How to Create GUI Application with Python and Tkinter

Tkinter is python’s de-facto standard GUI package. It is the only framework that’s built into the Python standard library. It’s cross-platform, so the same code works on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It means that the same program will work on any of the above platforms.

The features that make Tkinter a great choice for GUI programming include the following:
• It is simple to learn (simpler than any other GUI package for Python)
• Relatively little code can produce powerful GUI applications
• Layered design ensures that it is easy to grasp
• It is portable across all operating systems
• It is easily accessible, as it comes pre-installed with the standard Python distribution

Importing Tkinter

We imported Tkinter by using the following command:

from tkinter import *

This method of importing eases the handling of methods defined in the module. That is to say, you can simply access the methods directly. Generally, it is considered bad practice to import all (*) the methods of a module, like we did here. This is so because this style of importing leads to memory flooding, namespace confusion, and difficulty in bug tracking and/or reviewing code. Importing into the global namespace can also lead to an accidental overwriting of methods from other libraries in the global namespace.

There are several ways to import Tkinter in which this overlapping can be avoided, with a common way being the following one:

import tkinter

This style of importing does not pollute the namespace with a list of all the methods defined within Tkinter. However, every method within Tkinter will now have to be called by using the tkinter.some_method format instead of directly calling the method.

Another commonly used import style is as follows:

import tkinter as tk

Here too, you do not pollute the current namespace with all the Tkinter methods.
Now, you can access methods such as tk.some_method. The tk alias is convenient and easy to type. It is commonly used by many developers to import Tkinter.

The root window – your drawing board

GUI programming is an art, and like all art, you need a drawing board to capture your ideas. The drawing board that you will use is called the root window. Our first goal is to get the root window ready.

Drawing the root window is easy. You just need the following three lines of code:

from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
root.mainloop()

The following screenshot depicts the root window that we are going to create:

Save this with the .py file extension or check out the 1.01.py code. Open it in the IDLE window and run the program from the Run menu (F5 in IDLE). Running this program should generate a blank root window, as shown in the preceding screenshot. This window is equipped with the functional minimize, maximize, and close buttons, and a blank frame.