Python - Tkinter Scale

The Scale widget provides a graphical slider object that allows you to select values from a
specific scale.

Syntax
Here is the simple syntax to create this widget −

w = Scale ( master, option, ... )

Parameters
master − This represents the parent window.

options − Here is the list of most commonly used options for this widget. These options
can be used as key-value pairs separated by commas.
Sr.No. Option & Description

1 activebackground

The background color when the mouse is over the scale.

2 bg

The background color of the parts of the widget that are outside the trough.

3 bd
Width of the 3-d border around the trough and slider. Default is 2 pixels.

4 command

A procedure to be called every time the slider is moved. This procedure will be
passed one argument, the new scale value. If the slider is moved rapidly, you may
not get a callback for every possible position, but you'll certainly get a callback when
it settles.

5
cursor
If you set this option to a cursor name (arrow, dot etc.), the mouse cursor will
change to that pattern when it is over the scale.

6 digits
The way your program reads the current value shown in a scale widget is through a
control variable. The control variable for a scale can be an IntVar, a DoubleVar
(float), or a StringVar. If it is a string variable, the digits option controls how many
digits to use when the numeric scale value is converted to a string.

7 font
The font used for the label and annotations.

8
fg
The color of the text used for the label and annotations.

9 from_
A float or integer value that defines one end of the scale's range.

10
 highlightbackground
The color of the focus highlight when the scale does not have focus.

11 highlightcolor
The color of the focus highlight when the scale has the focus.

12 label

You can display a label within the scale widget by setting this option to the label's
text. The label appears in the top left corner if the scale is horizontal, or the top right
corner if vertical. The default is no label.

13 length
The length of the scale widget. This is the x dimension if the scale is horizontal, or
the y dimension if vertical. The default is 100 pixels.

14 orient
Set orient=HORIZONTAL if you want the scale to run along the x dimension, or
orient=VERTICAL to run parallel to the y-axis. Default is horizontal.

15 relief

Specifies the appearance of a decorative border around the label. The default is
FLAT; for other values.

16
repeatdelay
This option controls how long button 1 has to be held down in the trough before the
slider starts moving in that direction repeatedly. Default is repeatdelay=300, and the
units are milliseconds.

17
resolution
Normally, the user will only be able to change the scale in whole units. Set this
option to some other value to change the smallest increment of the scale's value.
For example, if from_=-1.0 and to=1.0, and you set resolution=0.5, the scale will
have 5 possible values: -1.0, -0.5, 0.0, +0.5, and +1.0.

18 showvalue

Normally, the current value of the scale is displayed in text form by the slider (above
it for horizontal scales, to the left for vertical scales). Set this option to 0 to suppress
 that label.

19
sliderlength
Normally the slider is 30 pixels along the length of the scale. You can change that
length by setting the sliderlength option to your desired length.

20 state

Normally, scale widgets respond to mouse events, and when they have the focus,
also keyboard events. Set state=DISABLED to make the widget unresponsive.

21
takefocus
Normally, the focus will cycle through scale widgets. Set this option to 0 if you don't
want this behavior.

22 tickinterval

To display periodic scale values, set this option to a number, and ticks will be
displayed on multiples of that value. For example, if from_=0.0, to=1.0, and
tickinterval=0.25, labels will be displayed along the scale at values 0.0, 0.25, 0.50,
0.75, and 1.00. These labels appear below the scale if horizontal, to its left if
vertical. Default is 0, which suppresses display of ticks.

23 to

A float or integer value that defines one end of the scale's range; the other end is
defined by the from_ option, discussed above. The to value can be either greater
than or less than the from_ value. For vertical scales, the to value defines the
bottom of the scale; for horizontal scales, the right end.

24
troughcolor
The color of the trough.

25
variable

The control variable for this scale, if any. Control variables may be from class IntVar,
DoubleVar (float), or StringVar. In the latter case, the numerical value will be
converted to a string.

26
width

The width of the trough part of the widget. This is the x dimension for vertical scales
and the y dimension if the scale has orient=HORIZONTAL. Default is 15 pixels.
Methods

Scale objects have these methods −

Sr.No. Method & Description

1
get()

This method returns the current value of the scale.

2
set ( value )

Sets the scale's value.

Example

Try the following example yourself −

from Tkinter import *

def sel():

selection = "Value = " + str(var.get())

label.config(text = selection)

root = Tk()

var = DoubleVar()
scale = Scale( root, variable = var )

scale.pack(anchor=CENTER)

button = Button(root, text="Get Scale Value", command=sel)

button.pack(anchor=CENTER)

label = Label(root)

label.pack()

root.mainloop()

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −