Tkinter standard widget attributes

last modified January 30, 2024

In this article we talk about standard widget attributes, including cursors, reliefs, colours, and fonts.

The standard widget attributes are keywords used in widget constructors.

Tkinter widget state

The state attribute defines the state of the widget. It can have the following values: NORMAL, ACTIVE, and DISABLED.

widget_states.py

#!/usr/bin/python

from tkinter import Tk, BOTH, NORMAL, ACTIVE, DISABLED
from tkinter.ttk import Frame, Label


class Example(Frame):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.initUI()


    def initUI(self):

        self.master.title("Fonts")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH, expand=True)
        self.columnconfigure(0, pad=5)
        self.columnconfigure(1, pad=5)
        self.columnconfigure(2, pad=5)

        txt = "Today is a beautiful day"

        label1 = Label(self, text=txt, state=NORMAL)
        label1.grid(row=0, column=0)

        label2 = Label(self, text=txt, state=ACTIVE)
        label2.grid(row=0, column=1)

        label3 = Label(self, text=txt, state=DISABLED)
        label3.grid(row=0, column=2)


def main():

    root = Tk()
    ex = Example()
    root.geometry("+300+300")
    root.mainloop()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

We demonstrate the state attribute on the Label widget.

label1 = Label(self, text=txt, state=NORMAL)

The first label has NORMAL state.

Tkinter widget padding

The padx and pady attributes add extra horizontal and vertical space to the widgets.

padding.py

#!/usr/bin/python


from tkinter import Tk, Frame, Button
from tkinter import BOTH, LEFT, TOP

class Example(Frame):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.initUI()


    def initUI(self):

        self.master.title("Padding")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH)

        frame = Frame(self, bd=5)
        frame.pack()

        btn1 = Button(frame, text='Button')
        btn1.pack(side=LEFT, padx=5)

        btn2 = Button(frame, text='Button')
        btn2.pack(side=LEFT, padx=5)

        frame2 = Frame(self)
        frame2.pack()

        btn1 = Button(frame2, text='Button')
        btn1.pack(side=TOP, pady=15)

        btn2 = Button(frame2, text='Button')
        btn2.pack(side=TOP, pady=15)

        self.pack()

def main():

    root = Tk()
    root.geometry("300x250+300+300")
    app = Example()
    root.mainloop()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

In the example, we create two frames; each of them has two widgets. The first frame forms a row from the buttons, the second one a column. The padx and pady attributes add space between the buttons.

btn1 = Button(frame, text='Button')
btn1.pack(side=LEFT, padx=5)

With the pack manager, we create a row of buttons. The padx adds 5px space between the buttons horizontally.

btn1 = Button(frame2, text='Button')
btn1.pack(side=TOP, pady=15)

Here we form a column. Therefore, we use the pady attribute to add space vertically.

Tkinter Background colours

The background colours of widgets can be set with background attribute. It can be abbreviated to bg.

Likewise, the foreground colours of widgets can be set with foreground attribute. It can be abbreviated to fg.

bg_colours.py

#!/usr/bin/python


from tkinter import Tk, Frame, Label
from tkinter import BOTH, LEFT

class Example(Frame):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.initUI()


    def initUI(self):

        self.master.title("Background colours")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH)

        frame = Frame(self, borderwidth=10)
        frame.pack()

        lbl1 = Label(frame, bg='SlateGray3', width=15, height=10)
        lbl1.pack(side=LEFT, padx=3)

        lbl2 = Label(frame, bg='SlateGray4', width=15, height=10)
        lbl2.pack(side=LEFT)

        lbl3 = Label(frame, bg='DarkSeaGreen3', width=15, height=10)
        lbl3.pack(side=LEFT, padx=3)

        lbl4 = Label(frame, bg='DarkSeaGreen4', width=15, height=10)
        lbl4.pack(side=LEFT)

        self.pack()

def main():

    root = Tk()
    root.geometry("+300+300")
    app = Example()
    root.mainloop()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

In the code example, we create four labels with four different background colours.

lbl1 = Label(frame, bg='SlateGray3', width=15, height=10)
lbl1.pack(side=LEFT, padx=3)

The first label has SlateGray3 background colour.

Width and height

The width and height attributes set the width and height of the widget.

width_height.py

#!/usr/bin/python


from tkinter import Tk, Frame, Button
from tkinter import BOTH, LEFT

class Example(Frame):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.initUI()


    def initUI(self):

        self.master.title("Width and height")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH)

        frame = Frame(self, borderwidth=10)
        frame.pack()

        btn1 = Button(frame, text='Button')
        btn1.pack(side=LEFT, padx=5)

        btn2 = Button(frame, text='Button', width=8)
        btn2.pack(side=LEFT, padx=5)

        btn3 = Button(frame, text='Button', width=5, height=4)
        btn3.pack(side=LEFT)

        self.pack()

def main():

    root = Tk()
    root.geometry("+300+300")
    app = Example()
    root.mainloop()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

In the example, we control the size of buttons with width and height.

btn2 = Button(frame, text='Button', width=8)

The width of this button is set to eight characters.

Tkinter reliefs

A relief is a border decoration. The possible values are: SUNKEN, RAISED, GROOVE, RIDGE, and FLAT.

reliefs.py

#!/usr/bin/python

from tkinter import Tk, Frame, Label
from tkinter import BOTH, LEFT, FLAT, SUNKEN, RAISED, GROOVE, RIDGE

class Example(Frame):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.initUI()


    def initUI(self):

        self.master.title("Reliefs")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH)

        frame = Frame(self, borderwidth=10)
        frame.pack()

        lbl1 = Label(frame, bg='LightSteelBlue3', width=15, height=10, relief=FLAT)
        lbl1.pack(side=LEFT, padx=3)

        lbl2 = Label(frame, bg='LightSteelBlue3', bd=2, width=15,
            height=10, relief=SUNKEN)
        lbl2.pack(side=LEFT)

        lbl3 = Label(frame, bg='LightSteelBlue3', bd=2, width=15,
            height=10, relief=RAISED)
        lbl3.pack(side=LEFT, padx=3)

        lbl4 = Label(frame, bg='LightSteelBlue3', bd=3, width=15,
            height=10, relief=GROOVE)
        lbl4.pack(side=LEFT)

        lbl5 = Label(frame, bg='LightSteelBlue3', bd=3, width=15,
            height=10, relief=RIDGE)
        lbl5.pack(side=LEFT, padx=3)

        self.pack()

def main():

    root = Tk()
    root.geometry("+300+300")
    app = Example()
    root.mainloop()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

The example shows five different reliefs applied on labels.

lbl3 = Label(frame, bg='LightSteelBlue3', bd=2, width=15,
    height=10, relief=RAISED)

The third label has a RAISED relief. With bd we increased the border width so that the reliefs are more visible.

Tkinter fonts

Tkinter has a tkinter.font module for working with fonts. It has some built-in fonts such as TkTooltipFont, TkDefaultFont, or TkTextFont. The font is set with the font attribute.

fonts.py

#!/usr/bin/python

from tkinter import Tk, BOTH
from tkinter.ttk import Frame, Label, Notebook, Style

from tkinter.font import Font

class Example(Frame):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.initUI()


    def initUI(self):

        self.master.title("Fonts")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH, expand=True)

        txt = "Today is a beautiful day"

        myfont = Font(family="Ubuntu Mono", size=16)
        label1 = Label(self, text=txt, font=myfont)
        label1.grid(row=0, column=0)

        label2 = Label(self, text=txt, font="TkTextFont")
        label2.grid(row=1, column=0)

        label3 = Label(self, text=txt, font=('Times', '18', 'italic'))
        label3.grid(row=2, column=0)


def main():

    root = Tk()
    ex = Example()
    root.geometry("+300+300")
    root.mainloop()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

The example shows three labels having text in three different fonts.

myfont = Font(family="Ubuntu Mono", size=16)
label1 = Label(self, text=txt, font=myfont)

A specific font is created with the Font class. If the font is not available on the platform, Tkinter reverts to some default font.

label2 = Label(self, text=txt, font="TkTextFont")

Here we use a built-in font name.

label3 = Label(self, text=txt, font=('Times', '18', 'italic'))

A font can also be specified as a tuple of strings.

Tkinter cursors

The cursor is a small icon that shows where the mouse pointer is located. The cursor in Tkinter is set with the cursor attribute.

cursors.py

#!/usr/bin/python

from tkinter import Tk, Frame, Label
from tkinter import BOTH, LEFT

class Example(Frame):

    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

        self.initUI()


    def initUI(self):

        self.master.title("Cursors")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH)

        frame = Frame(self, borderwidth=10)
        frame.pack()

        lbl1 = Label(frame, bg='SlateGray3', width=15, height=10,
            cursor='tcross')
        lbl1.pack(side=LEFT, padx=3)

        lbl2 = Label(frame, bg='SlateGray4', width=15, height=10,
            cursor='hand2')
        lbl2.pack(side=LEFT)

        lbl3 = Label(frame, bg='DarkSeaGreen3', width=15, height=10,
            cursor='heart')
        lbl3.pack(side=LEFT, padx=3)

        lbl4 = Label(frame, bg='DarkSeaGreen4', width=15, height=10,
            cursor='pencil')
        lbl4.pack(side=LEFT)

        self.pack()

def main():

    root = Tk()
    root.geometry("+300+300")
    app = Example()
    root.mainloop()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

In the example, we have four labels. Different cursors are used for each of the labels.

lbl4 = Label(frame, bg='DarkSeaGreen4', width=15, height=10,
    cursor='pencil')

The fourth label has a pencil icon for the cursor.

Source

Tkinter documentation

In this article we have worked with standard widget attributes.