tk.call( _tkinter.TclError: unknown option "-bg"

Question

I want to set a theme to my tkinter window as well as config my tkinter window buttons, labels with options like bg. Following is my approach,

Imports,

from tkinter import * 
import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
from ttkthemes import ThemedTk

Code w/o setting the theme:

root = Tk()
root.geometry('500x500')

rootlabel1 = Label(root, text="Total Income : ", bg = "red")  
rootlabel1.grid(row=1, column = 0)
rootlabel1.configure(anchor="center")

btn1 = Button(root, text = 'Add Income', pady = 20)
btn1.grid(row = 2, column = 1)

rootlabel = Label(root, text="Total Income : ")  
rootlabel.grid(row=4, column = 0)
rootlabel.configure(anchor="center")
root.mainloop()

Above was successful but did not had theme set.

Code after setting the theme:

root = ThemedTk(theme = "xpnative", themebg = True)
root.geometry('500x500')

rootlabel1 = ttk.Label(root, text="Total Income : ", bg = "red")  
rootlabel1.grid(row=1, column = 0)
rootlabel1.configure(anchor="center")

btn1 = ttk.Button(root, text = 'Add Income', pady = 20)
btn1.grid(row = 2, column = 1)

rootlabel = ttk.Label(root, text="Total Income : ")  
rootlabel.grid(row=4, column = 0)
rootlabel.configure(anchor="center")
root.mainloop()

I am getting the following error,

    Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c:/Users/admin/Desktop/Stackoverflow/hskjf.py", line 11, in <module>
    rootlabel1 = ttk.Label(root, text="Total Income : ", bg = "red")
  File "C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\tkinter\ttk.py", line 759, in __init__
    Widget.__init__(self, master, "ttk::label", kw)
  File "C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\tkinter\ttk.py", line 557, in __init__
    tkinter.Widget.__init__(self, master, widgetname, kw=kw)
  File "C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python38-32\lib\tkinter\__init__.py", line 2567, in __init__
    self.tk.call(
_tkinter.TclError: unknown option "-bg"

As soon as I add prefix ttk. to my buttons or labels eg. - btn1 = ttk.Button(root, text = 'Add Income', bg = "red")
I am unable to use bg for these buttons/labels.

My Attempts,

1.   btn1 = ttk.Button(root, text = 'Add Income', bg = "red")

2.   rootlabel1 = ttk.Label(root, text="Total Income : ")  
       rootlabel1.grid(row=1, column = 0)
       rootlabel1.configure(anchor="center", bg = "red")

I am unable resolve the error, what I can do to fix it? so that I get both themes as well as options in my button/label.

(Previously, I wasnt able to use padx, pady but according to suggestion given in comment it worked well.)

You should put `pady` in the layout manager(like `.grid()`) instead of the config of widget.Try to use `.grid(row=1,column=0,pady=10)`. — jizhihaoSAMA, May 10 '20 at 15:07
It worked for padx, pady but I am unable to add color property eg, bg="red" to any of the lines It is giving me same type of error. *_tkinter.TclError: unknown option "-bg"*. Can you help me with this? — TUSHAR BAPECHA, May 14 '20 at 16:52
The Ttk widgets are not 100% drop-in replacements for the standard widgets. They have *entirely different* methods for visual customization. — jasonharper, May 14 '20 at 17:08

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered May 15 '20 at 03:17

Most of the config of grid layout manager is here.(Also,padx or pady is to set the padding.For sure it should be put in layout manager.)

Also,there are some differences between tk widget and ttk widget.In tk widget,you could use bg to set the background directly.But In ttk widget,you need to custom a ttk.Style()

In tk widget:

l1 = tkinter.Label(text="Test", bg="white")

But in ttk widget,you need to:

style = ttk.Style()
style.configure("BW.TLabel", background="white")

l1 = ttk.Label(text="Test", style="BW.TLabel")

Refer it in: ttk-Styling

tk.call( _tkinter.TclError: unknown option "-bg"

1 Answers1