Make Notepad using Tkinter

Creating a simple Notepad application using Tkinter is a fun project and a great way to learn about the framework's capabilities. Here's a step-by-step tutorial to help you build a basic Notepad-like application:

1. Prerequisites:

Ensure you have Tkinter and Pillow (for the optional icon setting):

pip install Pillow

2. Setting Up the Application Window:

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import filedialog, messagebox
from tkinter.scrolledtext import ScrolledText
from PIL import Image, ImageTk

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Tkinter Notepad")
root.geometry("600x400")

# Add a Text widget for user input
text_area = ScrolledText(root, wrap='word')  # 'word' wrap mode means that tkinter will wrap by words
text_area.pack(fill=tk.BOTH, expand=1)  # Make the text area expandable in both directions

3. Defining Functions for Notepad Actions:

# Function to open a file
def open_file():
    file_path = filedialog.askopenfilename(defaultextension=".txt", filetypes=[("Text files", "*.txt"), ("All files", "*.*")])
    if file_path:
        text_area.delete(1.0, tk.END)  # Clear the text area
        with open(file_path, 'r') as file:
            text_area.insert(tk.INSERT, file.read())

# Function to save a file
def save_file():
    file_path = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(defaultextension=".txt", filetypes=[("Text files", "*.txt"), ("All files", "*.*")])
    if file_path:
        with open(file_path, 'w') as file:
            file.write(text_area.get(1.0, tk.END))

# Function to exit the application
def exit_app():
    if messagebox.askokcancel("Exit", "Do you really want to exit?"):
        root.destroy()

4. Creating the Menu Bar:

menu_bar = tk.Menu(root)

# File menu
file_menu = tk.Menu(menu_bar, tearoff=0)
file_menu.add_command(label="Open", command=open_file)
file_menu.add_command(label="Save", command=save_file)
file_menu.add_separator()
file_menu.add_command(label="Exit", command=exit_app)
menu_bar.add_cascade(label="File", menu=file_menu)

root.config(menu=menu_bar)

5. Optional: Setting the Application Icon:

If you have an .ico file for your application icon:

root.iconbitmap('path_to_icon.ico')

For PNG icons, with the help of Pillow:

img = ImageTk.PhotoImage(Image.open('path_to_icon.png'))
root.tk.call('wm', 'iconphoto', root._w, img)

Replace 'path_to_icon.ico' or 'path_to_icon.png' with your icon's path.

6. Run the Main Loop:

root.mainloop()

7. Final Note:

This is a basic Notepad application using Tkinter. You can extend this further by adding features like font changing, a status bar, text highlight, undo-redo functionalities, etc.

When combined, the above code snippets will give you a functional (though minimal) Notepad application. If you're planning on making this a real project, you should consider structuring your code more modularly and implementing additional error handling and features.

Python Tkinter text editor example:

Description: Create a basic Tkinter window with a text widget to serve as the foundation for a text editor.

Code Example:

import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Text Editor Example")

text_widget = tk.Text(root, wrap="word")
text_widget.pack(expand="yes", fill="both")

root.mainloop()

Creating a simple Notepad in Tkinter:

Description: Extend the previous example to create a simple Notepad-like text editor with menus and functionality.

Code Example:

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import filedialog

def open_file():
    file_path = filedialog.askopenfilename()
    with open(file_path, 'r') as file:
        content = file.read()
        text_widget.delete(1.0, tk.END)
        text_widget.insert(tk.END, content)

def save_file():
    file_path = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(defaultextension=".txt", filetypes=[("Text Files", "*.txt")])
    with open(file_path, 'w') as file:
        content = text_widget.get(1.0, tk.END)
        file.write(content)

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Notepad Example")

menu_bar = tk.Menu(root)
root.config(menu=menu_bar)

file_menu = tk.Menu(menu_bar, tearoff=0)
menu_bar.add_cascade(label="File", menu=file_menu)
file_menu.add_command(label="Open", command=open_file)
file_menu.add_command(label="Save", command=save_file)
file_menu.add_separator()
file_menu.add_command(label="Exit", command=root.destroy)

text_widget = tk.Text(root, wrap="word")
text_widget.pack(expand="yes", fill="both")

root.mainloop()

Building a basic text editor with Tkinter:

Description: Enhance the basic text editor by adding more features such as cut, copy, paste, and undo.

Code Example:

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import filedialog

def open_file():
    file_path = filedialog.askopenfilename()
    with open(file_path, 'r') as file:
        content = file.read()
        text_widget.delete(1.0, tk.END)
        text_widget.insert(tk.END, content)

def save_file():
    file_path = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(defaultextension=".txt", filetypes=[("Text Files", "*.txt")])
    with open(file_path, 'w') as file:
        content = text_widget.get(1.0, tk.END)
        file.write(content)

def cut_text():
    text_widget.event_generate("<<Cut>>")

def copy_text():
    text_widget.event_generate("<<Copy>>")

def paste_text():
    text_widget.event_generate("<<Paste>>")

def undo_text():
    text_widget.event_generate("<<Undo>>")

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Basic Text Editor Example")

menu_bar = tk.Menu(root)
root.config(menu=menu_bar)

file_menu = tk.Menu(menu_bar, tearoff=0)
menu_bar.add_cascade(label="File", menu=file_menu)
file_menu.add_command(label="Open", command=open_file)
file_menu.add_command(label="Save", command=save_file)
file_menu.add_separator()
file_menu.add_command(label="Exit", command=root.destroy)

edit_menu = tk.Menu(menu_bar, tearoff=0)
menu_bar.add_cascade(label="Edit", menu=edit_menu)
edit_menu.add_command(label="Cut", command=cut_text)
edit_menu.add_command(label="Copy", command=copy_text)
edit_menu.add_command(label="Paste", command=paste_text)
edit_menu.add_command(label="Undo", command=undo_text)

text_widget = tk.Text(root, wrap="word")
text_widget.pack(expand="yes", fill="both")

root.mainloop()

Tkinter text widget formatting for a Notepad app:

Description: Focus on formatting options within the text widget, such as font size and style, for a Notepad-like experience.

Code Example:

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import filedialog

def open_file():
    file_path = filedialog.askopenfilename()
    with open(file_path, 'r') as file:
        content = file.read()
        text_widget.delete(1.0, tk.END)
        text_widget.insert(tk.END, content)

def save_file():
    file_path = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(defaultextension=".txt", filetypes=[("Text Files", "*.txt")])
    with open(file_path, 'w') as file:
        content = text_widget.get(1.0, tk.END)
        file.write(content)

def cut_text():
    text_widget.event_generate("<<Cut>>")

def copy_text():
    text_widget.event_generate("<<Copy>>")

def paste_text():
    text_widget.event_generate("<<Paste>>")

def undo_text():
    text_widget.event_generate("<<Undo>>")

def change_font():
    font_dialog = tk.FontDialog(root, text_widget)
    font_dialog.show()

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Notepad with Text Formatting")

menu_bar = tk.Menu(root)
root.config(menu=menu_bar)

file_menu = tk.Menu(menu_bar, tearoff=0)
menu_bar.add_cascade(label="File", menu=file_menu)
file_menu.add_command(label="Open", command=open_file)
file_menu.add_command(label="Save", command=save_file)
file_menu.add_separator()
file_menu.add_command(label="Exit", command=root.destroy)

edit_menu = tk.Menu(menu_bar, tearoff=0)
menu_bar.add_cascade(label="Edit", menu=edit_menu)
edit_menu.add_command(label="Cut", command=cut_text)
edit_menu.add_command(label="Copy", command=copy_text)
edit_menu.add_command(label="Paste", command=paste_text)
edit_menu.add_command(label="Undo", command=undo_text)

format_menu = tk.Menu(menu_bar, tearoff=0)
menu_bar.add_cascade(label="Format", menu=format_menu)
format_menu.add_command(label="Change Font", command=change_font)

text_widget = tk.Text(root, wrap="word")
text_widget.pack(expand="yes", fill="both")

root.mainloop()