Long-running task in Tkinter

last modified July 13, 2020

Tkinter uses a single-threaded event model. The main event loop and all the event handlers execute in one thread. Therefore, the event handlers must be very quick otherwise the user considers the application unresponsive. Long-running tasks must be executed outside the main event thread.

In our program we calculate the Pi number; the longer the number, the more time is needed for the calculation.

Multiprocessing

We use the Python's multiprocessing module to execute a lengthy task in a separate process. This package supports spawning processes using an API similar to the threading module. The multiprocessing module works differently on Windows and Linux. On Linux, the fork system call is leveraged while on Windows a pickle module is used. This has some important consequences. We split the code example into Linux and Windows programs.

There is one limitation of our program. It uses a Queue object for exchanging values between processes. This queue has a limit for the size of the value it can receive. The size is determined by the OS pipe. After exceeding this limit the program ends up in a deadlock. The largest Pi calculated on Windows 7 had 8156 digits. On Linux, we managed to calculate more than 60 000 digits of Pi.

Calculating Pi on Linux

The following program calculates Pi on Linux.

calculate_pi.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

"""
ZetCode Tkinter e-book

This script produces a long-running task of calculating 
a large Pi number, while keeping the GUI responsive.

Author: Jan Bodnar
Last modified: January 2016
Website: www.zetcode.com
"""

from tkinter import (Tk, BOTH, Text, E, W, S, N, END, 
    NORMAL, DISABLED, StringVar)
from tkinter.ttk import Frame, Label, Button, Progressbar, Entry
from tkinter import scrolledtext

from multiprocessing import Queue, Process
import queue 
from decimal import Decimal, getcontext

DELAY1 = 80
DELAY2 = 20

class Example(Frame):
  
    def __init__(self, parent, q):
        Frame.__init__(self, parent)   
         
        self.queue = q 
        self.parent = parent
        self.initUI()
        
        
    def initUI(self):
      
        self.parent.title("Pi computation")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH, expand=True)
        
        self.grid_columnconfigure(4, weight=1)
        self.grid_rowconfigure(3, weight=1)
        
        lbl1 = Label(self, text="Digits:")
        lbl1.grid(row=0, column=0, sticky=E, padx=10, pady=10)
        
        self.ent1 = Entry(self, width=10)
        self.ent1.insert(END, "4000")
        self.ent1.grid(row=0, column=1, sticky=W)
        
        lbl2 = Label(self, text="Accuracy:")
        lbl2.grid(row=0, column=2, sticky=E, padx=10, pady=10)

        self.ent2 = Entry(self, width=10)
        self.ent2.insert(END, "100")
        self.ent2.grid(row=0, column=3, sticky=W)        
        
        self.startBtn = Button(self, text="Start", 
            command=self.onStart)
        self.startBtn.grid(row=1, column=0, padx=10, pady=5, sticky=W)
        
        self.pbar = Progressbar(self, mode='indeterminate')        
        self.pbar.grid(row=1, column=1, columnspan=3, sticky=W+E)     
        
        self.txt = scrolledtext.ScrolledText(self)  
        self.txt.grid(row=2, column=0, rowspan=4, padx=10, pady=5,
            columnspan=5, sticky=E+W+S+N)
       
        
    def onStart(self):
        
        self.startBtn.config(state=DISABLED)
        self.txt.delete("1.0", END)
        
        self.digits = int(self.ent1.get())
        self.accuracy = int(self.ent2.get())
        
        self.p1 = Process(target=self.generatePi, args=(self.queue,))
        self.p1.start()
        self.pbar.start(DELAY2)
        self.after(DELAY1, self.onGetValue)
        
       
    def onGetValue(self):
        
        if (self.p1.is_alive()):
            
            self.after(DELAY1, self.onGetValue)
            return
        else:    
        
            try:
                self.txt.insert('end', self.queue.get(0))
                self.txt.insert('end', "\n")
                self.pbar.stop()
                self.startBtn.config(state=NORMAL)
            
            except queue.Empty:
                print("queue is empty")
            
            
    def generatePi(self, queue):
        
        getcontext().prec = self.digits
        
        pi = Decimal(0)
        k = 0
        n = self.accuracy
        
        while k < n:
            pi += (Decimal(1)/(16**k))*((Decimal(4)/(8*k+1)) - \
                (Decimal(2)/(8*k+4)) - (Decimal(1)/(8*k+5))- \
                (Decimal(1)/(8*k+6)))
            k += 1
            print (self.p1.is_alive())
            
        queue.put(pi)    
        print("end")    


def main():
    
    q = Queue()
  
    root = Tk()
    root.geometry("400x350+300+300")
    app = Example(root, q)
    root.mainloop()  


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

The program calculates the Pi number. The calculation takes a long time to finish. To remain responsive, the calculation is placed in a separate process.

self.pbar = Progressbar(self, mode='indeterminate')        
self.pbar.grid(row=1, column=1, columnspan=3, sticky=W+E)

We have a Progressbar widget, which is in progress during the calculation. This way we tell the user that the application is still running.

def onStart(self):
    
    self.startBtn.config(state=DISABLED)
    self.txt.delete("1.0", END)
...

At the start of the calculation, we disable the Start button and delete the contents of the text widget.

self.digits = int(self.ent1.get())
self.accuracy = int(self.ent2.get())

There are two important numbers used in the calculation of the Pi number. The digits value determines the lenght of the number. The accuracy number controls the precision of the given formula.

self.p1 = Process(target=self.generatePi, args=(self.queue,))
self.p1.start()

A new Process is started. The target is the generatePi method, which computes the lengthy task. The other argument is the queue, which is an object used to communicate between processes.

self.after(DELAY1, self.onGetValue)

We start a timer. The timer periodically checks if the task is already finished.

def onGetValue(self):
    
    if (self.p1.is_alive()):
        
        self.after(DELAY1, self.onGetValue)
        return

With the is_alive method, we check is the task is still running.

else:    

    try:
        self.txt.insert('end', self.queue.get(0))
        self.txt.insert('end', "\n")
        self.pbar.stop()
        self.startBtn.config(state=NORMAL)
    
    except queue.Empty:
        print("queue is empty")

When the task has ended, we get the computed number from the queue, insert it into the text widget, and stop the progress bar. Also, the button is enabled.

def generatePi(self, queue):
    
    getcontext().prec = self.digits
    
    pi = Decimal(0)
    k = 0
    n = self.accuracy
    
    while k < n:
        pi += (Decimal(1)/(16**k))*((Decimal(4)/(8*k+1)) - \
            (Decimal(2)/(8*k+4)) - (Decimal(1)/(8*k+5))- \
            (Decimal(1)/(8*k+6)))
        k += 1
        
    queue.put(pi) 
    print("end")

The generatePi method contains the formula to calculate the Pi number. There are several formulas available; we have used the Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula. At the end of the calculation, the number is put into the queue. It is importat that we do not touch anything in the main GUI thread from this method. Note the use of the Decimal; the Python's float data type is not precise enough for our calculations.

The image shows a calculated Pi having 63000 digits.

Calculating Pi on Windows

The following program calculates Pi on Windows. Since on Windows multiprocessing uses pickle module, it inherits its limitations. The generatePi must be a top-level module function and the queue must be a global object.

calculate_pi_windows.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

"""
ZetCode Tkinter e-book

This script produces a long-running task of calculating 
a large Pi number, while keeping the GUI responsive.
This is an example written for Windows.

Author: Jan Bodnar
Last modified: January 2016
Website: www.zetcode.com
"""

from tkinter import (Tk, BOTH, Text, E, W, S, N, END, 
    NORMAL, DISABLED, StringVar)
from tkinter.ttk import Frame, Label, Button, Progressbar, Entry
from tkinter import scrolledtext

from multiprocessing import Process, Manager, Queue
from queue import Empty
from decimal import Decimal, getcontext


DELAY1 = 80
DELAY2 = 20

# Queue must be global
q = Queue()

class Example(Frame):
  
    def __init__(self, parent):
        Frame.__init__(self, parent, name="frame")   
                 
        self.parent = parent
        self.initUI()
                
        
    def initUI(self):
      
        self.parent.title("Pi computation")
        self.pack(fill=BOTH, expand=True)
        
        self.grid_columnconfigure(4, weight=1)
        self.grid_rowconfigure(3, weight=1)
        
        lbl1 = Label(self, text="Digits:")
        lbl1.grid(row=0, column=0, sticky=E, padx=10, pady=10)
        
        self.ent1 = Entry(self, width=10)
        self.ent1.insert(END, "4000")
        self.ent1.grid(row=0, column=1, sticky=W)
        
        lbl2 = Label(self, text="Accuracy:")
        lbl2.grid(row=0, column=2, sticky=E, padx=10, pady=10)

        self.ent2 = Entry(self, width=10)
        self.ent2.insert(END, "100")
        self.ent2.grid(row=0, column=3, sticky=W)        
        
        self.startBtn = Button(self, text="Start", 
            command=self.onStart)
        self.startBtn.grid(row=1, column=0, padx=10, pady=5, sticky=W)
        
        self.pbar = Progressbar(self, mode='indeterminate')        
        self.pbar.grid(row=1, column=1, columnspan=3, sticky=W+E)     
        
        self.txt = scrolledtext.ScrolledText(self)  
        self.txt.grid(row=2, column=0, rowspan=4, padx=10, pady=5,
            columnspan=5, sticky=E+W+S+N)
       
        
    def onStart(self):
        
        self.startBtn.config(state=DISABLED)
        self.txt.delete("1.0", END)
        
        digits = int(self.ent1.get())
        accuracy = int(self.ent2.get())
                
        self.p1 = Process(target=generatePi, args=(q, digits, accuracy))
        self.p1.start()
        self.pbar.start(DELAY2)
        self.after(DELAY1, self.onGetValue)
        
       
    def onGetValue(self):
        
        if (self.p1.is_alive()):
            
            self.after(DELAY1, self.onGetValue)
            return
        else:    
        
           try:
   
                self.txt.insert('end', q.get(0))
                self.txt.insert('end', "\n")
                self.pbar.stop()
                self.startBtn.config(state=NORMAL)

           except Empty:
                print("queue is empty")
            
# Generate function must be a top-level module funtion            
def generatePi(q, digs, acc):

    getcontext().prec = digs
    
    pi = Decimal(0)
    k = 0
    n = acc
        
    while k < n:
        pi += (Decimal(1)/(16**k))*((Decimal(4)/(8*k+1)) - \
            (Decimal(2)/(8*k+4)) - (Decimal(1)/(8*k+5))- \
            (Decimal(1)/(8*k+6)))
        k += 1
    
    q.put(pi)


def main():  
  
    root = Tk()
    root.geometry("400x350+300+300")
    app = Example(root)
    root.mainloop()  


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

This code example was rewritten for Windows.

The image shows a calculated Pi having 8156 digits. Computing larger numbers ends up in a deadlock because of the limitations of the Queue object and the OS pipe on Windows.

In this article, we have shown how to create long-running tasks in Tkinter and Python 3; we have utilized the multiprocessing module. During the development of the program we have encountered some technical limitations. For more information about Tkinter, you can read the Tkinter tutorial.

Ebooks

Long-running task in Tkinter

Multiprocessing

Calculating Pi on Linux

Calculating Pi on Windows