Multiple Key Event Bindings in Tkinter - "Control + E" "Command (apple) + E" etc - events

Question

Mac OS X 10.6.6 - Tkinter
I want to bind multiple-key events, and while I have found an effbot article and the Tk man pages, I've been unable to make this work correctly. I'm new here.
I've had mixed success. I've been able to get Shift + letter key, but not Control or Command (Apple key). What I really want to do is Command + letter and Control + letter key so it would theoretically work in Windows and OS X.
I want it to work at window-level, so I'm using root. Perhaps there is a better way. Below is what I've tried:
root.bind('<Shift-E>', self.pressedCmdE) # Works
root.bind('e', self.pressedCmdE) # Works
root.bind('<Command-E>', self.pressedCmdE) # Does Not Work
#root.bind('<Mod1-E>', self.pressedCmdE) # # Do Mod1, M1, and
#root.bind('<M1-E>', self.pressedCmdE) # # Command mean the same thing?
Strangely, when I press alt/option + (E, N, or others) it creates an error. Is it interacting with PythonLauncher?
2011-06-16 16:19:22.618 Python[1546:d07] An uncaught exception was raised
2011-06-16 16:19:22.621 Python[1546:d07] *** -[NSCFString characterAtIndex:]: Range or index out of bounds
2011-06-16 16:19:22.622 Python[1546:d07] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSRangeException', reason: '*** -[NSCFString characterAtIndex:]: Range or index out of bounds'
*** Call stack at first throw:
(
0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff85b397b4 __exceptionPreprocess + 180
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff848b90f3 objc_exception_throw + 45
2 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff85b395d7 +[NSException raise:format:arguments:] + 103
3 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff85b39564 +[NSException raise:format:] + 148
4 Foundation 0x00007fff866eb5e1 -[NSCFString characterAtIndex:] + 97
5 Tk 0x0000000100759bcf Tk_SetCaretPos + 663
6 Tk 0x000000010075fd94 Tk_MacOSXSetupTkNotifier + 699
7 Tcl 0x000000010061d2ae Tcl_DoOneEvent + 297
8 _tkinter.so 0x00000001001d9be9 init_tkinter + 1132
9 Python 0x0000000100089187 PyEval_EvalFrameEx + 15317
10 Python 0x000000010008acce PyEval_EvalCodeEx + 1803
11 Python 0x000000010008935e PyEval_EvalFrameEx + 15788
12 Python 0x000000010008acce PyEval_EvalCodeEx + 1803
13 Python 0x000000010008ad61 PyEval_EvalCode + 54
14 Python 0x00000001000a265a Py_CompileString + 78
15 Python 0x00000001000a2723 PyRun_FileExFlags + 150
16 Python 0x00000001000a423d PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags + 704
17 Python 0x00000001000b0286 Py_Main + 2718
18 Python 0x0000000100000e6c start + 52
)
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'NSException'
Abort trap

Answer 1

With Tkinter, "Control-R" means Ctrl-Shift-R whereas "Control-r" means Ctrl-R. So make sure you're not mixing up uppercase and lowercase.

Answer 2

This appears to be a bug in Tk. I get the same error with tcl/tk on the mac as well as with python/tkinter. You can bind <Command-e> to a widget (I tried with a text widget) but binding it to the root window or to "all" seems to cause the error you get.

Answer 3

Enhanced to cover the Alt and Meta keys, aka Option and Command on macOS.
# Original <https://StackOverflow.com/questions/6378556/
# multiple-key-event-bindings-in-tkinter-control-e-command-apple-e-etc>
# Status of alt (ak option), control, meta (aka command)
# and shift keys in Python tkinter
# Note, tested only on macOS 10.13.6 with Python 3.7.4 and Tk 8.6.9
import tkinter as tk
import sys
_macOS = sys.platform == 'darwin'
_Alt = 'Option' if _macOS else 'Alt'
_Ctrl = 'Control'
_Meta = 'Command' if _macOS else 'Meta'
_Shift = 'Shift'
alt = ctrl = meta = shift = ''
def up_down(mod, down):
print('<%s> %s' % (mod, 'down' if down else 'up'))
return down
def key(event):
'''Other key pressed or released'''
# print(event.keycode, event.keysym, event.down)
global alt, ctrl, meta, shift
t = [m for m in (alt, ctrl, shift, meta, str(event.keysym)) if m]
print('+'.join(t))
def alt_key(down, *unused):
'''Alt (aka Option on macOS) key is pressed or released'''
global alt
alt = up_down(_Alt, down)
def control_key(down, *unused):
'''Control key is pressed or released'''
global ctrl
ctrl = up_down(_Ctrl, down)
def meta_key(down, *unused):
'''Meta (aka Command on macOS) key is pressed or released'''
global meta
meta = up_down(_Meta, down)
def shift_key(down, *unused):
'''Shift button is pressed or released'''
global shift
shift = up_down(_Shift, down)
def modifier(root, mod, handler, down):
'''Add events and handlers for key press and release'''
root.event_add('<<%sOn>>' % (mod,), ' <KeyPress-%s_L>' % (mod,), '<KeyPress-%s_R>' % (mod,))
root.bind( '<<%sOn>>' % (mod,), lambda _: handler('<%s>' % (down,)))
root.event_add('<<%sOff>>' % (mod,), '<KeyRelease-%s_L>' % (mod,), '<KeyRelease-%s_R>' % (mod,))
root.bind( '<<%sOff>>' % (mod,), lambda _: handler(''))
root = tk.Tk()
root.geometry('256x64+0+0')
modifier(root, 'Alt', alt_key, _Alt)
modifier(root, 'Control', control_key, _Ctrl)
modifier(root, 'Meta', meta_key, _Meta)
modifier(root, 'Shift', shift_key, _Shift)
root.bind('<Key>', key)
root.mainloop()

Answer 4

Option 1
Something like this:
# Status of control, shift and control+shift keys in Python
import tkinter as tk
ctrl = False
shift = False
ctrl_shift = False
def key(event):
global ctrl, shift, ctrl_shift
#print(event.keycode, event.keysym, event.state)
if ctrl_shift:
print('<Ctrl>+<Shift>+{}'.format(event.keysym))
elif ctrl:
print('<Ctrl>+{}'.format(event.keysym))
elif shift:
print('<Shift>+{}'.format(event.keysym))
ctrl = False
shift = False
ctrl_shift = False
def control_key(state, event=None):
''' Controll button is pressed or released '''
global ctrl
ctrl = state
def shift_key(state, event=None):
''' Controll button is pressed or released '''
global shift
shift = state
control_shift(state)
def control_shift(state):
''' <Ctrl>+<Shift> buttons are pressed or released '''
global ctrl, ctrl_shift
if ctrl == True and state == True:
ctrl_shift = True
else:
ctrl_shift = False
root = tk.Tk()
root.geometry('256x256+0+0')
root.event_add('<<ControlOn>>', '<KeyPress-Control_L>', '<KeyPress-Control_R>')
root.event_add('<<ControlOff>>', '<KeyRelease-Control_L>', '<KeyRelease-Control_R>')
root.event_add('<<ShiftOn>>', '<KeyPress-Shift_L>', '<KeyPress-Shift_R>')
root.event_add('<<ShiftOff>>', '<KeyRelease-Shift_L>', '<KeyRelease-Shift_R>')
root.bind('<<ControlOn>>', lambda e: control_key(True))
root.bind('<<ControlOff>>', lambda e: control_key(False))
root.bind('<<ShiftOn>>', lambda e: shift_key(True))
root.bind('<<ShiftOff>>', lambda e: shift_key(False))
root.bind('<Key>', key)
root.mainloop()
Option 2
However, in the end, I decided to process keystrokes manually. You can se the example in this file. First, I set keycodes and shortcuts in two dictionaries self.keycode and self.__shortcuts:
# List of shortcuts in the following format: [name, keycode, function]
self.keycode = {} # init key codes
if os.name == 'nt': # Windows OS
self.keycode = {
'o': 79,
'w': 87,
'r': 82,
'q': 81,
'h': 72,
's': 83,
'a': 65,
}
else: # Linux OS
self.keycode = {
'o': 32,
'w': 25,
'r': 27,
'q': 24,
'h': 43,
's': 39,
'a': 38,
}
self.__shortcuts = [['Ctrl+O', self.keycode['o'], self.__open_image], # 0 open image
['Ctrl+W', self.keycode['w'], self.__close_image], # 1 close image
['Ctrl+R', self.keycode['r'], self.__roll], # 2 rolling window
['Ctrl+Q', self.keycode['q'], self.__toggle_poly], # 3 toggle between roi/hole drawing
['Ctrl+H', self.keycode['h'], self.__open_poly], # 4 open polygons for the image
['Ctrl+S', self.keycode['s'], self.__save_poly], # 5 save polygons of the image
['Ctrl+A', self.keycode['a'], self.__show_rect]] # 6 show rolling window rectangle
Then added self.__keystroke function to monitor <Ctrl> keystroke events. This function checks if <Ctrl> key is pressed or not:
def __keystroke(self, event):
""" Language independent handle events from the keyboard """
#print(event.keycode, event.keysym, event.state) # uncomment it for debug purposes
if event.state - self.__previous_state == 4: # check if <Control> key is pressed
for shortcut in self.__shortcuts:
if event.keycode == shortcut[1]:
shortcut[2]()
else: # remember previous state of the event
self.__previous_state = event.state
Finally, bind the self.__keystroke function to the master GUI window. Note that this function is bonded in the idle mode, because multiple keystrokes slow down the program on weak computers:
# Handle keystrokes in the idle mode, because program slows down on a weak computers,
# when too many key stroke events in the same time.
self.master.bind('<Key>', lambda event: self.master.after_idle(self.__keystroke, event))