Tips for PySimpleGUI: Utilizing Combo Boxes, Making Them Editable, and Saving Data

In this tutorial, we will explore how to use PySimpleGUI to create a combo box with editable features, and how to save the selected items for future use.

PySimpleGUI is a simple yet powerful GUI framework for Python that allows you to easily create and customize GUI windows for your applications. With PySimpleGUI, you can create various types of input elements such as buttons, sliders, text boxes, and combo boxes with ease.

To get started with PySimpleGUI, you first need to install the package using pip:

pip install PySimpleGUI

Once installed, you can begin creating your GUI windows. To create a simple combo box with editable features, you can use the sg.Combo element provided by PySimpleGUI. Here’s an example code snippet that demonstrates how to create a basic combo box:

import PySimpleGUI as sg

layout = [
    [sg.Text('Select an item:')],
    [sg.Combo(['Item 1', 'Item 2', 'Item 3'], size=(20, 1), enable_events=True, key='-COMBO-')],
    [sg.Button('Save')]
]

window = sg.Window('Combo Box Tutorial', layout)

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

    if event == sg.WIN_CLOSED:
        break

In this code snippet, we have created a simple GUI window with a combo box that lists three items: ‘Item 1’, ‘Item 2’, and ‘Item 3’. The user can select an item from the combo box, and we have added a ‘Save’ button to save the selected item.

To make the combo box editable, you can set the readonly parameter to False when creating the combo box. This allows the user to type in their own input in addition to selecting from the predefined items:

[sg.Combo(['Item 1', 'Item 2', 'Item 3'], size=(20, 1), enable_events=True, key='-COMBO-', readonly=False)],

Now, when the user clicks on the combo box, they can type in their own input in addition to selecting from the predefined items.

To save the selected item for future use, you can add a callback function for the ‘Save’ button. In the callback function, you can access the selected item from the combo box and save it to a file or variable. Here’s an updated code snippet with a save function:

def save_item(item):
    with open('selected_item.txt', 'w') as f:
        f.write(item)

...

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

    if event == sg.WIN_CLOSED:
        break
    elif event == 'Save':
        selected_item = values['-COMBO-']
        save_item(selected_item)

In this code snippet, we have defined a save_item function that takes the selected item as input and saves it to a file called ‘selected_item.txt’. We then call this function when the ‘Save’ button is clicked and pass the selected item from the combo box.

By following these steps, you can create a combo box with editable features in PySimpleGUI and save the selected items for future use. This tutorial covers the basics of working with combo boxes in PySimpleGUI and demonstrates how to add editable features and save functionality to your GUI applications.