Looking an efficient way to reuse a set of widgets or an alternative

Question

Here's what i have at the moment:

This is created with quite a bit of code for just 1 widget:

date_label = tk.Label(date_entry_frame, text="Enter creation timestamp: ")
date_label.pack(side=tk.TOP)
label_0 = tk.Label(date_entry_frame, text='DD/MM/YY:')
label_0.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
entry_1 = tk.Entry(date_entry_frame, width=2, borderwidth=1)
label_1 = tk.Label(date_entry_frame, text='/', borderwidth=0)
entry_2 = tk.Entry(date_entry_frame, width=2, borderwidth=1)
label_2 = tk.Label(date_entry_frame, text='/', borderwidth=0)
entry_3 = tk.Entry(date_entry_frame, width=4, borderwidth=1)
# time entries and labels
label_3 = tk.Label(date_entry_frame, text='HH:MM', borderwidth=0)
entry_4 = tk.Entry(date_entry_frame, width=2, borderwidth=1)
label_4 = tk.Label(date_entry_frame, text=':', borderwidth=0)
entry_5 = tk.Entry(date_entry_frame, width=2, borderwidth=1)

# space management
entry_1.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
label_1.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
entry_2.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
label_2.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
entry_3.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
label_3.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
entry_4.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
label_4.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
entry_5.pack(side=tk.LEFT)

Is there some alternatives to this? Or a way to reuse this without copy-pasting the large block of code? I have tried using classes but i couldn't figure out how to use the manage space with classes.

Answer 1

The answer is no different with tkinter than with any large block of code in any language: move the code into a function or into a class.

Arguably the best solution is to move it to a class which inherits from the Frame widget. That allows you to treat instances of the class like first class widgets (eg: you can call pack, place, grid, and destroy on them).

For example, you want to be able to use the class like this:

start = DateTimeEntry(root, "Enter start time", 1, 1, 2019, 0, 0)
end = DateTimeEntry(root, "Enter end time", 31, 12, 2019, 0, 0)

start.pack(side="top", fill="x")
end.pack(side="top", fill="x")

The class might look something like this:

class DateTimeEntry(tk.Frame):
    def __init__(self, master, label, day=1, month=1, year=2000, hour=0, minute=0):
        super().__init__(master)

        date_label = tk.Label(self, text=label)
        label_0 = tk.Label(self, text='DD/MM/YY:')
        label_1 = tk.Label(self, text='/', borderwidth=0)
        label_2 = tk.Label(self, text='/', borderwidth=0)
        label_3 = tk.Label(self, text='HH:MM', borderwidth=0)
        label_4 = tk.Label(self, text=':', borderwidth=0)

        self.entry_day = tk.Entry(self, width=2, borderwidth=1)
        self.entry_month = tk.Entry(self, width=2, borderwidth=1)
        self.entry_year = tk.Entry(self, width=4, borderwidth=1)
        self.entry_hour = tk.Entry(self, width=2, borderwidth=1)
        self.entry_minute = tk.Entry(self, width=2, borderwidth=1)

        date_label.pack(side=tk.TOP, fill="x")
        label_0.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        self.entry_day.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        label_1.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        self.entry_month.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        label_2.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        self.entry_year.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        label_3.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        self.entry_hour.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        label_4.pack(side=tk.LEFT)
        self.entry_minute.pack(side=tk.LEFT)

        self.set(day, month, year, hour, minute)

    def get(self):
        return (
            (self.entry_day.get(), self.entry_month.get(), self.entry_year.get()),
            (self.entry_hour.get(), self.entry_minute.get())
        )

    def reset(self):
        self.entry_day.delete(0, "end")
        self.entry_month.delete(0, "end")
        self.entry_year.delete(0, "end")
        self.entry_hour.delete(0, "end")
        self.entry_minute.delete(0, "end")

    def set(self, day, month, year, hour, minute):
        self.reset()
        self.entry_day.insert(0, day)
        self.entry_month.insert(0, month)
        self.entry_year.insert(0, year)
        self.entry_hour.insert(0, hour)
        self.entry_minute.insert(0, minute)