Searching for a ComboBox for Tkinter?

[Harlin Seritt]

I've created a ghetto-ized ComboBox that should work nicely for Tkinter
(unfortunately no dropdown capabilities yet).

I've found why it's such a pain in the @ss to create one. You have to
re-create common methods and make sure they're mapped to the right
component (inside this widget are frame, entry, listbox, and scrollbar
widgets). I tried to look for ways I could inherit some methods from
other widgets but couldn't think of how to do it in an efficient way.

If anyone has suggestions to improve it, please respond... Remember...
I'm a traditional c/c++ turned python programmer who forgets that there
usually is a better, faster more graceful way to do things with Python
than with C/C++/Java.

Cheers,

Harlin

############### ############### ############### ############### ##########
# Seritt Extensions:
# Date: 02262005
# Class ComboBox
# Add this section to your Tkinter.py file in 'PYTHONPATH/Lib/lib-tk/'
# Options: width, border, background, foreground, fg, bg, font
# , relief, cursor, exportselection , selectbackgroun ,
selectforegroun d, height
#
# Methods: activate(int index) => int, curselection() => int,
delete(item=["ALL" or int], start=int, end=["END" or
# int],
# focus_set()/focus(), get()=>selected string in box, pack(padx=int,
pady=int, fill(X, Y, BOTH), expand=bool, # side=LEFT,
# RIGHT, TOP, BOTTOM, CENTER
#

class ComboBox:
ITEMS = range(0)

def activate(self, index):
self.listbox.ac tivate(index)

def curselection(se lf):
return map(int, self.listbox.cu rselection())[0]

def delete(self, item=None, start=None, end=None):
if item=='ALL':
self.listbox.de lete(0, END)
elif start == None and end == None:
self.listbox.de lete(item)
else:
self.listbox.de lete(start, end)

def get_focus(self) :
self.entry.get_ focus()

def focus(self):
self.entry.get_ focus()

def get(self):
return self.entry.get( )

def pack(self, padx=None, pady=None, fill=None, expand=None,
side=None):
self.frame.pack (padx=padx
, pady=pady
, fill=fill
, expand=expand
, side=side)

def size(self):
return self.listbox.si ze()

def insert(self, START, ITEM):
self.ITEMS.appe nd(ITEM)
self.listbox.in sert(START, ITEM)
self.listbox.se lect_set(0)
self.entry.dele te(0, END)
self.entry.inse rt(0, self.listbox.ge t(self.listbox. curselection()) )

def change_entry(se lf, event):
def i(event):
try:
self.entry.dele te(0, END)
self.entry.inse rt(0, self.listbox.ge t(self.listbox. curselection()) )
except:
pass
self.listbox.bi nd("<ButtonRele ase-1>", i)

def __init__(self, parent, width=None, border=1, background=None ,
foreground=None , fg=None, bg=None, font=None
, relief=None, cursor=None, exportselection =None,
selectbackgroun =None, selectforegroun d=None, height=None):
self.frame = Frame(parent)
self.entry = Entry(self.fram e
, width=None
, border=border
, background=back ground
, foreground=fore ground
, fg=fg
, bg=bg
, font=font
, relief=relief
, cursor=cursor
, exportselection =exportselectio n
, selectbackgroun =selectbackgrou n
, selectforegroun d=selectforegro und
, height=height)
self.entry.pack (fill=X)
self.scroll = Scrollbar(self. frame)
self.scroll.pac k(side=RIGHT, fill=Y)
self.listbox = Listbox(self.fr ame
, yscrollcommand= self.scroll.set
, width=None
, border=border
, background=back ground
, foreground=fore ground
, fg=fg
, bg=bg
, font=font
, relief=relief
, cursor=cursor
, exportselection =exportselectio n
, selectbackgroun =selectbackgrou n
, selectforegroun d=selectforegro und
, height=height)
self.listbox.pa ck(fill=X)
self.scroll.con fig(command=sel f.listbox.yview )
self.listbox.bi nd("<ButtonPres s-1>", self.change_ent ry)

[Harlin Seritt]

Or if you prefer you can download it here:
http://www.seritt.org/pub/tkinter/Tkinter-03132005.py

Replace your Tkinter.py with this one. Make sure you back up your old
one in case you decide mine sucks.

Thanks,

Harlin

[Harlin Seritt]

Thanks nirinA... I've played with that one before. I'm not a big fan of
Pmw or Tix so much I guess although when it gets down to it, those
'extra' toolkits are probably more functional.

Cheers,

Harlin

[Harlin Seritt]

ahh Frame! I didn't even think of extending Frame. I kept wondering how
I could instead extend entry and listbox... thanks for the pointer.
Yeah I know there are others out there, I just wanted to create one
from tkinter widgets and keep the constructor as close to other tkinter
widgets as possible. I notice that when you use Pmw you have different
option names and methods that are a bit inconsistent (not too hard to
remember though--it's not a criticism of Pmw or Tix). I am very
narrow-minded. :-)

As far as the other lists/wiki, I will be looking at them.

Thanks,

Harlin