Back to the Mad Lib Program

Now that you've seen a nice variety of widgets used in isolation, it's time to combine them in one, larger GUI. I don't introduce any new concepts in the Mad Lib program, so I don't comment too much on the code.

Importing the Tkinter Module

As you probably know by now, you have to import the Tkinter module before you can use it:

 # Mad Lib # Create a story based on user input # Michael Dawson 6/10/03 from Tkinter import * 

The Application Class's Constructor Method

Like all other Application class constructors before it, this one initializes the newly created Application object and invokes its create_widgets() method:

 class Application(Frame):     """ GUI application that creates a story based on user input. """     def __init__(self, master):         """ Initialize Frame. """         Frame.__init__(self, master)         self.grid()         self.create_widgets() 

The Application Class's create_widgets() Method

This class creates all of the widgets in the GUI. The only new thing I do is create all three radio buttons in a loop, by moving through a list of strings for each radio button's text and value options:

    def create_widgets(self):        """ Create widgets to get story information and to display story. """        # create instruction label        Label(self,              text = "Enter information for a new story"              ).grid(row = 0, column = 0, columnspan = 2, sticky = W)        # create a label and text entry for the name of a person        Label(self,              text = "Person: "              ).grid(row = 1, column = 0, sticky = W)        self.person_ent = Entry(self)        self.person_ent.grid(row = 1, column = 1, sticky = W)        # create a label and text entry for a plural noun        Label(self,              text = "Plural Noun:"              ).grid(row = 2, column = 0, sticky = W)        self.noun_ent = Entry(self)        self.noun_ent.grid(row = 2, column = 1, sticky = W)        # create a label and text entry for a verb        Label(self,              text = "Verb:"              ).grid(row = 3, column = 0, sticky = W)        self.verb_ent = Entry(self)        self.verb_ent.grid(row = 3, column = 1, sticky = W)        # create a label for adjectives check buttons        Label(self,              text = "Adjective(s):"              ).grid(row = 4, column = 0, sticky = W)        # create itchy check button        self.is_itchy = BooleanVar()        Checkbutton(self,                     text = "itchy",                     variable = self.is_itchy                     ).grid(row = 4, column = 1, sticky = W)        # create joyous check button        self.is_joyous = BooleanVar()        Checkbutton(self,                     text = "joyous",                     variable = self.is_joyous                     ).grid(row = 4, column = 2, sticky = W)        # create electric check button        self.is_electric = BooleanVar()        Checkbutton(self,                     text = "electric",                     variable = self.is_electric                     ).grid(row = 4, column = 3, sticky = W)        # create a label for body parts radio buttons        Label(self,              text = "Body Part:"              ).grid(row = 5, column = 0, sticky = W)        # create variable for single body part        self.body_part = StringVar()        # create body part radio buttons        body_parts = ["bellybutton", "big toe", "medulla oblongata"]        column = 1        for part in body_parts:            Radiobutton(self,                         text = part,                         variable = self.body_part,                         value = part                         ).grid(row = 5, column = column, sticky = W)            column += 1        # create a submit button        Button(self,                text = "Click for story",                command = self.tell_story                ).grid(row = 6, column = 0, sticky = W)        self.story_txt = Text(self, width = 75, height = 10, wrap = WORD)        self.story_txt.grid(row = 7, column = 0, columnspan = 4) 

The Application Class's tell_story() Method

In this method, I get the values the user has entered and use them to create the one, long string for the story. Then, I delete any text in the text box and insert the new string to show the user the story he or she created.

     def tell_story(self):         """ Fill text box with new story based on user input. """         # get values from the GUI        person = self.person_ent.get()        noun = self.noun_ent.get()        verb = self.verb_ent.get()        adjectives = ""        if self.is_itchy.get():            adjectives += "itchy, "        if self.is_joyous.get():            adjectives += "joyous, "        if self.is_electric.get():            adjectives += "electric, "        body_part = self.body_part.get()        # create the story        story = "The famous explorer "        story += person        story += "had nearly given up a life-long quest to find The Lost City of "        story += noun.title()        story += "when one day, the "        story += noun        story += "found "        story += person + ". "        story += "A strong, "        story += adjectives        story += "peculiar feeling overwhelmed the explorer. "        story += "After all this time, the quest was finally over. A tear came to "        story += person + "'s "        story += body_part + ". "        story += "And then, the "        story += noun        story += "promptly devoured "        story += person + ". "        story += "The moral of the story? Be careful what you "        story += verb        story += "for."        # display the story        self.story_txt.delete(0.0, END)        self.story_txt.insert(0.0, story) 

The Main Part of the Program

You've seen this code more than a few times before. I create a root window and an Application instance. Then, I start the whole GUI up by invoking root's mainloop() method.

 # main root = Tk() root.title("Mad Lib") app = Application(root) root.mainloop()