Using Tkinter's askopenfilename() with matplotlib not working in GUI

Question

I am creating a GUI for my program and I would like the first step be that the user selects an image, which is then displayed on the GUI. The program works if I put a file path directly into it, but when I use askopenfilename(), the other buttons and places for user input no longer work. I had a full working GUI before askopenfilename(). Here is the part of the code that’s giving me trouble:

from tkinter import *
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
from matplotlib.backends.backend_tkagg import FigureCanvasTkAgg
from matplotlib.lines import Line2D
from PIL import Image
from tkinter.filedialog import askopenfilename
from PIL import ImageTk
from tkinter import filedialog

window = Tk()
window.geometry('600x600')

#since I added askopenfilename() I can no longer type in these boxes
e = Entry(window)
e.pack()
ee = Entry(window)
ee.pack()

#path = 'image.png'   #this was working fine
path = filedialog.askopenfilename()
img_arr = plt.imread(path)
img = Image.open(path)

I think it’s an issue with matplotlib trying to read it, because the image opens, but I can’t do anything with it. I believe the main issue is that I have created 2 dialog boxes that I can no longer type in. Has anyone ever had this issue?

Asked By: lordclyborne

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Source

Answer 1

askopenfilename starts tk.mainloop early, if it wasn’t already running, which messes up any created Tk object.

the solution to this is to either

create a hidden Tk object then call askopenfilename,then destroy it before creating your application’s main Tk object.
or use askopenfilename after you start your application’s mainloop, you can delay the calling of a function using window.after or by tying the logic to a button on the screen that the user presses.

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import filedialog

dummy_window = tk.Tk()
dummy_window.withdraw()
path = filedialog.askopenfilename()
dummy_window.destroy()

window = tk.Tk()
entry = tk.Entry(master=window)
entry.insert("0", path)
entry.pack()
window.mainloop()

Answered By: Ahmed AEK

Using Tkinter's askopenfilename() with matplotlib not working in GUI

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