.. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43165867-fe02e3b2-8f62-11e8-9fd0-cc7c86b11772.png :alt: pysimplegui\_logo pysimplegui\_logo |Downloads| since Jul 11, 2018 # PySimpleGUI (Ver 2.7) Super-simple GUI to grasp... Powerfully customizable. Note - *Python3* is required to run PySimpleGUI. It takes advantage of some Python3 features that do not translate well into Python2. Looking to take your Python code from the world of command lines and into the convenience of a GUI? Have a Raspberry Pi with a touchscreen that's going to waste because you don't have the time to learn a GUI SDK? Look no further, you've found your GUI package. :: import PySimpleGUI as sg sg.MsgBox('Hello From PySimpleGUI!', 'This is the shortest GUI program ever!') .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43162494-33095ece-8f59-11e8-86de-b6d8bcc5a52f.jpg :alt: snap0136 snap0136 Build beautiful customized forms that fit your specific problem. Let PySimpleGUI solve your GUI problem while you solve the real problems. Do you really want to plod through the mountains of code required to program tkinter? .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43273880-aa1955e6-90cb-11e8-94b6-673ecdb2698c.jpg :alt: snap0156 snap0156 Perhaps you're looking for a way to interact with your Raspberry Pi in a more friendly way. The is the same form as above, except shown on a Pi. .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43298356-9cfe9008-9123-11e8-9612-14649a2f6c7f.jpg :alt: raspberry pi raspberry pi In addition to a primary GUI, you can add a Progress Meter to your code with ONE LINE of code. Slide this into any of your ``for`` loops and get a nice meter like this: :: EasyProgressMeter('My meter title', current_value, max value) .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42695896-a37eff5c-8684-11e8-8fbb-3d756655a44b.jpg :alt: progress meter 2 progress meter 2 You can build an async media player GUI with custom buttons in 30 lines of code. .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43161977-9ee7cace-8f57-11e8-8ff8-3ea24b69dab9.jpg :alt: media file player media file player I was frustrated by having to deal with the dos prompt when I had a powerful Windows machine right in front of me. Why is it SO difficult to do even the simplest of input/output to a window in Python?? There are a number of 'easy to use' Python GUIs, but they're **very** limiting. PySimpleGUI takes the best of packages like ``EasyGUI``\ and ``WxSimpleGUI`` , both really handy but limited. The primary difference between these and PySimpleGUI is that in addition to getting the simple Message Boxes you also get the ability to make your own forms that are highly customizeable. Don't like the standard Message Box? Then make your own! Every call has optional parameters so that you can change the look and feel. Don't like the button color? It's easy to change by adding a button\_color parameter to your widget. GUI Packages with more functionality, like QT and WxPython, require configuring and can take a ***week*** to get *reasonably familiar* with the interfaces. Clearly there needs to be a middle ground between forms with 1 or two input fields and a full-blown GUI. You'll be making your own custom forms with PySimpleGUI within minutes, even Async forms. With a simple GUI, it becomes practical to "associate" .py files with the python interpreter on Windows. Double click a py file and up pops a GUI window, a more pleasant experience than opening a dos Window and typing a command line. The ``PySimpleGUI`` package is focused on the ***developer***. How can the desired result be achieved in as little and as simple code as possible? This was the mantra used to create PySimpleGUI. How can it be done is a Python-like way? :: Features of PySimpleGUI include: Text Single Line Input Buttons including these types: File Browse Folder Browse Non-closing return Close form Realtime Checkboxes Radio Buttons Listbox Slider Icons Multi-line Text Input Scroll-able Output Images Progress Bar Async/Non-Blocking Windows Tabbed forms Persistent Windows Redirect Python Output/Errors to scrolling window 'Higher level' APIs (e.g. MessageBox, YesNobox, ...) Single-Line-Of-Coide Proress Bar & Debug Print Complete control of colors, look and feel Button images An example of many widgets used on a single form. A little further down you'll find the TWENTY lines of code required to create this complex form. Try it if you don't believe it. Start Python, copy and paste the code below into the >>> prompt and hit enter. This will pop up... .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43097412-0a4652aa-8e8a-11e8-8e09-939484e3c568.jpg :alt: everything example everything example Here is the code that produced the above screenshot. :: import PySimpleGUI as SG with SG.FlexForm('Everything bagel', auto_size_text=True, default_element_size=(40, 1)) as form: layout = [ [SG.Text('All graphic widgets in one form!', size=(30, 1), font=("Helvetica", 25), text_color='blue')], [SG.Text('Here is some text.... and a place to enter text')], [SG.InputText()], [SG.Checkbox('My first checkbox!'), SG.Checkbox('My second checkbox!', default=True)], [SG.Radio('My first Radio! ', "RADIO1", default=True), SG.Radio('My second Radio!', "RADIO1")], [SG.Multiline(default_text='This is the default Text shoulsd you decide not to type anything', scale=(2, 10))], [SG.InputCombo(['Combobox 1', 'Combobox 2'], size=(20, 3)), SG.Slider(range=(1, 100), orientation='h', size=(35, 20), default_value=85)], [SG.Listbox(values=['Listbox 1', 'Listbox 2', 'Listbox 3'], size=(30, 6)), SG.Slider(range=(1, 100), orientation='v', size=(10, 20), default_value=25), SG.Slider(range=(1, 100), orientation='v', size=(10, 20), default_value=75), SG.Slider(range=(1, 100), orientation='v', size=(10, 20), default_value=10)], [SG.Text('_' * 100, size=(70, 1))], [SG.Text('Choose Source and Destination Folders', size=(35, 1))], [SG.Text('Source Folder', size=(15, 1), auto_size_text=False, justification='right'), SG.InputText('Source'), SG.FolderBrowse()], [SG.Text('Destination Folder', size=(15, 1), auto_size_text=False, justification='right'), SG.InputText('Dest'), SG.FolderBrowse()], [SG.Submit(), SG.Cancel(), SG.SimpleButton('Customized', button_color=('white', 'green'))] ] button, values = form.LayoutAndRead(layout) **A note on screen shots** You will see a number of different styles of buttons, data entry fields, etc, in this readme. They were all made with the same SDK, the only difference is in the settings that are specified on a per-element, row, form, or global basis. One setting in particular, border\_width, can make a big difference on the look of the form. Some of the screenshots had a border\_width of 6, others a value of 1. APIs ---- PySimpleGUI can be broken down into 2 types of API's: \* High Level single call functions \* Custom form functions Python Language Features ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are a couple of Python language features that PySimpleGUI utilizes heavily that should be understood first... \* Variable number of arguments to a function call \* Optional parameters to a function call Variable Number of Arguments ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The "High Level" API calls that *output* values take a variable number of arguments so that they match a "print" statement as much as possible. The idea is to make it simple for the programmer to output as many items as desired and in any format. The user need not convert the variables to be output into the strings. The PySimpleGUI functions do that for the user. :: SG.MsgBox('Variable number of parameters example', var1, var2, "etc") Each new item begins on a new line in the Message Box .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42844739-ebea22ac-89e1-11e8-8dd1-e61441325701.jpg :alt: snap0104 snap0104 Optional Parameters to a Function Call ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This feature of the Python language is utilized ***heavily*** as a method of customizing forms and form Elements. Rather than requiring the programmer to specify every possible option for a widget, instead only the options the caller wants to override are specified. Here is the function definition for the MsgBox function. The details aren't important. What is important is seeing that there is a long list of potential tweaks that a caller can make. However, they don't *have* to be specified on each and every call. :: def MsgBox(*args, button_color=None, button_type=MSG_BOX_OK, auto_close=False, auto_close_duration=None, icon=DEFAULT_WINDOW_ICON, line_width=MESSAGE_BOX_LINE_WIDTH, font=None): If the caller wanted to change the button color to be black on yellow, the call would look something like this: :: SG.MsgBox('This box has a custom button color', button_color=('black', 'yellow')) .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42844830-2d7e8b9a-89e2-11e8-8ef4-5af9e36f30f3.jpg :alt: snap0105 snap0105 -------------- High Level API Calls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The classic "input a value, print result" example. Often command line programs simply take some value as input on the command line, do something with it and then display the results. Moving from the command line to a GUI is very simple. This code prompts user to input a line of text and then displays that text in a messages box: :: import PySimpleGUI_local as SG rc = SG.GetTextBox('Title', 'Please input something') SG.MsgBox('Results', 'The value returned from GetTextBox', rc) .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42592930-1ca1370a-8519-11e8-907e-ad73e9be7749.jpg :alt: GetTextBox GetTextBox .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42592929-1c7361ae-8519-11e8-8adc-411c1afee69f.jpg :alt: MsgBox MsgBox Message Boxes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ In addition to MsgBox, you'll find a several API calls that are shortcuts to common messages boxes. You can achieve similar results by calling MsgBox with the correct parameters. The differences tend to be the number and types of buttons. Here are the calls and the windows that are created. :: import PySimpleGUI as SG ``SG.MsgBoxOK('This is an OK MsgBox')`` .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42599852-8dd6914e-852e-11e8-888f-f133d787210b.jpg :alt: msgboxok msgboxok :: SG.MsgBoxOKCancel('This is an OK Cancel MsgBox') .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42599858-8e8eff22-852e-11e8-8d5c-3fe99237eb7f.jpg :alt: msgboxokcancel msgboxokcancel :: SG.MsgBoxCancel('This is a Cancel MsgBox') .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42599857-8e53dc4e-852e-11e8-8e83-6a8cccf8e706.jpg :alt: msgboxcancel msgboxcancel :: SG.MsgBoxYesNo('This is a Yes No MsgBox') .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42599856-8e304540-852e-11e8-975d-fb2b62e94300.jpg :alt: msgboxyesno msgboxyesno :: SG.MsgBoxError('This is an error MsgBox') .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42599853-8df8e078-852e-11e8-90dc-7815d69bff7e.jpg :alt: msgbox error msgbox error :: SG.MsgBoxAutoClose('This is an autoclose MsgBox') .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42599855-8e147572-852e-11e8-8c23-7ec771909062.jpg :alt: msgbox autoclose msgbox autoclose :: SG.ScrolledTextBox(my_text, height=10) .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42600800-a44f4562-8531-11e8-8c21-51dd70316879.jpg :alt: scrolledtextbox scrolledtextbox Take a moment to look at that last one. It's such a simple API call and yet the result is awesome. Rather than seeing text scrolling past on your display, you can capture that text and present it in a scrolled interface. It's handy enough of an API call that it can also be called using the name ``sprint`` which is easier to remember than ``ScrollectTextBox``. Your code could contain a line like: :: sprint(f'My variables values include x={x}', f'y={y}') This becomes a debug print of sorts that will route to a scrolled window. High Level User Input ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ There are 3 very basic user input high-level function calls. It's expected that for most applications, a custom input form will be created. If you need only 1 value, then perhaps one of these high level functions will work. - GetTextBox - GetFileBox - GetFolderBox ``submit_clicked, value = SG.GetTextBox('Title', 'Please enter anything')`` .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42600399-1ef66a5e-8530-11e8-9bc4-78ea839213cd.jpg :alt: gettextbox gettextbox :: submit_clicked, value = SG.GetFileBox('Title', 'Choose a file') .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42600398-1ed8a122-8530-11e8-9f74-88b101efcea4.jpg :alt: getfilebox getfilebox :: submit_clicked, value = SG.GetPathBox('Title', 'Choose a folder') .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42600397-1ea7cef8-8530-11e8-8d43-e1000c0933cd.jpg :alt: getfolderbox getfolderbox Progress Meter! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ We all have loops in our code. 'Isn't it joyful waiting, watching a counter scrolling past in a text window? How about one line of code to get a progress meter, that contains statistics about your code? .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42696332-dca3ca6e-8685-11e8-846b-6bee8362ee5f.jpg :alt: progress meter 3 progress meter 3 :: EasyProgressMeter(title, current_value, max_value, *args, orientation=None, bar_color=DEFAULT_PROGRESS_BAR_COLOR, button_color=None, size=DEFAULT_PROGRESS_BAR_SIZE, scale=(None, None), border_width=DEFAULT_PROGRESS_BAR_BORDER_WIDTH): Here's the one-line Progress Meter in action! :: for i in range(1,10000): SG.EasyProgressMeter('My Meter', i+1, 10000, 'Optional message') That line of code resulted in this window popping up and updating. .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42696912-a5c958b8-8687-11e8-9a7d-a390a465407a.jpg :alt: progress meter 5 progress meter 5 A meter AND fun statistics to watch while your machine grinds away, all for the price of 1 line of code. With a little trickery you can provide a way to break out of your loop using the Progress Meter form. The cancel button results in a ``False`` return value from ``EasyProgressMeter``. It normally returns ``True``. :: if not SG.EasyProgressMeter('My Meter', i+1, 10000, 'Optional message'): break ***Be sure and add one to your loop counter*** so that your counter goes from 1 to the max value. If you do not add one, your counter will never hit the max value. Instead it will go from 0 to max-1. #### Debug Output Another call in the 'Easy' families of APIs is ``EasyPrint``. It will output to a debug window. If the debug window isn't open, then the first call will open it. No need to do anything but stick a 'print' call in your code. You can even replace your 'print' calls with calls to EasyPrint by simply sticking the statement :: print = SG.EasyPrint at the top of your code. There are a number of names for the same EasyPrint function. ``Print`` is one of the better ones to use as it's easy to remember. It is simply ``print`` with a capital P. :: import PySimpleGUI as SG for i in range(100): SG.Print(i) |snap0125| Or if you didn't want to change your code: :: import PySimpleGUI as SG print=SG.Print for i in range(100): print(i) Just like the standard print call, ``EasyPrint`` supports the ``sep`` and ``end`` keyword arguments. Other names that can be used to call ``EasyPrint`` include Print, ``eprint``, If you want to close the window, call the function ``EasyPrintClose``. A word of caution. There are known problems when multiple PySimpleGUI windows are opened, particularly if the user closes them in an unusual way. Not a reason to stay away from using it. Just something to keep in mind if you encounter a problem. You can change the size of the debug window using the ``SetOptions`` call with the ``debug_win_size`` parameter. All Widgets / Elements ---------------------- This code utilizes as many of the elements in one form as possible. :: with SG.FlexForm('Everything bagel', auto_size_text=True, default_element_size=(40, 1)) as form: layout = [ [SG.Text('All graphic widgets in one form!', size=(30, 1), font=("Helvetica", 25), text_color='blue')], [SG.Text('Here is some text.... and a place to enter text')], [SG.InputText()], [SG.Checkbox('My first checkbox!'), SG.Checkbox('My second checkbox!', default=True)], [SG.Radio('My first Radio! ', "RADIO1", default=True), SG.Radio('My second Radio!', "RADIO1")], [SG.Multiline(default_text='This is the default Text shoulsd you decide not to type anything', scale=(2, 10))], [SG.InputCombo(['Combobox 1', 'Combobox 2'], size=(20, 3)), SG.Slider(range=(1, 100), orientation='h', size=(35, 20), default_value=85)], [SG.Listbox(values=['Listbox 1', 'Listbox 2', 'Listbox 3'], size=(30, 6)), SG.Slider(range=(1, 100), orientation='v', size=(10, 20), default_value=25), SG.Slider(range=(1, 100), orientation='v', size=(10, 20), default_value=75), SG.Slider(range=(1, 100), orientation='v', size=(10, 20), default_value=10)], [SG.Text('_' * 100, size=(70, 1))], [SG.Text('Choose Source and Destination Folders', size=(35, 1))], [SG.Text('Source Folder', size=(15, 1), auto_size_text=False, justification='right'), SG.InputText('Source'), SG.FolderBrowse()], [SG.Text('Destination Folder', size=(15, 1), auto_size_text=False, justification='right'), SG.InputText('Dest'), SG.FolderBrowse()], [SG.Submit(), SG.Cancel(), SG.SimpleButton('Customized', button_color=('white', 'green'))] ] button, values = form.LayoutAndRead(layout) This is a somewhat complex form with quite a bit of custom sizing to make things line up well. This is code you only have to write once. When looking at the code, remember that what you're seeing is a list of lists. Each row contains a list of Graphical Elements that are used to create the form. .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43097412-0a4652aa-8e8a-11e8-8e09-939484e3c568.jpg :alt: everything example everything example Clicking the Submit button caused the form call to return. The call to MsgBox resulted in this dialog box. |results 2| **``Note, button value can be None``**. The value for ``button`` will be the text that is displayed on the button element when it was created. If the user closed the form using something other than a button, then ``button`` will be ``None``. You can see in the MsgBox that the values returned are a list. Each input field in the form generates one item in the return values list. All input fields return a ``string`` except for Check Boxes and Radio Buttons. These return ``bool``. ProgressBar ^^^^^^^^^^^ The ``ProgressBar`` element is used to build custom Progress Bar forms. It is HIGHLY recommended that you use the functions that provide a complete progress meter solution for you. Progress Meters are not easy to work with because the forms have to be non-blocking and they are tricky to debug. The **easiest** way to get progress meters into your code is to use the ``EasyProgessMeter`` API. This consists of a pair of functions, ``EasyProgessMeter`` and ``EasyProgressMeterCancel``. You can easily cancel any progress meter by calling it with the current value = max value. This will mark the meter as expired and close the window. You've already seen EasyProgressMeter calls presented earlier in this readme. :: SG.EasyProgressMeter('My Meter', i+1, 1000, 'Optional message') The return value for ``EasyProgressMeter`` is: ``True`` if meter updated correctly ``False`` if user clicked the Cancel button, closed the form, or vale reached the max value. **Customized Progress Bar** If you want a bit more customization of your meter, then you can go up 1 level and use the calls to ``ProgressMeter`` and ``ProgressMeterUpdate``. These APIs behave like an object we're all used to. First you create the ``ProgressMeter`` object, then you call the ``Update`` method to update it. You setup the progress meter by calling :: my_meter = ProgressMeter(title, max_value, *args, orientantion=None, bar_color=DEFAULT_PROGRESS_BAR_COLOR, button_color=None, size=DEFAULT_PROGRESS_BAR_SIZE, scale=(None, None), border_width=DEFAULT_PROGRESS_BAR_BORDER_WIDTH) Then to update the bar within your loop :: return_code = ProgressMeterUpdate(my_meter, value, *args): Putting it all together you get this design pattern :: my_meter = SG.ProgressMeter('Meter Title', 100000, orentation='Vert') for i in range(0, 100000): SG.ProgressMeterUpdate(my_meter, i+1, 'Some variable', 'Another variable') The final way of using a Progress Meter with PySimpleGUI is to build a custom form with a ``ProgressBar`` Element in the form. You will need to run your form as a non-blocking form. When you are ready to update your progress bar, you call the ``UpdateBar`` method for the ``ProgressBar`` element itself. Output ^^^^^^ The Output Element is a re-direction of Stdout. Anything "printed" will be displayed in this element. :: Output(scale=(None, None), size=(None, None)) Here's a complete solution for a chat-window using an Async form with an Output Element :: import PySimpleGUI as SG # Blocking form that doesn't close def ChatBot(): with SG.FlexForm('Chat Window', auto_size_text=True, default_element_size=(30, 2)) as form: layout = [[(SG.Text('This is where standard out is being routed', size=[40, 1]))], [SG.Output(size=(80, 20))], [SG.Multiline(size=(70, 5), enter_submits=True), SG.ReadFormButton('SEND', button_color=(SG.YELLOWS[0], SG.BLUES[0])), SG.SimpleButton('EXIT', button_color=(SG.YELLOWS[0], SG.GREENS[0]))]] # notice this is NOT the usual LayoutAndRead call because you don't yet want to read the form # if you call LayoutAndRead from here, then you will miss the first button click form.Layout(layout) # ---===--- Loop taking in user input and using it to query HowDoI web oracle --- # while True: button, value = form.Read() if button == 'SEND': print(value) else: break Tabbed Forms ------------ Tabbed forms are shown using the ``ShowTabbedForm`` call. The call has the format :: results = ShowTabbedForm('Title for the form', (form,layout,'Tab 1 label'), (form2,layout2, 'Tab 2 label'), ...) Each of the tabs of the form is in fact a form. The same steps are taken to create the form as before. A ``FlexForm`` is created, then rows are filled with Elements, and finally the form is shown. When calling ``ShowTabbedForm``, each form is passed in as a tuple. The tuple has the format: ``(the form, the rows, a string shown on the tab)`` Results are returned as a list of lists. For each form you'll get a list that's in the same format as a normal form. A single tab's values would be: :: (button, (values)) Recall that values is a list as well. Multiple tabs in the form would return like this: :: ((button1, (values1)), (button2, (values2)) ## Colors ## Starting in version 2.5 you can change the background colors for the window and the Elements. Your forms can go from this: |snap0155| to this... with one function call... .. figure:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43273880-aa1955e6-90cb-11e8-94b6-673ecdb2698c.jpg :alt: snap0156 snap0156 While you can do it on an element by element or form level basis, the easiest way, by far, is a call to ``SetOptions``. Be aware that once you change these options they are changed for the rest of your program's execution. All of your forms will have that look and feel, until you change it to something else (which could be the system default colors. This call sets all of the different color options. :: SetOptions(background_color='#9FB8AD', text_element_background_color='#9FB8AD', element_background_color='#9FB8AD', scrollbar_color=None, input_elements_background_color='#F7F3EC', progress_meter_color = ('green', 'blue') button_color=('white','#475841')) Global Settings --------------- **Global Settings** Let's have some fun customizing! Make PySimpleGUI look the way you want it to look. You can set the global settings using the function ``PySimpleGUI.SetOptions``. Each option has an optional parameter that's used to set it. :: SetOptions(icon=None button_color=(None,None) element_size=(None,None), margins=(None,None), element_padding=(None,None) auto_size_text=None auto_size_buttons=None font=None border_width=None slider_border_width=None slider_relief=None slider_orientation=None autoclose_time=None message_box_line_width=None progress_meter_border_depth=None progress_meter_style=None progress_meter_relief=None progress_meter_color=None progress_meter_size=None text_justification=None background_color=None element_background_color=None text_element_background_color=None input_elements_background_color=None scrollbar_color=None, text_color=None debug_win_size=(None,None) window_location=(None,None) Explanation of parameters :: icon - filename of icon used for taskbar and title bar button_color - button color (foreground, background) element_size - element size (width, height) in characters margins - tkinter margins around outsize element_padding - tkinter padding around each element auto_size_text - autosize the elements to fit their text auto_size_buttons - autosize the buttons to fit their text font - font used for elements border_width - amount of bezel or border around sunken or raised elements slider_border_width - changes the way sliders look slider_relief - changes the way sliders look slider_orientation - changes orientation of slider autoclose_time - time in seconds for autoclose boxes message_box_line_width - number of characers in a line of text in message boxes progress_meter_border_depth - amount of border around raised or lowered progress meters progress_meter_style - style of progress meter as defined by tkinter progress_meter_relief - relief style progress_meter_color - color of the bar and background of progress meters progress_meter_size - size in (characters, pixels) background_color - Color of the main window's background element_background_color - Background color of the elements text_element_background_color - Text element background color input_elements_background_color - Input fields background color scrollbar_color - Color for scrollbars (may not always work) text_color - Text element default text color text_justification - justification to use on Text Elements. Values are strings - 'left', 'right', 'center' debug_win_size - size of the Print output window window_location - location on the screen (x,y) of window's top left cornder These settings apply to all forms ``SetOptions``. The Row options and Element options will take precedence over these settings. Settings can be thought of as levels of settings with the Form-level being the highest and the Element-level the lowest. Thus the levels are: - Form level - Row level - Element level Each lower level overrides the settings of the higher level. Once settings have been changed, they remain changed for the duration of the program (unless changed again). Asynchronous (Non-Blocking) Forms --------------------------------- So you want to be a wizard do ya? Well go boldly! While the majority of GUIs are a simple exercise to "collect input values and return with them", there are instances where we want to continue executing while the form is open. These are "asynchronous" forms and require special options, new SDK calls, and **great care**. With asynchronous forms the form is shown, user input is read, but your code keeps right on chugging. YOUR responsibility is to call ``PySimpleGUI.ReadNonBlocking`` on a periodic basis. Once a second or more will produce a reasonably snappy GUI. When do you use a non-blocking form? A couple of examples are \* A media file player like an MP3 player \* A status dashboard that's periodically updated \* Progress Meters - when you want to make your own progress meters \* Output using print to a scrolled text element. Good for debugging. Word of warning... version 2.2, the currently released, and upcoming version 2.3 differ in the return code for the ``ReadNonBlocking`` call. Previously the function returned 2 values, except when the form is closed using the "X" which returned a single value of ``None``. The *new* way is that ``ReadNonBlocking`` always returns 2 values. If the user closed the form with the "X" then the return values will be None, None. You will want to key off the second value to catch this case. The proper code to check if the user has exited the form will be a polling-loop that looks something like this: :: while True: button, values = form.ReadNonBlocking() if values is None or button == 'Quit': break We're going to build an app that does the latter. It's going to update our form with a running clock. The basic flow and functions you will be calling are: Setup :: form = FlexForm() form_rows = ..... form.LayoutAndRead(form_rows, non_blocking=True) Periodic refresh :: form.ReadNonBlocking() If you need to close the form :: form.CloseNonBlockingForm() Rather than the usual ``form.LayoutAndRead()`` call, we're manually adding the rows (doing the layout) and then showing the form. After the form is shown, you simply call ``form.ReadNonBlocking()`` every now and then. When you are ready to close the form (assuming the form wasn't closed by the user or a button click) you simply call ``form.CloseNonBlockingForm()`` **Example - Running timer that updates** See the sample code on the GitHub named Demo Media Player for another example of Async Forms. We're going to make a form and update one of the elements of that form every .01 seconds. Here's the entire code to do that. :: import PySimpleGUI as sg import time # form that doesn't block # Make a form, but don't use context manager form = sg.FlexForm('Running Timer', auto_size_text=True) # Create a text element that will be updated with status information on the GUI itself output_element = sg.Text('', size=(8, 2), font=('Helvetica', 20)) # Create the rows form_rows = [[sg.Text('Non-blocking GUI with updates')], [output_element], [sg.SimpleButton('Quit')]] # Layout the rows of the form and perform a read. Indicate the form is non-blocking! form.LayoutAndRead(form_rows, non_blocking=True) # # Some place later in your code... # You need to perform a ReadNonBlocking on your form every now and then or # else it won't refresh # for i in range(1, 1000): output_element.Update('{:02d}:{:02d}.{:02d}'.format(*divmod(int(i / 100), 60), i % 100)) button, values = form.ReadNonBlocking() if values is None or button == 'Quit': break time.sleep(.01) else: form.CloseNonBlockingForm() What we have here is the same sequence of function calls as in the description. Get a form, add rows to it, show the form, and then refresh it every now and then. The new thing in this example is the call use of the Update method for the Text Element. The first thing we do inside the loop is "update" the text element that we made earlier. This changes the value of the text field on the form. The new value will be displayed when ``form.ReadNonBlocking()`` is called. Note the ``else`` statement on the for loop. This is needed because we're about to exit the loop while the form is still open. The user has not closed the form using the X nor a button so it's up to the caller to close the form using ``CloseNonBlockingForm``. That's it... this example follows the async design pattern well. Sample Applications ------------------- Use the example programs as a starting basis for your GUI. Copy, paste, modify and run! The demo files are: ``Demo Recipes.py`` - Sample forms for all major form types and situations. This is the place to get your code template from. Includes asynchronous forms, etc. ``Demo DisplayHash1and256.py`` - Demonstrates using High Level API calls to get a filename ``Demo DupliucateFileFinder.py`` - Demonstrates High Level API to get a folder & Easy Progress Meter to show progress of the file scanning ``Demo HowDoI.py`` - An amazing little application. Acts as a front-end to HowDoI. This one program could forever change how you code. It does searches on Stack Overflow and returns the CODE found in the best answer for your query. If anyone wants to help me package this application up, I could use a hand. Fun Stuff --------- Here are some things to try if you're bored or want to further customize **Colors - Random and predefined** To set a button or text to a random color, use the string ``'random'`` as the color value. You can also call ``PySimpleGUI.GetRandomColor``. To get a random color pair call ``PySimpleGUI.GetRandomColorPair``. This returns a tuple containing a random color and that color's compliment. **Debug Output** Be sure and check out the EasyPrint (Print) function described in the high-level API section. Leave your code the way it is, route your stdout and stderror to a scrolling window. For a fun time, add these lines to the top of your script :: import PySimpleGUI as sg print = sg.Print This will turn all of your print statements into prints that display in a window on your screen rather than to the terminal. **Look and Feel** Dial in the look and feel that you like with the ``SetOptions`` function. You can change all of the defaults in one function call. One line of code to customize the entire GUI. **ObjToString** Ever wanted to easily display an objects contents easily? Use ObjToString to get a nicely formatted recursive walk of your objects. This statement: :: print(sg.ObjToSting(x)) And this was the output :: abc = abc attr12 = 12 c = b = a = attr1 = 1 attr2 = 2 attr3 = three attr10 = 10 attrx = x You'll quickly wonder how you ever coded without it. -------------- Known Issues ============ While not an "issue" this is a ***stern warning*** **Do not attempt** to call ``PySimpleGUI`` from multiple threads! It's ``tkinter`` based and ``tkinter`` has issues with multiple threads ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **Progress Meters** - the visual graphic portion of the meter may be off. May return to the native tkinter progress meter solution in the future. Right now a "custom" progress meter is used. On the bright side, the statistics shown are extremely accurate and can tell you something about the performance of your code. **Async Forms** - these include the 'easy' forms (EasyProgressMeter and EasyPrint/Print). If you start overlapping having Async forms open with normal forms then things get a littler squirrelly. Still tracking down the issues and am making it more solid every day possible. You'll know there's an issue when you see blank form. **EasyPrint** - EasyPrint is a new feature that's pretty awesome. You print and the output goes to a window, with a scroll bar, that you can copy and paste from. Being a new feature, it's got some potential problems. There are known interaction problems with other GUI windows. For example, closing a Print window can also close other windows you have open. For now, don't close your debug print window until other windows are closed too. Contributing ------------ A MikeTheWatchGuy production... entirely responsible for this code.... unless it causes you trouble in which case I'm not at all responsible. Versions -------- +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Version | Description | +===========+==================================================================================================================================================+ | 1.0.9 | July 10, 2018 - Initial Release | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 1.0.21 | July 13, 2018 - Readme updates | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2.0.0 | July 16, 2018 - ALL optional parameters renamed from CamelCase to all\_lower\_case | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2.1.1 | July 18, 2018 - Global settings exposed, fixes | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2.2.0 | July 20, 2018 - Image Elements, Print output | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2.3.0 | July 23, 2018 - Changed form.Read return codes, Slider Elements, Listbox element. Renamed some methods but left legacy calls in place for now. | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2.4.0 | July 24, 2018 - Button images. Fixes so can run on Raspberry Pi | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2.5.0 | July 26, 2018 - Colors. Listbox scrollbar. tkinter Progress Bar instead of homegrown. | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2.6.0 | July 27, 2018 - auto\_size\_button setting. License changed to LGPL 3+ | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2.6.5 | Aug XX, 2018 - window\_location default setting | +-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Release Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2.3 - Sliders, Listbox's and Image elements (oh my!) If using Progress Meters, avoid cancelling them when you have another window open. It could lead to future windows being blank. It's being worked on. New debug printing capability. ``sg.Print`` 2.5 Discovered issue with scroll bar on ``Output`` elements. The bar will match size of ROW not the size of the element. Normally you never notice this due to where on a form the ``Output`` element goes. Listboxes are still without scrollwheels. The mouse can drag to see more items. The mouse scrollwheel will also scroll the list and will ``page up`` and ``page down`` keys. Upcoming ~~~~~~~~ Make suggestions people! Future release features Columns. How multiple columns would be specified in the SDK interface are still being designed. Port to other graphic engines. Hook up the front-end interface to a backend other than tkinter. Qt, WxPython, etc. Code Condition -------------- :: Make it run Make it right Make it fast It's a recipe for success if done right. PySimpleGUI has completed the "Make it run" phase. It's far from "right" in many ways. These are being worked on. The module is particularly poor for PEP 8 compliance. It was a learning exercise that turned into a somewhat complete GUI solution for lightweight problems. While the internals to PySimpleGUI are a tad sketchy, the public interfaces into the SDK are more strictly defined and comply with PEP 8 for the most part. Please log bugs and suggestions in the GitHub! It will only make the code stronger and better in the end, a good thing for us all, right? Design ------ A moment about the design-spirit of ``PySimpleGUI``. From the beginning, this package was meant to take advantage of Python's capabilities with the goal of programming ease. **Single File** While not the best programming practice, the implementation resulted in a single file solution. Only one file is needed, PySimpleGUI.py. You can post this file, email it, and easily import it using one statement. **Functions as objects** In Python, functions behave just like object. When you're placing a Text Element into your form, you may be sometimes calling a function and other times declaring an object. If you use the word Text, then you're getting an object. If you're using ``Txt``, then you're calling a function that returns a ``Text`` object. **Lists** It seemed quite natural to use Python's powerful list constructs when possible. The form is specified as a series of lists. Each "row" of the GUI is represented as a list of Elements. When the form read returns the results to the user, all of the results are presented as a single list. This makes reading a form's values super-simple to do in a single line of Python code. Authors ------- MikeTheWatchGuy License ------- GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL 3) + Acknowledgments --------------- - Jorj McKie was the motivator behind the entire project. His wxsimpleGUI concepts sparked PySimpleGUI into existence - `Fredrik Lundh `__ for his work on ``tkinter`` How Do I -------- Finally, I must thank the fine folks at How Do I. https://github.com/gleitz/howdoi Their utility has forever changed the way and pace in which I can program. I urge you to try the HowDoI.py application here on GitHub. Trust me, **it's going to be worth the effort!** Here are the steps to run that application :: Install howdoi: pip install howdoi Test your install: python -m howdoi howdoi.py To run it: Python HowDoI.py The pip command is all there is to the setup. The way HowDoI works is that it uses your search term to look through stack overflow posts. It finds the best answer, gets the code from the answer, and presents it as a response. It gives you the correct answer OFTEN. It's a miracle that it work SO well. For Python questions, I simply start my query with 'Python'. Let's say you forgot how to reverse a list in Python. When you run HowDoI and ask this question, this is what you'll see. |snap0109| In the hands of a competent programmer, this tool is **amazing**. It's a must-try kind of program that has completely changed my programming process. I'm not afraid of asking for help! You just have to be smart about using what you find. The PySimpleGUI window that the results are shown in is an 'input' field which means you can copy and paste the results right into your code. .. |Downloads| image:: http://pepy.tech/badge/pysimplegui :target: http://pepy.tech/project/pysimplegui .. |snap0125| image:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43114979-a696189e-8ecf-11e8-83c7-473fcf0ccc66.jpg .. |results 2| image:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43097502-44e3ed32-8e8a-11e8-9a51-2b8af0b1a682.jpg .. |snap0155| image:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/43273879-a9fdc10a-90cb-11e8-8c20-4f6a244ebe2f.jpg .. |snap0109| image:: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13696193/42916444-4199b16c-8ad3-11e8-8423-d12e61a58d3d.jpg