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Tkinter GUI Programming by Example
Tkinter GUI Programming by Example

Tkinter GUI Programming by Example: Learn to create modern GUIs using Tkinter by building real-world projects in Python

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Tkinter GUI Programming by Example

Back to the Command Line – Basic Blackjack

Blackjack is a casino game involving just a deck of cards. The aim of the game is to get as close as possible to a hand worth 21 points but go over and you're out!

Number cards are worth their face value, picture cards are worth 10, and an ace is worth either 1 or 11 depending on your other cards. Players are initially dealt two cards and can either choose to hit (receive another card) or stick (submit their current hand).

Players face off against the dealer, who has one card face down and one face up. When all players have chosen to stick or are out (having a hand over 21), the winner is the one with a hand closest to 21.

Why am I telling you about blackjack? Because we're going to make a blackjack game using Tkinter! Not only will this chapter introduce you to powerful widgets, such as the canvas and Frame...

Python's class system

A class can be thought of as a way of assigning a name to a set of specific functions and variables that are all associated with a common piece of an application.

The code for a class differs in two main ways from regular Python code.

Firstly, you will see the class keyword before the name of the class, followed by a colon and an indented scope. This is the syntax for telling Python that everything within this scope belongs to the class.

Secondly, all functions defined will have self as their first argument (unless they are static or class methods). This is automatically passed in via Python itself and so will cause calls to the function to appear to need one fewer argument than the definition.

The purpose of the self argument is to give each function (which, when in the scope of a class, is known as a method instead) access to the instance's other...

Blackjack's classes

We will begin by defining the classes which will be used in order to separate out different aspects of the game of blackjack. We will model three of the components of the game:

  • Card: A basic playing card. The card belongs to a suit and is worth a certain value.
  • Deck: A collection of cards. The deck shrinks as cards are drawn and contains 52 unique cards.
  • Hand: Each player's assigned cards. A hand is what defines each player's score and thus who wins.

Let's begin with the simplest concept—the Card.

The Card class

The Card class will be the first class we define, as both of our other classes will need to use it. Open up a new file and type the following code:

import random

class...

The Game class and main loop

We will define the game's main loop within the class __init__ method so that to begin playing, we simply need to create an instance of this class:

class Game:
def __init__(self):
playing = True

while playing:
self.deck = Deck()
self.deck.shuffle()

self.player_hand = Hand()
self.dealer_hand = Hand(dealer=True)

for i in range(2):
self.player_hand.add_card(self.deck.deal())
self.dealer_hand.add_card(self.deck.deal())

print("Your hand is:")
self.player_hand.display()
print()
print("Dealer's hand is:")
self.dealer_hand.display()

We start off our loop with a Boolean which will be used to track whether or not we are still playing the game.

If we are, we need a shuffled...

Command line versus GUI

Since we now have a working game, what is the motivation to continue with this project? Isn't the command-line interface good enough for a lot of games?

Let's briefly compare the suitability of command-line interfaces versus graphical interfaces for Python programs.

Interactivity

When creating a program which runs on the command line, there are essentially only two ways to get input from the user.

The first is by parsing command-line arguments. These are the extra information written on the same line when running an executable from the command line. For example: python3 -i blackjack.py. Here, we  have passed in a flag of -i telling the interpreter to end in interactive mode, and the filename...

Summary

In this chapter, we have gone over how to create and use classes in Python. We have seen that they allow for code reuse by defining methods, but these methods can have different outcomes depending on which attributes the particular instance of a class holds.

We have briefly looked at the concept of polymorphism and how easy it is to do using Python's dynamic typing.

Our basic command-line version of the blackjack game has been written and is fully playable. We are now prepared to take this up to the next level in the following chapter by utilizing some new Tkinter widgets.

The choice of interface options has been discussed so that we now know why learning a graphical framework such as Tkinter is a good idea to allow for familiarity and ease of use for our applications. This serves as our motivation for the next step with our game, so that we may make it interesting...

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Key benefits

  • The fundamentals of Python and GUI programming with Tkinter.
  • Create multiple cross-platform projects by integrating a host of third-party libraries and tools.
  • Build beautiful and highly-interactive user interfaces that target multiple devices.

Description

Tkinter is a modular, cross-platform application development toolkit for Python. When developing GUI-rich applications, the most important choices are which programming language(s) and which GUI framework to use. Python and Tkinter prove to be a great combination. This book will get you familiar with Tkinter by having you create fun and interactive projects. These projects have varying degrees of complexity. We'll start with a simple project, where you'll learn the fundamentals of GUI programming and the basics of working with a Tkinter application. After getting the basics right, we'll move on to creating a project of slightly increased complexity, such as a highly customizable Python editor. In the next project, we'll crank up the complexity level to create an instant messaging app. Toward the end, we'll discuss various ways of packaging our applications so that they can be shared and installed on other machines without the user having to learn how to install and run Python programs.

Who is this book for?

This book is for beginners to GUI programming who haven’t used Tkinter yet and are eager to start building great-looking and user-friendly GUIs. Prior knowledge of Python programming is expected.

What you will learn

  • Create a scrollable frame via theCanvas widget
  • Use the pack geometry manager andFrame widget to control layout
  • Learn to choose a data structurefor a game
  • Group Tkinter widgets, such asbuttons, canvases, and labels
  • Create a highly customizablePython editor
  • Design and lay out a chat window

Product Details

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Publication date : Apr 25, 2018
Length: 340 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781788627481
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Product Details

Publication date : Apr 25, 2018
Length: 340 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781788627481
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

12 Chapters
Meet Tkinter Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Back to the Command Line – Basic Blackjack Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Jack is Back in Style – the Blackjack GUI Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
The Finishing Touches – Sound and Animation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating a Highly Customizable Python Editor Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Color Me Impressed! – Adding Syntax Highlighting Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Not Just for Restaurants – All About Menus Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Talk Python to Me – a Chat Application Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Connecting – Getting Our Chat Client Online Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Making Friends – Finishing Our Chat Application Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Wrapping Up – Packaging Our Applications to Share Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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1 star 100%
Vince Jan 29, 2021
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
TROPPO DIFFICILE QUESTO LIBRO, SOLO LEGGENDOLO E RILEGGENDOLO PIU VOLTE ALLA FINE CI SI CAPISCE QUALCOSA. DA MOLTISSIME COSE PER SCONTATE, SICURAMENTE NON UNA GUIDA PER BEGGINERS. SECONDO ME RISULTA SCOMODO DA USARE ANCHE PER DEGLI ADVANCED.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Stefan Zee Oct 13, 2021
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Variablen ändern sich während des Ablaufs, so dass man eher Fehler such anstatt Dinge zu lernen.Komplett zusammenhängende Code erhält man erst gegen Registrierung auf einer weiteren Website. Schade.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Scifud Jan 22, 2019
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This book was just what I was looking for with well explained examples, but as a Kindle book the examples are nearly useless. This is because python requires strict adherence to indentation but the way the text of the examples is displayed with the Kindle reader on my iPad the indentation is ambiguous. I spent several frustrating hours trying to determine if the errors my IDE was giving were due to improper code or to indentation. I got the first example to work by correcting an indentation error however the second example (a continuation of the first) creates an error that does not make sense.Until the code examples are formatted in a way that makes sense on Kindle I can not recommend this book in that form.I have returned the Kindle edition and have purchased the paperback. I will update this review after I have had a chance to review it.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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