Problem with tkinter mainloop

[k2riddim]

Hello,
I'm a beginner with Python and Tkinter development.
My application parse links in an html file. And I use Tkinter to
implement a GUI. This GUI has a button to launch the parse treatment,
and a status bar to show the state of the treatment.
I know that because of the mainloop, my tkinter application freeze
while my treatment isn't finished. That's why my status bar doesn't
update herself in real time.
I wanted to use the after or the after_idle function, but I don't
really understand why it doesn't work.

My apps is build approximately like that :

---Gui.py---
class Gui(Frame):
def __init__(self):
...
def launchTreatment (self):
b = Treatment()
self.after(b.tr eatment.parse)

---Treatment.py---
class Treatment():
def __init__(self):
...
def parse(self):
...
GUIinstance.sta tus.set("state 1")
...
GUIinstance.sta tus.set("state 2")


---Main.py---
#instanciation of classes
GUIinstance = Gui
GUIinstance.mai nloop()

Any help will be very appreciated, excuse my english, this is not my
native language as you can see.

[Eric Brunel]

Re: Problem with tkinter mainloop

k2riddim wrote:[color=blue]
> Hello,
> I'm a beginner with Python and Tkinter development.
> My application parse links in an html file. And I use Tkinter to
> implement a GUI. This GUI has a button to launch the parse treatment,
> and a status bar to show the state of the treatment.
> I know that because of the mainloop, my tkinter application freeze
> while my treatment isn't finished. That's why my status bar doesn't
> update herself in real time.
> I wanted to use the after or the after_idle function, but I don't
> really understand why it doesn't work.[/color]

after and after_idle won't help you: the action you register in these methods
are called only when the main loop gets back the control, and your problem is
precisely that the main loop does not get it...

The method you're probably looking for is update_idletask s: it updates the
display without getting any user event. There's another method called update,
but this one does process user events, so it may call some of your code if such
an event is pending. This is usually not what you want to do, except in some
very rare cases.

Here is how it may look like in your code, along with a few remarks on your code:
[color=blue]
>
> My apps is build approximately like that :
>
> ---Gui.py---
> class Gui(Frame):[/color]

Why do you inherit from Frame? A Tkinter Frame is a generic container widget;
this is not a window. IMHO, you'd better inherit from Tk for your main window or
from Toplevel for other windows. You'd also get better control on the actual
window, since some of the methods available on Tk and Toplevel are not available
on other widgets (e.g. geometry or protocol)
[color=blue]
> def __init__(self):
> ...
> def launchTreatment (self):
> b = Treatment()
> self.after(b.tr eatment.parse)[/color]

This cannot be your code; the after methods takes two parameters: the number of
milliseconds to wait before the action will be called and the action itself. You
only provide the action here. But again, the after method won't help you to get
what you want...
[color=blue]
>
> ---Treatment.py---
> class Treatment():
> def __init__(self):
> ...
> def parse(self):
> ...
> GUIinstance.sta tus.set("state 1")[/color]

This is where the GUIinstance.upd ate_idletasks() should go.
[color=blue]
> ...
> GUIinstance.sta tus.set("state 2")[/color]

Another GUIinstance.upd ate_idletasks() here.
[color=blue]
>
>
> ---Main.py---
> #instanciation of classes
> GUIinstance = Gui[/color]

Again, this cannot be your code, since you do not instantiate the class here.
The correct line should be:

GUIinstance = Gui()

It is usually far better to post a working example demonstrating the problem you
have instead of just extracting a few lines of your whole code. This will help
people who are willing to help to understand exactly what is going on.

HTH
--
- Eric Brunel <eric (underscore) brunel (at) despammed (dot) com> -
PragmaDev : Real Time Software Development Tools - http://www.pragmadev.com

[k2riddim]

Re: Problem with tkinter mainloop

Many thanks, You're right this wasn't my code, this was just what I
can remember, because my application is at home, and I'm at work.
Be sure I'll follow your advices concerning posting rules in this
group !

Eric Brunel <eric_brunel@de spammed.com> wrote in message news:<41ac53ac$ 0$30438$8fcfb97 5@news.wanadoo. fr>...[color=blue]
> k2riddim wrote:[color=green]
> > Hello,
> > I'm a beginner with Python and Tkinter development.
> > My application parse links in an html file. And I use Tkinter to
> > implement a GUI. This GUI has a button to launch the parse treatment,
> > and a status bar to show the state of the treatment.
> > I know that because of the mainloop, my tkinter application freeze
> > while my treatment isn't finished. That's why my status bar doesn't
> > update herself in real time.
> > I wanted to use the after or the after_idle function, but I don't
> > really understand why it doesn't work.[/color]
>
> after and after_idle won't help you: the action you register in these methods
> are called only when the main loop gets back the control, and your problem is
> precisely that the main loop does not get it...
>
> The method you're probably looking for is update_idletask s: it updates the
> display without getting any user event. There's another method called update,
> but this one does process user events, so it may call some of your code if such
> an event is pending. This is usually not what you want to do, except in some
> very rare cases.
>
> Here is how it may look like in your code, along with a few remarks on your code:
>[color=green]
> >
> > My apps is build approximately like that :
> >
> > ---Gui.py---
> > class Gui(Frame):[/color]
>
> Why do you inherit from Frame? A Tkinter Frame is a generic container widget;
> this is not a window. IMHO, you'd better inherit from Tk for your main window or
> from Toplevel for other windows. You'd also get better control on the actual
> window, since some of the methods available on Tk and Toplevel are not available
> on other widgets (e.g. geometry or protocol)
>[color=green]
> > def __init__(self):
> > ...
> > def launchTreatment (self):
> > b = Treatment()
> > self.after(b.tr eatment.parse)[/color]
>
> This cannot be your code; the after methods takes two parameters: the number of
> milliseconds to wait before the action will be called and the action itself. You
> only provide the action here. But again, the after method won't help you to get
> what you want...
>[color=green]
> >
> > ---Treatment.py---
> > class Treatment():
> > def __init__(self):
> > ...
> > def parse(self):
> > ...
> > GUIinstance.sta tus.set("state 1")[/color]
>
> This is where the GUIinstance.upd ate_idletasks() should go.
>[color=green]
> > ...
> > GUIinstance.sta tus.set("state 2")[/color]
>
> Another GUIinstance.upd ate_idletasks() here.
>[color=green]
> >
> >
> > ---Main.py---
> > #instanciation of classes
> > GUIinstance = Gui[/color]
>
> Again, this cannot be your code, since you do not instantiate the class here.
> The correct line should be:
>
> GUIinstance = Gui()
>
> It is usually far better to post a working example demonstrating the problem you
> have instead of just extracting a few lines of your whole code. This will help
> people who are willing to help to understand exactly what is going on.
>
> HTH[/color]