Step by Step Tutorial for Beginners: Building a GUI App using Tkinter and SQLite with Python

In this tutorial, we will walk through how to create a GUI app using Tkinter and SQLite in Python. Tkinter is the standard GUI toolkit for Python and SQLite is a lightweight, embedded database that is perfect for small applications. By combining these two tools, we can create a powerful and user-friendly application that stores data in a database.

Step 1: Install Tkinter and SQLite
Before we can start building our GUI app, we need to make sure that we have Tkinter and SQLite installed. Tkinter comes pre-installed with Python, so you should have it already. To install SQLite, you can use pip by running the following command in your terminal:

pip install sqlite3

Step 2: Set up the GUI Interface
Now that we have the necessary tools installed, let’s start by setting up the GUI interface for our application. Create a new Python file and import the necessary libraries:

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import messagebox
import sqlite3

Next, let’s create a root window and add some basic elements to our interface:

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Simple SQLite App")

label = tk.Label(root, text="Enter your data:")
label.pack()

entry = tk.Entry(root)
entry.pack()

button = tk.Button(root, text="Save", command=save_data)
button.pack()

root.mainloop()

Step 3: Connect to the SQLite Database
Now that we have set up the GUI interface, let’s create a connection to our SQLite database. We will create a new database file called "data.db" and a table called "users" with two columns, "id" and "data":

conn = sqlite3.connect('data.db')
c = conn.cursor()
c.execute('''CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, data TEXT)''')

Step 4: Define Functions to Save and Retrieve Data
Next, let’s define the function that will save the data entered by the user into the SQLite database:

def save_data():
    data = entry.get()
    if data:
        c.execute("INSERT INTO users (data) VALUES (?)", (data,))
        conn.commit()
        messagebox.showinfo("Success", "Data saved successfully!")
    else:
        messagebox.showerror("Error", "Please enter some data.")

We also need a function to retrieve the data from the database and display it in a messagebox:

def show_data():
    c.execute("SELECT * FROM users")
    data = c.fetchall()
    if data:
        messagebox.showinfo("Data", data)
    else:
        messagebox.showinfo("Info", "No data found.")

Step 5: Add a Button to Retrieve Data
Finally, let’s add a button to our GUI interface that will trigger the show_data function to retrieve and display the data from the SQLite database:

show_button = tk.Button(root, text="Show Data", command=show_data)
show_button.pack()

Step 6: Run the Application
Now that we have completed all the steps, save your file and run the application by executing the Python script. You should see a simple GUI interface with an entry field to save data, a button to save the data to the database, and a button to retrieve and display the data stored in the database.

That’s it! You have successfully created a GUI application using Tkinter and SQLite in Python. With this basic example, you can now expand and customize your application to suit your needs and add more advanced features. Happy coding!