I've been studying tkinter in python3 and find it very hard to find good documentation and answers online. To help others struggling with the same problems I decided to post a solution for a simple problem that there seems to be no documentation for online.
Problem: Create a wizard-like program, that presents the user with a series of windows and the user can move between the windows clicking next and back - buttons.
The solution is:
- Create one root window.
- Create as many frames as you have windows to present to the user. Attach all frames to the root window.
- Populate each frame with all the widgets it needs.
- When all the frames have been populated, hide each frame with the
grid_forget()
method but leave the first frame unhidden so that it becomes the visible one. All the child widgets on the frame will be hidden with the frame. - When the user clicks on Next or Back buttons on a window, call a subroutine that hides other frames (with
grid_forget()
) and makes the one that is needed visible (withgrid()
). - When you want the program to end, use the destroy - method for the root window.
So you will be creating a single window and showing different frames on it.
(By the way, the best place to start studying tkinter is: http://www.tkdocs.com/tutorial/index.html)
Here is a sample implementation in Python3. It has 3 simple windows, each with a text label and two buttons to navigate through different windows.
#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
#
# Creates three "windows" that the user can navigate through using Back and Next - buttons.
import tkinter
import tkinter.ttk
def create_widgets_in_first_frame():
# Create the label for the frame
first_window_label = tkinter.ttk.Label(first_frame, text='Window 1')
first_window_label.grid(column=0, row=0, pady=10, padx=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
# Create the button for the frame
first_window_quit_button = tkinter.Button(first_frame, text = "Quit", command = quit_program)
first_window_quit_button.grid(column=0, row=1, pady=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
first_window_next_button = tkinter.Button(first_frame, text = "Next", command = call_second_frame_on_top)
first_window_next_button.grid(column=1, row=1, pady=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
def create_widgets_in_second_frame():
# Create the label for the frame
second_window_label = tkinter.ttk.Label(second_frame, text='Window 2')
second_window_label.grid(column=0, row=0, pady=10, padx=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
# Create the button for the frame
second_window_back_button = tkinter.Button(second_frame, text = "Back", command = call_first_frame_on_top)
second_window_back_button.grid(column=0, row=1, pady=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
second_window_next_button = tkinter.Button(second_frame, text = "Next", command = call_third_frame_on_top)
second_window_next_button.grid(column=1, row=1, pady=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
def create_widgets_in_third_frame():
# Create the label for the frame
third_window_label = tkinter.ttk.Label(third_frame, text='Window 3')
third_window_label.grid(column=0, row=0, pady=10, padx=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
# Create the button for the frame
third_window_back_button = tkinter.Button(third_frame, text = "Back", command = call_second_frame_on_top)
third_window_back_button.grid(column=0, row=1, pady=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
third_window_quit_button = tkinter.Button(third_frame, text = "Quit", command = quit_program)
third_window_quit_button.grid(column=1, row=1, pady=10, sticky=(tkinter.N))
def call_first_frame_on_top():
# This function can be called only from the second window.
# Hide the second window and show the first window.
second_frame.grid_forget()
first_frame.grid(column=0, row=0, padx=20, pady=5, sticky=(tkinter.W, tkinter.N, tkinter.E))
def call_second_frame_on_top():
# This function can be called from the first and third windows.
# Hide the first and third windows and show the second window.
first_frame.grid_forget()
third_frame.grid_forget()
second_frame.grid(column=0, row=0, padx=20, pady=5, sticky=(tkinter.W, tkinter.N, tkinter.E))
def call_third_frame_on_top():
# This function can only be called from the second window.
# Hide the second window and show the third window.
second_frame.grid_forget()
third_frame.grid(column=0, row=0, padx=20, pady=5, sticky=(tkinter.W, tkinter.N, tkinter.E))
def quit_program():
root_window.destroy()
###############################
# Main program starts here :) #
###############################
# Create the root GUI window.
root_window = tkinter.Tk()
# Define window size
window_width = 200
window_heigth = 100
# Create frames inside the root window to hold other GUI elements. All frames must be created in the main program, otherwise they are not accessible in functions.
first_frame=tkinter.ttk.Frame(root_window, width=window_width, height=window_heigth)
first_frame['borderwidth'] = 2
first_frame['relief'] = 'sunken'
first_frame.grid(column=0, row=0, padx=20, pady=5, sticky=(tkinter.W, tkinter.N, tkinter.E))
second_frame=tkinter.ttk.Frame(root_window, width=window_width, height=window_heigth)
second_frame['borderwidth'] = 2
second_frame['relief'] = 'sunken'
second_frame.grid(column=0, row=0, padx=20, pady=5, sticky=(tkinter.W, tkinter.N, tkinter.E))
third_frame=tkinter.ttk.Frame(root_window, width=window_width, height=window_heigth)
third_frame['borderwidth'] = 2
third_frame['relief'] = 'sunken'
third_frame.grid(column=0, row=0, padx=20, pady=5, sticky=(tkinter.W, tkinter.N, tkinter.E))
# Create all widgets to all frames
create_widgets_in_third_frame()
create_widgets_in_second_frame()
create_widgets_in_first_frame()
# Hide all frames in reverse order, but leave first frame visible (unhidden).
third_frame.grid_forget()
second_frame.grid_forget()
# Start tkinter event - loop
root_window.mainloop()