tk LabelFrame

See: https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html#tkinter.LabelFrame

Usage

The tkinter.LabelFrame widget is a container used to group related widgets.
It is similar to a Frame but displays a text label along its border, making it useful for visually grouping related controls.
To create a LabelFrame widget the general syntax is
(assuming import via "import tkinter as tk"):
labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, option=value)
parent is the window or frame object.
Options can be passed as parameters separated by commas.

Sample LabelFrame

The code below creates a labelled frame that could be used to group several related widgets.
The title appears in the upper border of the LabelFrame.
import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()
root.title("LabelFrame Widget Example")
root.geometry("320x220")

settings = tk.LabelFrame(
    root,
    text="User Settings",
    font=("Arial", 10),
    padx=10,
    pady=10,
    bd=2,
    relief="groove"
)

settings.pack(padx=20, pady=20, fill="both", expand=True)

root.mainloop()
../_images/labelframe.png

Tasks

  1. Modify the code so that it creates a LabelFrame to contain user preferences.

    • Set the title of the LabelFrame to "User Settings".

    • Use an Arial font size 12 for the label.

    • Add internal padding of 15 pixels horizontally and vertically.

    • Set the border width to 3.

    • Use a groove border style.

    • Make the LabelFrame fill the window.

    ../_images/labelframe_question.png

Modify the code so that it creates a LabelFrame with the required settings.

import tkinter as tk

# Create the main window
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("LabelFrame Question")
root.geometry("320x220")

# Create the LabelFrame
settings = tk.LabelFrame(
    root,
    text="User Settings",
    font=("Arial", 12),
    padx=15,
    pady=15,
    bd=3,
    relief="groove"
)

# Display the LabelFrame
settings.pack(
    padx=20,
    pady=20,
    fill="both",
    expand=True
)

# Run the main event loop
root.mainloop()

When to use a LabelFrame

A LabelFrame is useful when related widgets should be grouped together and identified with a descriptive title.

Typical uses include:

  • User details

  • Network settings

  • Display options

  • File selection controls

  • Search filters

  • Preferences and configuration dialogs

Parameter syntax

The main options are below.

Note

The width and height options only specify the requested size. If the LabelFrame contains widgets, it will normally resize itself to fit them. To force the LabelFrame to keep its specified size, disable geometry propagation.

labelframe.pack_propagate(False)
# or
labelframe.grid_propagate(False)
labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, option=value)

Parameters:

background
bg
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, bg="color")
Description: Sets the background color of the LabelFrame.
Default: SystemButtonFace
borderwidth
bd
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, bd=width)
Description: Sets the width of the LabelFrame border.
Default: 0
cursor
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, cursor="cursor_type")
Description: Changes the mouse cursor when it hovers over the LabelFrame.
font
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, font=("Arial", 10, "bold"))
Description: Sets the font used for the LabelFrame title.
Default: System default font.
foreground
fg
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, fg="blue")
Description: Sets the color of the LabelFrame title.
height
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, height=height_in_pixels)
Description: Sets the height of the LabelFrame in pixels.
Default: 0
highlightbackground
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, highlightbackground="color")
Description: Sets the color of the focus highlight when the LabelFrame does not have focus.
highlightcolor
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, highlightcolor="color")
Description: Sets the color of the focus highlight when the LabelFrame has focus.
highlightthickness
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, highlightthickness=thickness)
Description: Sets the thickness of the focus highlight.
Default: 0
labelanchor
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, labelanchor="nw")
Description: Specifies the position of the LabelFrame title around the border.
Default: "nw"

Valid values:

Value

Position

n

Top centre.

ne

Top right.

nw

Top left (default).

e

Right side.

w

Left side.

s

Bottom centre.

se

Bottom right.

sw

Bottom left.
padx
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, padx=padding)
Description: Sets the horizontal padding inside the LabelFrame.
pady
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, pady=padding)
Description: Sets the vertical padding inside the LabelFrame.
relief
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, relief="relief_type")
Description: Sets the border style of the LabelFrame.
Values include "flat", "raised", "sunken", "ridge", "solid", and "groove".
Default: "groove"
takefocus
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, takefocus=True)
Description: Determines whether the LabelFrame can receive keyboard focus.
Default: 0
text
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, text="Settings")
Description: Sets the text displayed as the LabelFrame title.
Default: ""
width
Syntax: labelframe_widget = tk.LabelFrame(parent, width=width_in_pixels)
Description: Sets the width of the LabelFrame in pixels.
Default: 0

Default options

Code to display the default value for each Labelframe option is shown below.
import tkinter as tk

root = tk.Tk()

widget = tk.Labelframe(root)
widget_options = widget.keys()

for option in widget_options:
    print(f"{option}: {widget.cget(option)}")  # cget retrieves the current value of the option