Paul Baumgarten

Computer Scientist, teacher, freelance programmer and self confessed geek

Tkinter GUI

Contents

  1. Starting a basic app
  2. Label, entry box and button
  3. Listbox and simpledialog
  4. Menubar and filedialog
  5. Images
  6. Second window
  7. Tabs
  8. Reference
  9. Assorted tips and tricks
  10. Suggested resources

Videos

Reference

Creating a window

Imports

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk

Template code to create a Tkinter window class.

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window
        self.parent = parent                # Save a reference to our parent object
        self.window = tk.Toplevel()         # Create a window
        self.window.geometry("400x200")     # Set pixel dimensions 400 wide by 200 high
        self.window.title("Test app")       # Set window title text
        self.window.protocol("WM_DELETE_WINDOW", self.window.quit) # Enable the close icon
        # Add all your widgets here...

Main code to run the program

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()          # Initialise the tk system into an object called `root`
    root.withdraw()         # Hide the default window
    app = AppWindow(root)   # Run our window, called AppWindow
    root.mainloop()         # Start the program loop until all windows exit

To execute a function (in this case, self.window.quit()) when the window close icon is clicked

self.window.protocol("WM_DELETE_WINDOW", self.window.quit)

To make the window partially transparent

self.window.attributes('-alpha', 0.8)

To force the window to stay visibly on top of all other programs

root = tk.Tk()
root.wm_attributes("-topmost", 1)

To open a second window

# Create login window        
login_window = LoginWindow()
# Wait until the login window is closed
self.window.wait_window(login_window.window)  
print("Finished waiting")
# Execute a function on the login window object to retrieve data entered
data = login_window.get_data_entered()

To close a window, leaving the program (and any underlying window) running

self.window.destroy()

To close your entire program

self.window.quit()

Label

  • Creating a label
self.hello_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Hello world!", font=FONT_LARGE)
self.hello_label.place(x=20, y=20)
  • Set style parameters (color, font, etc)
self.image_label.place(x=20,y=70,width=300,height=300) # in pixels
  • Set/change the text on a label
self.hello_label["text"] = "My new text"
  • Styling a label
self.hello_label["font"] = ("Arial", 16)
self.hello_label["background"] = (255,255,0)      # Yellow
self.hello_label["foreground"] = (128,128,128)    # Grey

In order to fill a label with an image, see the Image section.

Text (Entry) box

Creating a text entry box

self.name_entry = tk.Entry(self.window)
self.name_entry.place(x=20, y=50)

To put the cursor in the text box

self.name_entry.focus()   # Put the cursor in the text box

Get the text content of the entry box

person = self.name_entry.get()

Set/change the text value

self.name_text.delete(0, tk.END)
self.name_text.insert(0, contact["name"])

Set style and formatting parameters (color, font, etc)

self.name_text["state"] = "disabled"            # set to "normal" to re-enable
self.name_text["font"] = ("Arial", 16)
self.name_text["background"] = (255,255,0)      # Yellow
self.name_text["foreground"] = (128,128,128)    # Grey
self.name_text["width"] = 20                    # Width in number of characters. Does not limit number that can be typed

Mask the user input for use as a password entry box

self.widget = Entry(parent, show="*", width=15) # Show **** instead of the text entered

Button

Creating a button

# Set to execute self.greetings() when clicked...
self.submit_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Submit", command=self.greetings)
self.submit_button.place(x=20, y=100)

Set style parameters (color, font, etc)

self.button["text"] = "New description"
self.name_text["state"] = "disabled"            # set to "normal" to re-enable
self.name_text["font"] = ("Arial", 16)
self.name_text["background"] = (255,255,0)      # Yellow
self.name_text["foreground"] = (128,128,128)    # Grey
self.name_text["width"] = 20                    # Width in number of characters. Does not limit number that can be typed

To pass parameters along to the execute command use a lambda function

# Set to execute self.greetings() when clicked...
self.submit_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Submit", command=lambda: self.greetings(some_data))
self.submit_button.place(x=20, y=100)

# The corresponding function call header would then look like...
def greetings(self, data):

Listbox

Creating a listbox

# Create a list box
# -- width is characters, height is lines
self.list = tk.Listbox(self.window, width=10, height=10)    
self.list.place(x=20, y=20)

# Add items into your list box
for item in items:
    self.list.insert(tk.END, item)      # Add each item to the end of the list

# -- Give `selected` a default of -1
self.selected = -1

Add item to list

self.list.insert(0, answer)
self.list.insert(tk.END, answer)

Delete item from list

self.list.delete(self.selected)
# Empty everything from the list
self.list.delete(0, tk.END)

Get number of items in list

count = self.list.size()

Get currently selected item in list

if len(self.list.curselection()) > 0:                 # If an item is selected
    self.selected = int(self.list.curselection()[0])  # index number of selected item
    item = self.list.get(self.selected)               # text of selected item

Set currently selected item in list

self.listbox.select_set(0) # This sets focus on the first item.
self.listbox.event_generate("<<ListboxSelect>>")

Execute a function when selection changed

# -- When an item in the list is selected, execute the list_clicked function
self.list.bind('<<ListboxSelect>>', self.list_clicked) 

def list_clicked(self, e): # requires the 2nd parameter even though it doesn't tell you anything useful
    print("You clicked on the list")

Menu

  • Create a menu
# Create a menu bar
menubar = tk.Menu(self.window)
# Create a sub menu
filemenu = tk.Menu(menubar, tearoff=0)
filemenu.add_command(label="Open file", command=self.file_open)
filemenu.add_command(label="Save file as", command=self.file_saveas)
filemenu.add_command(label="Set default folder", command=self.select_folder)
filemenu.add_separator()
filemenu.add_command(label="Exit", command=self.window.quit)
# Create a sub menu
helpmenu = tk.Menu(menubar, tearoff=0)
helpmenu.add_command(label="About", command=self.about)
# Link the sub menus to the menu bar
menubar.add_cascade(label="File", menu=filemenu)
menubar.add_cascade(label="Help", menu=helpmenu)
# Set menu to the window
self.window.config(menu=menubar)

Tab

  • Create a tab system
# Create tab containers & notebook
self.tab_container = tk.Frame(self.window)
self.tab_container.place(x=0,y=0,width=400,height=400)
self.tabs = ttk.Notebook(self.tab_container)
self.tabs.place(x=0,y=0,height=400,width=400)

# Create 3 tabs and add them to the notebook
self.tab_1 = tk.Frame(self.tabs)
self.tab_2 = tk.Frame(self.tabs)
self.tab_3 = tk.Frame(self.tabs)
self.tabs.add(self.tab_1, text="Tab 1")
self.tabs.add(self.tab_2, text="Tab 2")
self.tabs.add(self.tab_3, text="Tab 3")

# Define what function to run when current tab is changed
self.tabs.bind("<<NotebookTabChanged>>", self.on_tab_selected)

Add content to a tab

# Use the tab object as the first parameter of your widgets instead of the window
self.label1 = tk.Label(self.tab_1, text="I am the content of tab 1")
# Coordinates are relative to within the tab area    
self.label1.place(x=20, y=20)

Image

Add an image to a label

from PIL import Image, ImageTk

# Open as a PIL image
img = Image.open(filename)
# 1. Convert the image into tk compatible form, and
# 2. Save a copy of the image to self otherwise it will be cleared from memory when this function closes
self.tkimg = ImageTk.PhotoImage(img)
# Display the image in the label
self.image_label.configure(image=self.tkimg)

Message box

from tkinter import messagebox

messagebox.showinfo("Greetings", f"Hello {person}, welcome to Tkinter!")
messagebox.showerror("Error", "Can't delete the selected item if you haven't selected anything!")

Simple Dialog box

from tkinter import simpledialog

answer = simpledialog.askstring("Title","Please type a string...")
answer = simpledialog.askinteger("Title","Please type an integer...")
answer = simpledialog.askfloat("Title","Please type a float...")

File Dialog box

from tkinter import filedialog

There are different dialogs available for file open, file save as, and choose folder.

ALLOWED_FILES = (("JPEG files","*.jpg"),("PNG files","*.png"),("all files","*.*"))
filename = filedialog.askopenfilename(title="Select file", filetypes=ALLOWED_FILES)
filename = filedialog.askopenfilename(initialdir=self.default_folder, title="Select file", filetypes=ALLOWED_FILES)
filename = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(initialdir=self.default_folder, title="Select file", filetypes=ALLOWED_FILES)
folder = filedialog.askdirectory(initialdir=self.default_folder, title = "Select folder containing student photos")

Examples

Example 1: A basic app

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk

# Pre-define some defaults
FONT_LARGE = ("Arial", 48)

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window
        self.window = parent
        self.window.geometry("400x200")
        self.window.title("Test app")
        self.window.protocol("WM_DELETE_WINDOW", self.window.quit) # Enable the close icon
        # Create a text label and place it in the window
        self.hello_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Hello world!", font=FONT_LARGE)
        self.hello_label.place(x=20, y=20)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()
    app = AppWindow(root)
    root.mainloop()

Example 2: Labels, entry box, button

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
from tkinter import messagebox

# Pre-define some defaults
FONT_LARGE = ("Arial", 48)

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window
        self.window = parent
        self.window.geometry("400x200")
        self.window.title("Test app")
        # Create a text label
        self.question_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="What is your name?")
        self.question_label.place(x=20, y=20)
        # Create a text entry box
        self.name_entry = tk.Entry(self.window)
        self.name_entry.place(x=20, y=50)
        self.name_entry.focus()   # Put the cursor in the text box
        # Create a button
        self.submit_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Submit", command=self.greetings)
        self.submit_button.place(x=20, y=100)
        # Create a second button
        self.close_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Close", command=self.window.quit)
        self.close_button.place(x=120, y=100)

    def greetings(self):
        # This function is executed when the submit button is clicked
        # Retrieve the text from the entry box
        person = self.name_entry.get()
        # Display a message box
        messagebox.showinfo("Greetings", f"Hello {person}, welcome to Tkinter!")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()
    app = AppWindow(root)
    root.mainloop()

Example 3: Listbox, simpledialog

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
from tkinter import messagebox
from tkinter import simpledialog

# Pre-define some defaults
FONT_LARGE = ("Arial", 48)

# List of items to demo listbox
items = ["Apples", "Oranges", "Bananas", "Strawberrys"]

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window
        self.window = parent
        self.window.geometry("400x250")
        self.window.title("Test app")
        # Create a list box
        # -- width is characters, height is lines
        self.list = tk.Listbox(self.window, width=10, height=10)    
        for item in items:
            # Add each item to the end of the list
            self.list.insert(tk.END, item)                     
        self.list.place(x=20, y=20)
        # -- When an item in the list is selected, execute the list_clicked function
        self.list.bind('<<ListboxSelect>>', self.list_clicked) 
        # -- Give `selected` a default of -1
        self.selected = -1                                     
        # Create some buttons
        self.add_to_top_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Add an item to top of list", command=self.add_to_top_clicked)
        self.add_to_top_button.place(x=140, y=20)
        self.add_to_end_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Add an item to end of list", command=self.add_to_end_clicked)
        self.add_to_end_button.place(x=140, y=50)
        self.close_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Delete selected item", command=self.delete_selected_clicked)
        self.close_button.place(x=140, y=80)

    def add_to_top_clicked(self):
        answer = simpledialog.askstring("Add item","What item would you like to add?")
        self.list.insert(0, answer)

    def add_to_end_clicked(self):
        answer = simpledialog.askstring("Add item","What item would you like to add?")
        self.list.insert(tk.END, answer)

    def delete_selected_clicked(self):
        if self.selected >= 0:      # Check this still isn't -1
            self.list.delete(self.selected)
            self.selected = -1      # Reset back to -1
        else:
            messagebox.showerror("Error", "Can't delete the selected item if you haven't selected anything!")

    def list_clicked(self, e):
        print(e)
        self.selected = int(self.list.curselection()[0])      # item number selected in list
        item = self.list.get(self.selected)                   # text of selected item
        print(f"You have clicked item {self.selected} which is {item}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()
    app = AppWindow(root)
    root.mainloop()

Example 4: Menubar, filedialog

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
from tkinter import messagebox
from tkinter import filedialog

# Pre-define some defaults
FONT_LARGE = ("Arial", 48)
ALLOWED_FILES = (("JPEG files","*.jpg"),("PNG files","*.png"),("all files","*.*"))

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window
        self.window = parent
        self.window.geometry("400x200")
        self.window.title("Test app")
        # Create a text label and place it in the window
        self.hello_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Hello world!", font=FONT_LARGE)
        self.hello_label.place(x=20, y=20)
        # Create a menu bar
        menubar = tk.Menu(self.window)
        filemenu = tk.Menu(menubar, tearoff=0)
        filemenu.add_command(label="Open file", command=self.file_open)
        filemenu.add_command(label="Save file as", command=self.file_saveas)
        filemenu.add_command(label="Set default folder", command=self.select_folder)
        filemenu.add_separator()
        filemenu.add_command(label="Exit", command=self.window.quit)
        helpmenu = tk.Menu(menubar, tearoff=0)
        helpmenu.add_command(label="About", command=self.about)
        menubar.add_cascade(label="File", menu=filemenu)
        menubar.add_cascade(label="Help", menu=helpmenu)
        self.window.config(menu=menubar)
        # Intialise the default folder location
        self.default_folder = "."

    def file_open(self):
        filename = filedialog.askopenfilename(initialdir=self.default_folder, title="Select file", filetypes=ALLOWED_FILES)
        print(f"Open file: {filename}")

    def file_saveas(self):
        filename = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(initialdir=self.default_folder, title="Select file", filetypes=ALLOWED_FILES)
        print(f"Save file as: {filename}")

    def select_folder(self):
        folder = filedialog.askdirectory(initialdir=self.default_folder, title = "Select folder containing student photos")
        self.default_folder = folder
        print(f"New default folder: {folder}")

    def about(self):
        messagebox.showinfo("About", "Copyright (c) 2019 Paul Baumgarten\nWebsite: pbaumgarten.com")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()
    app = AppWindow(root)
    root.mainloop()

Example 5: Images

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import filedialog
from PIL import Image, ImageTk

# Pre-define some defaults
FONT_LARGE = ("Arial", 48)
ALLOWED_FILES = (("JPEG files","*.jpg"),("PNG files","*.png"),("all files","*.*"))

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window
        self.window = parent
        self.window.geometry("400x400")
        self.window.title("Test app")
        # Button
        self.pick_file_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Pick an image", command=self.show_image)
        self.pick_file_button.place(x=20,y=20)
        # Create a label reserved for displaying image later
        self.image_label = tk.Label(self.window)
        self.image_label.place(x=20,y=70,width=300,height=300)

    def show_image(self):
        # Get image selection
        filename = filedialog.askopenfilename(title="Select image", filetypes=ALLOWED_FILES)
        print(f"Opening file: {filename}")
        # Open the image file
        img = Image.open(filename)
        # (optional) resize the image
        img = img.resize((300, 300))        
        # 1. Reformat the image into tk compatible form, and
        # 2. Save a copy of the image to self otherwise it will be cleared from memory when this function closes
        self.tkimg = ImageTk.PhotoImage(img)
        # Display the image in the label
        self.image_label.configure(image=self.tkimg)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()
    app = AppWindow(root)
    root.mainloop()

Example 6: Second window

To have Tkinter open second windows, use the tk.Toplevel() function as shown in the LoginWindow.__init__() function.

With respect to organising your code, it is generally good practice to make each window its own class.

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
import time

# Pre-define some defaults
FONT_LARGE = ("Arial", 48)

class LoginWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create a variable with which we can reference our parent
        self.parent = parent
        # Secondary windows are made using tk.Toplevel() instead of using parent
        self.window = tk.Toplevel()
        self.window.geometry("400x300")
        self.window.title("Login")
        # Labels
        self.username_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Username:")
        self.username_label.place(x=20,y=20)
        self.password_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Password:")
        self.password_label.place(x=20,y=70)
        # Entry boxes
        self.username_text = tk.Entry(self.window)
        self.username_text.place(x=100,y=20)
        self.username_text.focus()
        self.password_text = tk.Entry(self.window, show="*")
        self.password_text.place(x=100,y=70)
        # Button
        self.login_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Login", command=self.login)
        self.login_button.place(x=100,y=120)

    def login(self):
        self.userid = self.username_text.get()
        self.passwd = self.password_text.get()
        print(f"Your username is {self.userid} and password is {self.passwd}")
        # Close the login window
        self.window.destroy()  

    def get_info(self):
        return self.userid, self.passwd

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window (linked to the app parent)
        self.window = parent
        self.window.geometry("400x200")
        self.window.title("Test app")
        # Create a text label and place it in the window
        self.hello_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Hello world!", font=FONT_LARGE)
        self.hello_label.place(x=20, y=20)
        # Create a button
        self.login_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Login", command=self.login_clicked)
        self.login_button.place(x=20, y=170)

    def login_clicked(self):
        # Create login window        
        login_window = LoginWindow()
        # Wait until the login window is closed
        self.window.wait_window(login_window.window)  
        print("Finished waiting")
        uid, pwd = login_window.get_info()
        self.hello_label.configure(text=f"Hello {uid}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()
    app = AppWindow(root)
    root.mainloop()

Example 7: Tabs

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
from tkinter import messagebox

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window
        self.window = parent
        self.window.geometry("400x400")
        self.window.title("Test app")
        # Create a text label and place it in the window
        self.hello_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Hello world!", font=FONT_LARGE)
        self.hello_label.place(x=20, y=20)
        # Create 3 tabs
        self.tab_container = tk.Frame(self.window)
        self.tab_container.place(x=0,y=0,width=400,height=400)
        self.tabs = ttk.Notebook(self.tab_container)
        self.tab_1 = tk.Frame(self.tabs)
        self.tab_2 = tk.Frame(self.tabs)
        self.tab_3 = tk.Frame(self.tabs)
        self.tabs.add(self.tab_1, text="Tab 1")
        self.tabs.add(self.tab_2, text="Tab 2")
        self.tabs.add(self.tab_3, text="Tab 3")
        self.tabs.place(x=0,y=0,height=400,width=400)
        # Define what function to run when current tab is changed
        self.tabs.bind("<<NotebookTabChanged>>", self.on_tab_selected)
        # Content for tab 1
        self.label1 = tk.Label(self.tab_1, text="I am the content of tab 1")
        self.label1.place(x=20, y=20) # Coordinates are relative to within the tab area    
        # Content for tab 2
        self.label2 = tk.Label(self.tab_2, text="I am the content of tab 2")
        self.label2.place(x=20, y=20) # Coordinates are relative to within the tab area
        # Content for tab 3
        self.label3 = tk.Label(self.tab_3, text="I am the content of tab 3")
        self.label3.place(x=20, y=20) # Coordinates are relative to within the tab area
        self.close_button = tk.Button(self.tab_3, text="Close", command=self.close_clicked)
        self.close_button.place(x=20,y=70)

    def on_tab_selected(self, e):
        # Function to execute whenever current tab is changed
        selected_tab = e.widget.select()
        tab_text = e.widget.tab(selected_tab, "text")
        if tab_text == "Tab 1":
            print("You clicked into tab 1")
        if tab_text == "Tab 2":
            print("You clicked into tab 2")
        if tab_text == "Tab 3":
            print("You clicked into tab 3")

    def close_clicked(self):
        result = messagebox.askyesno("Confirm", message="Do you want to quit?")
        if result:
            self.parent.quit()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()
    app = AppWindow(root)
    root.mainloop()

Demo project: Contacts app

This project can be found at https://github.com/paulbaumgarten/python-gui-contacts-app

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
from tkinter import messagebox
from tkinter import filedialog
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import os
from PIL import Image, ImageTk

contacts = [
  {"phoneNumber":"555 0001","name":"Sheldon Lee Cooper","dateOfBirth":"1980-02-26","email":"sheldon@gmail.com"},
  {"phoneNumber":"555 0002","name":"Howard Joel Wolowitz","dateOfBirth":"1981-03-01","email":"howard@gmail.com"},
  {"phoneNumber":"555 0003","name":"Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali","dateOfBirth":"1981-10-06","email":"raj@gmail.com"},
  {"phoneNumber":"555 0004","name":"Penny Hofstadter","dateOfBirth":"1985-12-02","email":"penny@gmail.com"},
  {"phoneNumber":"555 0005","name":"Amy Farrah Fowler","dateOfBirth":"1979-12-17","email":"amy@gmail.com"},
  {"phoneNumber":"555 0002","name":"Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz","dateOfBirth":"1984-01-01","email":"bernadette@gmail.com"},
  {"phoneNumber":"555 0006","name":"Leonard Hofstadter","dateOfBirth":"1980-05-17","email":"leonard@gmail.com"}
]

class AppWindow():
    def __init__(self, parent):
        # Create the window
        self.parent = parent
        self.window = tk.Toplevel()
        self.window.geometry("670x350")
        self.window.title("Contacts app")
        self.window.protocol("WM_DELETE_WINDOW", self.window.quit)
        # Create a text label and place it in the window
        self.title_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Contacts app", font=("Arial", 16))
        self.title_label.place(x=10, y=10)
        # Create the list box
        self.contact_list = tk.Listbox(self.window, width=25, height=17)
        self.contact_list.place(x=10, y=40)
        # -- When an item in the list is selected, execute the list_clicked function
        self.contact_list.bind('<<ListboxSelect>>', self.list_clicked) 
        self.update_list()
        # Name
        self.name_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Name", font=("Arial", 13))
        self.name_label.place(x=250,y=40)
        self.name_text = tk.Entry(self.window, width=25)
        self.name_text.place(x=250,y=60)
        # Email
        self.email_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Email", font=("Arial", 13))
        self.email_label.place(x=250,y=100)
        self.email_text = tk.Entry(self.window, width=25)
        self.email_text.place(x=250,y=120)
        # Phone number
        self.phone_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Phone", font=("Arial", 13))
        self.phone_label.place(x=250,y=160)
        self.phone_text = tk.Entry(self.window, width=25)
        self.phone_text.place(x=250,y=180)
        # Date of birth
        self.dob_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Date of birth", font=("Arial", 13))
        self.dob_label.place(x=250,y=160)
        self.dob_text = tk.Entry(self.window, width=25)
        self.dob_text.place(x=250,y=180)
        # Age
        self.age_label = tk.Label(self.window, text="Age", font=("Arial", 13))
        self.age_label.place(x=250,y=220)
        self.age_info = tk.Label(self.window, text="", font=("Arial", 13))
        self.age_info.place(x=250,y=240)
        # Photo
        self.image_label = tk.Label(self.window)
        self.image_label.place(x=500,y=40,width=150,height=200)
        # Buttons
        self.new_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Save new", command=self.save_new)
        self.new_button.place(x=250, y=280, width=100, height=40)
        self.existing_button = tk.Button(self.window, text="Save existing", command=self.save_existing)
        self.existing_button.place(x=370, y=280, width=100, height=40)

    def list_clicked(self, e):
        self.selected = int(self.contact_list.curselection()[0])      # item number selected in list
        print(f"You clicked item number {self.selected}")
        # Get the selected contact
        contact = contacts[self.selected]
        # Show name
        self.name_text.delete(0, tk.END)
        self.name_text.insert(0, contact["name"])
        # Show email
        self.email_text.delete(0, tk.END)
        self.email_text.insert(0, contact["email"])
        # Show phone number
        self.phone_text.delete(0, tk.END)
        self.phone_text.insert(0, contact["phoneNumber"])
        # Show date of birth and age
        birthday = datetime.strptime(contact["dateOfBirth"], "%Y-%m-%d")
        self.dob_text.delete(0, tk.END)
        self.dob_text.insert(0, birthday.strftime("%d/%m/%Y"))
        today = datetime.now()
        age = today.year - birthday.year
        if today.month < birthday.month:
            age = age - 1
        elif today.month == birthday.month and today.day < birthday.day:
            age = age - 1
        self.age_info["text"] = str(age) + " years"
        # Show photo if it exists
        if os.path.exists(contact["name"]+".jpg"):
            img = Image.open(contact["name"]+".jpg")
            img = img.resize((150, 200))
            self.contact_photo = ImageTk.PhotoImage(img)
            self.image_label.configure(image=self.contact_photo)
        else:
            self.contact_photo = None
            self.image_label.configure(image=None)

    def update_list(self):
        # Empty list
        self.contact_list.delete(0, tk.END)
        # Add all contacts to list
        for contact in contacts:
            # Add each item to the end of the list
            self.contact_list.insert(tk.END, contact["name"])                     
        # Set a default to indicate no item selected
        self.selected = -1      

    def save_new(self):
        print("You clicked button save_new")
        new_contact = {}
        new_contact["name"] = self.name_text.get()
        new_contact["email"] = self.email_text.get()
        new_contact["phoneNumber"] = self.phone_text.get()
        new_contact["dateOfBirth"] = datetime.strptime(self.dob_text.get(), "%d/%m/%Y").strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
        contacts.append(new_contact)
        self.update_list()

    def save_existing(self):
        print("You clicked button save_existing")
        if self.selected >= 0:
            contacts[self.selected]["name"] = self.name_text.get()
            contacts[self.selected]["email"] = self.email_text.get()
            contacts[self.selected]["phoneNumber"] = self.phone_text.get()
            contacts[self.selected]["dateOfBirth"] = datetime.strptime(self.dob_text.get(), "%d/%m/%Y").strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
        self.update_list()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    root = tk.Tk()
    root.withdraw()
    app = AppWindow(root)
    root.mainloop()

Suggested resources

  • https://python-textbok.readthedocs.io/en/1.0/Introduction_to_GUI_Programming.html
  • http://www.effbot.org/tkinterbook/grid.htm
  • https://docs.python.org/3.7/library/tkinter.html
  • https://www.python-course.eu/python_tkinter.php
pbaumgarten.com by Paul Baumgarten, 2020.