Keyboard shortcuts with tkinter in Python 3

Question

I've created a menubar in Python 3, and I'm wondering how to add keyboard shortcuts and accelerators to it. Like hitting "F" for File Menu and whatnot.

Through some digging around I found the "underline=" attribute, but it doesn't seem to work in Python 3. It didn't work when I tried it, and the only documentation I found for it was for earlier versions of Python.

    menubar = Menu(master)

    filemenu = Menu(menubar, tearoff=0)
    .....
    menubar.add_cascade(label="File", underline=0, menu=filemenu)

Is there a way to do these things with tkinter in Python 3?

Answer 1

consider reading (http://effbot.org/tkinterbook/tkinter-events-and-bindings.htm)

you have to bind your widget to an event to your function:

Keyboard events are sent to the widget that currently owns the keyboard focus. You can use the focus_set method to move focus to a widget:

Capturing keyboard events

from Tkinter import *

root = Tk()

def key(event):
    print "pressed", repr(event.char)

def callback(event):
    frame.focus_set()
    print "clicked at", event.x, event.y

frame = Frame(root, width=100, height=100)
frame.bind("<Key>", key)
frame.bind("<Button-1>", callback)
frame.pack()

root.mainloop()

If you run this script, you’ll find that you have to click in the frame before it starts receiving any keyboard events.

I followed this guide to implement a ctrl+f binding to one of my functions a while ago:

toolmenu.add_command(label="Search Ctrl+f", command=self.cntrlf)
root.bind('<Control-f>', self.searchbox)
def cntrlf(self, event):
    self.searchbox()

for your file menu, you might want to consider implementing accelerators:

menubar.add_cascade(label="File", menu=fileMenu)
fileMenu.add_command(label="Exit", command=quit, accelerator="Ctrl+Q")
config(menu=menubar) 

for Menu options remember to use ALT followed by the first letter of the OptionName

file Menu = ALT followed by f Tool Menu = ALT followed by t and so on

hope this provides usefull