Tkinter scrollbar for frame

Question

My objective is to add a vertical scroll bar to a frame which has several labels in it. The scroll bar should automatically enabled as soon as the labels inside the frame ex

Answer 1

Please note that the proposed code is only valid with Python 2

Here is an example:

from Tkinter import *   # from x import * is bad practice
from ttk import *

# http://tkinter.unpythonic.net/wiki/VerticalScrolledFrame

class VerticalScrolledFrame(Frame):
    """A pure Tkinter scrollable frame that actually works!
    * Use the 'interior' attribute to place widgets inside the scrollable frame
    * Construct and pack/place/grid normally
    * This frame only allows vertical scrolling

    """
    def __init__(self, parent, *args, **kw):
        Frame.__init__(self, parent, *args, **kw)            

        # create a canvas object and a vertical scrollbar for scrolling it
        vscrollbar = Scrollbar(self, orient=VERTICAL)
        vscrollbar.pack(fill=Y, side=RIGHT, expand=FALSE)
        canvas = Canvas(self, bd=0, highlightthickness=0,
                        yscrollcommand=vscrollbar.set)
        canvas.pack(side=LEFT, fill=BOTH, expand=TRUE)
        vscrollbar.config(command=canvas.yview)

        # reset the view
        canvas.xview_moveto(0)
        canvas.yview_moveto(0)

        # create a frame inside the canvas which will be scrolled with it
        self.interior = interior = Frame(canvas)
        interior_id = canvas.create_window(0, 0, window=interior,
                                           anchor=NW)

        # track changes to the canvas and frame width and sync them,
        # also updating the scrollbar
        def _configure_interior(event):
            # update the scrollbars to match the size of the inner frame
            size = (interior.winfo_reqwidth(), interior.winfo_reqheight())
            canvas.config(scrollregion="0 0 %s %s" % size)
            if interior.winfo_reqwidth() != canvas.winfo_width():
                # update the canvas's width to fit the inner frame
                canvas.config(width=interior.winfo_reqwidth())
        interior.bind('', _configure_interior)

        def _configure_canvas(event):
            if interior.winfo_reqwidth() != canvas.winfo_width():
                # update the inner frame's width to fill the canvas
                canvas.itemconfigure(interior_id, width=canvas.winfo_width())
        canvas.bind('', _configure_canvas)


if __name__ == "__main__":

    class SampleApp(Tk):
        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
            root = Tk.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)


            self.frame = VerticalScrolledFrame(root)
            self.frame.pack()
            self.label = Label(text="Shrink the window to activate the scrollbar.")
            self.label.pack()
            buttons = []
            for i in range(10):
                buttons.append(Button(self.frame.interior, text="Button " + str(i)))
                buttons[-1].pack()

    app = SampleApp()
    app.mainloop()

It does not yet have the mouse wheel bound to the scrollbar but it is possible. Scrolling with the wheel can get a bit bumpy, though.

edit:

to 1)
IMHO scrolling frames is somewhat tricky in Tkinter and does not seem to be done a lot. It seems there is no elegant way to do it.
One problem with your code is that you have to set the canvas size manually - that's what the example code I posted solves.

to 2)
You are talking about the data function? Place works for me, too. (In general I prefer grid).

to 3)
Well, it positions the window on the canvas.

One thing I noticed is that your example handles mouse wheel scrolling by default while the one I posted does not. Will have to look at that some time.