Tkinter 8.5 reference: a GUI for Python |  |
Tkinter 8.5 reference: a GUI for Python | |
Starting with Tk 8.5, the ttk module became available. This module replaces much (but not all) of the original Tkinter machinery. Use this module to gain these advantages:
Platform-specific appearance. In releases before Tk 8.5, one of the commonest complaints about Tk applications was that they did not conform to the style of the various platforms.
The ttk module allows you to write your application in a generic way, yet your application can look like a Windows application under Windows, like a MacOS app under MacOS, and so on, without any change to your program.
Each possible different appearance is represented by a named
ttk theme. For example, the
classic theme gives you the appearance of the
original Tkinter widgets described in the previous sections.
Simplification and generalization of state-specific widget behavior. In the basic Tkinter world, there are a lot of widget options that specify how the widget should look or behave depending on various conditions.
For example, the tk.Button widget has several
different options that control the foreground (text) color.
The activeforeground color option applies
when the cursor is over the button.
The disabledforeground color is used when
the widget is disabled.
The widget will have the foreground
color when the other conditions don't apply.
The ttk module collapses a lot of these special cases into a simple two-part system:
Every widget has a number of different states, and each
state can be turned on or off independently of the
others. Examples of states are: disabled, active, and focus.
You can set up a style map that specifies that certain options will be set to certain values depending on some state or some combination of the widget's states.
To use ttk, you will need to know these things.
Section 28.1, “Importing ttk”: Setting up your program to use ttk.
Section 28.2, “The ttk widget set”: The new and replaced ttk widgets.
Section 47, “Customizing and creating ttk themes and styles”.