More concise way to configure tkinter option menu?

Question

I am a beginner in python, normally if i want to add option menu to my program, i would do something like this.

from Tkinter import*
root=Tk()

mylist=['a','b','c']
var=StringVar(root)
var.set("Select status")
mymenu=OptionMenu(root,var,*mylist)
mymenu.pack()
mymenu.config(font=('calibri',(10)),bg='white',width=12)
mymenu['menu'].config(font=('calibri',(10)),bg='white')

root.mainloop()

It works fine but i am wondering if there is any shorter way to achieve the same result as each option menu will take 7 lines of code. I have to create several option menu so i am looking for a proper and shorter way to do it.

EDIT: Someone pointed out to create function that will generate option menu. So i tried this,

from Tkinter import*

def Dropmenu(mylist,status):
    var=StringVar(root)
    var.set(status)
    mymenu=OptionMenu(root,var,*mylist)
    mymenu.pack(side=LEFT)
    mymenu.config(font=('calibri',(10)),bg='white',width=12)
    mymenu['menu'].config(font=('calibri',(10)),bg='white')

root=Tk()

Dropmenu(['a','b','c'],'Select')

root.mainloop()

But now, how do i address the "var" so that i can fetch all the values that user chose? According to my example, all the option menu will have the same "var" value, so i have no way to get the choices that user made for different option menu.

To make things more clear,let's say if i have 2 option menu

Dropmenu(['a','b','c'],'Select')
Dropmenu(['c','d','e'],'Select')

If i use

myvalue=var.get()

Since both option menus have the same var name, how do i fetch the both values?

Any time you have a repeated task, your first thought should be "Can I define a function to simplify this?" — mgilson, Jun 12 '13 at 01:11

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 12 '13 at 01:32

If you are going to create several menus with the same configuration, I would subclass OptionMenu instead of defining a function:

from Tkinter import*

class MyOptionMenu(OptionMenu):
    def __init__(self, master, status, *options):
        self.var = StringVar(master)
        self.var.set(status)
        OptionMenu.__init__(self, master, self.var, *options)
        self.config(font=('calibri',(10)),bg='white',width=12)
        self['menu'].config(font=('calibri',(10)),bg='white')

root = Tk()
mymenu1 = MyOptionMenu(root, 'Select status', 'a','b','c')
mymenu2 = MyOptionMenu(root, 'Select another status', 'd','e','f')
mymenu1.pack()
mymenu2.pack()
root.mainloop()

In my example, I have supposed the only thing that is going to change is the options, but if each instance has its own background color or font, then you only have to add it as an argument to the __init__ method.

managed to get the different var values by "(mymenu1.var).get()/(mymenu2.var).get()" Thanks alot for your help — Chris Aung, Jun 12 '13 at 01:48
Hi, any idea on how to make the _options_ into a e.g. a list? Instead of just writing them explicitly out? @A.Rodas — gussilago, Apr 24 '14 at 07:28
@A. Rodas Is it possible to have the _options_ input as a list, instead of having them given separatly? — gussilago, Apr 24 '14 at 07:37

More concise way to configure tkinter option menu?

1 Answers1