The Tkinter Menu Widget

The Menu widget is used to implement toplevel, pulldown, and popup menus.

When to use the Menu Widget

This widget is used to display all kinds of menus used by an application. Since this widget uses native code where possible, you shouldn’t try to fake menus using buttons and other Tkinter widgets.

Patterns #

Toplevel menus are displayed just under the title bar of the root or any other toplevel windows (or on Macintosh, along the upper edge of the screen). To create a toplevel menu, create a new Menu instance, and use add methods to add commands and other menu entries to it.

root = Tk()

def hello():
    print "hello!"

# create a toplevel menu
menubar = Menu(root)
menubar.add_command(label="Hello!", command=hello)
menubar.add_command(label="Quit!", command=root.quit)

# display the menu
root.config(menu=menubar)

Pulldown menus (and other submenus) are created in a similar fashion. The main difference is that they are attached to a parent menu (using add_cascade), instead of a toplevel window.

root = Tk()

def hello():
    print "hello!"

menubar = Menu(root)

# create a pulldown menu, and add it to the menu bar
filemenu = Menu(menubar, tearoff=0)
filemenu.add_command(label="Open", command=hello)
filemenu.add_command(label="Save", command=hello)
filemenu.add_separator()
filemenu.add_command(label="Exit", command=root.quit)
menubar.add_cascade(label="File", menu=filemenu)

# create more pulldown menus
editmenu = Menu(menubar, tearoff=0)
editmenu.add_command(label="Cut", command=hello)
editmenu.add_command(label="Copy", command=hello)
editmenu.add_command(label="Paste", command=hello)
menubar.add_cascade(label="Edit", menu=editmenu)

helpmenu = Menu(menubar, tearoff=0)
helpmenu.add_command(label="About", command=hello)
menubar.add_cascade(label="Help", menu=helpmenu)

# display the menu
root.config(menu=menubar)

Finally, a popup menu is created in the same way, but is explicitly displayed, using the post method:

root = Tk()

def hello():
    print "hello!"

# create a popup menu
menu = Menu(root, tearoff=0)
menu.add_command(label="Undo", command=hello)
menu.add_command(label="Redo", command=hello)

# create a canvas
frame = Frame(root, width=512, height=512)
frame.pack()

def popup(event):
    menu.post(event.x_root, event.y_root)

# attach popup to canvas
frame.bind("<Button-3>", popup)

You can use the postcommand callback to update (or even create) the menu every time it is displayed.

counter = 0

def update():
    global counter
    counter = counter + 1
    menu.entryconfig(0, label=str(counter))

root = Tk()

menubar = Menu(root)

menu = Menu(menubar, tearoff=0, postcommand=update)
menu.add_command(label=str(counter))
menu.add_command(label="Exit", command=root.quit)

menubar.add_cascade(label="Test", menu=menu)

root.config(menu=menubar)

Reference #

Menu(master=None, **options) (class) [#]

A menu pane.

__init__(master=None, **options) [#]

Creates a menu widget.

master: Parent widget.
**options: Widget options. See the description of the config method for a list of available options.

activate(index) [#]

The activate method.

index

add(type, **options) [#]

Add (append) an entry of the given type to the menu.

type: What kind of entry to add. Can be one of “command”, “cascade” (submenu), “checkbutton”, “radiobutton”, or “separator”.
**options: Menu options.
activebackground=
activeforeground=
accelerator=
background=
bitmap=
columnbreak=
command=
font=
foreground=
hidemargin=
image=
indicatoron=
label=
menu=
offvalue=
onvalue=
selectcolor=
selectimage=
state=
underline=
value=
variable=

add_cascade(**options) [#]

Adds a submenu. See add for a list of options.

**options

add_checkbutton(**options) [#]

Adds a checkbutton. See add for a list of options.

**options

add_command(**options) [#]

Adds a command. See add for a list of options.

**options

add_radiobutton(**options) [#]

Adds a radiobutton. See add for a list of options.

**options

add_separator(**options) [#]

Adds a separator. See add for a list of options.

**options

config(**options) [#]

Modifies one or more widget options. If no options are given, the method returns a dictionary containing all current option values.

**options: Widget options.
activebackground=: Default value is ‘SystemHighlight’. (the database name is activeBackground, the class is Foreground)
activeborderwidth=: Default value is 0. (activeBorderWidth/BorderWidth)
activeforeground=: Default value is ‘SystemHighlightText’. (activeForeground/Background)
background=: Default value is ‘SystemMenu’. (background/Background)
bg=: Same as background.
borderwidth=: Default value is 0. (borderWidth/BorderWidth)
bd=: Same as borderwidth.
cursor=: Default value is ‘arrow’. (cursor/Cursor)
disabledforeground=: Default value is ‘SystemDisabledText’. (disabledForeground/DisabledForeground)
font=: Default value is ‘MS Sans Serif 8’. (font/Font)
foreground=: Default value is ‘SystemMenuText’. (foreground/Foreground)
fg=: Same as foreground.
postcommand=: No default value. (postCommand/Command)
relief=: Default value is ‘flat’. (relief/Relief)
selectcolor=: Default value is ‘SystemMenuText’. (selectColor/Background)
takefocus=: Default value is 0. (takeFocus/TakeFocus)
tearoff=: Default value is 1. (tearOff/TearOff)
tearoffcommand=: No default value. (tearOffCommand/TearOffCommand)
title=: No default value. (title/Title)
type=: Default value is ‘normal’. (type/Type)

delete(index1, index2=None) [#]

Deletes one or more menu entries.

index1: The first entry to delete.
index2: The last entry to delete. If omitted, only one entry is deleted.

entrycget(index, option) [#]

The entrycget method.

index
option

entryconfig(index, **options) [#]

Reconfigures the given menu entry. Only the given options are changed; the rest are left as is. See add for a list of available options.

index
**options

entryconfigure(index, **options) [#]

Same as ~~entryconfig~~ (dead link).

index(index) [#]

Converts an index (of any kind) to an integer index.

index
Returns:: An integer index.

insert(index, itemType, **options) [#]

Inserts an entry of the given type in the menu. This is similar to add, but inserts an entry

index
itemType
**options

insert_cascade(index, **options) [#]

Inserts a submenu.

index
**options

insert_checkbutton(index, **options) [#]

Inserts a checkbutton.

index
**options

insert_command(index, **options) [#]

Inserts a command.

index
**options

insert_radiobutton(index, **options) [#]

Inserts a radiobutton.

index
**options

insert_separator(index, **options) [#]

Inserts a separator. def insert_separator(index, **options)

index
**options

invoke(index) [#]

The invoke method.

index

post(x, y) [#]

Displays the menu at the given position. The position should be given in pixels, relative to the root window.

x: Menu position.
y: Menu position.

type(index) [#]

Gets the type of the given menu entry.

index: Index specifier.
Returns:: Item type.

unpost() [#]

Removes a posted menu.

yposition(index) [#]

Returns the vertical offset for the given entry. This can be used to position a popup menu so that a given entry is under the mouse when the menu appears.

index: Index specifier.
Returns:: The vertical offset, in screen coordinates.

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