Style Commands

To manipulate the appearance of a widget - changing its style - we use the class Style() and one or more of its commands. Using common style changes on several widgets we can produce a theme.

The table 01style_commands.csv has a summary of all the Style() commands,

Table 01style_commands.csv

Show/Hide Table 01style_commands.csv

Command	Effect
Style	class used to manipulate the style database
configure(style, query_opt=None, **kw)	query or set the default value of specified option(s)
element_create(_elementname,etype, *args, **kw)	creates a new element in the current theme
element_names()	lists elements defined in current theme
element_options(elementname)	lists the options of elementname
layout(style, layoutspec=None)	defines the widget layout for a given style
lookup(style,option,state=None,default=None)	returns value of value specified by option in style
map(style, query_opt=None, **kw)	query or set dynamic states
theme_create(themename, parent=None, settings=None)	create a new theme
theme_names()	lists all known themes
theme_settings(themename, settings)	temporarily sets the current theme to specified settings
theme_use(themename=None)	if themename is not given returns current theme - otherwise it sets the theme

Note

the variables quoted here are local variables, so style may be a reference to a widget class or cross-reference

Viewing Tables

Most tables have been created as csv tables and can be independantly viewed using a spreadsheet or loading into the ttk Treeview script 01view_csv.py (found in the examples directory), select the csv file from the dropdown list.

Buttons in tkinter and ttk

Warning

Image Quality

Some IDEs will not show the images created in tkinter / ttk at the same resolution or quality if you are using an ultra high definition monitor. Standard monitors should be the same no matter which IDE is used. If there is a difference run the Python script from the command line, Idle or use PyScripter.

Using buttons compare the two different types of widgets, use the script 01two_buttons.py - found in the examples directory. You should see 4 buttons, the upper two buttons are standard tkinter, whilst the lower two are ttk buttons.

Comparing Client Interaction on Buttons

Default ttk Buttons	Windows ttk Buttons

User Interaction

In order to fully appreciate the effects being discussed make sure to run the relevant script. Widgets are not wholly static so images alone cannot give the full flavour.

All four buttons are grey but the tkinter buttons are paler. Move the cursor over all four buttons. The two ttk buttons lighten but the tkinter buttons do not react. Click on all four buttons, all four appear to be depressed, but the two ttk buttons will have a broken line showing which one of the two buttons was last activated.

Show/Hide Video two_buttons

Buttons, in common with several other widgets, have what we call states, for example when a cursor passes over the widget its state changes to active, so we have just seen how the ttk button's state together with the theme used affects its appearance.

Script 01two_buttons.py

To view or hide the code just click on the arrow.

Show/Hide Code 01two_buttons.py

""" Comparing the Button widgets 

Compare different methods of running python.
"""
from tkinter.ttk import Style, Label
from tkinter import Tk
from tkinter import Button as origbutton
from tkinter.ttk import Button as tilebutton

root=Tk()
s = Style()
# using the ttk default scheme 
s.theme_use('default') 
Label(root,text='Move your mouse over each of the buttons below,\n \
      then left click on each of them').pack()
origbutton(root,text='original').pack()
origbutton(root,text='2nd original').pack()
tilebutton(root,text='ttk themed').pack()
tilebutton(root,text='2nd themed').pack()

root.mainloop()

If we had left out the line:

13 s.theme_use('default')

and we were running either a Windows or Mac system then we would have seen blue ttk buttons because both operating systems have their own OS specific themes.

By using a theme many ttk widgets react by default without any special input. This is in contrast to the original tkinter widgets which have to be individually programmed.