4. ttk Entry

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

4.1. Usage

The tkinter.ttk.Entry widget provides a themed single line input field.
The themed Entry widget handles focus highlighting and platform styling automatically using active theme layout maps.
To create an entry widget the general syntax is
(assuming import via "from tkinter import ttk")

entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, option=value): parent is the window or frame object.

Options can be passed as parameters separated by commas.

4.2. Entry example

The font and width options are used directly, while visual styles can be customized globally or targeted via themes.

'''

'''

import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
# Create the main window
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("ttk Entry Alphabet Example")
root.geometry("400x300")

style = ttk.Style()
style.theme_use("clam")

style.configure("Task.TEntry",
                fieldbackground="#fafafa",
                foreground="#2f2f2f",
                )

entry = ttk.Entry(root, style="Task.TEntry", font=("Comic Sans MS", 16), justify="left", width=20)
entry.pack(padx=20, pady=20, ipady=5)

root.mainloop()

Tasks

Create a Tkinter application with a window, "ttk Entry Task", size of 500x300, a ttk.Entry widget using the Arial Rounded MT Bold font, size 24, center-aligned text, and a width of 25 characters. Customize the theme layout background color to #eaeaea and the foreground color to #1f1f1f via a custom style class, displaying the widget inside the window using padding of 10 in both directions and internal y padding of 8.

'''

'''

4.3. Option details

entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, option=value)

parent is the window or frame object.

Options can be passed as parameters separated by commas.

Parameters:

cursor

Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, cursor="cursor_type")
Description: Changes the cursor when hovering over the entry field area.
Default: ""
Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, cursor="xterm")
Possible values include:

"arrow": Standard arrow cursor.

"xterm": I-beam cursor for text selection.

"hand2": Hand cursor.

"cross": Crosshair cursor.

"plus": Plus sign cursor.

"wait": Hourglass cursor.

exportselection: Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, exportselection=boolean)

Description: Determines if selected text within the field is automatically copied to the clipboard.

Default: 1

Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, exportselection=False)

font: Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, font=("font_name", size))

Description: Sets the font family type and pixel size of the entry text.

Default: System font configuration

Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, font=("Arial", 12))

justify

Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, justify="alignment")
Description: Specifies how the text is horizontally aligned within the input bounding box.
Default: "left"
Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, justify="center")
Possible values include:

"left": Aligns text to the left side.

"center": Centers text within the field width.

"right": Aligns text to the right side.

show: Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, show="character")

Description: Masks visible input characters with a mask character, commonly used for hidden password values.

Default: ""

Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, show="*")

state

Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, state="state")
Description: Sets the user operational state of the input entry field.
Default: "normal"
Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, state="disabled")
Possible values include:

"normal": Full read/write behavior.

"disabled": Input box is greyed out and unselectable.

"readonly": Value is viewable and selectable but cannot be altered.

style: Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, style="StyleName")

Description: Instructs the widget to extract thematic rules from a predefined ttk.Style() custom class layout signature (e.g., targeting "TEntry" configurations).

Default: ""

Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, style="Custom.TEntry")

textvariable: Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, textvariable=variable)

Description: Links a core Tkinter storage object (typically a StringVar) with the text entry space, permitting programmatic context extraction and real-time synchronization.

Default: None

Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, textvariable=my_var)

validate

Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, validate="validation_type")
Description: Sets the interactive validation mode rules to run before modifying or processing content strings.
Default: "none"
Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, validate="focusout")
Possible values include:

"none": Disables dynamic field validation checks.

"focus": Evaluates when the widget context gains or forfeits user tracking focus.

"focusin": Evaluates when selecting or tabbing into the entry text field.

"focusout": Evaluates when shifting selection outside the entry container.

"key": Evaluates dynamically on every keystroke input event.

width: Syntax: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(parent, width=characters)

Description: Sets the sizing layout of the input channel measured in uniform text characters wide.

Default: 20

Example: entry_widget = ttk.Entry(root, width=30)

Theme Configuration Attributes (via style.configure / style.map):

fieldbackground: Layout Syntax: style.configure("TEntry", fieldbackground="color")

Description: Sets the interior canvas color behind the text strings.

Example: style.configure("Custom.TEntry", fieldbackground="#fafafa")

foreground: Layout Syntax: style.configure("TEntry", foreground="color")

Description: Configures the rendering color layer applied directly to text glyph lines.

Example: style.configure("Custom.TEntry", foreground="#2f2f2f")