Sort Search Option Integrated File Manager for Kivy and KivyMD GUI in Python

In this tutorial, we will build a File Manager application using Kivy and KivyMD with a sorting and searching option. This application will allow users to browse, sort, and search through files on their computer.

To get started, make sure you have Kivy and KivyMD installed. You can install them using pip by running the following commands:

pip install kivy
pip install kivymd

Once you have Kivy and KivyMD installed, create a new Python file and import the necessary modules:

from kivy.app import App
from kivy.uix.boxlayout import BoxLayout
from kivy.uix.screenmanager import ScreenManager, Screen
from kivy.uix.button import Button
from kivy.uix.textinput import TextInput
from kivy.uix.recycleview import RecycleView
from kivy.uix.recycleview.views import RecycleDataViewBehavior
from kivy.uix.recycleview.layout import LayoutSelectionBehavior
from kivy.uix.recycleboxlayout import RecycleBoxLayout
from kivymd.app import MDApp

Next, create a class for the File Manager application that extends the App class:

class FileManagerApp(App):
    def build(self):
        return FileManager()

Now, let’s create a class for the main File Manager interface that extends the BoxLayout class. This class will contain a search bar, a sort button, and a list of files displayed in a RecycleView:

class FileManager(BoxLayout):
    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        super(FileManager, self).__init__(**kwargs)

        self.search_bar = TextInput(hint_text='Search', multiline=False, size_hint=(1, None), height=40)
        self.sort_button = Button(text='Sort', size_hint=(1, None), height=40)

        self.file_list = RecycleView()
        self.file_list.data = [{'text': f'File {i}'} for i in range(100)]
        self.file_list.viewclass = 'SelectableButton'
        self.file_list.layout_manager = RecycleBoxLayout()

        self.add_widget(self.search_bar)
        self.add_widget(self.sort_button)
        self.add_widget(self.file_list)

Next, let’s create a class for the selectable button that will be used to display files in the RecycleView. This class will extend the Button class and implement the necessary behavior for selecting files:

class SelectableButton(RecycleDataViewBehavior, Button):
    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        super(SelectableButton, self).__init__(**kwargs)
        self.selected = False

    def refresh_view_attrs(self, rv, index, data):
        self.index = index
        return super(SelectableButton, self).refresh_view_attrs(rv, index, data)

    def on_touch_down(self, touch):
        if self.collide_point(*touch.pos):
            return self.parent.select_with_touch(self.index, touch)
        return super(SelectableButton, self).on_touch_down(touch)

Now, let’s create a class for the File Manager application that initializes the main interface and adds the selectable button class to the RecycleView:

class FileManagerApp(MDApp):
    def build(self):
        return FileManager()

    def on_start(self):
        self.root.file_list.viewclass = 'SelectableButton'

Finally, run the File Manager application by creating an instance of the FileManagerApp class and calling its run() method:

if __name__ == '__main__':
    FileManagerApp().run()

That’s it! You now have a File Manager application with a sorting and searching option built using Kivy and KivyMD. Feel free to customize the interface and add more functionality to suit your needs.