11. tk Message

See: https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html#tkinter.Message
See: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-message-widget-in-tkinter/

11.1. Usage

The tkinter.Message widget displays multiple lines of read-only text.
Unlike a Label, a Message widget automatically wraps its text to fit within a specified width.
It is suitable for displaying paragraphs or longer instructions.
To create a Message widget, the general syntax is (assuming import via import tkinter as tk):
message_widget = tk.Message(parent, option=value)
parent is the window or frame object.
Options can be passed as parameters separated by commas.
The text is automatically wrapped according to the width option.

11.2. Message example

The example below displays a paragraph of wrapped text.
../_images/message.png 
import tkinter as tk

# Create the main window
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Message Example")
root.geometry("450x250")

# Create the Message widget
message = tk.Message(
    root,
    text="The Message widget automatically wraps long text so that it fits within the specified width.",
    width=250,
    font=("Arial", 16),
    bg="#f8f8f8",
    fg="navy"
)

message.pack(padx=20, pady=20)

# Run the main event loop
root.mainloop()

Tasks

  1. Create a Tkinter application with a window size of 450x250 containing a Message widget. Use the Comic Sans MS font at size 18, a background colour of #fff8dc, a foreground colour of darkgreen, a width of 220 pixels, and display the widget using 20 pixels of padding on each side.

Create the Message widget shown above.

import tkinter as tk

# Create the main window
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Message Question")
root.geometry("450x250")

message = tk.Message(
    root,
    text="The Message widget automatically wraps long text so that it fits inside the widget.",
    font=("Comic Sans MS", 18),
    bg="#fff8dc",
    fg="darkgreen",
    width=220
)

message.pack(padx=20, pady=20)

root.mainloop()

11.3. Message methods

Message inherits most of its methods from the base Widget class.
It does not provide additional widget-specific methods.
Common methods include:
message_widget.config(option=value)
Changes one or more configuration options.
message_widget.cget(option)
Returns the current value of the specified option.
message_widget.destroy()
Removes the widget from the window.

11.4. Option details

message_widget = tk.Message(parent, option=value)
parent is the window or frame object.
Options can be passed as parameters separated by commas.

Parameters:

anchor
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, anchor="position")
Description: Specifies where the text is positioned within the widget.
Default: center
aspect
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, aspect=value)
Description: Specifies the desired aspect ratio (width to height) of the text layout.
Default: 150
background
bg
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, bg="color")
Description: Sets the background colour.
Default: SystemButtonFace
bd
borderwidth
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, borderwidth=value)
Description: Sets the width of the border.
Default: 2
cursor
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, cursor="cursor_type")
Description: Sets the mouse cursor when it is over the widget.
font
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, font=("font_name", size, style))
Description: Sets the font used to display the text.
foreground
fg
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, fg="color")
Description: Sets the text colour.
justify
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, justify="alignment")
Description: Specifies the alignment of multiple lines of text.
Possible values include left, center and right.
padx
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, padx=value)
Description: Sets the internal horizontal padding.
pady
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, pady=value)
Description: Sets the internal vertical padding.
relief
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, relief="style")
Description: Sets the border style.
Default: flat
takefocus
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, takefocus=boolean)
Description: Determines whether the widget can receive keyboard focus.
text
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, text="message")
Description: Specifies the text displayed by the widget.
textvariable
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, textvariable=variable)
Description: Associates the displayed text with a Tkinter control variable.
width
Syntax: message_widget = tk.Message(parent, width=pixels)
Description: Specifies the width of the widget in pixels.
The text is automatically wrapped to fit within this width.

11.5. Default options

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

root = tk.Tk()

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

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