Python PySimpleGUI Tutorial 10: A Comprehensive Guide to Creating a File and Folder Browser

In this tutorial, we will be creating a file and folder browser using Python’s PySimpleGUI library. PySimpleGUI is a simple and easy-to-use Python GUI framework that is perfect for creating user interfaces for your Python programs.

To get started, you will need to install PySimpleGUI by running the following command in your terminal:

pip install PySimpleGUI

Once PySimpleGUI is installed, you can create a new Python script and import the necessary modules:

import PySimpleGUI as sg

Next, let’s create a layout for our file and folder browser. We will start by creating a menu with options to open a file and a folder:

layout = [
    [sg.Menu([['File', ['Open File', 'Open Folder', 'Exit']]])],
    [sg.Output(size=(60, 20))]
]

Now, let’s create an event loop for handling user input. We will define a function to open a file and another function to open a folder:

def open_file():
    filename = sg.popup_get_file('Open File')
    if filename:
        with open(filename, 'r') as file:
            print(file.read())

def open_folder():
    foldername = sg.popup_get_folder('Open Folder')
    if foldername:
        for file in os.listdir(foldername):
            print(file)

Next, we will define the main event loop where we will handle user input:

window = sg.Window('File and Folder Browser', layout)

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

    if event in (None, 'Exit'):
        break
    if event == 'Open File':
        open_file()
    if event == 'Open Folder':
        open_folder()

window.close()

In this event loop, we check for three events: closing the window, opening a file, or opening a folder. If the user selects ‘Exit’, the program will exit. If the user selects ‘Open File’, the open_file function will be called to open a file and display its content. If the user selects ‘Open Folder’, the open_folder function will be called to display the contents of the selected folder.

That’s it! You have now created a file and folder browser using PySimpleGUI. You can customize the layout and functionality to suit your needs. Feel free to explore more features of PySimpleGUI and create more complex user interfaces for your Python programs. Happy coding!