What does self.grid() do?

[Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch]

On Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:04:50 -0800, chuck wrote:

> On Mar 3, 10:40 pm, Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch <bj_... at gmx.net> wrote:
>> On Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:06:56 -0800, chuck wrote:
>> > I am learning python right now.  In the lesson on tkinter I see this
>> > piece of code
>>
>> > from Tkinter import *
>>
>> > class MyFrame(Frame):
>> >    def __init__(self):
>> >        Frame.__init__(self)
>> >        self.grid()
>>
>> > My question is what does "self.grid()" do?  I understand that the
>> > grid method registers widgets with the geometry manager and adds them
>> > to the frame
>>
>> Not "the frame" but the container widget that is the parent of the
>> widget on which you call `grid()`.  In this case that would be a (maybe
>> implicitly created) `Tkinter.Tk` instance, because there is no explicit
>> parent widget set here.  Which IMHO is not a good idea.
>>
>> And widgets that layout themselves in the `__init__()` are a code smell
>> too.  No standard widget does this, and it takes away the flexibility
>> of the code using that widget to decide how and where it should be
>> placed.
> 
> I think I understand what you're saying! How would you recommend I go
> about this?  How do I create an explicit parent?

You create it and pass it as argument to child widgets.

import Tkinter as tk

class MyFrame(tk.Frame):
    def __init__(self, parent):
        tk.Frame.__init__(self, parent)

> What exactly is meant by "widgets that layout themselves"- what is the
> right way to do this?

Call one of the three layout methods on the widget instance after you 
created it, and not in the `__init__()` of the widget.

Your example above "grids" itself at its parent widget, I think at the 
next free cell on a grid if you don't give the position as argument.  
There is no chance to use another layout manager or to place it in 
another cell.

Ciao,
	Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch