TkXtra - Extended Tk widgets for Python

TkXtra is a collection of combination and enhanced widgets for Tk built in Python + Tkinter. The eventual goal of this project is to provide a set of widgets which are as useful and powerful as those found in Tix which uses Tcl/Tk and C. You can download the latest version here (TkXtra-0.1.tar.gz, 36K) or here (tkxtra01.zip 41K) for our friends who must use Windoze. These are http links so you may need to use shift-click in Netscape to download.

History

Sometime late last year, I had developed an interface from Python to Tix called PyTix. I didn't want to use Tcl but the Tix widgets (quite popular in the Tcl world) were unusable from Python. Sometime this year, Tix decided to go commercial. At that time, I thought, I might as well try to develop the same widget set using raw Tk in Python and I started on TkXtra. Since it was not complete, I refrained from releasing it until I received some queries about it. Now that Tix is again non-commercial, TxXtra is probably no longer required. On the other hand, maybe some people will find it useful for one of the following reasons -

• TkXtra depends only on Python and Tkinter. No version hassles as in Tix because we don't use Tcl/Tk internals.
• Easily modifiable and extensible since it is written in Python. Subclassing of widgets is straight forward.
• It helps people understand what can be done with just Python and Tkinter.

I have changed the license terms from the general GPL to the less restrictive LGPL in response to one complaint. Noone can say I'm uncooperative :-)

Status

At present, the TkXtra widget set is not complete. Currently the following widgets are implemented.

• ScrolledText - A wrapper for a Text widget and vertical and horizontal scrollbars. The scrollbars appear only when necessary by default.
• ScrolledList - A wrapper for a Listbox and a vertical scrollbar. The scrollbar appears only when necessary by default.
• PanedWindow - A widget that can have multiple panes separated by a window sash. The panes may be dynamically resized by the user by dragging the sash. Panes can be organized either horizontally or vertically.
• ButtonBox - A container for Button widgets. Organizes them vertically or horizontally.
• SelectBox - A radio-button group like container except that the buttons are regular buttons instead of checkboxes.
• LabelledFrame - A container for a frame. Has a label and a border drawn around the frame.
• LabelledEntry - A composite widget wrapping a Label and an Entry widget. It also provides a callback for when the value is changed.
• NumericEntry - Like a LabelledEntry except that it accepts only numbers as input. Numbers entered are formatted with commas etc.
• NumericNudgeEntry - Same as NumericEntry except that there are two small arrows on the side of the Entry widget. Pressing them increments/decrements the value in the Entry by a user defined amount.
• DateEntry - Like NumericEntry but for dates.
• DateNudgeEntry - Like NumericNudgeEntry but for dates.
• ComboBox - An entry widget with a drop down list of predefined values. The widget can be constrained to accept only these strings as input. Typing the first few letters of a choice (if they are unique) will select that item.

Known Bugs

The ScrolledText and ScrolledList widgets sometimes don't show their scrollbars until resized (even by 1 pixel). If anyone figures out why, please tell me.

Future Plans

In the immediate future, I plan on adding the Notebook and HList / DirList widgets (Tix terminology). If all goes well - bugs are identified and fixed, the widgets look more finished than they are now etc., I will transfer some of the code to C to increase performance. At present performance is pretty good on a Sparc 10. However, some aspects are slow e.g., resizing panes in a PanedWindow widget (no longer true as of 0.1).

Back to Sudhir's Home Page