Check state of button in tkinter

Question

On a tkinter GUI I want to print different messages on a canvas depending on the state of a button I hover over. If the button itself is DISABLED, I want to display another message on the canvas than when the button is NORMAL. I have this (stripped) relevant code:

from tkinter import *

class app:
    def __init__(self):
        self.window = Tk()
        self.button = Button(self.window,text="Button",command=self.someCommand,state=DISABLED)

        self.button.bind("<Enter>", self.showText)
        self.button.bind("<Leave>", self.hideText)

        self.window.mainloop()

    def showText(self):
        if self.button["state"] == DISABLED:
            #print this text on a canvas
        else:
            #print that text on a canvas

    def hideText(self):
        #remove text    

def main()
    instance = app()

main()

This always draws 'that text' on the canvas, instead of 'this text'

I have tried the following too:

 self.button['state']
 == 'disabled'
 == 'DISABLED'

if I print:

print(self.button["state"] == DISABLED)

it gives me:

False

Changing the state using:

self.button["state"] = NORMAL

works as I would expect.

I have read through a few topics here but none seem to answer the question to why the if-statement doesn't work.

score 16 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 25 '16 at 21:17

16

After some more research I finally got a solution.

print(self.button['state'])

prints:

disabled

So I could use:

state = str(self.button['state'])
if state == 'disabled':
    #print the correct text!

answered Oct 25 '16 at 21:17

Joris Hilberink

251
1
2
8

super easy way to do it! Thanks for that, saved me a lot of time – Nick Aug 14 '19 at 05:22
Note: `self.button['state']` does not return a string. Instead, it returns `` – WhyWhat Mar 19 '20 at 12:47

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 17 '23 at 13:28

0

State returns the string only. And also for me if state == DISABLED: works fine.

Only difference is I'm not using this inside class: But inside my main program.

Please refer below screen shot:

answered Aug 17 '23 at 13:28

navalega0109

47
4

score -1 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 21 '22 at 02:36

-1

from tkinter import *
app_win  = Tk()

name_btn = Button(app_win,text = 'aaaaaaa')
name_btn.pack()


print(name_btn["state"])
#normal

app_win.mainloop()

edited Dec 21 '22 at 02:36

Simas Joneliunas

2,890
20
28
35

answered Dec 17 '22 at 13:44

Onione_Tamiko

1

1

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – user11717481 Dec 20 '22 at 00:17

Check state of button in tkinter

3 Answers3