Cross Platform Python Desktop GUI Using Tkinter

Build GUI For Desktop Applications Using Python And Tkinter

Python is a programming language and Tkinter is a lightweight GUI framework.

Tkinter comes bundled with Python version 3 on Linux, macOS and Windows. It is the Python interface to the Tk GUI toolkit.

Tkinter needs to be imported as a module to create a GUI application main window.

Tkinter will be used for a future desktop only version of Learning PHP eBook.

This tutorial will create a simple multiplatform GUI application that can be used as a starting template.

For this example, I will assume that Python 3 is installed with the default Tkinter module. You do not need to know Python programming, as it is easy to grasp the basic tasks and follow along.

GUI Window

# Import Tkinter Module
import tkinter
# Create Instance Of Tkinter's Tk Class
window = tkinter.Tk()
# Run Tkinter Event Loop
window.mainloop()

Build And Run

python3 gui.py

View

You will see a window open that resembles other desktop applications.

Other GUI Widgets

Tkinter (Ttk) Widgets

Name	Description	Usage
Button	Displays buttons	b = Button ( master, option=value, … )
Checkbutton	Displays options and multiple select	cb = Checkbutton ( master, option, … )
Entry	Displays one line text field	e = Entry( master, option, … )
Frame	Organize other widgets	f = Frame (master, option, … )
Label	One line caption	l = Label ( master, option, … )
LabelFrame	Spatial container with label similar to HTML fieldset and legend	lf = LabelFrame( master, option, … )
Menubutton	Displays menus	mb = Menubutton ( master, option, … )
PanedWindow	Container arranged vertically or horizontally	pw = PanedWindow( master, option, … )
Radiobutton	Display options as radio buttons	rb = Radiobutton ( master, option, … )
Scale	Provides slider	s = Scale ( master, option, … )
Scrollbar	Adds scrolling capability	sb = Scrollbar ( master, option, … )
Spinbox	Built-in Up and Down buttons	sp = Spinbox( master, option, … )
Combobox	Combined Listbox and Entry field	co = Combobox( master, option, … )
Notebook	Manages a collection of windows and displays one at a time	nb = Notebook( master, option, … )
Progressbar	Displays status of long-running operation	pb = Progressbar( master, option, … )
Separator	Partition widgets	sp = Separator( master, option, … )
Sizegrip	Allows user to resize toplevel window	sg = Sizegrip( master, option, … )
Treeview	Displays a hierarchical collection of items	tv = Treeview( master, option, … )
master	Represents parent window
options	can be comma-separated key-value pairs

# Import Tkinter Module
import tkinter
# Create Instance Of Tkinter's Tk Class
window = tkinter.Tk()

# Create Button
b = tkinter.Button ( window, text="Click Me" )
b.pack()

# Create Label
l = tkinter.Label( window, text="Name" )
l.pack()

# Create Entry
e = tkinter.Entry( window, Width=20 )
e.pack()

# Run Tkinter Event Loop
window.mainloop()

You will see a window open that resembles other desktop applications.

Screenshots:

Conclusion:

In summary, Python Tkinter can be used to create cross platform GUI applications. Python with Tkinter can be used for the GUI portion and the rest of the application can use another platform or programming language.

References:

• Tkinter – Python interface to Tcl/Tk
• Python
• Learning PHP eBook