Htykuut

New to python and getting a lot of great information from this website.

I'm creating a chart with .grid() and then again with frames in .pack() as an exercise and seeing if I can get identical results.

The function showchart_grid() works and produces pretty much what I want to create. It's a chart where the bottom row is 14 squares, and the top row is labels for those squares, and sometimes the column labels span 2 squares. You can see this accounted for in the columnspan= attribute. There is some weird whitespace between the column labels in row 0 but other than that it all lines up.

def showchart_grid():

    root = Tk()



    # create 14 squares on the grid



    for i in range(1, 15):



        spot = Label(root, text='square', bg='white', height=5, width=10, borderwidth=1, relief='solid', justify=CENTER)

        spot.grid(row=1, column=i)



    # create the column labels on top of the grid in row one



    label0 = Label(root, text=0, bg="DodgerBlue", fg="white", height=2, width=10, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label0.grid(row=0, column=1)

    label1 = Label(root, text=1, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label1.grid(row=0, column=2, columnspan=2)

    label2 = Label(root, text=2, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label2.grid(row=0, column=4, columnspan=2)

    label4 = Label(root, text=4, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label4.grid(row=0, column=6, columnspan=2)

    label6 = Label(root, text=6, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label6.grid(row=0, column=8, columnspan=2)

    label8 = Label(root, text=8, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label8.grid(row=0, column=10, columnspan=2)

    label11 = Label(root, text=11, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label11.grid(row=0, column=12, columnspan=2)

    label15 = Label(root, text=15, bg="CadetBlue1", height=2, width=10, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label15.grid(row=0, column=14)



    mainloop()

Now, when I attempt to do the same thing by creating a frame for the column labels and a frame for the squares, the positions don't match up anymore even though the sizes are the same. It's as if the column labels aren't filling up the whole frame. I've messed with fill= and expand= but haven't been able to figure out exactly how. Note: the weird whitespace problem between the column labels is solved in this version.

def showchart_framespack_test():

    root = Tk()



    # define my frames



    pointsframe = Frame(root, width=140)

    pointsframe.pack(side=TOP)



    playerframe = Frame(root, width=140)

    playerframe.pack(side=TOP)



    # create bottom row of squares with pack



    for i in range(1, 15):



        spot = Label(playerframe, text='empty', bg='white', height=5, width=10, borderwidth=1, relief='solid', justify=CENTER)

        spot.pack(side=LEFT)



    # create top row of labels with pack



    label0 = Label(pointsframe, text=0, bg="DodgerBlue", fg="white", height=2, width=10, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label0.pack(side=LEFT)

    label1 = Label(pointsframe, text=1, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label1.pack(side=LEFT)

    label2 = Label(pointsframe, text=2, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label2.pack(side=LEFT)

    label4 = Label(pointsframe, text=4, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label4.pack(side=LEFT)

    label6 = Label(pointsframe, text=6, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label6.pack(side=LEFT)

    label8 = Label(pointsframe, text=8, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label8.pack(side=LEFT)

    label11 = Label(pointsframe, text=11, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, width=20, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label11.pack(side=LEFT)

    label15 = Label(pointsframe, text=15, bg="CadetBlue1", height=2, width=10, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label15.pack(side=LEFT)







mainloop()

How can I improve the programming here to get my desired result of 14 squares on the bottom, with the labels on top that each line up perfectly with the borders of the 14 squares on the bottom row?

PS these are functions because they will take inputs and adjust the chart as such, but for now I just left it as "empty" all the way across.

Fundamentally, the grid is a two-dimensional layout. If two items are assigned to the same column, they line up vertically.

On the other hand, pack is a one-dimensional layout that positions elements relative to others.

In your second example, you're creating two horizontal lists of elements that are independent of each other. Both have the same number of items, but elements will not line up because "columns" are calculated individually for both frames.

If you can live without cells spanning multiple columns, you could make your columns line up by creating 15 frames that each contain a label and a square and put them next to each other using pack.

Other than that, your use-case really is what the grid layout has been designed for. I'm using grid for everything because in my opinion it's more flexible and easier to reason about.

Does this answer your question?

EDIT:

You can get rid of the gaps if you use the sticky="WE" option instead of manually specifying the width of each label. This will make it span left and right. Modified code:

from tkinter import *



def showchart_grid():

    root = Tk()



    # create 14 squares on the grid



    for i in range(1, 15):



        spot = Label(root, text='square', bg='white', height=5, width=10, borderwidth=1, relief='solid', justify=CENTER)

        spot.grid(row=1, column=i)



    # create the column labels on top of the grid in row one



    label0 = Label(root, text=0, bg="DodgerBlue", fg="white", height=2, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label0.grid(row=0, column=1, sticky="WE")

    label1 = Label(root, text=1, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label1.grid(row=0, column=2, sticky="WE", columnspan=2)

    label2 = Label(root, text=2, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label2.grid(row=0, column=4, sticky="WE", columnspan=2)

    label4 = Label(root, text=4, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label4.grid(row=0, column=6, sticky="WE", columnspan=2)

    label6 = Label(root, text=6, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label6.grid(row=0, column=8, sticky="WE", columnspan=2)

    label8 = Label(root, text=8, bg='CadetBlue1', height=2, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label8.grid(row=0, column=10, sticky="WE", columnspan=2)

    label11 = Label(root, text=11, bg='DodgerBlue', height=2, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label11.grid(row=0, column=12, sticky="WE", columnspan=2)

    label15 = Label(root, text=15, bg="CadetBlue1", height=2, borderwidth=1, relief='solid')

    label15.grid(row=0, column=14, sticky="WE")



    mainloop()





if __name__ == '__main__':

    showchart_grid()