My tetris game keeps collapsing (tkinter) (python)

Question

I'm trying to make a simple Tetris game in Tkinter but the actual window won't open. It will draw if I don't use the time() function to make the game pieces drop, but as soon as I add the time() function the window disappears. I can see that the program is working by printing the coordinates of the falling piece, but the falling aspect of my code seems to interfere with the drawing of the tkinter window.

Why won't the program draw the window?

from tkinter import *
from tkinter import ttk
import random
import time

root = Tk()
root.title('Emblas tetris game')

x_init = root.winfo_pointerx()
y_init = root.winfo_pointery()
WIDTH = root.winfo_screenwidth()
HEIGHT = root.winfo_screenheight()
basicbox = Canvas(root, width=WIDTH, height=HEIGHT)
basicbox.pack()
gameboard = basicbox.create_rectangle(WIDTH/6, 0, WIDTH * 0.84, 720, 
outline='gray', fill='white', width=4)

#------- FIGURES -------------------------------------------
def countpointsinfig(): #redraws each figure as it is falling, updating all coordinates
    global x0, y0, x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3
    numpoints = len(points)
    if numpoints == 8:
        x0, y0, x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3  = basicbox.coords(drawshape)
        print(x0, y0, x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3)


def I_shape():
    global drawshape, points
    points = [WIDTH/2 - 10, 0,#0
              WIDTH/2 + 10, 0,#1
              WIDTH/2 + 10, 80,#2
              WIDTH/2 - 10, 80,#3
              ]
    drawshape = basicbox.create_polygon(points, outline='yellow', fill='yellow')


def O_shape():
    global drawshape, points
    points = [WIDTH/2 - 20,  0,#0
              WIDTH/2 + 20,  0,#1
              WIDTH/2 + 20, 40,#2
              WIDTH/2 - 20, 40,#3
              ]
    drawshape = basicbox.create_polygon(points, outline='red', fill='red')


#--------- GAME -----------------------------------------------
def startgame():
    global rand_shape, pickone
    pickone = [I_shape, O_shape]
    rand_shape = random.choice(pickone)()

    autofall = True #very very VERY interesting....... This is the problem. This function should move my tetris piece down. If i remove this bit the code works. Why?
    while autofall:
        time.sleep(1)
        basicbox.move(drawshape, 0, 20)
        countpointsinfig()

#----------- MOVE FIGURES -----------------------

def leftmove(event):
    countpointsinfig()
    basicbox.move(drawshape, -20, 0)

def rightmove(event):
    countpointsinfig()
    basicbox.move(drawshape, 20, 0)

def downmove(event):
    countpointsinfig()
    basicbox.move(drawshape, 0, 20)


root.bind('<Left>', leftmove)
root.bind('<Right>', rightmove)
root.bind('<Up>', upmove)
root.bind('<Down>', downmove)
#----------------------------------------------------------------

startgame()
root.mainloop()

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 15 '18 at 08:54

The root.mainloop() together while autofall is the problem.

In this other post you can understand what mainloop() does.

The easy way to solve your problem is use after() method.

Change this piece of code:

def startgame():
    global rand_shape, pickone
    pickone = [I_shape, O_shape]
    rand_shape = random.choice(pickone)()

    autofall = True 
    while autofall:
        time.sleep(1)
        basicbox.move(drawshape, 0, 20)
        countpointsinfig()

For this:

def startgame():
    global rand_shape, pickone
    pickone = [I_shape, O_shape]
    rand_shape = random.choice(pickone)()
    autofall()

def autofall():
    basicbox.move(drawshape, 0, 20)
    countpointsinfig()
    basicbox.after(1000,autofall)

My tetris game keeps collapsing (tkinter) (python)

1 Answers1