Adding a GUI “Front End” to Any Command Line Program with PySimpleGUI 2020 – Part 2

In this tutorial, we will continue exploring PySimpleGUI 2020 by discussing how to add a GUI "Front End" to any command line program. By doing so, you can enhance the user experience of your command line application and make it more user-friendly.

To get started, make sure you have PySimpleGUI 2020 installed. If not, you can install it using pip:

pip install PySimpleGUI

Now, let’s dive into the steps to add a GUI front end to a command line program:

Step 1: Import PySimpleGUI

The first step is to import the necessary modules from PySimpleGUI. In your Python script, add the following line:

import PySimpleGUI as sg

Step 2: Define the layout of your GUI

Next, you need to define the layout of your GUI. This will include specifying the different elements such as buttons, text inputs, labels, etc. that will make up your front end. Here’s an example layout for a simple front end:

layout = [
    [sg.Text('Enter your name:')],
    [sg.InputText(key='-NAME-')],
    [sg.Button('Submit')]
]

Step 3: Create a window and bind the layout to it

After defining the layout, you need to create a new window using the sg.Window class and bind the layout to it. Here’s how you can do that:

window = sg.Window('My Command Line Application', layout)

Step 4: Read events and values from the window

Now, you need to create a loop to read events and values from the window. This will allow your GUI to interact with the user. Here’s an example loop that captures the user’s input and triggers an action when the "Submit" button is clicked:

while True:
    event, values = window.read()

    if event == sg.WIN_CLOSED:
        break
    if event == 'Submit':
        name = values['-NAME-']
        print(f'Hello, {name}!')

Step 5: Close the window

Finally, don’t forget to close the window after the loop is completed:

window.close()

That’s it! You have successfully added a GUI front end to your command line program using PySimpleGUI 2020. Feel free to customize the layout and functionality of your GUI to suit your specific needs.

As you can see, PySimpleGUI makes it easy to create interactive front ends for your command line applications. With just a few lines of code, you can significantly improve the user experience of your program. So go ahead and give it a try!