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Python is a versatile programming language that can be used to implement different types of applications. It has many types of modules to create the GUI (Graphical User Interface) based applications. Python tkinter is one of them. Any desktop application can be implemented easily using the tkinter module. It will be better if you have a basic knowledge of Python programming to learn the uses of the Python tkinter module. Different uses of the Python tkinter module to create the GUI applications are shown in this tutorial. Install the Tkinter Module The tkinter module is not installed on Python by default. So, you have to run the following command to install the tkinter module in the Python 3+ version: $ sudo apt install python3-tk Different Tkinter Widgets The tkinter module contains various widgets for various purposes. Widget Name Purpose Label It is used to display the helping message for the user. Button It is used to add different buttons in the application. Frame It works like a widget container that contains different types of widgets to design an organized form. Entry It is used to take a single-line text from the user. Checkbutton It is used to add the checkbox buttons to take multiple inputs from the user from multiple options. Radiobutton It is used to add the radio buttons to take a single input from the user from multiple options. Combobox button It is used to add a dropdown list to take a single input from the user from multiple options. ListBox It is used to add a listbox to take multiple inputs from the user from multiple options. Text It is used to take a multi-line text from the user. Message It is used to display the message window for the user. Scrollbar It is used to add a scrollbar in the window to scroll the window up and down. Menubutton It is used to display the menu to the user. Menu It is used to display the menu items to the user. PanedWindow It works like a widget container that contains the horizontal and vertical panes. Tabs It is used to add a tab window in the application. Different Tkinter Examples The uses of some common tkinter widgets are shown in the following examples. Example 1: Create a Simple GUI Application Create a Python file with the following content that displays a dialog box at the center of the screen with a title and the particular height and width: #Import necessary Module from tkinter import * #Create object for the window tkobj = Tk() #Set the title of the window tkobj.title("Learn tkinter module") #Set the height and width of the window tkobj.geometry('300x150') #Set the display position of the window centrally tkobj.eval('tk::PlaceWindow . center') #Run the Tkinter tkobj.mainloop() Output: The following output appears after executing the script. A dialog box with the “Learn tkinter module” title is displayed: Example 2: Use of Label and Button Create a Python file with the following script that displays a window with a label and a dialog box: #Import necessary Module from tkinter import * #Create an object for the window tkobj = Tk() #Set the title of the window tkobj.title("Learn tkinter module") #Set the height and width of the window tkobj.geometry('400x150') #Define label object lbl = Label(tkobj, text="It is a simple window") #Add label to the window lbl.pack(ipadx=30, ipady=20) #Define button object btn = Button(tkobj, text="Click me") #Add button to the window with the position btn.pack(ipadx=30, ipady=10) #Set the display position of the window centrally tkobj.eval('tk::PlaceWindow . center') #Run the Tkinter tkobj.mainloop() Output: A window with a label and a button appears at the center of the screen after executing the script. Example 3: Set the Font Color and Background Color Create a Python file with the following script that displays a window with a label and a colorful button. Here, the background attribute is used to set the background color of the button and the foreground attribute is used to set the font color of the button: #Import necessary Module from tkinter import * #Create an object for the window tkobj = Tk() #Set the title of the window tkobj.title("Learn tkinter module") #Set the height and width of the window tkobj.geometry('400x150') #Define label object lbl = Label(tkobj, text="Set background and foreground color") #Add label to the window lbl.pack(ipadx=30, ipady=20) #Define button object with background and foreground color btn = Button(tkobj, text="Click me", background="blue", foreground="red") #Add button to the window with the position btn.pack(ipadx=30, ipady=8) #Set the display position of the window centrally tkobj.eval('tk::PlaceWindow . center') #Run the Tkinter tkobj.mainloop() Output: The following window appears after executing the script: Example 4: Use of Frame In the following Python script, a label and two buttons are shown within a frame widget. Create a Python file with the script to check the output: #Import necessary Module from tkinter import * #Create an object for the window tkobj = Tk() #Set the title of the window tkobj.title("tkinter Module") #Set the height and width of the window tkobj.geometry('250x100') #Define frame objects frm = Frame(tkobj) frm.pack() lframe = Frame(tkobj) lframe.pack(side=LEFT) rframe = Frame(tkobj) rframe.pack(side=RIGHT) #Define label inside the frame lbl = Label(frm, text="Use of Frame", fg="blue") lbl.pack() #Define buttons inside the frame btn1 = Button(lframe, text="", fg="black", bg="white") btn2.pack(side=RIGHT) #Set the display position of the window centrally tkobj.eval('tk::PlaceWindow . center') #Run the Tkinter tkobj.mainloop() Output: The following output appears after executing the script: Example 5: Handle the Button Event The use of the message box is shown in the following script. The message box is displayed when a button is clicked: #Import necessary Modules from tkinter import * from tkinter import messagebox #Create an object for the window tkobj = Tk() #Set the title of the window tkobj.title("Learn tkinter module") #Set the height and width of the window tkobj.geometry('400x150') #Define a function to display a message box def display(): messagebox.showinfo("Information","Button is clicked.") #Create label text with font color, style, and position Label(tkobj, text="Desktop application using tkinter.", fg="green").pack(pady=25) #Create a button with a button handler Button(tkobj, text="Show Message", command=display).pack() #Set the display position of the window centrally tkobj.eval('tk::PlaceWindow . center') #Run the Tkinter tkobj.mainloop() Output: The following window appears after executing the script: The following message box appears after pressing the button: Example 6: Take an Input from the User Multiple widgets are available in the tkinter module to take an input from the user. The uses of the most common widgets are shown in the following script. Create a Python file with the following code to check the output: #Import necessary Modules from tkinter import * from tkinter.ttk import Combobox from tkinter import ttk import tkinter as tk from tkinter import messagebox #Create tkinter object tkobj = Tk() #Set the title of the window tkobj.title("User Information Form") #Set the height and width of the window tkobj.geometry('550x320') #Define a function to display the form values def display_values(): #Read single-line text name = "Name : " + name_val.get() + "\n" #Read the selected radio button value if gender.get() == 1: g = "Male" else: g = "Female" g = "Gender : " + g + "\n" #Read the selected checkbox values game = "" if g1.get() == 1: game = "Cricket" if g2.get() == 1: if game != "": game += ", " + "Football" else: game = "Football" if g3.get() == 1: if game != "": game += ", " + "Basketball" else: game = "Basketball" game = "Game : " + game + "\n" #Read the combobox values country = "Country : " + countryVal.get() + "\n" #Read the multi-line text address = "Address : " + addr.get("1.0", "end") + "\n" #Merge all values taken by the fields form_values = name + g + game + country + address #Display the values in the message box messagebox.showinfo("User Information Details", form_values) #Create a label and the name field Label(tkobj, text="Name : ").place(x=100, y=20) name_val = StringVar() ttk.Entry(tkobj, textvariable=name_val).pack(padx=220, pady=20) #Create a label and the radio button Label(tkobj, text="Gender : ").place(x=100, y=60) gender = IntVar() gender.set(1) Radiobutton(tkobj, text="Male", variable=gender, value=1).place(x=210, y=60) Radiobutton(tkobj, text="Female", variable=gender, value=2).place(x=290, y=60) #Create a label and checkbox button Label(tkobj, text="Favorite game : ").place(x=100, y=100) g1 = IntVar() g2 = IntVar() g3 = IntVar() Checkbutton(tkobj, text="Cricket", variable=g1).place(x=210, y=100) Checkbutton(tkobj, text="Football", variable=g2).place(x=290, y=100) Checkbutton(tkobj, text="Basketball", variable=g3).place(x=380, y=100) #Define tuple values data = ("Bangladesh", "Japan", "USA") #Create label and combobox Label(tkobj, text="Country : ").place(x=100, y=140) countryVal = StringVar() Combobox(tkobj, values=data, textvariable=countryVal).place(x=220, y=140) #Create label and text field Label(tkobj, text="Address : ").place(x=100, y=180) addr = (tk.Text(tkobj, height=3, width=20)) addr.place(x=220, y=180) #Create a button with a button handler Button(tkobj, text="Submit", command=display_values).place(x=250, y=250) #Run the Tkinter tkobj.mainloop() Output: The following window appears after executing the script: Fill up the fields of the form and press on the “Submit” button. The following message box with the submitted values will appear: Conclusion The methods of using the Python tkinter module to create the GUI applications are shown in this tutorial using multiple examples. View the full article