Python - GUI Programming - Message Widget

The message widget in Tkinter is used to display a message to the user. It is similar to the label widget, but it provides more options to format the message, such as font size, font style, and color. In this tutorial, we will learn how to create and use the message widget in a Python Tkinter GUI.

Creating a Message Widget

To create a message widget in Tkinter, we need to import the module and use the Message() class. Here is the syntax to create a message widget:

message = Message(root, options)

Here, root is the parent widget in which the message widget will be placed, and options are the parameters that can be passed to the message widget.

from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
message = Message(root, text="Hello, welcome to the message widget tutorial!")
message.pack()
root.mainloop()

In this example, we have created a message widget with the text "Hello, welcome to the message widget tutorial!" and packed it inside the root widget.

Configuring Message Widget Options

We can configure the message widget's options by passing parameters to the Message() class. Here are some of the common options:

  • anchor: specifies the anchor point where the text should be displayed within the message widget. It can be one of the constants "n", "s", "e", "w", "ne", "nw", "se", or "sw".
  • aspect: specifies the aspect ratio of the message widget. By default, the aspect ratio is set to 150.
  • bg: specifies the background color of the message widget.
  • font: specifies the font family, size, and style of the text.
  • foreground: specifies the color of the text.
  • justify: specifies how the text should be justified within the message widget. It can be one of the constants "left", "center", or "right".
  • padx: specifies the amount of padding to be added horizontally to the message widget.
  • pady: specifies the amount of padding to be added vertically to the message widget.
  • relief: specifies the border style of the message widget. It can be one of the constants "flat", "groove", "raised", "ridge", or "sunken".
  • text: specifies the text to be displayed in the message widget.

Here is an example that shows how to use some of these options:

from tkinter import *
root = Tk()
message = Message(root, text="Hello, welcome to the message widget tutorial!",
font=("Helvetica", 16, "italic"), fg="red", bg="white",
relief="groove", justify="center", padx=20, pady=20)
message.pack()
root.mainloop()

In this example, we have customized the font, color, background, relief, and padding of the message widget. We have also set the text to be centered within the widget.