Periodically update label in Tkinter - python

I read through many of solutions of this problem already, but I still can't make this simple program work. I know it's probably really simple, but I can't find out what am I missing.
I have this simple program:
from Tkinter import *
import subprocess
def run():
process=subprocess.Popen(some_script, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
while True:
nextline = process.stdout.readline()
if not nextline:
break
output.set(nextline)
root.update_idletasks()
root = Tk()
output = StringVar()
label1 = Label(root, textvariable=output)
label1.pack()
button1 = Button(root, text="Go", command=run)
button1.pack()
root.mainloop()
So when I click the button, some_script is executed. I want the label to periodically update with the output of the script, but it doesn't. What am I doing wrong?

I'm guessing the GUI becomes unresponsive when you run this. If so, then you're blocking Tkinter's main loop. You'll need to run the subprocess bit in a Thread and use whatever Tkinter's thread-safe methods are to update your GUI. I found this old article that sounds very similar to what you're doing: http://effbot.org/zone/tkinter-threads.htm
There's also this handy recipe: http://code.activestate.com/recipes/82965-threads-tkinter-and-asynchronous-io/

Related

Tkinter, Subprocess: Only input() function not working when my python file is called using subprocess.Popen() "The output is displayed in tkinter"

I am trying to create a python text editor. What I want to create in my app, is a textbox where the user writes python code, another box where the user will see the terminal output and a button to run the code. After a few days of research, I found out that terminal output can be shown by using the subprocess module. I used it, worked pretty well! I type print("hello world"), it works.
However, only one thing that did not work is when we run something like input("Enter your name: "). The program just crashes when I run it. This is where I got stuck for a long time. I know doing something like that is not easy because the output box is just a text widget. But, I have seen that many apps can do that so the input function might be possible.
The code below is a sample from my project:
from tkinter import *
import subprocess, os
def run():
code = open(f"{os.getcwd()}/test2.py", 'w')
code.write(input_box.get(1.0, END))
code.close()
process = subprocess.Popen("python3 test2.py", stderr=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)
output, error = process.communicate()
output_box.delete(1.0, END)
output_box.insert(END, output)
output_box.insert(END, error)
root = Tk()
input_box = Text(root)
input_box.grid(row=0, column=0)
output_box = Text(root)
output_box.grid(row=0, column=1)
btn = Button(root, text="Run", command=run)
btn.grid(row=1, column=0)
output_box.insert(1.0, "Output:\n")
output_box.bind('<BackSpace>', lambda _: 'break')
root.mainloop()
The program crashes here:
My current approach is to make my own input function hidden in the users code (this line of code does it): code.write(open(f"{os.getcwd()}/input_string.py", 'r').read(), input_box.get(1.0, END))
Here is input_string.py where it uses tkinter.simpledialog.askstring:
from tkinter import simpledialog
def input(prompt):
ipt = simpledialog.askstring('input', prompt)
return ipt
This works but I am open to better solutions here. I hope you understand my question and the effort I put into this.

Python Sleep Function Issue [duplicate]

I am trying to delete text inside a text box after waiting 5 seconds, but instead the program wont run and does sleep over everything else. Also is there a way for me to just make my textbox sleep so i can run other code while the text is frozen?
from time import time, sleep
from Tkinter import *
def empty_textbox():
textbox.insert(END, 'This is a test')
sleep(5)
textbox.delete("1.0", END)
root = Tk()
frame = Frame(root, width=300, height=100)
textbox = Text(frame)
frame.pack_propagate(0)
frame.pack()
textbox.pack()
empty_textbox()
root.mainloop()
You really should be using something like the Tkinter after method rather than time.sleep(...).
There's an example of using the after method at this other stackoverflow question.
Here's a modified version of your script that uses the after method:
from time import time, sleep
from Tkinter import *
def empty_textbox():
textbox.delete("1.0", END)
root = Tk()
frame = Frame(root, width=300, height=100)
textbox = Text(frame)
frame.pack_propagate(0)
frame.pack()
textbox.pack()
textbox.insert(END, 'This is a test')
textbox.after(5000, empty_textbox)
root.mainloop()
You can emulate time.sleep in tkinter. For this we still need to use the .after method to run our code alongside the mainloop, but we could add readability to our code with a sleep function. To add the desired behavior, tkinter provides another underestimated feature, wait_variable. wait_variable stops the codeblock till the variable is set and thus can be scheduled with after.
def tksleep(t):
'emulating time.sleep(seconds)'
ms = int(t*1000)
root = tk._get_default_root('sleep')
var = tk.IntVar(root)
root.after(ms, var.set, 1)
root.wait_variable(var)
Real world examples:
update a Label to display a clock while-loop
animated writing nested for-loops
Limitation:
tkinter does not quit while tksleep is used.
Make sure there is no pending tksleep by exiting the application.
Using tksleep casually can lead to unintended behavior
UPDATE
TheLizzard worked out something superior to the code above here. Instead of tkwait command he uses the mainloop and this overcomes the bug of not quitting the process as described above, but still can lead to unintended output, depending on what you expect:
import tkinter as tk
def tksleep(self, time:float) -> None:
"""
Emulating `time.sleep(seconds)`
Created by TheLizzard, inspired by Thingamabobs
"""
self.after(int(time*1000), self.quit)
self.mainloop()
tk.Misc.tksleep = tksleep
# Example
root = tk.Tk()
root.tksleep(2)

Combining Tkinter mainloop with another event listener

I am trying to build a program that listens for certain key combinations and then shows information to the user in a Tkinter window. To do this, I'm using a keylogger like so (simplified for this example):
from pyHook import HookManager
from pythoncom import PumpMessages
import Tkinter as tk
def on_keyboard_event(event):
label.config(text=event.Key)
root.update()
return True
hm = HookManager()
hm.KeyDown = on_keyboard_event
hm.HookKeyboard()
root = tk.Tk()
label = tk.Label(root, text='Hello world')
label.pack()
PumpMessages()
As expected, the window pops up and shows the user what key they pressed. However, I would like to integrate functionality to show other messages by interacting with the Tkinter window, such as by pressing a button. However, it seems I need Tkinter's mainloop to do this, which I can't figure out how to run alongside PumpMessages(), since it also halts the code similar to mainloop().
I tried running root.mainloop() in a root.after(), and I tried recreating root.mainloop like so:
def mainloop():
root.update()
root.after(50, mainloop)
and then running it right before PumpMessages, but neither of these solutions worked. It also doesn't seem like you can run PumpMessages or root.mainloop in a thread, though I could just not be doing it right. If this is not possible with Tkinter, is there an alternate Python GUI I could use that would make it possible?
You don't need to create a function to use mainloop() so just simply place the mainloop() at the bottom of your code. If you want a delay on it, use root.after(milliseconds, function)
Also, remember to put mainloop() before PumpMessages()
e.g.
def mainloopfunction():
mainloop()
root.after(5000, mainloopfunction)
Hope I could help!

timer.sleep for loop inputs text into tkinter Text widget all at once instead of iterating [duplicate]

I am trying to delete text inside a text box after waiting 5 seconds, but instead the program wont run and does sleep over everything else. Also is there a way for me to just make my textbox sleep so i can run other code while the text is frozen?
from time import time, sleep
from Tkinter import *
def empty_textbox():
textbox.insert(END, 'This is a test')
sleep(5)
textbox.delete("1.0", END)
root = Tk()
frame = Frame(root, width=300, height=100)
textbox = Text(frame)
frame.pack_propagate(0)
frame.pack()
textbox.pack()
empty_textbox()
root.mainloop()
You really should be using something like the Tkinter after method rather than time.sleep(...).
There's an example of using the after method at this other stackoverflow question.
Here's a modified version of your script that uses the after method:
from time import time, sleep
from Tkinter import *
def empty_textbox():
textbox.delete("1.0", END)
root = Tk()
frame = Frame(root, width=300, height=100)
textbox = Text(frame)
frame.pack_propagate(0)
frame.pack()
textbox.pack()
textbox.insert(END, 'This is a test')
textbox.after(5000, empty_textbox)
root.mainloop()
You can emulate time.sleep in tkinter. For this we still need to use the .after method to run our code alongside the mainloop, but we could add readability to our code with a sleep function. To add the desired behavior, tkinter provides another underestimated feature, wait_variable. wait_variable stops the codeblock till the variable is set and thus can be scheduled with after.
def tksleep(t):
'emulating time.sleep(seconds)'
ms = int(t*1000)
root = tk._get_default_root('sleep')
var = tk.IntVar(root)
root.after(ms, var.set, 1)
root.wait_variable(var)
Real world examples:
update a Label to display a clock while-loop
animated writing nested for-loops
Limitation:
tkinter does not quit while tksleep is used.
Make sure there is no pending tksleep by exiting the application.
Using tksleep casually can lead to unintended behavior
UPDATE
TheLizzard worked out something superior to the code above here. Instead of tkwait command he uses the mainloop and this overcomes the bug of not quitting the process as described above, but still can lead to unintended output, depending on what you expect:
import tkinter as tk
def tksleep(self, time:float) -> None:
"""
Emulating `time.sleep(seconds)`
Created by TheLizzard, inspired by Thingamabobs
"""
self.after(int(time*1000), self.quit)
self.mainloop()
tk.Misc.tksleep = tksleep
# Example
root = tk.Tk()
root.tksleep(2)

tkinter and time.sleep

I am trying to delete text inside a text box after waiting 5 seconds, but instead the program wont run and does sleep over everything else. Also is there a way for me to just make my textbox sleep so i can run other code while the text is frozen?
from time import time, sleep
from Tkinter import *
def empty_textbox():
textbox.insert(END, 'This is a test')
sleep(5)
textbox.delete("1.0", END)
root = Tk()
frame = Frame(root, width=300, height=100)
textbox = Text(frame)
frame.pack_propagate(0)
frame.pack()
textbox.pack()
empty_textbox()
root.mainloop()
You really should be using something like the Tkinter after method rather than time.sleep(...).
There's an example of using the after method at this other stackoverflow question.
Here's a modified version of your script that uses the after method:
from time import time, sleep
from Tkinter import *
def empty_textbox():
textbox.delete("1.0", END)
root = Tk()
frame = Frame(root, width=300, height=100)
textbox = Text(frame)
frame.pack_propagate(0)
frame.pack()
textbox.pack()
textbox.insert(END, 'This is a test')
textbox.after(5000, empty_textbox)
root.mainloop()
You can emulate time.sleep in tkinter. For this we still need to use the .after method to run our code alongside the mainloop, but we could add readability to our code with a sleep function. To add the desired behavior, tkinter provides another underestimated feature, wait_variable. wait_variable stops the codeblock till the variable is set and thus can be scheduled with after.
def tksleep(t):
'emulating time.sleep(seconds)'
ms = int(t*1000)
root = tk._get_default_root('sleep')
var = tk.IntVar(root)
root.after(ms, var.set, 1)
root.wait_variable(var)
Real world examples:
update a Label to display a clock while-loop
animated writing nested for-loops
Limitation:
tkinter does not quit while tksleep is used.
Make sure there is no pending tksleep by exiting the application.
Using tksleep casually can lead to unintended behavior
UPDATE
TheLizzard worked out something superior to the code above here. Instead of tkwait command he uses the mainloop and this overcomes the bug of not quitting the process as described above, but still can lead to unintended output, depending on what you expect:
import tkinter as tk
def tksleep(self, time:float) -> None:
"""
Emulating `time.sleep(seconds)`
Created by TheLizzard, inspired by Thingamabobs
"""
self.after(int(time*1000), self.quit)
self.mainloop()
tk.Misc.tksleep = tksleep
# Example
root = tk.Tk()
root.tksleep(2)

Categories