Feb 62 min read

Day 36 - Creating GUIs with Tkinter

Hello Friends! Today marks Day 36 of our PythonForDevOps journey, and we're going to discuss about graphical user interfaces (GUIs) with Tkinter. If you've been craving a visually appealing way to interact with your Python scripts, you're in for a treat.

Why Tkinter?

Tkinter is Python's built-in GUI toolkit, making it an excellent choice for integrating graphical elements into your DevOps tools. Its simplicity and versatility have made it a go-to option for developers looking to add a user-friendly layer to their applications.

Getting Started with Tkinter

Let's kick things off by importing Tkinter into our script. If you don't have it installed, worry not – Tkinter comes bundled with Python, so there's no need for any extra installations.

import tkinter as tk

Now, let's create a basic window to house our GUI components.

# Create the main window
root = tk.Tk()root.title("Pyt
honForDevOps GUI")

# Run the Tkinter event loop
root.mainloop()

Run this script, and voila! You've just birthed your first Tkinter window. It may not do much yet, but it's a canvas ready to be adorned with buttons, labels, and other interactive elements.

Adding Widgets: Buttons and Labels

Widgets are the building blocks of a Tkinter GUI. Let's sprinkle some buttons and labels onto our canvas.

# Create a label
label = tk.Label(root, text="Welcome to PythonForDevOps GUI")
label.pack()

# Create a button
button = tk.Button(root, text="Click me!")
button.pack()

With the pack() method, we neatly arrange our label and button within the window. When you run the script, you'll see your label and a clickable button.

Handling Button Clicks

Now, let's make that button do something when clicked. We'll define a function and associate it with the button using the command parameter.

# Function to execute on button click
def on_button_click():
    label.config(text="Button clicked!")

# Associate the function with the button
button.config(command=on_button_click)

Now, each time you click the button, the label text will change to "Button clicked!"

Input with Entry Widgets

A useful GUI often involves user input. Tkinter's Entry widget allows you to gather text input. Let's enhance our GUI with an entry field.

# Create an entry widget
entry = tk.Entry(root)
entry.pack()
# Function to get input from the entry field
def get_entry_text():
    input_text = entry.get()
    label.config(text=f"Entered: {input_text}")
# Create a button to trigger input retrieval
get_text_button = tk.Button(root, text="Get Text", command=get_entry_text)
get_text_button.pack()

Now, you can enter text, click the button, and see your input displayed on the label.

Grid Layout: Organizing Widgets

Tkinter also offers the grid() method for a more organized layout. Let's create a simple grid of buttons.

# Create buttons in a grid
button1 = tk.Button(root, text="1")
button2 = tk.Button(root, text="2")
button3 = tk.Button(root, text="3")

button1.grid(row=0, column=0)
button2.grid(row=0, column=1)
button3.grid(row=1, column=0, columnspan=2)

Here, row and column determine the grid position, and columnspan allows a widget to span multiple columns.

Congratulations! You've journeyed through the basics of creating GUIs with Tkinter. This is just the tip of the iceberg – Tkinter offers a plethora of options for crafting intuitive interfaces for your DevOps tools.

Take the time to experiment, tweak, and refine your GUI.

Thank you for reading!

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vPundit