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Tkinter - Thread communication and shared result - with progressbar

I am building an interface in Tkinter in which the main window (let's call it 'root') contains a button (say, 'create'). Furthermore, assume I have already defined a function 'f'. I would like to create the following effect: clicking on 'create' would execute 'f' in the background and at the same time open an indeterminate progress bar in a new window. Moreover, and this is the tricky part for me, I want the progress bar to close automatically after 'f' is done executing. How can I achieve this? Could you please provide a minimal working example? I think that key lies on constructing a proper function to pass as 'command' option to 'create'.
This is what I have thus far. It is not even running properly, as the progress bar runs indefinitely and the task starts being executed only after the progress bar is closed (or after closing 'root'). However, it feels like this is really close, and there is some small issue that I should fix but that I cannot see:
from tkinter import *
from tkinter.ttk import *
import threading
import time
root = Tk() # Main window
def create_command():
stop_flag = threading.Event() # create a flag to stop the progress bar
def f():
# function to do some task
print("Starting task...")
time.sleep(5) # simulate some time-consuming task
print("Task complete.")
stop_flag.set() # set the stop flag to indicate that progress_check() should stop
progress_bar_window = Toplevel(root) # Progress bar window
progress_bar = Progressbar(progress_bar_window, orient= 'horizontal', length= 300, mode= 'indeterminate') # Create progress bar
progress_bar.pack()
progress_bar.start()
def progress_check():
# function to run an infinite loop
while not stop_flag.is_set():
print("Running infinite loop...")
time.sleep(1)
progress_bar.stop()
progress_bar_window.destroy()
progress_bar_window.mainloop() # Start mainloop for progress bar window
# create separate threads to run the functions
thread1 = threading.Thread(target=f, args=())
thread2 = threading.Thread(target=progress_check, args=())
thread1.start() # start executing f
thread2.start() # start the progress_check
# wait for f to finish before stopping the infinite loop
thread2.join()
stop_flag.set() # set the stop flag to indicate that progress_bar() should stop
create_button = Button(root, text= "Create", command= create_command)
create_button.pack()
root.mainloop()

Look at this:
from tkinter import ttk
import tkinter as tk
import threading
import time
root = tk.Tk() # Main window
def create_command():
# create a flag to stop the progress bar
stop_flag = threading.Event()
def f():
print("Starting task...\n", end="")
time.sleep(5)
print("Task complete.\n", end="")
# set the stop flag to indicate that progress_check() should stop
stop_flag.set()
progress_bar_window = tk.Toplevel(root)
progress_bar = ttk.Progressbar(progress_bar_window, orient="horizontal",
length=300, mode="indeterminate")
progress_bar.pack()
progress_bar.start()
def progress_check():
# If the flag is set (function f has completed):
if stop_flag.is_set():
# Stop the progressbar and destroy the toplevel
progress_bar.stop()
progress_bar_window.destroy()
else:
# If the function is still running:
print("Running infinite loop...\n", end="")
# Schedule another call to progress_check in 100 milliseconds
progress_bar.after(100, progress_check)
# start executing f in another thread
threading.Thread(target=f, daemon=True).start()
# Start the tkinter loop
progress_check()
create_button = tk.Button(root, text= "Create", command=create_command)
create_button.pack()
root.mainloop()
Explanation:
To run a loop alongside tkinter, you should use .after, like in this question. I changed progress_check so that tkinter calls it every 100 milliseconds until stop_flag is set. When stop_flag is set, the progressbar stops and the Toplevel is destroyed.
A few minor points:
from ... import * is discouraged
With tkinter, you don't need more than 1 .mainloop() unless you are using .quit(). .mainloop() doesn't stop until all tk.Tk windows have been destroyed.
There is no point in creating a new thread, if you are going to call .join() right after.

First of all, don't use wildcard imports!
Wildcard-imports can lead to name conflicts, for instance swap the wildcard imports from ttk and tkinter. You end up using tkinter buttons even if you want to use ttk buttons. Same issue might appear with PhotoImage and pillow. The magic word is "qualified-names".
Also I like to have some sort of structure in my code, I prefer classes. However, even in a procedural code there can be some sort of structure. For instance:
imports
1.0) built-in modules
1.1) import external modules
1.2) import own modules
Constants and global variables
free functions
main window definitions
...
every logical block can be separated with comments that indicates what the following code might do or represents. This could also be useful to "jump" with the search function of your IDE to the point you want to work next, in larger scripts and modules this becomes handy.
A slightly different version of your code can be found below and it is not intended to be used:
import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
import threading
import time
def start_worker_thread():
'This function starts a thread and pops up a progressbar'
def generate_waiting_window():
'nested function to generate progressbar'
#disable button to inform user of intended use
start_btn.configure(state=tk.DISABLED)
#toplevel definitions
toplevel = tk.Toplevel(root)
toplevel.focus()
#progressbar definitions
progress = ttk.Progressbar(
toplevel, orient=tk.HORIZONTAL, length=300, mode='indeterminate')
progress.pack(fill=tk.BOTH, expand=True)
progress.start()
return toplevel
def long_blocking_function():
'This function simulates a long blocking call'
stopped = threading.Event()
n = 0
while not stopped.is_set():
n += 1
print('working in turn', n)
time.sleep(0.5)
if n == 10:
stopped.set()
nonlocal thread_info
thread_info = n
#important!! last logical line
toplevel.destroy()
return None
toplevel = generate_waiting_window()
thread_info = None
thread = threading.Thread(target=long_blocking_function)
thread.start()
toplevel.wait_window()
start_btn.configure(state='normal')
result_lbl.configure(text='Result is: '+str(thread_info))
print('thread exited on turn', thread_info)
#Main window definitions
root = tk.Tk()
start_btn = ttk.Button(root, text="Start", command=start_worker_thread)
start_btn.pack()
result_lbl = tk.Label(root, text='Result is: None')
result_lbl.pack()
#start the application
root.mainloop()
#after application is destroyed
While this code is efficient for this simple task, it requires understanding what it does to debug it. That is why you won't find code like this often. It is here for demonstrative purposes. So what is wrong with the code and how does it differ from the meanwhile canonical way of using threads in tkinter.
First of all, it uses nested function. While this might not an issue here, computing the same function over and over again, can slow down your code significantly.
Second it uses tkwait and therefore has some caveats over the linked answer.
Also threading.Event is a low-level primitive for communication, while there are cases you could use it, tkinter offers own tools for it and these should be preferred.
In addition it does not use a threadsafe storage for the data and this could also lead to confusion and non reliable data.
A better approach and a slight improvement to the canonical way can be found here:
import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
import threading
import sys
import queue
import time
inter_thread_storage = queue.Queue()
temporary_toplevel = None
EXIT = False
def on_thread_ended_event(event):
start_btn.configure(state=tk.NORMAL)
result = inter_thread_storage.get_nowait()
result_lbl.configure(text='Result is: '+str(result))
global temporary_toplevel
temporary_toplevel.destroy()
temporary_toplevel = None
def worker_thread_function():
'Simulates a long blocking function'
n = 0
while n < 10 and not EXIT:
n += 1
print('working in turn', n)
time.sleep(0.5)
if not EXIT:
inter_thread_storage.put(n)
root.event_generate('<<ThreadEnded>>')
def start_worker_thread():
'This function starts a thread and pops up a progressbar'
#toplevel definitions
toplevel = tk.Toplevel(root)
toplevel.focus()
#progressbar definitions
progress = ttk.Progressbar(
toplevel, orient=tk.HORIZONTAL, length=300, mode='indeterminate')
progress.pack(fill=tk.BOTH, expand=True)
progress.start()
#thread definitions
thread = threading.Thread(target=worker_thread_function)
thread.start()
#disable button to inform user of intended use
start_btn.configure(state=tk.DISABLED)
#store toplevel temporary
global temporary_toplevel
temporary_toplevel = toplevel
#Main window definitions
root = tk.Tk()
root.bind('<Destroy>',lambda e:setattr(sys.modules[__name__], 'EXIT', True))
root.bind('<<ThreadEnded>>', on_thread_ended_event)
start_btn = ttk.Button(root, text="Start", command=start_worker_thread)
start_btn.pack()
result_lbl = tk.Label(root, text='Result is: None')
result_lbl.pack()
#start the application
root.mainloop()
#after application is destroyed
This is how it works:
generate a new event
Make sure your toplevel can be reached, with global or alternatives.
store data threadsafe like in a Queue
fire the event and let tkinter call your function safely in the mainloop.
it has a flag for the edge case, where the user closes the main window before the thread finished.
Let me know, if you have questions to my answer.

Alternative To Time.Sleep() for pausing a function

I created an example code because my original is too big and has private information(My own) in it.
While running a program from a Tkinter GUI, it runs the program but makes the GUI unresponsive because of time.sleep() blocking the GUI from updating.
I am trying to avoid using timers because it fires a different function after a duration instead of simply pausing the function and then continuing the same function.
Is there an alternative that does not block the GUI but still adds a delay inside of the function?
Example Code:
from tkinter import *
import time
wn = Tk()
wn.geometry("400x300")
MyLabel = Label(wn, text="This is a Status Bar")
MyLabel.pack()
def MyFunction():
Value = 1
while Value < 10:
print("Do something")
time.sleep(1) **# - here blocks everything outside of the function**
MyLabel.config(text=Value)
# A lot more code is under here so I cannot use a timer that fires a new function
Value = 1
MyButton = Button(wn, text="Run Program", command=MyFunction)
MyButton.pack()
wn.mainloop()
Edit: Thanks so much, you're answers were fast and helpful, I changed the code and added "wn.mainloop()" after the delay and replaced "time.sleep(1)" with wn.after(100, wn.after(10, MyLabel.config(text=Value))
here is the final code:
from tkinter import *
import time
wn = Tk()
wn.geometry("400x300")
MyLabel = Label(wn, text="This is a Status Bar")
MyLabel.pack()
def MyFunction():
Value = 0
while Value < 10:
print("Do something")
wn.after(10, MyLabel.config(text=Value))
Value += 1
wn.mainloop()
MyButton = Button(wn, text="Run Program", command=MyFunction)
MyButton.pack()
wn.mainloop()

The short answer is that you can use wn.after() to request a callback after a certain amount of time. That's how you handle it. You get a timer tick at a one-per-second rate, and you have enough state information to let you proceed to the next state, then you go back to the main loop.
Put another way, timers are exactly how you have to solve this problem.

Fundamentally, any callback function in Tkinter runs in the main GUI thread, and so the GUI thread will block until the function exits. Thus you cannot add a delay inside the function without causing the GUI thread to be delayed.
There are two ways to solve this. One would be to refactor your function into multiple pieces so that it can schedule the remaining work (in a separate function) via .after. This has the advantage of ensuring that all of your functions are running in the main thread, so you can perform GUI operations directly.
The other way is to run your function in a separate thread that is kicked off whenever your main callback is executed. This lets you keep all the logic inside the one function, but it can no longer perform GUI operations directly - instead, any GUI operations would have to go through an event queue that you manage from the main thread.

You can combine after() and wait_variable() to simulate time.sleep() without blocking tkinter from handling pending events and updates:
def tk_sleep(delay):
v = wn.IntVar()
# update variable "delay" ms later
wn.after(delay, v.set, 0)
# wait for update of variable
wn.wait_variable(v)
Using tk_sleep() in your while loop:
def MyFunction():
Value = 1
while Value < 10:
print("Do something")
tk_sleep(1000) # waits for one second
MyLabel.config(text=Value)
# A lot more code is under here so I cannot use a timer that fires a new function
Value += 1

Updating a TKinter Label during other loops

Currently I'm working on a project of mine involving sensors, and showing that sensory data on a display via TKinter. Everythings written in Python 3.7.3.
The issue im currently handling, is to update the label in the window, while the mainloop is running.
What i mean by this, is that if i execute the script, first the window options get defined, then the update function gets defined with a while true loop. Then its supposed to start the window. Now because of the while true loop it does not reach the window.mainloop() point (obviously, the while loop doesn't break...). My interest was peaked and i tried to put the window.mainloop() function inside the while loop of the update (please don't blame me, i know my script is a spaghetti mess.) I figured out that i could run the whole thing in threads, and so i decided to thread the whole window process, and add queues for the sensor data. Now the while loop was still in the way and didnt work properly, and after a bit of googling i found a code snippet that might help me. After trying to implement it in my script, i got an exception "function init expects 3 arguments, but 4 were given.." (code below) and I'm kinda running out of ideas on this.
Bear in mind that im not raelly a developer, i just need a script that can handle sensor data, dispaly it in a window, and export the current data to a database. So go easy on the blame please.
Current Script:
import time
import board
import adafruit_dht
import threading
import queue
from tkinter import *
dhtDevice = adafruit_dht.DHT22(board.D4, use_pulseio=False)
tempQ = queue.Queue(maxsize=0)
humQ = queue.Queue(maxsize=0)
class windowMain:
def __init__(self):
self.tempC_label = Label(fenster, text="Placeholder TempC")
self.humidity_label = Label(fenster, text="Placeholder Humidity")
self.tempC_label.pack()
self.humidity_label.pack()
self.tempC_label.after(2000, self.labelUpdate)
self.humidity_label.after(2000, self.labelUpdate)
def labelUpdate(self, tempQ, humQ):
self.tempC_label.configure(text= tempQ.get() + "°C")
#this is just to confirm if the function called or not, to see if the label updated or not.
#if the label didnt update, and the function called, there is something wrong with the function
#if the label didnt update, and the function didnt call, there is a problem somwhere else
print("Current Temp: " +tempQ.get() + "°C")
self.label.after(2000, self.labelUpdate)
if __name__ == "__main__":
windowName = Tk()
windowName.title = ("Climatemonitor")
windowMain(windowName)
windowName.mainloop()
try:
windowThread = threading.Thread(target=windowMain, args=(tempQ, humQ, ))
windowThread.start()
except:
print("Unable to start thread")
while True:
try:
temperature_c= dhtDevice.temperature
tempText= temperature_c
tempText= str(tempText)
tempQ.put(tempText)
humidity = dhtDevice.humidity
humidityP = str(humidity)
#this one is just to check if the sensor reads data
print(
"Temp: {:.1f} C Humidity: {}% ".format(
temperature_c, humidity
)
)
time.sleep(2.0)
except RuntimeError as error:
print(error.args[0])
time.sleep(2.0)
continue
except Exception as error:
dhtDevice.exit()
raise error
time.sleep(2.0)
The ultimate goal is to display my sensor data, with a 2 second refresh (the HZ rate of the Sensor), while the sensor continues to read every 2 seconds.
I'd also like to add that this is my first time using Python, since im, again, not really a developer yet.
Thanks a bunch in advance for every critique and help

most simple way of doing this would be using a button to execute a function and then including your while loop in that function,
Using an button gives you an point where you can start running while instead of directly starting it as soon as you run your program
Sample code should be something like this,
import tkinter as t
def execute():
print('hello')
window = t.Tk()
window.title("system")
window.geometry("550x250")
b1 = t.Button(window, text="Start", width=15, command=execute)
b1.grid(row=1, sticky="W", padx=4)
window.mainloop()
As there will be no user interaction, a button can invoked using button.invoke method such as following,
import tkinter as t
def execute():
print('hello')
window = t.Tk()
window.title("system")
window.geometry("550x250")
b1 = t.Button(window, text="Start", width=0, command=execute)
#b1.grid(row=1, sticky="W", padx=4)
b1.invoke()
window.mainloop()
here removing .grid() will cause the button to disapper but can affect your GUI while updating the label value later , also have a look at this ->
Is there a way to press a button without touching it on tkinter / python?
Python tkinter button.invoke method trouble

tkinter window doesn't display - if .event time is 0 inside loop

I was racking my brain a bit trying to figure out why a tkinter window would only appear after I had stopped my script. Turns out, it won't appear if the delay time in my root.after (that is within my infinite fruity loop) was set to 0. Setting it to 1 or higher caused it to work correctly. Is this a bug or am I missing something important about how .after works? I'm running this with Python 2.7 in Anaconda on mac OS.
import time
import Tkinter as tk
import random
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("random numbers")
root.geometry("220x220+5+5")
frame = tk.Frame(root, width=210, height=210)
frame.pack()
luckynumber = tk.IntVar()
label1 = tk.Label(frame, text="random number").pack(side=tk.LEFT)
display1 = tk.Label(frame, textvariable=luckynumber)
display1.pack( side=tk.LEFT )
def askrandy():
randy = random.randrange(0, 100, 1)
luckynumber.set(randy)
def fruityloop():
time.sleep(.5)
askrandy()
root.after(1, fruityloop)
root.after(0, fruityloop)
root.mainloop()
Second question: this code doesn't run very smoothly. Seeing as it's quite simple, I assumed it would be pretty solid. But I find that it takes a couple seconds to get started and moving the window around causes it to stutter as well. Would this work better with my main loop run as a class?

This is normal behavior.
Tkinter maintains a queue of work to be done when it goes idle. This is the "idle" queue.
When you call after, the function you supply is added to this queue. When the main event loop (or a call to after_idle) processes the queue, it looks for items on the queue that should be run based on the current time and the time that the item should be run. All items that are due to be run are run before processing of the queue stops.
If one of those adds an item to the queue with a value of zero it will be run since its time is due. If that item itself adds an item to the queue, then you take one item off of the queue and immediately put one one so the queue will never become empty. If the queue never becomes empty, tkinter isn't able to process other types of events.
The reason that the program seems slow and jerky is because of the call to sleep. When you call sleep, tkinter does exactly that: it sleeps. It cannot process any events, even events that simply refresh the window. If you want askrandy to be called once every half second, you should simply call after with a value of 500, rather than call it with a value of zero and then sleep for half a second.
Whether the main window is a class or not will not affect your program all all. You simply need to stop using sleep, and provide sane values to after. If you are trying to show a simple animation, a value of 30 is about as small as you need to go.

This is how it should looks without sleep(). But I don't know if it can help. It works fast on Linux.
If you run code in IDLE then you may have problem because it uses Tkinter to display windows and runs own mainloop() but Tkinter should run only one mainloop(). You can try directly in console python script.py.
import Tkinter as tk
import random
# --- functions ---
def fruityloop():
randy = random.randrange(0, 100, 1)
luckynumber.set(randy)
# run again after 500ms = 0.5s
root.after(500, fruityloop)
# --- main ---
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("random numbers")
root.geometry("220x220+5+5")
luckynumber = tk.IntVar()
frame = tk.Frame(root, width=210, height=210)
frame.pack()
label = tk.Label(frame, text="random number")
label.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
display = tk.Label(frame, textvariable=luckynumber)
display.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
# run first time
fruityloop()
root.mainloop()

Threading with Tkinter done right (with or without queues)

i have a much more advanced code, but it all comes to this simple example:
from Tkinter import *
import time
def destroyPrint():
global printOut
try:
printOut.destroy()
except:
pass
def sendData():
global new
global printOut
for i in range(6):
destroyPrint()
time.sleep(1)
printOut=Label(new,text=i,font=('arial',15,'bold'))
printOut.place(x=300,y=500)
def newWindow():
global new
print("ok")
new=Toplevel()
new.minsize(800,600)
functionButton=Button(new,text="Send me",width=20,height=20, command=sendData)
functionButton.place(x=300,y=150)
main = Tk()
main.minsize(800, 600)
menu=Button(main,text="Send data",width=20,height=20, command=newWindow)
menu.place(x=300,y=150)
mainloop()
In this simple example, i want to start sendData function, which will update printOut Label accordingly on every loop iteration. We all know that it doesn't, and that it hangs, until function is done, and prints last number (5).
I tried countless examples with threading and queueing, and i am failing badly.
Please, just simple clarification on this example, how to do threading correctly when you have Tkinter elements in a function that needs to be performed in another thread.
I am really getting frustrated here and i spent last 2 days on this step...

You have to add update_idletasks() to update the label. Instead of destroying and creating, just update the text , and use after() in Tkinter instead of sleep as it spawns a new process whereas time.sleep() hangs the program while sleeping.
from Tkinter import *
import time
def sendData():
global new
##global printOut
printOut=Label(new,text="0",font=('arial',15,'bold'))
printOut.place(x=300,y=500)
for x in range(6):
##destroyPrint()
printOut.config(text=str(x))
new.update_idletasks()
time.sleep(1)
def newWindow():
global new
print("ok")
new=Toplevel()
new.minsize(800,600)
functionButton=Button(new,text="Send me",width=20,
height=20, command=sendData)
functionButton.place(x=300,y=150)
main = Tk()
main.minsize(800, 600)
menu=Button(main,text="Send data",width=20,height=20, command=newWindow)
menu.place(x=300,y=150)
main.mainloop()