Developing Graphical User Interfaces in Python using PySimpleGUI

PySimpleGUI is a lightweight and easy-to-use Python library for creating graphical user interfaces (GUI) in a simple and straightforward manner. In this tutorial, I will guide you through the basics of PySimpleGUI and show you how to create your own GUI applications using this library.

Installation:

First, you need to install PySimpleGUI package using pip. Open your terminal and run the following command:

pip install PySimpleGUI

Creating a Simple GUI Window:

To create a simple GUI window using PySimpleGUI, you need to import the PySimpleGUI library and create a layout for the window. Here’s an example of a simple GUI window with a "Hello, World!" message:

import PySimpleGUI as sg

layout = [[sg.Text('Hello, World!')]]

window = sg.Window('My First GUI App', layout)

event, values = window.read()

window.close()

In this code snippet, we imported the PySimpleGUI library, created a layout with a Text element displaying "Hello, World!", created a window with the layout, and then read the events and values from the window before closing it.

Adding Elements to the GUI Window:

PySimpleGUI provides a variety of GUI elements that you can add to your window, such as Text, Input, Button, Checkbox, Radio, and Slider. Here’s an example of a GUI window with multiple elements:

import PySimpleGUI as sg

layout = [
    [sg.Text('Enter your name:'), sg.InputText()],
    [sg.Checkbox('Enable feature A'), sg.Checkbox('Enable feature B')],
    [sg.Radio('Option 1', 'radio_group', default=True), sg.Radio('Option 2', 'radio_group')],
    [sg.Slider(range=(1, 100), default_value=50, orientation='h')],
    [sg.Button('Submit'), sg.Button('Cancel')]
]

window = sg.Window('My GUI App With Elements', layout)

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

    if event == sg.WIN_CLOSED or event == 'Cancel':
        break

    if event == 'Submit':
        name = values[0]
        feature_a_enabled = values[1]
        feature_b_enabled = values[2]
        selected_option = values[3]
        slider_value = values[4]

        # Process the input values here

window.close()

In this code snippet, we added various GUI elements to the layout, such as InputText, Checkbox, Radio, Slider, and Button. We then handled the events and values from the window by checking for the event type and extracting the input values.

Customizing the GUI Window:

You can customize the appearance of the GUI window by setting the theme and adding elements like menus, images, and tabs. Here’s an example of a customized GUI window with a menu, image, and tabs:

import PySimpleGUI as sg

# Define the layout with menu, image, and tabs
layout = [
    [sg.Menu([['File', ['Open', 'Save', 'Exit']]]),
    [sg.Image(filename='logo.png')],
    [sg.TabGroup([[sg.Tab('Tab 1', [[sg.Text('This is Tab 1')]]),
                   sg.Tab('Tab 2', [[sg.Text('This is Tab 2')]])]])]
]

# Create the window with the layout
window = sg.Window('My Customized GUI App', layout)

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

    if event == sg.WIN_CLOSED or event == 'Exit':
        break

window.close()

In this code snippet, we added a menu to the window with File options, an image element displaying a logo, and tabs with two tabs displaying text content. You can customize the appearance of the GUI window further by changing the colors, fonts, and sizes of the elements.

Conclusion:

In this tutorial, we covered the basics of PySimpleGUI and showed you how to create GUI applications with Python using this library. PySimpleGUI makes it easy to create simple and interactive GUI windows with a variety of elements and customization options. You can explore more advanced features of PySimpleGUI by referring to the official documentation and examples. Happy coding!