How to Create a GUI Interface on Raspberry Pi Using Tkinter

Tkinter is a Python’s standard library framework that allows users to easily build cross-platform GUI applications, which can be run on different operating systems, including windows, Linux and macOS. Tkinter is a good choice for Raspberry Pi users to create GUI applications as it is a very lightweight and quick framework that uses the TK GUI toolkit to provide an Object-Oriented Interface.

To create GUI Interface on Raspberry Pi using Tkinter, follow this article.

Create a GUI Interface on Raspberry Pi Using Tkinter

To create a GUI interface on Raspberry Pi using Tkinter, follow the below-written steps:

Step 1: Update and Upgrade your Raspberry Pi repository from the following commands:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Then install the Tkinter library using the below-written command:

$ sudo apt install python3-tk

Note: Ensure that Python and pip are preinstalled in your Raspberry Pi system.

Step 3: Once the installation is completed, run the below-written command to verify that Tkinter is installed correctly:

$ python -m tkinter

The Tkinter window will appear on the screen, which verifies that it is correctly installed. Close the window by clicking on the QUIT button:

Use Tkinter to Create a GUI Interface

Let’s create a simple GUI interface on Raspberry Pi using Tkinter and for that, follow the below-given steps:

Step 1: Create a python file (.py) by using nano editor:

$ nano <file-name>.py

Example

$ nano mytkcode.py

Step 2: Then import the Tkinter module into the file by using the below-mentioned command:

import tkinter as tk

Step 3: Now create a window instance, which is Tkinter’s instance for the display:

window = tk.Tk()

Step 4: Now create a greet label widget which will be called to display the text.

greet = tk.Label(text="Welcome to LinuxHint")
greet.pack()

Step 5: Then finally in the mainloop(), call the created greet function:

window.mainloop()
label = tk.Label(

foreground="black",
background="white",
)

The entire code should be like as shown below:

import tkinter as tk
window = tk.Tk()
greet = tk.Label(text="Welcome to LinuxHint")
greet.pack()
window.mainloop()
label = tk.Label(

foreground="black",
background="white",
)

Once you are done with the coding save the file by Ctrl+X and Y keys:

Finally run the code by using the below-mentioned command:

$ python3 mytkcode.py

Conclusion

Tkinter framework can be used on Raspberry Pi to create GUI interface. To work with Tkinter, you must install it on Raspberry Pi from the “apt” command and then follow the above-mentioned guidelines to create a simple Hello GUI interface on the Raspberry Pi system.

How to Create a GUI Interface on Raspberry Pi Using Tkinter

Create a GUI Interface on Raspberry Pi Using Tkinter

Use Tkinter to Create a GUI Interface

Conclusion

About the author

Zahra Zamir