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I have a python-tkinter gui app that I've been trying to find some way to add in some functionality. I was hoping there would be a way to right-click on an item in the app's listbox area and bring up a context menu. Is tkinter able to accomplish this? Would I be better off looking into gtk or some other gui-toolkit?

martineau
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tijko
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4 Answers4

51

You would create a Menu instance and write a function that calls
its post() or tk_popup() method.

The tkinter documentation doesn't currently have any information about tk_popup().
Read the Tk documentation for a description, or the source:

library/menu.tcl in the Tcl/Tk source:

::tk_popup --
This procedure pops up a menu and sets things up for traversing
the menu and its submenus.

Arguments:
menu  - Name of the menu to be popped up.
x, y  - Root coordinates at which to pop up the menu.  
entry - Index of a menu entry to center over (x,y).  
        If omitted or specified as {}, then menu's  
        upper-left corner goes at (x,y).

tkinter/__init__.py in the Python source:

def tk_popup(self, x, y, entry=""):
    """Post the menu at position X,Y with entry ENTRY."""
    self.tk.call('tk_popup', self._w, x, y, entry)

You associate your context menu invoking function with right-click via:
the_widget_clicked_on.bind("<Button-3>", your_function).

However, the number associated with right-click is not the same on every platform.

library/tk.tcl in the Tcl/Tk source:

On Darwin/Aqua, buttons from left to right are 1,3,2.  
On Darwin/X11 with recent XQuartz as the X server, they are 1,2,3; 
other X servers may differ.

Here is an example I wrote that adds a context menu to a Listbox:

import tkinter # Tkinter -> tkinter in Python 3

class FancyListbox(tkinter.Listbox):

    def __init__(self, parent, *args, **kwargs):
        tkinter.Listbox.__init__(self, parent, *args, **kwargs)

        self.popup_menu = tkinter.Menu(self, tearoff=0)
        self.popup_menu.add_command(label="Delete",
                                    command=self.delete_selected)
        self.popup_menu.add_command(label="Select All",
                                    command=self.select_all)

        self.bind("<Button-3>", self.popup) # Button-2 on Aqua

    def popup(self, event):
        try:
            self.popup_menu.tk_popup(event.x_root, event.y_root, 0)
        finally:
            self.popup_menu.grab_release()

    def delete_selected(self):
        for i in self.curselection()[::-1]:
            self.delete(i)

    def select_all(self):
        self.selection_set(0, 'end')


root = tkinter.Tk()
flb = FancyListbox(root, selectmode='multiple')
for n in range(10):
    flb.insert('end', n)
flb.pack()
root.mainloop()

The use of grab_release() was observed in an example on effbot.
Its effect might not be the same on all systems.

Honest Abe
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  • thanks this was real helpful! I had to do something odd/different to get the popup menu to appear though. I ended up binding to the `Tk`. – tijko Aug 18 '12 at 02:34
  • @tijko You can use the [New Mexico Tech Reference](http://infohost.nmt.edu/tcc/help/pubs/tkinter/events.html#binding-levels) as an additional source of information. – Honest Abe Aug 18 '12 at 03:37
  • I've come across this link while learning about Tkinter a few times and it has some good tutorials on there too. I'm starting to re-think how I'm going about this. I was thinking at first if I were to make a context menu on right click in Tkinter I could use some sort of copy and paste function that would carry over to my system and a browser/notepad whatever. – tijko Aug 18 '12 at 03:43
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    On Ubuntu 16.10 running Python 3.5.2, tkinter 8.6 the statement self.aMenu.post(event.x_root, event.y_root) leaves the menu open if the user does not choose a menu item. I found that replacing it with self.aMenu.tk_popup(event.x_root, event.y_root) solves the problem: pressing ESC or clicking somewhere else automatically removes it as expected. – Alberto Vassena Nov 28 '16 at 17:46
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    The effect of the `grab_release` for me (Ubuntu, Python 3.6.8, tkinter 8.6) was exactly what I did **not** want: It made the popup menu stay open even after I clicked somewhere else. It took me some time to find out that this was the cause. Hopefully this comment will save someone else the time :) – PhoemueX Oct 17 '19 at 07:48
7

I made some changes to the conext menu code above in order to adjust my demand and I think it would be useful to share:

Version 1:

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk

class Main(tk.Frame):
    def __init__(self, master):
        tk.Frame.__init__(self, master)
        master.geometry('500x350')
        self.master = master
        self.tree = ttk.Treeview(self.master, height=15)
        self.tree.pack(fill='x')
        self.btn = tk.Button(master, text='click', command=self.clickbtn)
        self.btn.pack()
        self.aMenu = tk.Menu(master, tearoff=0)
        self.aMenu.add_command(label='Delete', command=self.delete)
        self.aMenu.add_command(label='Say Hello', command=self.hello)
        self.num = 0

        # attach popup to treeview widget
        self.tree.bind("<Button-3>", self.popup)

    def clickbtn(self):
        text = 'Hello ' + str(self.num)
        self.tree.insert('', 'end', text=text)
        self.num += 1

    def delete(self):
        print(self.tree.focus())
        if self.iid:
            self.tree.delete(self.iid)

    def hello(self):
        print ('hello!')

    def popup(self, event):
        self.iid = self.tree.identify_row(event.y)
        if self.iid:
            # mouse pointer over item
            self.tree.selection_set(self.iid)
            self.aMenu.post(event.x_root, event.y_root)            
        else:
            pass

root = tk.Tk()
app=Main(root)
root.mainloop()

Version 2:

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk

class Main(tk.Frame):
    def __init__(self, master):
        master.geometry('500x350')
        self.master = master
        tk.Frame.__init__(self, master)
        self.tree = ttk.Treeview(self.master, height=15)
        self.tree.pack(fill='x')
        self.btn = tk.Button(master, text='click', command=self.clickbtn)
        self.btn.pack()
        self.rclick = RightClick(self.master)
        self.num = 0

        # attach popup to treeview widget
        self.tree.bind('<Button-3>', self.rclick.popup)
    def clickbtn(self):
        text = 'Hello ' + str(self.num)
        self.tree.insert('', 'end', text=text)
        self.num += 1

class RightClick:
    def __init__(self, master):
       
        # create a popup menu
        self.aMenu = tk.Menu(master, tearoff=0)
        self.aMenu.add_command(label='Delete', command=self.delete)
        self.aMenu.add_command(label='Say Hello', command=self.hello)

        self.tree_item = ''

    def delete(self):
        if self.tree_item:
            app.tree.delete(self.tree_item)

    def hello(self):
        print ('hello!')

    def popup(self, event):
        self.aMenu.post(event.x_root, event.y_root)
        self.tree_item = app.tree.focus()

root = tk.Tk()
app=Main(root)
root.mainloop()
Community
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bzimor
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2
from tkinter import *
root=Tk()
root.geometry("500x400+200+100")

class Menu_Entry(Entry):
    def __init__(self,perant,*args,**kwargs):
        Entry.__init__(self,perant,*args,**kwargs)
        self.popup_menu=Menu(self,tearoff=0,background='#1c1b1a',fg='white',
                                     activebackground='#534c5c',
                             activeforeground='Yellow')
        self.popup_menu.add_command(label="Cut                     ",command=self.Cut,
                                    accelerator='Ctrl+V')
        self.popup_menu.add_command(label="Copy                    ",command=self.Copy,compound=LEFT,
                                    accelerator='Ctrl+C')
    
        self.popup_menu.add_command(label="Paste                   ",command=self.Paste,accelerator='Ctrl+V')
        self.popup_menu.add_separator()
        self.popup_menu.add_command(label="Select all",command=self.select_all,accelerator="Ctrl+A")
        self.popup_menu.add_command(label="Delete",command=self.delete_only,accelerator=" Delete")
        self.popup_menu.add_command(label="Delete all",command=self.delete_selected,accelerator="Ctrl+D")
        self.bind('<Button-3>',self.popup)
        self.bind("<Control-d>",self.delete_selected_with_e1)
        self.bind('<App>',self.popup)
        self.context_menu = Menu(self, tearoff=0)
        self.context_menu.add_command(label="Cut")
        self.context_menu.add_command(label="Copy")
        self.context_menu.add_command(label="Paste")
         
    def popup(self, event):
      try:
        self.popup_menu.tk_popup(event.x_root, event.y_root, 0)
      finally:
        self.popup_menu.grab_release()

    def Copy(self):
      self.event_generate('<<Copy>>')

    def Paste(self):
      self.event_generate('<<Paste>>')

    def Cut(self):
      self.event_generate('<<Cut>>')

    def delete_selected_with_e1(self,event):
      self.select_range(0, END)
      self.focus()
      self.event_generate("<Delete>")

    def delete_selected(self):
      self.select_range(0, END)
      self.focus()
      self.event_generate("<Delete>")

    def delete_only(self):
      self.event_generate("<BackSpace>")

    def select_all(self):
      self.select_range(0, END)
      self.focus()



ent=Menu_Entry(root)
ent.pack()


root.mainloop()
Xander L
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Omar Fithy Desoky
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  • Works like a charm if `self.bind('',self.popup)` is removed as this results into a TclError – Leo Oct 18 '22 at 15:15
2

Important Caveat:

(Assuming the event argument that contains the coordinates is called "event"): Nothing will happen or be visible when you call tk_popup(...) unless you use "event.x_root" and "event.y_root" as arguments. If you do the obvious of using "event.x" and "event.y", it won't work, even though the names of the coordinates are "x" and "y" and there is no mention of "x_root" and "y_root" anywhere within it.

As for the grab_release(..), it's not necessary, anywhere. "tearoff=0" also isn't necessary, setting it to 1 (which is default), simply adds a dotted line entry to the context menu. If you click on it, it detaches the context menu and makes it its own top-level window with window decorators. tearoff=0 will hide this entry. Moreover, it doesn't matter if you set the menu's master to any specific widget or root, or anything at all.

mo FEAR
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