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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Graphic User Interface FAQ</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#general-gui-questions">General GUI Questions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#what-gui-toolkits-exist-for-python">What GUI toolkits exist for Python?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#tkinter-questions">Tkinter questions</a></li>
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<section id="graphic-user-interface-faq">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id1">Graphic User Interface FAQ</a><a class="headerlink" href="#graphic-user-interface-faq" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="contents topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title">Contents</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#graphic-user-interface-faq" id="id1">Graphic User Interface FAQ</a></p>
<ul>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#general-gui-questions" id="id2">General GUI Questions</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#what-gui-toolkits-exist-for-python" id="id3">What GUI toolkits exist for Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#tkinter-questions" id="id4">Tkinter questions</a></p>
<ul>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-freeze-tkinter-applications" id="id5">How do I freeze Tkinter applications?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#can-i-have-tk-events-handled-while-waiting-for-i-o" id="id6">Can I have Tk events handled while waiting for I/O?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#i-can-t-get-key-bindings-to-work-in-tkinter-why" id="id7">I can’t get key bindings to work in Tkinter: why?</a></p></li>
</ul>
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</ul>
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<section id="general-gui-questions">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2">General GUI Questions</a><a class="headerlink" href="#general-gui-questions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</section>
<section id="what-gui-toolkits-exist-for-python">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3">What GUI toolkits exist for Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#what-gui-toolkits-exist-for-python" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Standard builds of Python include an object-oriented interface to the Tcl/Tk
widget set, called <a class="reference internal" href="../library/tk.html#tkinter"><span class="std std-ref">tkinter</span></a>. This is probably the easiest to
install (since it comes included with most
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/downloads/">binary distributions</a> of Python) and use.
For more info about Tk, including pointers to the source, see the
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.tcl.tk">Tcl/Tk home page</a>. Tcl/Tk is fully portable to the
macOS, Windows, and Unix platforms.</p>
<p>Depending on what platform(s) you are aiming at, there are also several
alternatives. A <a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/GuiProgramming#Cross-Platform_Frameworks">list of cross-platform</a> and
<a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/GuiProgramming#Platform-specific_Frameworks">platform-specific</a> GUI
frameworks can be found on the python wiki.</p>
</section>
<section id="tkinter-questions">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4">Tkinter questions</a><a class="headerlink" href="#tkinter-questions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<section id="how-do-i-freeze-tkinter-applications">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5">How do I freeze Tkinter applications?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-freeze-tkinter-applications" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Freeze is a tool to create stand-alone applications. When freezing Tkinter
applications, the applications will not be truly stand-alone, as the application
will still need the Tcl and Tk libraries.</p>
<p>One solution is to ship the application with the Tcl and Tk libraries, and point
to them at run-time using the <span class="target" id="index-0"></span><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TCL_LIBRARY</span></code> and <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TK_LIBRARY</span></code>
environment variables.</p>
<p>To get truly stand-alone applications, the Tcl scripts that form the library
have to be integrated into the application as well. One tool supporting that is
SAM (stand-alone modules), which is part of the Tix distribution
(<a class="reference external" href="https://tix.sourceforge.net/">https://tix.sourceforge.net/</a>).</p>
<p>Build Tix with SAM enabled, perform the appropriate call to
<code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Tclsam_init()</span></code>, etc. inside Python’s
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Modules/tkappinit.c</span></code>, and link with libtclsam and libtksam (you
might include the Tix libraries as well).</p>
</section>
<section id="can-i-have-tk-events-handled-while-waiting-for-i-o">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6">Can I have Tk events handled while waiting for I/O?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#can-i-have-tk-events-handled-while-waiting-for-i-o" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>On platforms other than Windows, yes, and you don’t even
need threads! But you’ll have to restructure your I/O
code a bit. Tk has the equivalent of Xt’s <code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">XtAddInput()</span></code> call, which allows you
to register a callback function which will be called from the Tk mainloop when
I/O is possible on a file descriptor. See <a class="reference internal" href="../library/tkinter.html#tkinter-file-handlers"><span class="std std-ref">File Handlers</span></a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="i-can-t-get-key-bindings-to-work-in-tkinter-why">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7">I can’t get key bindings to work in Tkinter: why?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#i-can-t-get-key-bindings-to-work-in-tkinter-why" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>An often-heard complaint is that event handlers bound to events with the
<code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bind()</span></code> method don’t get handled even when the appropriate key is pressed.</p>
<p>The most common cause is that the widget to which the binding applies doesn’t
have “keyboard focus”. Check out the Tk documentation for the focus command.
Usually a widget is given the keyboard focus by clicking in it (but not for
labels; see the takefocus option).</p>
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