tkinter loop and serial write
Context
You use the Tkinter mainloop and a while-loop and now you want to put both together into one program.
while X: do_y()and
master.mainloop()Solutions
There are several solutions for you.
split the loop and use
afterto let the GUI call you back:def do_y2(): do_y() if X: master.after(123, do_y2) # after 123 milli seconds this is called againdo_y2()master.mainloop()For a more detailed answer see this answer by Bryan Oakley
use guiLoop by me.
from guiLoop import guiLoop # https://gist.github.com/niccokunzmann/8673951#file-guiloop-py@guiLoopdef do_y2(): while X: do_y() yield 0.123 # give the GUI 123 milli seconds to do everythingdo_y2(master)master.mainloop()guiLoop uses the approach from 1. but allows you to use one or more while loops.
use
updateto refresh the GUI.while X: do_y() master.update()This approach is an unusual one since it replaces the mainloop that is part os the most GUI frameworks like Tkinter. Note that with 1 and 2 you can have multiple loops, not just one as in 3.
use a new thread of execution that executes your loop in parallel. ! This thread must not access master or any GUI elements directly because Tkinter can crash then!
import threadingdef do_y_loop(): while X: do_y()thread = threading.Thread(target = do_y_loop)thread.deamon = True # use this if your application does not close.thread.start()master.mainloop()start the mainloop in a new thread. As in 4. Tkinter can crash if you access the GUI from the thread.
import threadingthread = threading.Thread(target = master.mainloop)thread.deamon = True # use this if your application does not close.thread.start()while X: do_y()In both 4. and 5. communication between the GUI and the while-loop could/should go through global variables but never through tkinter methods.
For PyQT see these questions: