{"id":7189,"date":"2014-04-10T05:01:09","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T19:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rjmprogramming.com.au\/wordpress\/?p=7189"},"modified":"2014-04-10T05:01:09","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T19:01:09","slug":"python-tkinter-install-tutorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rjmprogramming.com.au\/ITblog\/python-tkinter-install-tutorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Python Tkinter Install Tutorial"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Python<\/a>

Python Tkinter Install Tutorial (try twirling round bottom of image for a synopsis ... 'do the twirl now')<\/p><\/div>\n

Have you heard of Python?<\/p>\n

Python is a programming language that lets you work more quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. You can learn to use Python and see almost immediate gains in productivity and lower maintenance costs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check √<\/span><\/p>\n

How about Tkinter (the Tcl\/TK GUI interface for Python)?<\/p>\n

Tkinter is a Python binding to the Tk GUI toolkit, as we showed you below with previous relevant Python Tkinter Primer Tutorial<\/a>. It is the standard Python interface to the Tk GUI toolkit[1] and is Python’s de facto standard GUI,[2] and is included with the standard Windows and Mac OS X install of Python.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But what if you have Python installed but no Tkinter (GUI)? … to test for this … see … TkInter – Python Wiki<\/a>, as is often the case on Apache\/PHP web server setups.<\/p>\n

If you get stuck at the import<\/i> line of code with an error message you don’t have a compiled version of Python where a Tkinter module has been compiled into it. Before you panic, another check is, do you have two versions of Python co-existing, the more recent of which is not the default … try the same thing at the command line with python2.7<\/i> or python3.3<\/i>, rather than python<\/i> … Murphy’s law being what it is … a plot by Murphy’s enemies … it is unlikely this simple thought resolves your Tkinter usage issue.<\/p>\n

You may get errors that talk about the environment variable DISPLAY<\/i> … well, this means you have no GUI framework on which Tkinter can play? How could you? So part of what you will need is Xterm, or the more modern replacement Xquartz, or the more elaborate GNOME Desktop suite of software.<\/p>\n

The findings for me were that both were needed … a sad scenario indeed, if you want to develop some interesting graphical Python software.<\/p>\n

From here, the (Linux, in our case) environment becomes important (as you learn the more you get into the OpenSource world) … and the idea that you should not proceed if you are happy with your current Python, for what you aim to achieve … but … when looking for solutions to this problem on the Internet add your environment “word” to the search words … eg. (for me) … “Python Tkinter install” “CentOS”<\/p>\n

Now will show you some useful links (thanks, OpenSource community) that may help point you in the right direction (environmental issues preclude me from giving more precise exact advice):<\/p>\n