Update every 1 second the tkinter window with new information

Question

I want to make this little application to update the information from the tkinter window every 1 second. The application shows computer info and generates a .txt file and then parses that into a tkinter window, which is the first issue with the app, which will not help if I want to update the contents of the tkinter windows every 1 second, since I also need to update the .txt file first.

I've created a class (UpdateTextTkinter) just to test if I can update text from a window by pressing a button - I was thinking about using it to update contents everytime I press the button.

What I need help or ideas with:

How to migrate from .txt to tkinter window to only generating a tkinter window and appending text to it?
How to update the window every 1 second with new information?

Here's the code:

# check if file exists, if not create with WRITE flag
path_text = pathlib.Path("path") # path to txt file
if path_text.is_file():
    # make file WRITABLE
    filename = "path" # path to txt file
    os.chmod(filename, S_IWUSR)
else:
    # pop-up: file not found and will be created
    response = win32ui.MessageBox("File inexistent - will be created", "Exception: File not found", win32con.MB_OKCANCEL)
    if response == win32con.IDCANCEL:
        # branch to exit execution if CANCEL is pressed
        exit()
    # branch to continue execution if OK is pressed
    elif response == win32con.IDOK:
        # file was not found, create it here and apprend it with data (write flag)
        f = open("path", "w+") #path to txt file
# covert large numbers of bytes into a defined format (kilo, mega, giga, tera, peta)
def get_size(bytes, suffix="B"):
    """
    Scale bytes to proper format:

    1253656 -> '1.20MB'
    1253656678 -> '1.17GB'
    :param bytes:
    :param suffix:
    :return:
    """
    factor = 1024
    for unit in ["", "K", "M", "G","T", "P"]:
        if bytes < factor:
            return f"{bytes:.2f}{unit}{suffix}"
        bytes /= factor


# class UpdateTextTkinter:
#     def __init__(self):
#         self.root = tk.Tk()
#         self.text = tk.StringVar()
#         # pass object to be updated
#         self.text.set("Test")
#         self.label = tk.Label(self.root, textvariable=self.text)
#
#         self.button = tk.Button(self.root,
#                                 text = "UPDATE",
#                                 command = self.changeText)
#         self.button.pack()
#         self.label.pack()
#         self.root.mainloop()
#
#     # define changeText function and pass object to be updated
#
#     def changeText(self):
#         self.text.set("Test u")
#
#
# app = UpdateTextTkinter()

# Reminder
print("="*40, "REMINDER", "="*40, file = f)
now_time = datetime.now()
current_time = now_time.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
print(f"Keep in mind that this is not updating live, it's just a snapshot of the system at a certain time({current_time})!", file = f)


# Sys info
print("\n", "="*40, "System Information", "="*40, file = f)
uname = platform.uname()
print(f"System: {uname.system}", file = f)
print(f"Node Name: {uname.node}", file = f)
print(f"Release: {uname.release}", file = f)
print(f"Version: {uname.version}", file = f)
print(f"Machine: {uname.machine}", file = f)
print(f"Processor: {uname.processor}", file = f)


# Get boot date and time
print("\n", "="*40, "BOOT Time", "="*40, file = f)
boot_time_timestamp = psutil.boot_time()
bt = datetime.fromtimestamp(boot_time_timestamp)
print(f"Boot date: {bt.day}/{bt.month}/{bt.year}", file = f)
print(f"Boot time: {bt.hour}/{bt.minute}/{bt.second}", file = f)


# CPU info
print("\n", "="*40, "CPU Info", "="*40, file = f)

# Get number of Cores
print("Physical cores: ",psutil.cpu_count(logical=False), file = f)
print("Threads: ",psutil.cpu_count(logical=True), file = f)

# CPU frequencies
cpufrequency = psutil.cpu_freq()
print(f"Mininum frequency: {cpufrequency.min:.2f}MHz", file = f)
print(f"Maximum frequency: {cpufrequency.max:.2f}MHz", file = f)
print(f"Current frequency: {cpufrequency.current:.2f}MHz", file = f)

# CPU usage
print("CPU Usage Per Core:", file = f)
for i, percentage in enumerate(psutil.cpu_percent(percpu = True, interval = 1)):
    print(f"Core {i}: {percentage}%", file = f)
print(f"Total CPU Usage: {psutil.cpu_percent()}%", file = f)


# MEM information
print("\n", "="*40, "Memory Information", "="*40, file = f)

# get memory details
svmem = psutil.virtual_memory()
print(f"Total memory: {get_size(svmem.total)}", file = f)
print(f"Available memory: {get_size(svmem.available)}", file = f)
print(f"Used memory: {get_size(svmem.used)}", file = f)
print(f"Percentage memory: {svmem.percent}%", file = f)

# get swap memory (if existent)
swap = psutil.swap_memory()
print(f"Total swap memory: {get_size(swap.total)}", file = f)
print(f"Free swap memory: {get_size(swap.free)}", file = f)
print(f"Used swap memory: {get_size(swap.used)}", file = f)
print(f"Percentage swap memory: {swap.percent}%", file = f)


# DISK usage
print("\n", "="*40, "Disk Information", "="*40, file = f)
print("Partitions and usage:", file = f)

# get all disk partitions
partitions = psutil.disk_partitions()
for partitions in partitions:
    print(f"\nDevice: {partitions.device}", file = f)
    print(f"Mountpoint: {partitions.mountpoint}", file = f)
    print(f"File sys type: {partitions.fstype}", file = f)
    try:
        partitions_usage = psutil.disk_usage(partitions.mountpoint)
    except PermissionError:
        # can't be catched due to disk that isn't ready
        continue
    print(f"Total size: {get_size(partitions_usage.total)}", file = f)
    print(f"Used space: {get_size(partitions_usage.used)}", file = f)
    print(f"Free space: {get_size(partitions_usage.free)}", file = f)
    print(f"Percentage size: {partitions_usage.percent}%", file = f)

# get IO statistics since boot
disk_io = psutil.disk_io_counters()
print(f"Total read: {get_size(disk_io.read_bytes)}", file = f)
print(f"Total write: {get_size(disk_io.write_bytes)}", file = f)


# Network information
print("\n", "="*40, "Network Information", "="*40, file = f)
# get all network interfaces (virtual and physical)
if_addrs = psutil.net_if_addrs()
for interface_name, interface_addresses in if_addrs.items():
    for address in interface_addresses:
        print(f"=== Interface: {interface_name} ===", file = f)
        if str(address.family) == 'AddressFamily.AF_INET':
            print(f"  IP Address: {address.address}", file = f)
            print(f"  Netmask: {address.netmask}", file = f)
            print(f"  Broadcast IP: {address.broadcast}", file = f)
        elif str(address.family) == 'AddressFamily.AF_PACKET':
            print(f"  MAC Address: {address.address}", file = f)
            print(f"  Netmask: {address.netmask}", file = f)
            print(f"  Broadcast MAC: {address.broadcast}", file = f)
# get IO statistics since boot
net_io = psutil.net_io_counters()
print(f"Total Bytes Sent: {get_size(net_io.bytes_sent)}", file = f)
print(f"Total Bytes Received: {get_size(net_io.bytes_recv)}", file = f)


# Make file READ-ONLY
# filename = "path" #path to txt file
# os.chmod(filename, S_IREAD)

#Close file
f.close()

# Import text file and parse it into a tkinter GUI
# filepath = "path" #path to txt file

root = Tk()
root.title("Computer Informations")
root.iconbitmap("C:\\Users\\User\\PycharmProjects\\FirstSteps\\Computer_info\\iconbitmap")
# open file as in Tkinter (read-only)
with open("path", "r") as f: # path to txt file
    # display file in a tkinter window
    Label(root, text=f.read()).pack()

root.mainloop()

# Delete file after is parsed in Tkinter
if os.path.exists("path"): # path to txt file
    os.remove("path") # path to txt file
else:
    # create message box error: file not found, cannot be deleted
    exit_response = win32ui.MessageBox("File inexistent - program will exit", "Exception: File not found", win32con.MB_OK)
    # branch to continue exectuion if OK is pressed
    if exit_response == win32con.IDOK:
        exit()

PS: The code to display sys-info is from the internet, I'm trying to learn more Python by using it!

THANK YOU!

For the code that needs to run every second, how long does that code take to run? Is it less than a couple hundred milliseconds? Less than a second? More than a second? The answer will determine the proper method to use. — Bryan Oakley, Jun 12 '20 at 13:15
Does this answer your question? [making-python-tkinter-label-widget-update](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1918005) — stovfl, Jun 12 '20 at 13:35
@BryanOakley without input from the user the code will run in less than one second. I don't see you're reference to threads and timers, probably deleted it, but yes, I've started looking into threads to learn how I can make use of them. — Mihail, Jun 15 '20 at 10:43
@stovfl I'm looking into it, also started reading "Tkinter Label Widget" — Mihail, Jun 15 '20 at 10:47
@BryanOakley since 'root.mainloop()' is used as an infinite loop to keep the tkinter window on the screen and to update contents of that window, can I update only the .txt file it's generating and do something in order to update the window with 'mainloop()' or its not possible? — Mihail, Jun 15 '20 at 11:40

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 12 '20 at 10:20

For updating the window every period of time, you can use threads as follows:

from threading import Thread
from time import sleep

def update():
    while True:
        # do what you want to update here
        sleep(1)

# and to start the thread, just do
Thread(target=update).start()

Update every 1 second the tkinter window with new information

1 Answers1