API

Functions

button_dialog([message, choices])

Show a blocking dialog window with a selection of buttons.

get_filename([initial_folder])

Get file name interactively using a file dialog window.

get_folder([initial_folder])

Get folder interactively using a file dialog window.

input_dialog([message, labels, …])

Prompt the user with an input dialog.

message(message, **kwargs)

Show or close a non-blocking message window.

Limited Interaction

Provides simple, backend-independant GUI tools for limited user interaction.

This module provides simple GUI tools that run in their own process, so that it cannot conflict with the current running event loop. If Matplotlib is imported, it updates its event loop in background while waiting for user action.

Additional parameters

All functions except get_folder and get_filename accept these parameters in addition to their own parameters:

title

Title of the dialog window.

icon

Can be either None, a str from [‘alert’, ‘clock’, ‘cloud’, ‘error’, ‘find’, ‘gear’, ‘info’,’light’, ‘lock’, ‘question’, ‘warning’] or a or a tuple of png files: (path_to_image_in_dialog.png, path_to_dock_icon.png)

left

Distance between the monitor’s left edge and the window’s left edge in pixels. Parameters ‘left’ and ‘right’ cannot be used together.

right

Distance between the monitor’s right edge and the window’s right edge in pixels. Parameters ‘left’ and ‘right’ cannot be used together.

top

Distance between the monitor’s top edge and the window’s top edge in pixels. Parameters ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ cannot be used together.

bottom

Distance between the monitor’s bottom edge and the window’s bottom edge in pixels. Parameters ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ cannot be used together.

min_width

Minimal width of the dialog window in pixels.

min_height

Minimal width of the dialog window in pixels.

limitedinteraction.button_dialog(message='Please select an option', choices=['OK', 'Cancel'], **kwargs)

Show a blocking dialog window with a selection of buttons.

Parameters
  • message (str) – Optional. Instruction to show to the user.

  • choices (Sequence[str]) – Optional. List of str, each entry corresponding to a button caption.

  • kwargs – Consult the module’s help for additional parameters.

Returns

The selected button index (0 = First button, 1 = Second button, etc.). If the user closes the window instead of clicking a button, a value of -1 is returned.

Return type

int

limitedinteraction.get_filename(initial_folder='.', **kwargs)

Get file name interactively using a file dialog window.

Parameters

initial_folder (str) – Optional. The initial folder of the file dialog.

Returns

The full path of the selected file. An empty string is returned if the user cancelled.

Return type

str

limitedinteraction.get_folder(initial_folder='.', **kwargs)

Get folder interactively using a file dialog window.

Parameters

initial_folder (str) – Optional. The initial folder of the file dialog.

Returns

The full path of the selected folder. An empty string is returned if the user cancelled.

Return type

str

limitedinteraction.input_dialog(message='', labels=[], initial_values=[], masked=[], **kwargs)

Prompt the user with an input dialog.

Parameters
  • message (str) – Optional. Instruction to show to the user.

  • labels (Sequence[str]) – Optional. List of str: labels for each input.

  • initial_values (Sequence[str]) – Optional. List of str: initial values for each input.

  • masked (Sequence[bool]) – Optional. List of bool: True to mask an input using stars.

  • kwargs – Consult the module’s help for additional parameters.

Returns

If there was only one input, a str corresponding to this input is returned. If there was multiple inputs, a list of str is returned.

Return type

str or List[str]

limitedinteraction.message(message, **kwargs)

Show or close a non-blocking message window.

Parameters
  • message (str) – The message to show. Use ‘’ to close the previous message windows.

  • kwargs – Consult the module’s help for additional parameters.

Returns

Return type

None