Tutorial #78: Creating Progress Bars in Tkinter Using Python

In this tutorial, we will be creating progress bars using the Tkinter library in Python. Progress bars are a great way to visually represent the progress of a task and can add a professional touch to your GUI applications.

To get started, make sure you have Tkinter installed on your system. Tkinter comes pre-installed with Python, so no additional installation should be needed. If you don’t have Tkinter installed, you can install it using the command pip install tk.

Let’s start by importing the necessary modules:

from tkinter import *
from tkinter.ttk import *

Next, let’s create a basic Tkinter window with a progress bar:

root = Tk()
root.title("Progress Bar Tutorial")

progress = Progressbar(root, orient = HORIZONTAL, length = 300, mode = 'determinate')
progress.pack(pady = 10)

In the code above, we create a Tkinter window and a progress bar widget. The orient parameter specifies the orientation of the progress bar (horizontal in this case), the length parameter specifies the length of the progress bar, and the mode parameter specifies how the progress bar should behave (determinate in this case, meaning it will show a specific amount of progress).

Next, let’s create a function that will update the progress bar:

def update_progress():
    progress['value'] += 10
    if progress['value'] < 100:
        root.after(500, update_progress)

In the update_progress function, we increase the value of the progress bar by 10 (you can adjust this value based on your requirements) and schedule the function to be called again after 500 milliseconds. This creates an animation effect where the progress bar gradually fills up until it reaches 100%.

Finally, let’s bind the update_progress function to a button so that the progress bar starts updating when the button is clicked:

btn = Button(root, text = "Start Progress", command = update_progress)
btn.pack(pady = 10)

Now, when you run the code and click the "Start Progress" button, you should see the progress bar filling up gradually until it reaches 100%.

You can customize the progress bar further by changing its colors, font, and other properties. Check the Tkinter documentation for more options and functionalities.

That’s it for this tutorial! You have now successfully created a progress bar with Tkinter in Python. Experiment with different settings and functionalities to create the perfect progress bar for your GUI applications.