How to display different layouts based on button clicks in PySimple GUI? (Persistent window loop)

Question

I am wondering if there is a way that I can manage different layouts based on button clicks in PySimple GUI. I am just starting off using this framework and I want to find the best way of navigating menus. Doesn't have to be using different layouts but this just struck me of the most intuitive way of doing it.

I was thinking like maybe having a list of layouts that get pushed to the top when a certain submenu button is selected.

layouts = [layout1, layout2, layout3, layout4]

Or maybe start the program with:

layout = layout1

And when a submenu is selected just change the state to:

layout = layout2

So for example having a 'Main Menu' layout, and upon a button click, bringing a different layout, or 'submenu', to the 'front' so that the entire program runs in one single window. Maybe looking something like this:

Main Menu

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

When Button 1 is clicked, the window stays open, but the display changes to Submenu 1.

From the PySimpleGui Docs, I am using the persistent window loop that it is recommended for structuring some programs:

import PySimpleGUI as sg

sg.theme('BluePurple')

layout = [[sg.Text('Your typed chars appear here:'), sg.Text(size=(15,1), key='-OUTPUT-')],
      [sg.Input(key='-IN-')],
      [sg.Button('Show'), sg.Button('Exit')]]

window = sg.Window('Pattern 2B', layout)

while True:  # Event Loop
    event, values = window.read()
    print(event, values)
    if event in  (None, 'Exit'):
        break
    if event == 'Show':
        # Update the "output" text element to be the value of "input" element
        window['-OUTPUT-'].update(values['-IN-'])

window.close()

I am open to changing the structure entirely but I wanted to get the menu navigation down before I start building the functionality.

Using PySimpleGUI==4.14.1

good rule: first try (next check in Google), next ask. And come back when you get error message. — furas, Dec 27 '19 at 14:26
Were you able to use the Column method detailed in the answers? — Mike from PSG, Dec 31 '19 at 15:03
Can you mark it as an acceptable answer so other visitors knows it works or is your account too new? — Mike from PSG, Jan 02 '20 at 18:19

Mike from PSG · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-29T01:03:47.587

You're actually very close.

Here is what I think you're looking for. What you need to do is add your layouts to Column elements. Then make all columns invisible except for the one you want visible.

This is a great idea.

import PySimpleGUI as sg

# ----------- Create the 3 layouts this Window will display -----------
layout1 = [[sg.Text('This is layout 1 - It is all Checkboxes')],
           *[[sg.CB(f'Checkbox {i}')] for i in range(5)]]

layout2 = [[sg.Text('This is layout 2')],
           [sg.Input(key='-IN-')],
           [sg.Input(key='-IN2-')]]

layout3 = [[sg.Text('This is layout 3 - It is all Radio Buttons')],
           *[[sg.R(f'Radio {i}', 1)] for i in range(8)]]

# ----------- Create actual layout using Columns and a row of Buttons
layout = [[sg.Column(layout1, key='-COL1-'), sg.Column(layout2, visible=False, key='-COL2-'), sg.Column(layout3, visible=False, key='-COL3-')],
          [sg.Button('Cycle Layout'), sg.Button('1'), sg.Button('2'), sg.Button('3'), sg.Button('Exit')]]

window = sg.Window('Swapping the contents of a window', layout)

layout = 1  # The currently visible layout
while True:
    event, values = window.read()
    print(event, values)
    if event in (None, 'Exit'):
        break
    if event == 'Cycle Layout':
        window[f'-COL{layout}-'].update(visible=False)
        layout = layout + 1 if layout < 3 else 1
        window[f'-COL{layout}-'].update(visible=True)
    elif event in '123':
        window[f'-COL{layout}-'].update(visible=False)
        layout = int(event)
        window[f'-COL{layout}-'].update(visible=True)
window.close()

[EDIT] A new Demo Program was added to the PySimpleGUI GitHub named "Demo_Column_Elem_Swap_Entire_Window.py". You can see the code and run it in your browser by visiting Trinket.

The key here is that the visible/invisible elements *are on a single row in the layout*, otherwise you get vertical space reserved for the hidden elements — ijustlovemath, Jul 06 '23 at 16:11

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 27 '19 at 14:58

Using Google I found that there is no method to replace one layout with another.

PySimpleGUI Issues: Updating form layouts #117,

You can only create all elements in one layout and some of them hide and show again:

Reddit r/PySimpleGUI: Is it possible to update the layout of a column / frame?

In tkinter there is popular method to use Frame to group widgets and later hide/show frames to change content in window. It seems PySimpleGUI has also Frame but I don't have example which would work as I expected.

How to display different layouts based on button clicks in PySimple GUI? (Persistent window loop)

2 Answers2

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