:
The Python distribution for macOS available on Homebrew doesn’t come bundled with the Tcl/Tk dependency required by Tkinter. The default system version is used instead. This version may be outdated and prevent you from importing the Tkinter module. To avoid this problem, use the official macOS installer.
Ubuntu Linux 20.04:
To conserve memory space, the default version of the Python interpreter that comes pre-installed on Ubuntu Linux 20.04 has no support for Tkinter. However, if you want to continue using the Python interpreter bundled with your operating system, then install the following package:
This installs the Python GUI Tkinter module.
Other Linux Flavors:
If you’re unable to get a working Python installation on your flavor of Linux, then you can build Python with the correct version of Tcl/Tk from the source code. For a step-by-step walk-through of this process, check out the Python 3 Installation & Setup Guide. You may also try using pyenv to manage multiple Python versions.
With your Python shell open, the first thing you need to do is import the Python GUI Tkinter module:
A window is an instance of Tkinter’s Tk class. Go ahead and create a new window and assign it to the variable window:
When you execute the above code, a new window pops up on your screen. How it looks depends on your operating system:
Throughout the rest of this tutorial, you’ll see Windows screenshots.
Adding a Widget
Now that you have a window, you can add a widget. Use the tk.Label class to add some text to a window. Create a Label widget with the text “Hello, Tkinter” and assign it to a variable called greeting:
The window you created earlier doesn’t change. You just created a Label widget, but you haven’t added it to the window yet. There are several ways to add widgets to a window. Right now, you can use the Label widget’s .pack() method:
The window now looks like this:
Read the full article at https://realpython.com/python-gui-tkinter/ »
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