How can I run something that loops constantly alongside tkinter?

Question

Alright, so my plan is to make a program that will recognize keywords in a tweet and display the tweet in tkinter. Essentially, every time the tweet gets recognized I want it to update a label in tkinter.

I do know how to implement a stream to do this using Twython, but my problem is that I can't have the stream and tkinter running at the same time. I thought about threading, and I tried to, but I have no experience with threading and probably did it wrong.

This is just a stepping stone type project for me in making something more complex, but that is most likely irrelevant. Could somebody maybe point me in the right direction? Heres my code:

from tkinter import *
from threading import Thread
from twython import Twython
from twython import TwythonStreamer
import time

APP_KEY = 'X'
APP_SECRET = 'X'
OAUTH_TOKEN = 'X'
OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET = 'X'

TRACKING_TERM = 'something'
tweet_text = StringVar
WINDOW_SIZE_X = 1600
WINDOW_SIZE_Y = 300
WINDOW_SIZE_STRING = str(WINDOW_SIZE_X) + 'x' + str(WINDOW_SIZE_Y)

class Window(Frame):
    def __init__(self, master=None):
        Frame.__init__(self, master)
        self.master = master
        t = Thread(target=self.start_stream())
        t.start()
        self.init_window()

    def init_window(self):
        self.master.title('Twitter Streamer')
        self.pack(fill=BOTH, expand=True)
        self.label = Label(self, textvariable=tweet_text)
        self.label.place(x=0, y=0)

    def start_stream(self):
        stream.statuses.filter(track=TRACKING_TERM)

# JWStreamer class is created to handle the streaming
class JWStreamer(TwythonStreamer):
    def on_success(self, data):
        if 'text' in data:
            tweet_text = data['text'].encode('utf-8')

    def on_error(self, status_code, data):
        print('Error:', status_code)
        # To disconnect on error uncomment the next line
        # self.disconnect()
        print('Waiting 60 seconds to reconnect...')
        time.sleep(60)

# Twitter Object
twitter = Twython(APP_KEY,
                  APP_SECRET,
                  OAUTH_TOKEN,
                  OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET)

# Steamer Object
stream = JWStreamer(APP_KEY,
                    APP_SECRET,
                    OAUTH_TOKEN,
                    OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET)

root = Tk()
root.geometry(WINDOW_SIZE_STRING)
app = Window(root)
root.mainloop()

I apologize if my code seems kind of sloppy right now. What you are seeing right now is the result of frustratingly moving things around just to make something work.

Answer 1

This might be a little bit of a low quality work around, but I'm quite sure it's generally accepted. Use the after() method on root.

I haven't used it, but I understand it allows you to call a function after a period of time. Here's a link to the docs and some questions.

You would have to look up in it, because like I said, I haven't use it before but think it could be helpful to you.