Why is inner padding only applied on the right? - python

MCVE
import Tkinter as tk
import ttk
root = tk.Tk()
root.minsize(200, 100)
inner_frame = ttk.LabelFrame(root, text='inner_frame')
inner_frame.grid(row=0, column=0)
button = ttk.Button(inner_frame, text='this is a button')
button.grid(row=0, column=0)
# this does not work as expected
inner_frame.grid_configure(ipadx=20)
root.mainloop()
Output
Question
Why is the inner padding for inner_frame only applied on the right? How do I apply it on both sides?

Interestingly, and I don't know if this is a bug, your problem is solved by making the column containing the button expand past its minimum horizontal size.
The minimum horizontal size of column 0 in the inner frame is the horizontal size of its content, which is the button.
If you add a inner_frame.columnconfigure(0, weight=1), then the internal padding works as expected:
import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
root = tk.Tk()
inner_frame = ttk.LabelFrame(root_frame, text="inner_frame")
inner_frame.grid(row=0, column=0)
inner_frame.columnconfigure(0, weight=1)
button = ttk.Button(inner_frame, text="this is a button")
button.grid(row=0, column=0)
# this works expected:
inner_frame.grid_configure(ipadx=20)
root.mainloop()
Note that grid_configure changes column 0 by default, so here we're adding internal padding to the cells in column 0.
I do not know exactly why this happens. It is not mentioned in the Tcl grid docs (http://tcl.tk/man/tcl8.5/TkCmd/grid.htm#M13).
Interestingly, this link does mention some special case around size of the frame using internal padding (low down the page, in the "Internal Padding" section): https://tkdocs.com/tutorial/grid.html
The difference can be subtle. Let's say you have a frame that's 20x20, and specify normal (external) padding of 5 pixels on each side. The frame will request a 20x20 rectangle (its natural size) from the geometry manager. Normally, that's what it will be granted, so it'll get a 20x20 rectangle for the frame, surrounded by a 5-pixel border.
With internal padding, the geometry manager will effectively add the extra padding to the widget when figuring out its natural size, as if the widget has requested a 30x30 rectangle. If the frame is centered, or attached to a single side or corner (using "sticky"), you'll end up with a 20x20 frame with extra space around it. If however the frame is set to stretch (i.e. a "sticky" value of "we", "ns", or "nwes") it will fill the extra space, resulting in a 30x30 frame, with no border.
But it is confusingly written, and I can't fully understand what they mean (or even if they are correct in modern Python). If someone knows what that paragraph above means, by all means comment below and let us know!
Adding internal padding to the frame as a whole
You can add internal padding by using styles or passing it directly as an argument to the frame's constructor:
ttk.LabelFrame(root, text="inner", padding=(20, 0))
The padding value there can take either:
One value, for padding on all sides
Two values, for x and y (in that order)
Four values, for padding starting at the left and going clockwise.

In your case, ipadx isn't failing. It's working as designed, it's just that the way it works isn't very intuitive, especially when you apply it to a frame.
To better visualize what is happening, lets apply the ipadx value to the button rather than the frame. That way we can see the padding relative to the label on the button.
For example, add two buttons instead of one. Give one an ipadx of 20, and give the other an ipadx of 0.
button1 = ttk.Button(inner_frame, text='this is a button')
button2 = ttk.Button(inner_frame, text='this is a button')
button1.grid(row=0, column=0, ipadx=20)
button2.grid(row=1, column=0, ipadx=0)
Notice that the button with ipadx=20 is wider, and the extra space is inside the button rather than as a margin surrounding the button.
The same thing is happening with inner_frame: when it is added to its parent, the extra space is being added inside the frame, effectively making inner_frame wider. You can't see it because it's added to the empty space already inside the frame.
Here's the important part: if you add a widget to inner_frame, grid doesn't know anything about the ipadx values applied to inner_frame -- that ipadx option only applies to inner_frame and its parent, not its children. At the point of adding widgets inside of inner_frame, grid only knows that inner_frame is X pixels wide.
To illustrate, we can add a label to the button, similar to how your original code adds a button to the frame. (note: we'll turn geometry propagation off so that it doesn't cause the button to shrink).
button1.grid_propagate(False)
label = ttk.Label(button1, text="x")
label.grid(row=0, column=0)
You should see a window that looks something like this:
See how the "x" is at the far left edge of the button? That is because it doesn't know anything about the ipadx value applied to its parent. All it knows is that the button is X pixels widget, and that it's supposed to be on the left edge of the button.
That is what's happening with you original frame and button - the button is being added inside the frame, making use of all of the space inside the frame.

So far I have figured out that using padding=... in the LabelFrame constructor produces the correct result.
If you delete the line
inner_frame.grid_configure(ipadx=20)
and use
inner_frame = ttk.LabelFrame(root, text='inner_frame', padding=[20, 0])
or alternatively
inner_frame['padding'] = [20, 0]
the result looks like this:
I have no clue why using ipadx through grid_configure does not work as expected.

Related

Tkinter widget displacement with pack()

I want to pack two buttons (left and right) and a label (in the middle) in a frame. I want the label to fill the remaining space on the frame to both sides, but the widgets get displaced vertically with this code. What's the best way to do this? The widgets don't necessarily have to be packed on a frame but I want them to align horizontally while the text size of the label can change, but the buttons need to stay in place on the far left and right side. enter image description here
import tkinter as tk
root = tk.Tk()
root.geometry('600x800')
root.configure(background='#141414')
frm = tk.Frame(root)
frm.place(x=0, y=0, width=300, height=30)
btn1 = tk.Button(frm, text='button1')
lbl = tk.Label(frm, text='Lalalalalala')
btn2 = tk.Button(frm, text='button2')
btn1.pack(side='left')
lbl.pack(fill='x')
btn2.pack(side='right')
tk.mainloop()
You can solve this problem a couple of ways. One solution is to pack the label to one side or the other rather than the top.
btn1.pack(side='left')
lbl.pack(side='left', fill='x', expand=True)
btn2.pack(side='right')
Another is to pack the buttons first, and then pack the label. With pack the order matters.
btn1.pack(side='left')
btn2.pack(side='right')
lbl.pack(fill='x', expand=True)
For an illustrated explanation of how pack works see this answer to the question Tkinter pack method confusion

Python Tkinter Grid Manager is Ignoring Sizing of Previous Items and Wrapping Frames

I was thinking the Grid manager was pretty straightforward, but I'm stuck. I basically have three frames, starting from the main window and each frame using the previous as its master.
I'm trying to create 12 blocks inside the second frame, but when I try to create the blocks it wraps around its master frame and adds extra space at the end.
I also don't understand why I can change the hScroll width to also change the size of its master frame, example being set to 1000, but changing the width of its master frame, even increasing size does nothing.
I'm trying to learn how to use Tkinter and am looking for where I am messing up conceptually here, not so much just a code fix.
# Main frame
worksheetFrame = tk.Frame(tkRoot, width=2000, height=800, background='BLUE')
worksheetFrame.grid(row=0, column=0, padx=(100, 0), pady=(60, 0))
# Horizontal scrollbar
hScroll = tk.Frame(worksheetFrame, width=1000, height=20, background='RED')
hScroll.grid(row=1, column=0)
# Month frames
for i in range(12):
monthFrame = tk.Frame(worksheetFrame, width=200, height=400, background='YELLOW')
monthFrame.config(borderwidth = 2, relief=tk.GROOVE)
monthFrame.grid(row=0, column=i, sticky=tk.W)
# Vertical scrollbars
vScroll = tk.Frame(monthFrame, width=20, height=400, background='GREEN')
vScroll.grid(row=0, column=i)
I'm trying to create 12 blocks inside the second frame, but when I try to create the blocks it wraps around its master frame and adds extra space at the end.
Nothing is wrapping. You have one green frame in column 0, and then the other 11 frames are in columns 1-11.
I think the thing you are missing is that you're trying to put one of the narrow green frames in column 0 of worksheetFrame, which is the same column that has the horizontal scrollbar. You've forced the scrollbar to be 1000 pixels wide which causes column 0 to be 1000 pixels wide. When you put a 20 pixel wide frame inside a 1000 pixel column, there's going to be a lot of unused spaced, which is what you're seeing.
I also don't understand why I can change the hScroll width to also change the size of its master frame, example being set to 1000, but changing the width of its master frame, even increasing size does nothing.
That is again due to the fact that grid and pack by default grow or shrink a container to fit its contents. Since you add a child to worksheetFrame using grid, that frame will ignore its requested width and shrink to fit its children.
If you want a single horizontal frame that spans the width of worksheetFrame, you need to use columnspan so that it spans all of the columns:
hScroll.grid(row=1, column=0, columnspan=12)

Can't align three text widget in tkinter

I'd like to create three text areas in a tkinter window and make them dinamically resizable. I thought that one solution was to pass the width and height parameters in pixels (such as height=int(win_height/2)), but as I read it isn't possible, in fact the width and height parameters in a tk.Text widget are calculated by characters for each line and column. I've also tried to pass the width and height parameters in percentages (such as height=50%) but it returns me a syntax error.
I've been trying to find out a solution for this problem in the net, and the best code I've found is this:
import tkinter as tk
root = tk.Tk()
root.geometry("500x500")
# Text Box
first_textbox = tk.Text(root, width=25, height=10, bg='yellow')
second_textbox = tk.Text(root, width=25, height=10, bg='blue')
third_textbox = tk.Text(root, width=50, height=20, bg='red')
# Packing
first_textbox.grid(column=1, row=1)
second_textbox.grid(column=1, row=2)
third_textbox.grid(column=2, row=1, rowspan=2)
root.mainloop()
By running this code I obtain a window with three different text areas which aren't dinamically resizabled and which take more space than the actual window width. I hope you can help me.
Sorry for any English mistake, it is my second lenguage
grid has several documented parameters to help you do what you want. You simply need to use them.
By default, grid won't give widgets any extra space -- they take up only the space they need and no more. If you widgets to be allocated extra space, you have to explicitly arrange for that.
For example, if you want all widgets to grow and shrink equally, you need to configure the rows and columns to have an equal weight greater than zero. That will tell grid how to allocate any extra space when the window is bigger than the size requested by all of the widgets.
For example:
root.grid_rowconfigure((1,2), weight=1)
root.grid_columnconfigure((1,2), weight=1)
That just tells grid what to do with extra space. If instead, you want two or more rows or columns to have exactly the same size, you can use the uniform option to tell grid that you want the rows or columns to have a uniform (identical) size.
For example, if you want both columns 1 and 2 to have the same width, you can give each column the same value for the uniform option. Note: the value passed to uniform can be anything you want. The important thing is that they are configured to have the same value.
root.grid_columnconfigure((1, 2), uniform="equal")
That alone won't solve the problem. You also must tell grid that you want the widgets to fill the space given to them. You do that with the sticky parameter, which tells grid to "stick" the widget to one or more sides of the allocated space.
To get the widgets to fill all allocated space you can give the string "nsew" which stands for "north, south, east, and west" which represent the four sides of the given space.
first_textbox = tk.Text(root, width=25, height=10, bg='yellow')
second_textbox = tk.Text(root, width=25, height=10, bg='blue')
third_textbox = tk.Text(root, width=50, height=20, bg='red')

Is it possible to place an image in Tkinter without a Label or canvas

I am trying to place images next to each other side by side but the labels overlap and the label sticks out.
from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
root.geometry("1000x700")
root.resizable(0, 0)
##############################################
TFi = PhotoImage(file="images/Topframe.png")
TF = Label(root, image=TFi)
TF.place(x=-3, y=-3)
BFi = PhotoImage(file="images/Botframe.png")
BF = Label(root, image=BFi)
BF.place(x=-3, y=650)
LF1i = PhotoImage(file="images/LeftFrame1.png")
LF1 = Label(root, image=LF1i)
LF1.place(x=-3, y=50)
##############################################
root.mainloop()
Is it possible to place an image in Tkinter without a Label or canvas
Your most common choices for labels are a canvas or a label. You can also put images on buttons, and embed them in a text widget.
The best choice for creating labels that are next to each other are to use pack or grid. pack is good if you're making a single horizontal or vertical grouping, but grid is better if you're making both rows and columns of widgets.
You can use place, but that requires that you do all of the math to compute the location of each image, and usually results in a user interface that isn't very resilient to changes in screen resolution. It also sometimes ends up causing you to have to do changes to every widget even if you only want to tweak the layout slightly.
My guess for why they overlap is that you aren't aware that the coordinates you give place by default specify the center of the image rather than the upper-left corner. You can specify which part of the image is at the given coordinate with the anchor option.
the label sticks out.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that, but if you mean that it has a 3D appearance, you can control that by giving it a borderwidth of zero and/or a relief of "flat".

Tkinter Frame Resize one axis

I have a tkinter frame that I want to automatically resize on the Y axis but remain a constant width as I add label widgets to it.
To keep the X-size constant I am using grid_propogate(False) but that keeps the whole thing a constant size.
How can I set the frame to resize in this manner?
Thanks
Ok, figured it out
Made a larger frame that encompassed the space that my frame could fill if maxed out and used pack(fill=X) and pack_propagate(False) to make the inner frame conform to the X dimension of the outer frame while not changing it. I then could add lines to the innerframe as needed with it maintaining it's X size:
OuterFrame = Frame(root, height=500, width=400)
InnerFrame = Frame(OuterFrame, borderwidth=3, relief=RAISED)
InnerFrame.pack(side=TOP, fill=X)
# stuff that goes in the y-resizing InnerFrame
OuterFrame.pack_propogate(False)
OuterFrame.pack()
This seems like a very ugly solution to me, (hopefully someone will come along with something better):
import Tkinter as tk
root=tk.Tk()
f=tk.Frame(root,width=100,height=300)
f.grid_propagate(False)
f.grid(row=0,column=0)
def resize(evt):
f.update_idletasks()
height=f.winfo_reqheight()
f.grid_propagate(False)
if(evt.width!=100) or (evt.height!=height):
f.configure(width=100,height=height)
print "HERE", evt.width,height
f.bind('<Configure>',resize)
#Just some stupid (ugly) code to update the size of the widget at runtime.
def add_label():
f.grid_propagate(True)
lbl=tk.Label(f,text=' %d Hello!'%(add_label.row))
lbl.grid(column=0,row=add_label.row)
add_label.row+=1
add_label.row=0
b=tk.Button(root,text="Add label",command=add_label)
b.grid(row=1,column=0)
root.mainloop()

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