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Python GUI Programming Cookbook
Python GUI Programming Cookbook

Python GUI Programming Cookbook: Over 80 object-oriented recipes to help you create mind-blowing GUIs in Python

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Python GUI Programming Cookbook

Chapter 2. Layout Management

In this chapter we will lay out our GUI using Python 3:

  • Arranging several labels within a label frame widget
  • Using padding to add space around widgets
  • How widgets dynamically expand the GUI
  • Aligning the GUI widgets by embedding frames within frames
  • Creating menu bars
  • Creating tabbed widgets
  • Using the grid layout manager

Introduction

In this chapter, we will explore how to arrange widgets within widgets to create our Python GUI. Learning the fundamentals of GUI layout design will enable us to create great looking GUIs. There are certain techniques that will help us to achieve this layout design.

The grid layout manager is one of the most important layout tools built into tkinter that we will be using.

We can very easily create menu bars, tabbed controls (aka Notebooks), and many more widgets using tk.

One widget that is missing out of the box from tk is a status bar.

In this chapter, we will not bother to hand-craft this widget, but it can be done.

Arranging several labels within a label frame widget

The LabelFrame widget allows us to design our GUI in an organized fashion. We are still using the grid layout manager as our main layout design tool, yet by using LabelFrame widgets we get much more control over our GUI design.

Getting ready

We are starting to add more and more widgets to our GUI, and we will make the GUI fully functional in the coming recipes. Here, we are starting to use the LabelFrame widget. We will reuse the GUI from the last recipe of the previous chapter.

How to do it...

Add the following code just above the main event loop towards the bottom of the Python module:

# Create a container to hold labels
labelsFrame = ttk.LabelFrame(win, text=' Labels in a Frame ') # 1
labelsFrame.grid(column=0, row=7)

# Place labels into the container element # 2
ttk.Label(labelsFrame, text="Label1").grid(column=0, row=0)
ttk.Label(labelsFrame, text="Label2").grid(column=1, row=0)
ttk.Label(labelsFrame, text...

Using padding to add space around widgets

Our GUI is being created nicely. Next, we will improve the visual aspects of our widgets by adding a little space around them, so they can breathe...

Getting ready

While tkinter might have had a reputation for creating ugly GUIs, this has dramatically changed since version 8.5, which ships with Python 3.4.x. You just have to know how to use the tools and techniques that are available. That's what we will do next.

How to do it...

The procedural way of adding spacing around widgets is shown first, and then we will use a loop to achieve the same thing in a much better way.

Our LabelFrame looks a bit tight as it blends into the main window towards the bottom. Let's fix this now.

Modify the following line of code by adding padx and pady:

labelsFrame.grid(column=0, row=7, padx=20, pady=40)

And now our LabelFrame got some breathing space:

How to do it...

How it works...

In tkinter, adding space horizontally and vertically is done by using the built-in properties named...

How widgets dynamically expand the GUI

You probably noticed in previous screenshots and by running the code that widgets have a capability to extend themselves to the space they need to visually display their text.

Note

Java introduced the concept of dynamic GUI layout management. In comparison, visual development IDEs like VS.NET lay out the GUI in a visual manner, and are basically hard-coding the x and y coordinates of UI elements.

Using tkinter, this dynamic capability creates both an advantage and a little bit of a challenge, because sometimes our GUI dynamically expands when we would prefer it rather not to be so dynamic! Well, we are dynamic Python programmers, so we can figure out how to make the best use of this fantastic behavior!

Getting ready

At the beginning of the previous recipe we added a label frame widget. This moved some of our controls to the center of column 0. We might not wish this modification to our GUI layout. Next, we will explore some ways to fix this.

How to do it...

Aligning the GUI widgets by embedding frames within frames

We have much better control of our GUI layout if we embed frames within frames. This is what we will do in this recipe.

Getting ready

The dynamic behavior of Python and its GUI modules can create a little bit of a challenge to really get our GUI looking the way we want. Here we will embed frames within frames to get more control of our layout. This will establish a stronger hierarchy among the different UI elements, making the visual appearance easier to achieve.

We will continue to use the GUI we created in the previous recipe.

How to do it...

Here, we will create a top-level frame that will contain other frames and widgets. This will help us to get our GUI layout just the way we want.

In order to do so, we will have to embed our current controls within a central ttk.LabelFrame. This ttk.LabelFrame is a child of the main parent window and all controls will be children of this ttk.LabelFrame.

Up to this point in our recipes, we have assigned...

Introduction


In this chapter, we will explore how to arrange widgets within widgets to create our Python GUI. Learning the fundamentals of GUI layout design will enable us to create great looking GUIs. There are certain techniques that will help us to achieve this layout design.

The grid layout manager is one of the most important layout tools built into tkinter that we will be using.

We can very easily create menu bars, tabbed controls (aka Notebooks), and many more widgets using tk.

One widget that is missing out of the box from tk is a status bar.

In this chapter, we will not bother to hand-craft this widget, but it can be done.

Arranging several labels within a label frame widget


The LabelFrame widget allows us to design our GUI in an organized fashion. We are still using the grid layout manager as our main layout design tool, yet by using LabelFrame widgets we get much more control over our GUI design.

Getting ready

We are starting to add more and more widgets to our GUI, and we will make the GUI fully functional in the coming recipes. Here, we are starting to use the LabelFrame widget. We will reuse the GUI from the last recipe of the previous chapter.

How to do it...

Add the following code just above the main event loop towards the bottom of the Python module:

# Create a container to hold labels
labelsFrame = ttk.LabelFrame(win, text=' Labels in a Frame ') # 1
labelsFrame.grid(column=0, row=7)

# Place labels into the container element # 2
ttk.Label(labelsFrame, text="Label1").grid(column=0, row=0)
ttk.Label(labelsFrame, text="Label2").grid(column=1, row=0)
ttk.Label(labelsFrame, text="Label3").grid(column=2, row...

Using padding to add space around widgets


Our GUI is being created nicely. Next, we will improve the visual aspects of our widgets by adding a little space around them, so they can breathe...

Getting ready

While tkinter might have had a reputation for creating ugly GUIs, this has dramatically changed since version 8.5, which ships with Python 3.4.x. You just have to know how to use the tools and techniques that are available. That's what we will do next.

How to do it...

The procedural way of adding spacing around widgets is shown first, and then we will use a loop to achieve the same thing in a much better way.

Our LabelFrame looks a bit tight as it blends into the main window towards the bottom. Let's fix this now.

Modify the following line of code by adding padx and pady:

labelsFrame.grid(column=0, row=7, padx=20, pady=40)

And now our LabelFrame got some breathing space:

How it works...

In tkinter, adding space horizontally and vertically is done by using the built-in properties named padx and pady...

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Description

Python is a multi-domain, interpreted programming language. It is a widely used general-purpose, high-level programming language. It is often used as a scripting language because of its forgiving syntax and compatibility with a wide variety of different eco-systems. Its flexible syntax enables developers to write short scripts while at the same time, they can use object-oriented concepts to develop very large projects. Python GUI Programming Cookbook follows a task-based approach to help you create beautiful and very effective GUIs with the least amount of code necessary. This book uses the simplest programming style, using the fewest lines of code to create a GUI in Python, and then advances to using object-oriented programming in later chapters. If you are new to object-oriented programming (OOP), this book will teach you how to take advantage of the OOP coding style in the context of creating GUIs written in Python. Throughout the book, you will develop an entire GUI application, building recipe upon recipe, connecting the GUI to a database. In the later chapters, you will explore additional Python GUI frameworks, using best practices. You will also learn how to use threading to ensure your GUI doesn’t go unresponsive. By the end of the book, you will be an expert in Python GUI programming to develop a common set of GUI applications.

Who is this book for?

If you are a Python programmer with intermediate level knowledge of GUI programming and want to learn how to create beautiful, effective, and responsive GUIs using the freely available Python GUI frameworks, this book is for you.
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Table of Contents

12 Chapters
1. Creating the GUI Form and Adding Widgets Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Layout Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Look and Feel Customization Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Data and Classes Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Matplotlib Charts Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Threads and Networking Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Storing Data in Our MySQL Database via Our GUI Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Internationalization and Testing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Extending Our GUI with the wxPython Library Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Creating Amazing 3D GUIs with PyOpenGL and PyGLet Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Best Practices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Top Reviews
Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.4
(11 Ratings)
5 star 81.8%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 9.1%
1 star 9.1%
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Kindle Customer Aug 21, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great book Covers the Python GUI building in detail including Graphing. One of very few recent books on the subject.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer Jun 24, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
An Awesome Book For Python GUI Development.It is easy to understand with well described content.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Guerra Andrea Jul 11, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Lo ho trovato un ottimo libro per imparare tkinter dalle basi.Con una minima padronanza dell'inglese e sicuramente un libro da cui partire.un cosiglio se dovete scegliere acquistate questo libro prima dell'hotshot su tkinter della stessa catena.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
One Jul 15, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Descriptive. It met my expectations.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
JT. Nov 17, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Excellent book. I enjoyed it so much that I finished the first chapter in one sitting. This book starts with you from scratch with good explanation on every line in the code. I'm not new to programming but new to Python and this book is a great way to learn the Python GUI.Please note that this book is only for GUI programming as its name implies. I think this book with Python in a nutshell would be a great combination to learn Python.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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