Python Tkinter Menu Button

This Article covers the use of the Menu Button in Tkinter Python.

What is the Python Tkinter Menu Button?

A combination of both the button and menu widget, the Python Tkinter Menu button widget displays a drop down menu with a list of options once clicked. Otherwise it will only be showing one option.

If you haven’t been through our Tkinter Menu Article, head over there first and read more about menu’s. A menu button is just a button to which a menu is attached. Refer to the article to understand how that menu is made.

Menu Button Syntax:

MenuBttn = Menubutton(master, option..... )

Menu Buttons Options

A complete list of options for the Tkinter Menu Button. Note however, that some will only work with the newer “ttk” version. A short segment on this is included at the end of the tutorial.

Menu Button Example 1.

This example explores the use of a Menu Button using a menu with Check Buttons.

Remember that the menu’s master option should always be the name of the Menu Button to which it is to be assigned. And you have to assign a menu to a Menu Button as shown in the example for it to actually display.

from tkinter import *

root = Tk()
root.geometry("200x150")
frame = Frame(root)
frame.pack()

MenuBttn = Menubutton(frame, text = "Favourite food", relief = RAISED)

Var1 = IntVar()
Var2 = IntVar()
Var3 = IntVar()

Menu1 = Menu(MenuBttn, tearoff = 0)

Menu1.add_checkbutton(label = "Pizza", variable = Var1)
Menu1.add_checkbutton(label = "Cheese Burger", variable = Var2)
Menu1.add_checkbutton(label = "Salad", variable = Var3)

MenuBttn["menu"] = Menu1

MenuBttn.pack()
root.mainloop()

Menu Button Example 2.

This example is the same as the above one, except this time we’re using Radio buttons instead of check buttons. As expected, this causes only one option to be selected at a time.

from tkinter import *

root = Tk()
root.geometry("200x150")
frame = Frame(root)
frame.pack()

MenuBttn = Menubutton(frame, text = "Favourite food", relief = RAISED)

Var1 = IntVar()

Menu1 = Menu(MenuBttn, tearoff = 0)

Menu1.add_radiobutton(label = "Pizza", variable = Var1, value = 1)
Menu1.add_radiobutton(label = "Cheese Burger", variable = Var1, value = 2)
Menu1.add_radiobutton(label = "Salad", variable = Var1, value = 3)

MenuBttn["menu"] = Menu1

MenuBttn.pack()
root.mainloop()

TTK MenuButton

The newer ttk library brings in some updated widgets which generally perform better than the originals. They offer more flexibility and have more options. Some of the above mentioned options only work with the ttk version of the Menu Button.

In the below section, we demonstrate how to do this, and we also use an option (textvariable) which is not available in the tkinter menu button.

from tkinter import *
import tkinter
from ttk import Menubutton

def f():
  var.set("Food")

root = Tk()

var = StringVar()

mb = Menubutton (root, textvariable = var)
mb.pack()
mb.menu =  Menu ( mb, tearoff = 0 )
mb["menu"] =  mb.menu

b = Button(root, text = "Click", command = f)
b.pack()

mayoVar = IntVar()
ketchVar = IntVar()

mb.menu.add_checkbutton ( label="mayo",
                          variable=mayoVar )
mb.menu.add_checkbutton ( label="ketchup",
                          variable=ketchVar )

mb.pack()
root.mainloop()

This marks the end of our Python Tkinter Menu Button article. You can head back to the main Tkinter article using this link. Any suggestions or contributions for CodersLegacy are more than welcome. Questions regarding the article tutorial content can be asked in the comments section below.